Bleach 634 - 637 Reviews

The Last Stand

One thing to be said about Bazz-B is that he is determined.  Even when Haschwalth blew him through the walls of the Silbern with the force of his swing and severely wounded him, he is still determined to not back down in the face of his former friend.  If anything, Bazz-B is not a man who simply accepts what is said, but is a man of action - he will only believe something once he truly sees it happen. 

Moreover, as Bazz-B prepares Burner Finger 4 to continue fighting Haschwalth, his former friend reveals what his full name actually is - Bazzard Black.  The Burner Finger 4's power is impressive even in base, as it completely vaporized the wall and pillar where Bazz-B's attack cut when he Haschwalth dodged.  Because of Bazz-B's temper, his belief in his own strength and antagonism with Haschwalth, he believed that Haschwalth was afraid of losing to him. 

Dream Fulfilled

As we see through the flashback, Bazz-B wanted this fight for a very long time, but Haschwalth's loyalty to Yhwach (and hopefully his past friendship with Bazz) meant he always refused, no matter how much Bazz-B tried to provoke him.  It is also in this flashback that we see why Bazz-B is so intent on fighting Haschwalth - he feels he has not truly lost yet.  As I said in the last section, Bazz is a man of action - he won't believe in something unless he sees it happen first-hand.  In this case, it was Haschwalth being stronger than him that he did not believe, and he wanted a fight to determine who was truly the stronger. 

But as Bazz-B says later on in the chapter, things never go as you want them to.  Haschwalth lops off Bazz-B's arm (which vaporizes another section of a pillar as the arm goes flying), and Bazz-B decides to pull out all the stops with Burning Full Fingers, a blazing torrent of heat emitting from all five of the fingers on his remaining hand...Only for Haschwalth to deal one last blow before Bazz-B could even attack with it.

With that, Bazz-B lost the fight he always, but he's not sad because he lost, but because he thought it'd be more shameful than it actually was.  At the end of the road, Bazz-B was quite accepting of the fact that he lost, which has been a rarity among the Stern Ritter.  We do not see what Haschwalth's feelings are over this matter at all, but the last we've seen of Bazz-B for now is him reflecting on when he first met Haschwalth, as he passes out from his injuries. 

I don't know if Bazz-B is actually dead.  For my part, I hope that he is not dead.  After all the guy has been through, I do hope that he manages to make it out of this war alive, and remains an ally of the protagonists.  But until it is completely clarified, I'll leave his fate up in the air. 

The Exchange of Power

Meanwhile, Giselle and Liltotto thought it'd be a brilliant idea to try and take out Yhwach on their own.  Predictably, it ended with their defeat.  We see Giselle on the ground in a pile of his/her own blood, while Liltotto pretty much had her stomach blown open and pouring out blood, lamenting how she couldn't even put a scratch on Yhwach before finally kicking the bucket. 

I never really felt much sympathy for these particular two Stern Ritter, but I do feel sympathy for their attempt at revenge against Yhwach being in vain, although they should have known they could never take out an awake Yhwach.  Why not wait until Yhwach was actually asleep (not that it would do good against a man who can see the future).

At any rate, with the intruders dealt with, Yhwach goes back to his throne and settles down for a nap, and we see Haschwalth acquire "The Almighty" while the Emperor sleeps.  In other words, it seems it is their abilities that switch, since Haschwalth did not appear to have gained the Soul King's power as well when the switch occurred.  Having "The Almighty" himself now, Haschwalth calls the ability to see into the future "a cruel power", which is not that far from the truth, since Haschwalth is now burdened with the knowledge of all that will happen before it even occurs.  Something in the future must have made Haschwalth say those words, so let us see what that will be.

Schutzstaffel on the Move

Then we get an update on all the Schutzstaffel.  Gerard got back luck with City #1, because he did not find any opponents whatsoever, and he's quite mad at his compatriots for his having no enemies to fight while they will have enemies.  I find it interesting that Gerard did not mention Uryu at all, which makes me consider the possibility that he really has a soft spot for Uryu. 

Off-topic: WRITE YOUR FANFICS!!

Meanwhile...Ichigo and Co completely lost track of both Askin and Grimmjow and decide to split up to find the latter, despite the former hiding on the building RIGHT NEXT TO THEM! 

Ichigo sensed Rukia and Renji's reiatsu just fine, and Yuushiro was able to do the same for Yoruichi's reiatsu, so what kept them from sensing Askin and Grimmjow when they were virtually right on top of them?  The only explanation I have is that both of them concealed their reiatsu to hide from each other and everyone else, but still...

Well, as Ichigo and Co split up, Askin decides to take a rest and pulls out a coffee canister to pour himself, only to ditch the coffee break when Grimmjow pops up right behind them. 

But that was actually what Askin wanted, since he fires off a "Gift ball" at Grimmjow, who swats it away and immediately falls down.  For those who are curious, the German "Gift" means "poison" (learnt that tidbit from "Grimm"), and it fits Askin's deceptive attitude quite well. 

And just like that, Askin took down one of Ichigo's former rivals with just one attack.

Next up among the Schutzstaffel we see is Lille Barro, who has come across the Gotei 13, and moves like a true professional sniper and goes for the guy at the back of the pack with "The X-Axis" first, which happens to be Hisagi in this situation.  Based on his dialogue, Lille Barro is all business in this situation, and he's likely going to silently pick off the Shinigami one by one, but I wouldn't be surprised if he starts rapid-firing once the Shinigami realize they are losing members. 

Madness, Insanity, Bloodlust

Which leaves us with Pernida, who has come across Zaraki and Mayuri's group.  While they banter over what Pernida is supposed to be, Zaraki goes in for the attack, but Mayuri warns him to back away.  While Pernida did manage to mangle an arm, Zaraki also cut Pernida in return...Which really aggravates Pernida as its "head" starts distorting, leaving even Mayuri commenting on how creepy Pernida's behaviour was, which is ironic coming from him. 

In the meantime, Zaraki and Mayuri's subordinates are commenting on the fight, and they share the sentiment that their Captains would not want their help until they are called.  BTW, where is Hanataro.  I don't think I've seen him at all these past two chapters.

Anyway, Pernida then proceeds to turn Zaraki's right arm into a windmill, which Zaraki responds to by ripping his own arm off and taking his blade from his dead arm's fingers before it is twisted into a puddle of blood.  The two begin bantering again and Mayuri tells Nemu to stop the bleeding of Zaraki's arm (WHERE'S HANATARO?  DID HE GET LOST OR FALL BEHIND?), leaving Zaraki to mutter to himself how he can cut Pernida without getting close to him. 

