What?! Hitsugaya on the 10th position? There are so many other characters stronger than him? Well, I am not so sure, but that’s only my opinion. Alright, I might be influenced because he is my favourite character but honestly, Hitsugaya became the youngest of the captains within the Gotei 13 in the history of Soul Society. He is a real prodigy, excelling in many domains thanks to his intellect and natural talent.

Hyourinmaru, his Zanpakutou, is the strongest of all ice-element Zanpakutou in Soul Society. For instance his bankai can always regenerates itself as long as there is water in the air. His strongest attack, Hyouten Hyakkasou, is also amazing: a large amount of snow falls from the sky and as soon as this snow comes into contact with something, an ice flower sprouts freezing everything it touches.

Byakuya is the most powerful member and current head of the Kuchiki noble clan history. He is a recurrent character from whom we have seen many fights that demonstrate his great skills. Like Hitsugaya, he is an expert tactician, often using both Kido, and his Zanpakutou’s abilities allow him to overwhelm his enemies. Even when severely damaged, Byakuya is able to perform his shunpo as if he was not injured.

His Zanpakutou, Senbonzakura, is very powerful and used for offense, as for defense. Plus, it can attack from any angle with his hundred millions blade fragments in the bankai form. Byakuya usually wins his fights staying very calm and analyzing quickly his opponent’s techniques and weaknesses. His pride, though can become a weakness sometimes, as he often refuses to use specific techniques like Utsusemi, just because it has been taught by Yoruichi.

Ulquiorra is the number 4 Espada and the one that impressed me the most. He not only has a lot of class but is also very powerful, stays calm in any situation, and possess great analytical skills as well. Ulquiorra is the only Espada who has a second form after releasing his Zanpakutou, which he calls “Resurrección: Segunda Etapa”. Not even Aizen knew about it (that fact could have most certainly changed his rank in the Espada).

This form makes him probably the most powerful of the Espada, completely overwhelming Ichigo and basically killing him until his inside hollow took full possession of his body. In this form he can also regenerate any of his body parts as long as his vital organs aren’t damaged.

Ulquiorra only lost his fight because of Ichigo’s tremendous power in full hollow form that completely changed the outcome of the fight.

One of the most enigmatic character in Bleach. You never really know what he is thinking and his behaviour is so annoying (at least it annoyed me!). This guy opens his eyes only when he is really serious, otherwise he always seems like he's laughing around or mocking people.

However, Gin still remains a very strong character, famous in the Soul Society for being a young prodigy much like Hitsugaya. He appears as highly manipulative and deceptive, even managing to trick Aizen over a hundred years until he could finally get his revenge on him. Although his Zanpakutou doesn’t look so strong in its Shikai form, its Bankai is a totally different story!

In this form he can use the extension and contraction of his blade at huge speeds (hundred times the sound of speed, but we don’t know exactly since he said he lied about it) and over several kilometres. But that’s not it, Gin’s blade also contains a destructive poison that he uses in order to kill his opponents from the inside after inserting a fragment of it in their body.

Former captain of the 2nd Division and Commander of the Onmitsukidou (the Secret Mobile Corps), Yoruichi is also known as the “Flash Goddess”, being the fastest Shunpo user in Soul Society’s history. With her speed, she is able to create several afterimages of herself in different positions to fool her enemy (that’s Utsusemi, the technique she taught to Byakuya).

This speed, combined with her huge physical strength, makes her really impressive. She can notably use Shunko, which is a technique covering her body with pressurized lightning-based Kidou. With this technique, she is also able to neutralize her opponent’s own technique. When carrying her anti-hierro armor, created by Urahara Kisuke, her strength is even greater, even though she couldn’t do much against Aizen.

Last point is that we actually never saw her using her Zanpakutou even though she mastered its Bankai. Imagine how strong she could be with it!

Shunsui is the second strongest current captain of the Gotei 13 after Yamamoto to me. He is also one of the oldest captain on duty with Ukitake and after Unohana and Yamamoto. This guy managed to beat Espada number 1, Coyote Starrk, just with his Shikai and with not much effort… He also faced Yamamoto with Ukitake and they both managed to withstand the Captain-Commander’s overwhelming power for some time.

His Zanpakutou, Katen Kyoukotsu’s childish games, makes him really dangerous in any position, taking advantage of the situations while putting himself at risk. And his Bankai is not to be seen by others according to Ukitake. Therefore, it must be really destructive and probably dangerous for people around.

This character is awesome, don’t you think? Former captain of the 12th Division, founder of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, creator of the Hougyoku… His intellect is way higher than the average and uses it perfectly to plan complex strategy to defeat his opponents.

Not only is his Zanpakutou, Benihime, very powerful, he is a master in Kidou being able to use powerful techniques consecutively. He can use most of them with no incantations at least until level 88 and is even able to create his own Kidou. More impressively, he managed to hide a Kidou seal into another one to trick Aizen, and at the end, is the one eventually sealing him. As for Shunsui, we never saw his Bankai but I’m sure it must be impressive!

What would be a Top 10 Strongest Bleach characters article without the Captain-Commander on the podium? This guy is just a monster, obviously the strongest captain of the Gotei 13 with his Zanpakutou Ryuujin Jakka, the strongest fire-element blade. Even fighting against Wonderweiss, who was specifically modified to seal his flames, he defeated him with great ease and only with his hands.

Yamamoto has been the most powerful Shinigami for more than a thousand years and if it weren’t for Aizen and Ichigo’s last forms, he would clearly be number 1 of this top 10 list.

The former captain of the 12th Division and main antagonist of the whole anime reached a level of power far beyond any Shinigami or Arrancar. Thanks to his Zanpakutou’s ability which is clearly overpowered already in Shikai, he could easily defeat many captains by himself.

He can also use Kidou techniques over level 90 without any incantations. And with the power of the Hougyoku, he just became unbelievably strong. Neither Urahara, Yoruichi, Isshin, Gin nor Yamamoto could beat him… He even survived Ichigo’s final attack as his body could regenerate all his wounds.

The number one spot had to be Ichigo. He hasn’t always been the strongest, most of the times being inconsistent. But his evolution along the anime is just surreal. Well, he is the main protagonist so he had to improve like that…

Then, many people will complain or say that he actually didn’t defeat Aizen, and without Urahara’s seal, he would have been killed after losing his Shinigami powers… Well yeah, it was presented like that for the show but let’s think about it a bit: even without his Final Getsuga Tenshou, he didn’t seem to feel any difficulty when fighting against Aizen in his most powerful form.

Moreover, Aizen couldn’t even feel Ichigo’s reiatsu, which means that he was on another level of power even before his last Getsuga Tenshou. In my opinion, even without his final form, Ichigo deserves the title of Bleach's strongest character.