Bleach: Sosuke Aizen Is Neither Spanish nor Mexican; Here’s Why Fans Think He Is!

Sosuke Aizen’s importance for Bleach cannot be overstated. Despite being a villain, Aizen has done so much for the series’ popularity that he is, rightfully, one of its most important and enduring characters. He fought against his fellow Shinigami, only to ultimately help them defeat Yhwach in the end, before being returned to the Muken to serve out the rest of his sentence. It makes sense that we would talk about Aizen this often. Earlier, we discussed his nature as a Shinigami, but in this article, we will discuss his ethnicity in the series, as some fans seem to think that he might be Spanish or Mexican. Spoiler alert: He is not!

The Hispanic motif of Hueco Mundo might confuse some fans, but they are not Spanish

We actually don’t know the origins of this confusion, but a six-year-old Reddit thread, started by a now-unknown user, claimed the following:

Confused about a what ethnicity he is supposed to be based on. He has a very Spanish look to him compared to other characters in Goeti 13. He invented the name “Arrancar, fraccion, espada” et cetera. While Hueco Mundo, Las Noches, Hollow names, et cetera already existed prior to Aizen’s rise to power. This implies Aizen is Spanish to me because he named his group and subgroups in Spanish. Am I wrong?

(Source)

Now, a whole discussion arose from there, and many fans thought Aizen might be Spanish. This is, in part, because Hueco Mundo has a Hispanic motif associated with it (the name Hueco Mundo is a Spanish word, as are Las Noches, Arrancar, Fracciones, Numeros, Espada, etc.), but this is nothing strange when Bleach is concerned.

We know that the Shinigami and Soul Society are associated with Japan. Hueco Mundo has a Hispanic motif, the Fullbringers have an Anglophonic motif, and the Quincy have a Germanic motif. This is something that Kubo decided to do, but this doesn’t imply anything related to these characters’ nationalities.

For example, Yasutora Sado (who was half-Mexican, half-Japanese), Kūgo Ginjō, and Riruka Dokugamine were all Japanese, but also Fullbringers; the only one who seemingly had something Anglophonic was Jackie Tristan. On the other hand, Uryu Ishida and his whole family were Japanese and Quincys, just like Ichigo’s mother.

So, as you can see, the linguistic motif is just a coincidence, and it really doesn’t imply anything about a character’s nationality. In fact, since the Hollows and, by extension, Arrancar are simply dead souls. It would be difficult to assign any nationality to them, as their names in Hueco Mundo certainly did not respond to their names in the real world (imagine someone in the real world being called Aaroniero Arruruerie).

Sosuke Aizen is as Japanese as they get

So, now that we have cleared up the linguistic motif, we can actually confirm that Aizen is not Spanish or Mexican, as some fans suggest. He is, in fact, as Japanese as they get. His physical appearance has nothing to do with it since manga and anime characters rarely correspond to the real-life traits we discuss here. So, the fact that he doesn’t look like an average Japanese person does not imply that he is not, in fact, Japanese, which he is.

He is also, first and foremost, a Soul Reaper, and we have already established that Soul Reapers are related to Japan, so it doesn’t make sense that Aizen would be associated with Spain or Mexico. The fact that he ruled over Hueco Mundo had to do with his plan of attaining more power, but it had absolutely nothing to do with his nationality, and the fact that he was in Hueco Mundo doesn’t imply anything.

Also, he did not name the phenomena in Hueco Mundo; the Hispanic names had already existed long before his time.

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