Nimaiya, Zaraki is not, because he finishes his train of thought by concluding that he just has to cut Pernida in two before he can use his power on him, and lunges in for another attack (which I thought would have gone better if Zaraki had used Nozarashi).  Nimaiya had the right idea to throw his sword at Pernida, because Zaraki's attack failed to kill Pernida, and he gets both of his legs broken for his troubles...

And Ashisogi Jizo through the back for good measure, with Mayuri activating "Fear Factor 4" to emit a sound that paralyzes anyone who hears it (without their ears covered) for four seconds, sans Mayuri and Nemu,  because just stabbing Zaraki only paralyzed the limbs, with Fear Factor 4 paralyzing the entire body.

Mad Shinigami, Mad...

Mayuri has never been a team player, and will never be one.  The man does things his own way, morality or ethics be damned.  The sad thing about it is that it tends to prove itself to be very effective, and we are getting back to the Mayuri of old - the one with no moral qualms about what he does so long as the job gets done. 

Since Ashisogi Jizo's "Fear Factor 4" saved Zaraki and also paralyzed Pernida, Mayuri concludes correctly that Pernida's "The Compulsory" is linked to his nerves, which he sends into the target to hijack their bodies and control them.  It seems to work well enough that Pernida can even use it against plants, given what he did to the "Cage of Life".  Mayuri is proven correct, as the acid he used on the black tendrils Pernida sent out causes the Stern Ritter intense pain.

Now that Mayuri knows what Pernida's ability is, he comments to the paralyzed Zaraki that what he did was necessary to save, and even remarks how impressed he is that Zaraki can move after "Fear Factor 4", stating that he now has motive to improve on Ashisogi Jizo further.

Then Mayuri goes full-blown psycho.  He glamorizes his back-stabbing Zaraki as a "noble sacrifice" to learn Pernida's ability, saying that "noble victories are always preceded by noble sacrifices".  While one can understand the meaning behind the statement, only a madman could apply it to the current situation, all the while asking the enemy to donate their body for experimentation.

Ikkaku is rightfully pissed off by Mayuri painting what he did to Zaraki in that light, while Nemu is...actually concerned.  When Yumichika comments on how Mayuri is still the same as always, she states that she hopes that is the case.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again: we have been getting death-flags for Mayuri throughout the past year, and we may finally see those warnings come to fruition.

As to what is worse than the current Mayuri, we may soon get our answer, because Pernida completely loses it, rips apart his cloak and reveals he is...

...Mad Hand

A hand with a eye in the center bearing two irises, with the fingers chained together. 

This I did not expect in the slightest, and I sincerely applaud Kubo for going beyond what my expectations were.  Then Mayuri drops another bombshell on us by stating what exactly Pernida is.

Pernida is the Left Arm of the Soul King.

Pernida proceeds to break the chains and transform itself further, eventually becoming a giant left arm looming over the streets of the city, the muscles at the end of the arm presumably rooted into the ground.  While Ikkaku asks if the Soul King was that huge (no, not the last time I checked, though I don't know anymore), Mayuri replies he doesn't know, but he states that Pernida's reiatsu is almost the same as the reiatsu from Ukitake when he lost consciousness (HALLEUJAH HE'S ALIVE!!).

Then Mayuri states the conclusion that most of the fandom reached when we first saw Mimihagi - if the Right Arm was in Ukitake, then it made sense for the Left Arm to be floating around somewhere.  But for my part, I did not think that we'd see the Left Arm so soon, much less be one of the Schutzstaffel. 

What is interesting to note is that, unlike its "brother", Pernida has two "eyes" on its hand compared to Mimihagi's one "eye".  Moreover, Mimihagi's "eye" was on the back of the hand, while Pernida's "eyes" are on the palm (unless there is an eye to each side of the hand).  Given Pernida's "eyes" are reminiscent of Yhwach's first stage of "The Almighty", could this mean that Pernida can see the future with its eyes as well, since Yhwach said that Mimihagi should be capable of that, despite Yhwach being stronger than it.

Darkness of the King, The Lost Past of the Shinigami

As Mayuri blocks Pernida's nerves with a bio-engineered umbrella that screams as it is twisted into a mass of flesh, Mayuri states the one thing that must be on everybody's minds: why is the Soul King's left arm working for Yhwach? 

Given what we have seen in the past twenty chapters, I think the answer to that is the same as why the overflowing torrent of the Soul King's power took form and attacked the Gotei 13 - the Soul King's enemies are the Shinigami.  Mimihagi might have aimed to protect the Soul Society, but it was also in a contract with Ukitake, so it would not be impossible to assume that Ukitake's will blended with Mimihagi's own. 

But the Mini-Mimihagi and Pernida seem to be another matter.

Ever since the Soul King was first stabbed by Yhwach, we've been getting continual evidence that the Soul King is a much darker entity than the "lynchpin of the world" we have been told he is. First was the nature of Mimihagi, the "Right Arm of the Soul King"; the torrents of the Soul King's power attacking the Shinigami; Yhwach's appearance after absorbing the Soul King, and now Pernida, the Left Arm of the Soul King that has aligned itself with Yhwach, the Soul King's son.

Two of these developments point towards one possibility - the Soul King has a burning hatred for the Shinigami, while the developments as a whole show us clearly that, whatever the Soul King is/was, it was never Human. It all calls into question the Shinigami's past history, and what exactly they are fighting for.

Euphoria of the Scientist

But Mayuri doesn't have the readers' concerns, since he's more excited about the prospect of a new organism standing in front of him, and he can't wait to sink his intellectual teeth into Pernida's body and to learn everything he can about it - how it can speak, how it can hear, what organs does it possess, what power does it have, what secrets does it have - and everything Pernida has done is driving Mayuri further and further into excitement, he might as well be reaching mad scientist heaven, completely ignoring Ikkaku's warning to run while urging the Left Arm of the Soul King to show him more.

To which Pernida replies:

"Left...Arm...Name is...Wrong.  Per...nida...Pernida."

Mayuri, don't annoy Pernida any further.  You might not survive what comes down the road next if Pernida decides to shed its flesh and go Master Core on your ass.

