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Originally Posted by sayde
It's true. Especially within a genre such as this. However, just because new powers are gained, doesn't mean the good guy has to dominate from beginning to end. Depending on the disparity in power implied to exist between the main protagonist and the big bad, it sometimes becomes more than enough just for the protagonist's new powers to allow him to stand on equal footing with the antagonist at all. Because that alone can serve as an adequate testament to how "awesome" the protagonists new powers are in certain cases. I'd argue Ichigo vs Aizen to be one of them.
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Well, it's not just about logically knowing they're stronger, it's about getting to see the character be a total badass. Putting bad guys in their place, making cool one liners and all that. The best way to do that is to have the hero dominate
someone strong right after when they gain new level of power. It doesn't have to be the main villain. For example (and I really don't like to compare DBZ, but it has good examples) when Goku shows up fresh from training and pounds the crap out of Nappa with ease. His fight with Vegeta was a struggle, but Nappa served to show that he was indeed on a new level of strength. When it's the main villain that's when sometimes there's a "see-saw"... hero powers up, villain powers up again, hero again...rinse & repeat. Vegeta curbstomp Cell in 2nd form after training (even though that form alone was way, way stronger than any enemy encountered at that point) then Cell goes Perfect and things switch.
Not that aren't exceptions, but a lot of the times the hero's not going show up after a huge power-up and merely get by, even if just fighting on par with the opponent should be a huge feat in itself.
In Ichigo's case all the reasonably strong subordinates who might've made a good showcase of his increased strength were already dead. So Aizen himself was made the punchingbag.
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I've become one of those readers who finds it difficult to give more credit over the other to either Ichigo or Urahara. Because had Aizen not subconsciously desired to lose his powers after Ichigo sacrificed his own, who's to say he would've been weakened enough for Urahara's Kido to take effect?
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That's true and really there's little doubt that Ichigo's attack caused the moment of weakness that allowed Urahara's kidou to take effect. But all in all, Ichigo's involvement, though it was crucial, was very indirectly responsible for Aizen's defeat compared with Urahara's kidou and the hougyoku. I might've even been ok with that if there was more of a confrontation like you suggested. What it comes down to, is that after Ichigo performed Mugetsu, I think there was a prime window of opportunity for Ichigo to have a real struggle with Aizen... him rapidly losing his powers while Aizen pressed an attack would've been interesting to see, but Kubo rushed to the conclusion.