#in the manga hinamori was the only one to fire off the kidou spell

[alexiethymia]

I really hate this panel because it shows that Aizen and Gin had already pinpointed Hinamori and Kira as the most vulnerable in that situation, and Aizen ‘picking’ Hinamori in particular.

And then I remember in the immediately preceding scene, it was Kira who screamed about not wanting to die, and Gin, in a way, answering it by killing that hollow, showing in a subtle way, how that strong loyalty could have been cemented from the very beginning.

And I keep forgetting that Renji was also in the fifth squad so his protecting Rukia from Aizen was also him standing up to his (former) Captain. Aizen must have undermined him for his brashness from the very beginning, but really that bullheadedness meant that he couldn’t be so easily manipulated so he was shunted off (but seriously that must have messed up his self-confidence). In other words, Aizen really gaslit all of them.