Bleach Chapters 624 - 633 AKA. Volume 69 Review

My apologies for not keeping up with this for to anyone who has been following this blog of mine.  I'll be sure to try to keep up to date with the chapters from now on.  For now, here is a special blog post.

Defeating the Same Foe Together 1

Poor NaNaNa.  Although the feat is an achievement in of itself in the context of the series, he was only able to immobilize Aizen for five minutes with "The Underbelly".  It just goes to show what a monster Aizen is, since he recovered so quickly from an ability specifically designed to go after the weak spots in an individual's reiatsu - and that was when Aizen's reiatsu was restrained. 

While it is nice to see Shinigami and Quincy work together after all that has happened between the two races (though I mainly care about Bazz-B out of the three), Aizen is the one who put it best - they are not protecting Soul Society together, but simply going after the same enemy.  We'll see this placed into perspective later, but the interesting thing is that Aizen begins to lament on how Ichigo set foot into the Soul King Palace before him, and states that he is very difficult to forgive. 

Despite the fact that Aizen's manipulation of Yhwach's senses ended up saving Ichigo in the first invasion, it is clear that Aizen still has not forgiven Ichigo for his previous defeat.  This could lead to some very interesting exchanges between the two in the future, but any of Aizen's musings were over-shadowed by something else that took place in later chapters...

Trying Too Hard at Humor?

I can only say this: in the current situation, Kubo might be trying too hard to insert humor into a rather dark situation.  While we do get to see how Ichigo and Co survived their fall - Inoue used her Santen Kesshun to catch everyone, and Yoruichi had pulled them up to one of the Squad Zero Palaces - the arguably misplaced humor comes when we see Kon pop up out of Ichigo's Shihakusho (been wondering where he was), causing Ichigo to knock the back of his head against Inoue's head, knocking him out cold. 

I'll get into why I have particular gripes about this later, but I have to condense ten chapters into one review.

After the bout of comedy, Ichigo and Co begin discussing how they will counter-attack the Quincy.  While Ichigo does state he can make reiatsu footholds to make it on his own while everyone else can use Inoue's Santen Kesshun, they'd be wide open targets if they were attacked on the way up. 

But for this, Yoruichi has a plan, and it is related to a stake we saw placed on the ground in chapter 624.  She then tells someone to come out, and a Garganta opens in the Soul King Palace.

Espada, Xcutioners and Screams 1

"IT'S GRIMMJOW FREAKIN' JAEGERJAQUEZ!!"

That is a brief summarization of a good portion of the fandom's reaction to the ending of chapter 624.  People have been waiting YEARS for confirmation on his fate and his return to the manga - I recall people going crazy in chapters 500 and 518, when all we saw were his Zanpakuto and his arm.  After all, he was one of the most popular characters in Bleach by a long-shot. 

It was nice to see that Grimmjow did not change at all, and he still seems quite determined to settle the score with Ichigo (how he'd beat the current Ichigo would be something requiring Segunda Etapa, but even that might not be enough).  But as we quickly saw, Grimmjow did not come alone, because Neliel came with him.

ADULT Neliel, not the child Nel.  So strikes the divine thunderbolt of science once more, as Neliel explains that she is now able to change between adult and child form at will because of a special bracelet that Urahara made for her.

Anyone recall what I said about science in Bleach?  My opinion still stands on there, since spiritual physics is not something anyone in the fandom would be an expert on.  The bracelet likely has to do with stabilizing Neliel's spiritual power, since it leaking out of her broken mask is what caused her to revert to child form in the first place.  I read that a lot of people were disappointed that she reverted back to child form before finishing off Nnoitra the first time around, so this will satisfy many readers (and many of her fanboys) since we now get to see adult Neliel fight again.

Jealousy Lingers

Also, I have to comment on this, because it'll stick in my mind until I say it: Inoue was jealous, plain and simple.  I'm not buying into Sado's guess that Inoue was thinking that Urahara made something unnecessary again (case in point, Inoue's outfit), because Neliel was once the Third Espada.  I don't know what kind of training Inoue and Sado did in Hueco Mundo, but Urahara sending two former Espada to Ichigo's aid says to me that Urahara knows that Ichigo needs much more help than those two.

As to why Inoue would be jealous, let me count the ways - Neliel is an adult, well-developed woman who is not shy about being affectionate with Ichigo, and there is precedent for Inoue being jealous of Neliel before:








Yes, I know that I'll be getting a lot of responses to linking these particular pages, and a lot of people will protest my choices.  But here is the deal - in both of those scenes, Inoue was wanting to heal Ichigo's wounds, but Ichigo's attention in both cases was focused on Nel.  In the first case, Ichigo was in awe of Neliel's power against Nnoitra, to the point where he did not even hear Inoue's words.  After that, you have Inoue's rather sad face as she looks in Neliel's direction.  That on its own would be confusing. 

The next scene, however, could set it in context.  Ichigo is even more wounded than before, and Inoue is once again about to heal Ichigo's wounds, but Ichigo tells her to heal Nel first, resulted in a shaded panel with a focus on Inoue's reaction.  Why?  Why would Inoue react like that to Ichigo's request?  I won't go into it any further because I don't want to step on any more, but I'll just link Inoue's reaction to adult Neliel in chapter 625:



HOW IS THAT NOT THE FACE OF JEALOUSY?  Her panicked and clearly flustered reaction to Sado's words practically sells it. 

Okay, moving on.

Espada, Xcutioners, and Screams 2

Of course, Grimmjow does not take to being interrupted by Neliel glomping Ichigo, and the two exchange words about their respective positions as Espada briefly, and Grimmjow seems intent on proving he is the stronger one because their numbers under Aizen do not matter anymore.  However, he is interrupted by a person that I was not thinking I would see again.

In the Garganta, there was a big black box, and inside that box was Riruka.  The last time we saw Riruka, her send-off seemed permanent - she left Karakura Town and wanted Ichigo and Co to forget about her at the end of the Lost Agent Arc, but now she is here alongside Yukio (one of the Fullbringers I wanted to see come back), and Yukio tells everyone to get inside the box. 

In more ways than one, Ichigo is not only the main character, but also the audience surrogate in the story, because he reacts the exact same way as all us readers did when demanding Yoruichi to explain what the heck was going on in full detail.  I'm fully on Ichigo's side here, as Yoruichi's demeanour to Ichigo's demands to know what is going on is too cat-like (pun intended, apologies to my own cats).  And yes, Ichigo, you were in the dark as much as we were.

