*SPOILERS*

*SPOILERS*


*SPOILERS*


*SPOILERS*





Okay, I'll admit, I actually smiled some here. It was nice. Kubo really seemed to rush the art in this one, so I'm guessing that he's just as eager to change places as we are. No one wants to watch Yammy.

Zaraki and Byakuya continue with their parade of awesome...and Byakuya makes a statement that really made me pause, and was basically the biggest thing I got out of this issue.

"There's no one among the captains of the Gotei 13 who you could be a help to."

And I was just like, "...what?"

Because, essentially, Byakuya just said, "You're strong, but the captains of Soul Society are still all stronger than you. Even if I'm a captain, and I lost to you."

I dunno if I buy that completely, but the point is that he gave valid reason for the captains being able to take down Espada stronger than Ulquiorra.

Now, this STILL does not excuse the whole "Vasto Lorde are stronger than captains" thing OR how the entire situation was handled, ESPECIALLY not the part where the Primera Espada was killed by a shikai, but it's hard to argue when Yammy is getting his legs chopped off by a one-handed, eyepatched Zaraki. I guess Nnoitra DID have the toughest Hierro. Yammy's not even a Vasto.

The overall air of Unohana's appearance was...something along the lines of, "You children have fun playing with the monster, now, but make sure that you clean up the mess behind you." She didn't even care about Yammy. And we know that she's not nearly as arrogant as Zaraki or Byakuya, or even Ichigo. So, we can be pretty sure that this battle is going to be all wrapped up.

Now, how throwing HER back to Karakura Town is going to help matters, I don't know. They've already got too many eligible battle bachelors there and not enough opponents to fight them. She's only going to make matters worse, especially because she's tough enough to take down any one of the three by herself. Even Mister Broken.

Mayuri continues to be very secretive with what he found in the lair of Szayelaporro, with a disturbingly convenient plot hole back home. But, he's Mayuri. He can do that. And as long as Urahara doesn't barge in and save the day, I'm happy. Any misfortune or put-down of that man is received by me with much joy.

Though, there was something about the art in this issue. I know I said it looked rushed, but it also looked...OLD. Like, it reminded me so much of the glory days of Bleach.

It seems almost like he's going to go back and fight Aizen one-on-one right now, doesn't it? They're all going to get their butts kicked. Again. If only the Espada could have helped in the butt-kicking. But no, he wasted them...which defies all logic.

We're having a severe villain shortage in this series. A shonen series of this sort requires a wide array of villains. Every villain gets to fight at least one main character, and the upper-level ones have to kill/have some dramatic effect on the character. Grimmjow, for example, didn't kill any main characters, but he did kick Ichigo around several times and drive the guy to become stronger. Ulquiorra did basically the same thing. The rest of the Espada didn't have that effect, though...and now we're left with three (or four...WW is out there...) significant villains, and about a dozen heroes who have yet to do anything significant. But of the three main villains, one already has his foes laid out (Tousen with fox-man and 69), one has some backstory and interaction required (Gin and Matsumoto), and one is really only beatable by Ichigo himself (Aizen). Wonderweiss is left to be destroyed by any number of characters. Unohana, Yamamoto, Shinji, Kensei, Urahara, Yoruichi, Isshin, Ryuken, Chojiro, Love, Rose, Hikifune, Ukitake, Shunsui....the list really goes on.

It's fascinating how he's written himself into a corner with this piece.





In further news, I tried to find a sword again, and once again failed. While coming all kinds of close. But, now I have to get ready for class. And we're out of toilet paper.