Then Kubo went and made the Valley of Screams canon.  He made "Memories of Nobody" canon.  This is further backed up in a later chapter where Ichigo admits that he has been to the Valley of Screams once before, despite the event never happening in the manga, only in the movie.  Are the events of Ichigo going to the Valley of the Screams the exact same as in the movie?  Who knows?  Is this still a big deal?  YES.

Either way, the in-manga explanation is that there are multiple Valley of Screams, both big and small, and they are able to remain stable and sustain themselves in the normally unstable Garganta for reasons unknown, likely due to the very structure of their reishi being different.  Urahara wanted to exploit, so he sought out the two Fullbringers who abilities were ideally suited for his purposes - Yukio being able to create pocket dimensions with his "Invaders Must Die", and Riruka's "Dollhouse" to encapsulate a small Valley of Screams inside a box.  When that was combined with Yukio's Fullbring, it was turned into a room with rails.  How it managed to get up to the Soul King Palace is because of that stake that Yoruichi had planted, and she planted a similar one next to the Soul King (his chrysalis, at least), which will allow them to sneak into the Soul King Palace and launch their surprise attack.

Yoruichi, do you believe you are in the Bleach-verse, or Fairy Tail?  It's only in Fairy Tail where surprise attacks on a vastly superior enemy work even when they have already humiliated you.  Pernida straight up mutilated your arm and Yhwach wiped the floor with Ichibei.  No matter who Urahara sends you as back-up, or how many people, you aren't closing that gap, especially since the gap has become even wider. 

Shopkeeper's Mask

But before we get into that, I need to make a comment on Urahara.  As is clear from his reactions to the Soul King's death with the Gotei 13 in contrast to his plan involving the Fullbringers, Urahara is not showing anyone his full hand - not the Shinigami, not the readers, and not Ichigo.  The man would not have planned to send Grimmjow and Neliel up to the Soul King Palace to assist Ichigo (showing that the Soul King Palace is not blocked from access via the Garganta) if he did not expect Ichigo to initially fail to defeat Yhwach and protect the Soul King. 

The entire scenario is suspect, when you think about.  Ichibei sent them to Yhwach without giving them any prior warning about his abilities, and we readers saw that Ichibei knew that Ichigo and Co could not defeat Yhwach.  Who is to say that Urahara is not wearing a similar mask? 

As we saw in recent chapters, Shunsui spoke of deciding upon a new Soul King after they defeat Yhwach, which I will get into more later.  Given Ichigo's unique nature, Kirinji's words about the Soul King "falling for Ichigo", and Shunsui's comment about Ichigo not being able to come back to the Living World, it seems all the signs are pointing towards the Shinigami wanting to make Ichigo the new Soul King.

The horrifying part is that this may be what Urahara meant when he said that Ichigo's future would be taken away from him if he regains his Shinigami powers - it will inevitably lead to Ichigo being made to take the Soul King's place, as he may be the only individual qualified, given his nature.  Isshin knew about the Auswahlen - something that caught the Squad Zero off-guard when Yhwach used it to revive the Schutzstaffel - so Urahara likely knew that Yhwach was coming back.  It really puts things in a depressing light, now that I think about it - could the whole series have been Urahara grooming Ichigo to become the Soul King's successor?  It does have symmetry with Uryu being declared Yhwach's successor, but that was by the man himself.  As of now, Ichigo is not aware of the possible fate that awaits him.  What can it be called when the villains are more honest with their intents and end-goals than the "protagonists"?

If I recall correctly, Kubo only said that the Vandenreich were the enemies, not the antagonists.

The New God

Even if Yhwach is making a very strong case for himself.

Yhwach succeeded in doing what he set out to do, and has completely absorbed the Soul King into himself.  The end result of said absorption is...less than Human:



Given he's a character drawn on paper by a mangaka, it is technically correct to call Yhwach the son of an ink blot.  From an in-story context, Yhwach is claiming to be the son of what I can only call an eldritch being.  That is the only thing I can call the former Soul King (which no longer exists), ever since we first saw Mimihagi.  Not only was Mimihagi the Right Arm of the Soul King, but it was also independent of the original Soul King, and it might have three more siblings out there in the form of the Soul King's missing left arm and legs.

The image above is the end result of Yhwach absorbing all that excess power into himself.  It's so vast that it seems to have physically changed Yhwach.  He might be still adapting to the power (I suspect a good clash with Ichigo might cause it to stabilize), since it seems like a covering of black over his eyes and not an actually physical change, since the eyes seem to shift around his body. 

Either way, it is still unnerving, even to his own subordinates sans Haschwalth, but the power brought about by Yhwach absorbing his "father" (still don't understand how that works) is monumental, as he casually peels apart the Vandenreich and reassembles it in the Soul King Palace. 

Wahrwelt

Wahrwelt - such is the name of the new palace that Yhwach created over the Soul King's rotten tombstone.  The fact that Yhwach was able to do this so easily and in the space of a few seconds speaks volumes of the power he now possesses due to absorbing the Soul King.  It took Ichigo half a day to cross the distance between the Soul King Palace and the Seireitei at full-speed Shunpo; Yhwach's Soul King-fuelled feats keep on crossing that distance in seconds. 

It is at the time that Yhwach is doing this that Ichigo and Co arrive at Yoruichi's marker, and the Shinigami finally complete the Gate to reach the Soul King Palace...except it is not there anymore, as Yhwach completely renovated the place soon after absorbing all of the Soul King's power.  Yhwach even changed the nature and density of the reishi in the atmosphere to make it so the Shinigami cannot make footholds with their reiatsu, as Yuushiro and Ichigo learnt the hard way.

Yoruichi, Ichigo and Co, and the Gotei 13.  Are you all absolutely certain that you think you can still defeat Yhwach after this?  Yhwach has absorbed the Soul King and re-built the Vandenreich as the Wahrwelt over the Soul King Palace, the Schutzstaffel that were empowered by Auswahlen crushed Squad Zero.  You are essentially going up against six Quincy on the level of Yamamoto and Aizen, while Yhwach is pushing Deicide-levels of power now that he's absorbed the Soul King. 

The clock will run down on the current battle, and this arc in-universe will go on to the ninth day that Yhwach's "Kaiser Gesang" mentioned at minimum.  You are not winning this one.  Sorry about that.

Regardless, the Schutzstaffel are set to defend the Wahrwelt, and they and Uryu have been sent to the five points of Wahrwelt to stand guard against intruders.  The first to come into combat was Askin, and Grimmjow wasted no time in trying to get his claws into him, and probably falling for Askin's trap in the process.

Meanwhile, Mayuri is off doing his own thing separate from the Gotei 13, only he has the unwanted company of Zaraki Kenpachi, Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Hanataro, who were left behind when the others went through the door. 

Defeating the Same Foe Together 2

Remember what I said about the Shinigami and Quincy "working together"?  It is clear that is not the case, since Bazz-B and Co took the express route up to the newly-named Wahrwelt through the Gate of the Sun, which definitely seems like a teleportation device usable by only the Quincy, since Bazz-B and the others used it to get right to the top of Wahrwelt, where they intend to dispose of both Yhwach and Haschwalth on their own. 

Normally, it would be suicidal (even with a plan it would be suicidal) but we do see that Bazz-B has a plan behind his actions, and it all centers around Jugram, Grandmaster of the Stern Ritter and the one who wears the "Mask of the Ruler" while Yhwach sleeps.  When night falls and Yhwach sleeps to store his power, his power will switch with Haschwalth's power.  That is when Bazz-B intends to kill Haschwalth and Yhwach's power with him, because night is about to fall.

Night is about to fall...

NIGHT IS ABOUT TO FALL!!

I'm sorry, but I must puzzle through this.

It was the morning when Ichigo arrived in the Seireitei from the Soul King Palace, as the Vandenreich superseded the Seireitei at about 5 PM (a clock tower indicated as such), and Ichigo left for the Seireitei three hours after the Vandenreich began its attack.  At the most, based on Ichigo's own estimates, he should have arrived at around 8 AM the next day in the morning hours. 

Immediately after Ichigo's arrival, when there was still a hole in the Soul King Palace's defenses for 6000 seconds, Yhwach and Co took the opportunity to head up to the Soul King Palace.  Ichigo and Co followed after them in a pseudo-Tenchuren made by Mayuri based on the Shiba Cannon's design. 

In the mean-time, the Shinigami began to build the Gate to connect the Seireitei to the Soul King Palace via the Tenshiheiso, and Urahara explicitly stated that they only have this opportunity because Ichigo broke through the barrier surrounding the Soul King Palace.

The events of chapter 612 to 623 came in rapid succession of one another, with no place present for a skip in time in between those events.  It should have still been the morning of the second day, based on that.

But in chapter 630, Bazz-B tells Jugo to look outside, because night is about to fall soon.

Now, I don't know if the connection made with the Tenshiheiso to the Soul King Palace only required the barriers to be open for a short period of time and did not require the barriers to remain open after that (it is a gate through Space-Time, after all), because to go from morning to just about night is a space of time much longer than 6000 seconds. 

So, Kubo, are you trying to tell me that it took half a day for Yhwach to completely absorb the Soul King, and for the Gotei 13 to complete the Gate?  Was Ichigo knocked out for that long as well?

That's it.  That's all I'll say.  Moving on.

Friends

To get back on track, as Bazz-B and Haschwalth continue their fight, we are given flash-backs to when Bazz-B and Haschwalth first met - one thousand years ago.  I'll admit that this was a bit surprising, because most of us likely expected Quincy to have the life-spans of normal Humans.  Perhaps this longevity is a result of the Schrifts that Yhwach gave all his Stern Ritter, but this likely makes the Schutzstaffel, along with Haschwalth and Bazz-B, older than most of the Shinigami cast, ironically enough.  In hind-sight, it does explain Askin's familiarity with how the Vandenreich came to be.

At any rate, Bazz-B and Haschwalth both met each other when they were just children in ye old Middle Ages Europe.  In fact, they both met each other when Haschwalth was out hunting for a rabbit and Bazz-B wanted to show off his skills as a Quincy "prodigy".  While Bazz-B lived in a "small castle", as he calls it (some I know mistook it for a town in the initial flash-back panel that opened this mini-arc), Haschwalth apparently lived in the woods with a...very abusive uncle, to put it lightly.  Because Bazz-B took pity on Haschwalth, he took him under his wing, and he told him that they would become the strongest Quincy.

What firmly set this flash-back one thousand years ago is the fact that Yhwach showed up half a year later and burnt the entire area down - castle and forest alike, killing Bazz-B's family and Haschwalth's uncle. 

The Mysteries of the Man Named God, and the World That Was

As much as the flashback is about Haschwalth and Bazz-B, it is in equal parts about unveiling more about the nature of Yhwach.  In this flashback, it was established that Yhwach was two hundred years old at this point, which makes him much younger than I had originally imagined the "Father of the Quincy" being, which is something that people also called Yhwach back then. 

But Bazz-B doesn't care about that, as he's hell-bent on killing Yhwach, and he brings Haschwalth along with him, probably assuming they are both equally invested in seeking revenge for the deaths of their family members (though I doubt either miss Haschwalth's abusive uncle that much).  While the two of them trained for five years, Yhwach most likely continued conquering until there was nothing left in the Lichtreich ("Empire of Light/Light Realm") to conquer, at which point he turned his sights upon the Soul Society and the creation of the Stern Ritter.

Now, we need to have a bit more clarification on this, I think.  We heard that Yhwach ruled over the northern territories of where Bazz-B and Jugo lived, and Zeidritz mentioned that Yhwach had conquered everything in the Lichtreich.  Does this mean that Yhwach was the ruler of his own country in the Living World, or did he successfully conquer the entire world, and called it the Lichtreich as a result?

Since the Quincy are spread out across the world, based on the names of various Stern Ritter, it would not surprise me if Yhwach actually did conquer the world at some point with his power.  If Yhwach did indeed conquer the whole world, that could give new meaning to what he meant by "reclaiming the world in nine days" - he was not referring to the Soul Society, but the Living World.  Conquering Soul Society was just a stepping stone towards that final conquest, where Yhwach brings both the Living World and the Soul Society under his rule in the "true world".

But if that is the case, then we know that the Shinigami-Quincy War of a thousand years ago is what led to the collapse of the Lichtreich. 

The question is why no history in the Living World has any record of that time period.

The Mysteries of the Man Named God, and the Aberrant Quincy

While Bazz-B and Haschwalth were training, Bazz-B kept on growing stronger while Haschwalth has displayed no abilities of the Quincy whatsoever - he could not gather spirit particles, and he could not even form a bow.  While that is not true now, since Haschwalth did display the ability to gather spirit particles when confronted with Nanao's barrier, it seemed to be true back then. 

From this, we hear from Bazz-B that there was a folktale about Quincy born incapable of gathering reishi every few decades, and that those Quincy were considered incomplete/disabled/aberrant and culled while still young.  In a way, Haschwalth is probably fortunate his uncle kept him around despite his abusive nature - had he ended up with anyone, he'd have been culled.

According to Bazz-B, such an event had not happened for centuries, meaning Haschwalth was the first Quincy in a long time to be born like that.  Despite that, he could not abandon him.

After five years, Algora and Hubert came to the town near Bazz-B and Haschwalth were training, and they announced to the local townsfolk that Yhwach was establishing a new army - the Stern Ritter - and were looking for recruits from the local town.  Algora announces that the Stern Ritter would lead the invasion of the Soul Society, claiming that Yhwach feels that Soul Society would become a threat if left to their own devices, and states that anyone who wants to fight for the survival of the Quincy should step forward.

Technically speaking, Algora is correct on both accounts, given our hindsight.  The newly formed Gotei 13 virtually exterminated the Quincy in the Shinigami-Quincy War of a thousand years ago, most likely erased the Lichtreich from not only the history books but also from all Human memories, as well as all memory of the Quincy.  After all, Algora seems to be addressing an entire village of Quincy (normal Humans can't feel spiritual pressure), so there were once much more wide-spread than they would be in the current setting.

Bazz-B sees the Stern Ritter as a chance for him and Haschwalth to get close to Yhwach, and Bazz-B drags Haschwalth along with him to confront Algora about joining the Stern Ritter.  When Algora rejects Bazz-B's request, Bazz-B pushes the issue with Algora and the two almost come to blows. 

Cue Yhwach arriving and knocking everyone in the village (and Bazz-B) down with his reiatsu.  While Algora apologizes to Yhwach for being provoked into a fight with Bazz-B, Yhwach pays it little heed, as he came to the village to pick up the one who will be his right-hand man - Haschwalth Jugram.

The Quincy Who Give and Share Power

Bazz-B doesn't take it well, to say the least.  After he spent five years of his life training for the purpose of getting close to Yhwach and killing him, he is passed over in favour of the one who "has no talent".  Even if Bazz-B and Jugo did share the same wish, Bazz-B had always assumed he'd be the one to do it, if one of them was unable to.  Even Haschwalth says that he thinks Bazz-B is more suited to be Yhwach's Right-Hand Man.  Algora does not like the fact that Haschwalth is questioning Yhwach, but His Majesty interrupts to explain his reasoning.

We clearly see at this point that Yhwach does have "The Almighty" (contrary to a theory I once made on their connection when chapter 632 initially came out), and that he had seen Haschwalth's confusion already.  He then explains why Haschwalth was not only the only Quincy standing when Yhwach reiatsu-crushed everyone else, but also why he has been unable to collect reishi and form Heilig Bogen, and why he is choosing him to be his Right-Hand Man.

Haschwalth is just like Yhwach, a Quincy with the ability to share power.



It looks like you omitted something from your explanation to Uryu, Haschwalth.  Even so, it remains to be seen if Haschwalth's power works in the exact same way as Yhwach's own.

Yhwach has been searching for a Quincy like Haschwalth for a long time, since not one Quincy had been born in the past two hundred years with the same abilities as Yhwach.  That is when it clicked in Bazz-B's mind - the true nature of those "incomplete" Quincy from folklore -  and a number of possibilities clicked in my own mind. 

In a sense, it is tragic.  Apparently, Quincy like Haschwalth and Yhwach were born every few decades, but they were all culled at a young age and unable to realize their potential because the Quincy race as a whole did not understand what their power actually was.  On the other hand, Yhwach was the last one of these produced, but it seems he hit the jackpot even among such Quincy because of the specific nature of his ability "to share power".

While Yhwach can share power, grow it and take it back (as explained back in chapter 565 in detail), he is certain that Haschwalth probably cannot do the same.  It would make sense, if the abilities of such Quincy are as varied as those of normal Quincy and all the other races. 

Now, given Yhwach can see the future, do not tell me that he did not pick his following words with the intent of driving a rift between Haschwalth and Bazz-B - Yhwach out-right states to Bazz-B that he must have felt his power increasing daily during all the time he spent with Haschwalth, and belittles him for thinking that it was the result of his own efforts and power.

According to Yhwach, it is because Haschwalth was unconsciously sharing power with Bazz-B that he became so strong in the first place; that he became a "genius".  In short, Yhwach broke Bazz-B down completely, tore down his perception of himself, and made him realize his place.  He then finishes by telling Haschwalth to come with him, and that he needs him by his side.

While we all know Yhwach's true nature, and Haschwalth may have come to regret his decision, based on his words to Uryu in 565, it is hard to not feel the sad joy in Haschwalth's eyes.  For once, he is not being told that he needs someone else to take care of him, and that there is someone who says they need him.  Yhwach gave Haschwalth what he desired most - to feel genuinely wanted by someone - and tore away everything Bazz-B had.

Fallen Friendship

Bazz-B dropped all pretense of subtlety in his following rage and fires a Heilig Pfiel straight at Yhwach, only for Haschwalth to catch it before it can strike Yhwach.



That look in Haschwalth's eye as he catches the arrow terrifies me.  Bazz-B's devastated and wounded expression to the act makes me want to hug him.  That right there almost feels like the entire turning point in their respective personalities, and the point where their friendship was irreparably damaged. 

Bazz-B simply looks broken in the above panel.  Yhwach has completely deconstructed all his efforts in the last five years of his life by telling him how he owes it all to Haschwalth, and he also turned former friends against one another by giving Haschwalth the one thing he could never refused and must have craved for his entire life - someone who cares about and needs him, and someone who gave his life purpose by revealing what he truly was. 

After losing his home and family, revenge on Yhwach, his friendship with Haschwalth, and his pride were all that Bazz-B had left.  Yhwach crushed Bazz-B's pride with the truth about Haschwalth's nature, and the above scene is when both Haschwalth and his quest for vengeance were both taken from him, a moment paralleled in the present time of the story where Haschwalth caught Bazz-B's Heilig Pfiel in a similar manner, and struck him down. 

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Is this the end of the flash-back?  Absolutely not.  From the current point in the flashbacks, we do not know when or how Bazz-B got into the Stern Ritter, or what changed his perception of Yhwach so drastically and change him into a loyal Stern Ritter of Yhwach.  It took getting hit by the Auswahlen for Bazz-B to get back on track for revenge in the modern day, even if it means bringing down his former friend with Yhwach.  What changed this is still something we need to see, so Bazz-B is not dead yet.

Opened Doors of the Mind

I mentioned possibilities that clicked in my own mind before, and I suppose it is time to elaborate on what I meant. 

Here's the brief version from my initial reaction to the chapter:

Damn, that is some very heavy stuff.

So Haschwalth is a Quincy that is the same as Yhwach - one born every two hundred years with the ability of giving and...sharing his...powers...

*thinks back to Ginjo*

Oh my God...

*remembers Urahara's explanation for Inoue and Sado awakening their powers*

Oh my God!

Now for my explanation in full. 

I have always felt that Ginjo may have been the Shinigami Representative going back two hundred years ago, and his being like Ichigo and the Cross he wears has made me think that Ginjo is also the child of a Quincy and a Shinigami, much like Ichigo. 

The recent revelation about Haschwalth bears significance for both Ginjo and Ichigo, but I'll get to Ginjo first.  It never crossed my mind before because it was believed that Yhwach was the only Quincy with "the power to share power", but this flashback has shown that not only is Haschwalth the same as Yhwach, but that such Quincy have always been born from every few decades to at least two centuries. 

Back in the "Lost Agent Arc", Ginjo was able to use his Badge Fullbring to steal Ichigo's Fullbring from him, and he also displayed the ability to share that Fullbring with the Xcutioners, and it was established that Shinigami Representatives and Fullbringers could share their powers with one another, according to Yukio.  I had assumed once that it was due to how they were opposites - Fullbringers as Humans with power derived from Hollow reiryoku, and Ginjo and Ichigo being the children of Shinigami and Quincy. 

While that still stands, it could also be connected to both Ginjo and Ichigo being born as Quincy with "the power to share power", with Ichigo born 200 years after Ginjo, just as Haschwalth was born 200 years after Yhwach.

In Ichigo's case, it ties back into Urahara's initial explanation for Inoue and Sado awakening their spiritual powers.  He explained it as Ichigo's uncontrolled spiritual power affecting the spirits of those around him, but it could very well just be a half-truth - it is a result of being close to Ichigo, but the catalyst was not simply his reiatsu.  Rather, Ichigo was the same as Haschwalth - he unconsciously "shared powers" with those nearby when he was in his Shinigami form and fighting Hollows. 

As the Hogyoku is also a factor, alongside the remnants of Hollow reiryoku left over in their bodies from Hollow attacks, we have a train of logic to work with - the Hogyoku makes manifest the heart's desire so long as the target possesses the power necessary to beget their desire.  If Ichigo does have "the power to share power", then the power he unknowingly shared with Inoue and Sado is what gave Inoue and Sado "the power necessary to beget their desires", with the remnants of Hollow reiryoku being what the Hogyoku's influence acted upon to cause them to manifest their powers as Fullbring.

Post-Script: In the "Lost Agent Arc", it was established that Ichigo had no power or reiatsu whatsoever until a few days prior to chapter 425, when Inoue and Uryu started sensing reiatsu from him.  It might be unrelated, given Ginjo's later explanation (while under "Book of the End", however), but Ichigo first came across Ginjo in chapter 424.  Who is to say that Ichigo's reiatsu didn't start coming back initially because Ginjo had "shared power" with Ichigo, and that is why Ichigo's Fullbring developed so quickly, akin to how Bazz-B developed his powers at a rapid rate due to being near Haschwalth? 

Bleach Chapter 623 Review

Shooting Down Heaven DENIED!
Aizen has made good on his word of destroying the shroud with his reiatsu, as the Vice-Captain and Ikkaku look on in fear of Aizen about to attempt this monumental feat.

The only one among who tries to act to prevent Aizen from doing so is Rukia, but she is grabbed by the shoulder by Kyoraku. To me, it is clear why Rukia is the one who tried to stop Aizen from shooting down the Soul King Palace. Ichigo and Co are still up in the Soul King Palace (as far as they all know), and Aizen shooting it down would endanger them as well.

But Kyoraku had good reason for stopping Rukia - Aizen didn't need to be stopped as all, since all the reiatsu he was gathering for the technique that was going to shoot down the Soul King Palace (can I assume that thing would have been Hado #99 or something like that?) suddenly dispersed, surprising even Aizen.

As Kyoraku explained, Aizen's restraints are designed to restrain his reiatsu around his body, meaning it was futile for Aizen to try to shoot down the Soul King Palace, and calls the restraints the pinnacle of Soul Society's technology, the proud controller of that technology being Kurotsuchi Mayuri.

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Now, people have complained a lot about the inventions that people like Urahara and Mayuri have created in the past (exempla gratia, the Reiatsu Amplifier), but I do not have such complaints. After all, look at the technologies that humankind has pioneered in the last century alone. Modern medicine, automotive vehicles, nuclear energy, computer technologies, the Large Hadron Collider, the space station, the Lunar landing, cloning, anti-matter, et cetera are all examples of how much humankind has accomplished with science.

Hell, we've even gone and done the once-impossible by achieving Negative Kelvin temperatures and learning they're hotter than infinitely hot temperatures.

As a result, the various inventions of the Bleach scientists - including Mayuri - do not surprise me, especially considering that some of them mimic the abilities of certain characters anyway. I'll be truly impressed if Mayuri decides to go full-on mad scientist and creates a spiritual nuclear bomb, or anti-reishi.

The Immortal Sinners of Muken

As to why the restraints exist, here we have Mayuri drop a very fascinating piece of information about the prisoners of Muken - all of them are immortal.

Mayuri tells us that, as long as a Shinigami's heart keeps beating, their body will produce reiatsu. The reason why such restraints are needed for the Muken prisoners is that they cannot killed, and because no one in Soul Society could stop their hearts. That is why Soul Society's technological prowess was focused towards creating something capable of restraining their reiatsu along with their body. Mayuri can control the extent of this restraint, which explains why he could use Kurohitsugi - Mayuri loosened the restraints enough for him to use it, and completely shut him down when he tried to shoot down the Soul King Palace.

While it does act as a means of not showing us the full scope of Aizen's power just yet, it does bring to light a very interesting plot point that I wish Kubo will address in the future. I really want to know exactly who the prisoners in Muken are, how they cannot be killed, and what did they all try to do that got them locked up down there in the first place.

But what is more is what it entails: not even Yamamoto could kill these prisoners with all his power, even Zanka no Tachi. The Sokyoku could not kill them either, and that thing has enough concentrated power to destroy Soul Society, if it was ever used for that purpose. In other words, we seem to have a group of truly immortal characters inside the Muken.

While we don't know who they are, we do have a number to them - six prisoners in Muken, counting Aizen (that's all I will say on the matter). From the old "Spirits Are Forever With You" novels, Azashiro Kenpachi was among those other five prisoners. I can imagine some people will not be happy if Azashiro is made canon.

Either way, there is a lot of potential to be had with the other four prisoners, and I hope that Kubo will take the time to make use of them.

Attack of the Remnants

Although Aizen is interested in testing whether or not his reiatsu can break the restraints, he is stopped from doing so by an interrupting NaNaNa, who unveils his ability and we finally learn the name of his Schrift - Stern Ritter "U - The Underbelly". NaNaNa, by observing the opponent's reiatsu, can establish a grid pattern on the enemy by which he can target the holes in the target's reiatsu, and paralyze them by attacking those points - which he does so against Aizen, who is not even made unconscious by the attack.
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It seems we now know why NaNaNa was so confident in taking down Renji, having observed him for so long, but it also shows how circumstantial his power is. If the enemy does not give NaNaNa enough time to analyze their reiatsu (e.g. against Byakuya), his ability cannot be used. But still, to have an effect on Aizen as he is now shows how dangerous the ability is.

In addition to that, we now have one of the remaining three Letters revealed to us. That only leaves "N" and "K" as unrevealed, which makes me think that Kubo still has something planned for their holders. I have a feeling that Robert is not going to stay dead, if my idea that his letter means "The Never-ending" comes true.
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Accompanying him are Liltotto, Giselle, and Bazz-B, and NaNaNa states that the Quincy have issues with Aizen shooting down the Soul King Palace.

As Kyoraku said, their timing couldn't be worse, and he asks for a progress report on the gate. As we saw last chapter, they lost all the reiatsu they built up for the Gate, meaning they now have to start from scratch, and Kyoraku decides to buy time for the Shinigami by taking on all the Stern Ritter by himself.

"The Priorites of "B", "G" and "Z" do not Match with "U"

More of Giselle's zombies show up, and Mayuri states that he's actually surprised by that turn of events, guessing that Giselle must be a zombie herself/himself, to which Giselle just makes the silliest face of mockery at Mayuri imaginable.

Kyoraku then asks if NaNaNa having the same problem with Aizen shooting down the Soul King Palace means the Quincy have come to join forces with the Shinigami, to which NaNaNa answers in the negative, stating that Yhwach is up in the Soul King Palace.

This goes to show the different views the Stern Ritter all have of Yhwach. While Liltotto and Bazz-B were visibly upset at Yhwach targeting them for the Auswahlen, but NaNaNa still remains loyal to him despite being one of the Auswahlen's targets. It is possible that NaNaNa is one of the older Stern Ritter, and that his views of Yhwach are different from Robert's own.

While NaNaNa is confident he can paralyze all the Shinigami with his Morphing Pattern (what Mangahelpers calls it), Bazz-B fires a beam of heat clean through NaNaNa, putting him down for the count. Does this mean that NaNaNa is dead? No, I do not think so. No one has been killed by the Burner Finger yet. NaNaNa might be different because he's weakened from the Auswahlen, but it'd be a shame if he was killed off just like that.

Bazz-B then states that the Quincy will help the Shinigami, because the Vandenreich exists in the Seireitei's shadows, and the fall of the Soul King Palace would mean Seireitei's destruction as well, which is bad for the Quincy too. While Mayuri clearly does not trust Bazz-B's words, Bazz-B does point out the condition on which their help will be received: in exchange for the Quincy helping them to rebuild the Gate, they want to go up to the Soul King Palace with the Shinigami to kill Yhwach for forsaking them.

I still do not know what the Gotei 13 group or the Quincy think they can do against the Schutzstaffel and Yhwach - the same individuals who defeated the Royal Guard - but I suppose that is not a concern with the end of the world potentially approaching. This will undoubtedly be a shaky offer for many of the Shinigami to accept, so I hope that certain Shinigami (i.e. Rukia, Renji, Kyoraku) will help along the alliance.

The Power Taken

Now, onto the fact that the Stern Ritter still have their powers. Given the nature of Auswahlen, it was likely assumed by all of us that the Stern Ritter had their powers completely taken from them, and some of them their lives. Since Meninas and Candice are not in this group, I will assume that they were the other two who had their life-force taken alongside Robert to revive the killed Schutzstaffel (I don't think Askin was killed by Nimaiya, just incapacitated).

As to why they still have their abilities, I assume that what Yhwach took from the Stern Ritter was the Schrift. Remember, the Schrift did not "give" the Stern Ritters their abilities - the Schrift is a means of imparting a more powerful part of Yhwach's soul onto an individual's soul. The Quincy, like all races in Bleach, possess their own, natural-born abilities.

Because of this, I believe that the Schrifts are also the source of the Quincy's Vollstandig. When the Auswahlen came down, one of the things that we saw happen was the wings of Liltotto's Vollstandig disappear. As a result, I believe that the Vollstandig takes advantage of the power of the Schrift bestowed upon the Quincy to activate the form. It also fits with the Auswahlen's concept of "Power Redistribution": Yhwach took the Schrift he had distributed to the Stern Ritter and redistributed the power they accumulated to the Schutzstaffel.

In other words, while the Quincy still have their natural abilities, they no longer have the ability to access the Vollstandig.

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While the Shinigami are back to square one in creating the Gate, they now have the Quincy assisting them in their endeavour to reach the Soul King Palace, which promises for interesting interactions in the future. Furthermore, Mayuri's explanation about Aizen's restraints also revealed that the prisoners of Muken are immortals that no one in the Soul Society could kill.

Bleach 622 Review

The Face of the Devil Even when everyone seems to despise him, Aizen never misses an opportunity to be formal with anyone so long as he has the upper hand. He's so formal that you'd almost think that Aizen never had that breakdown that he did in "Deicide" (unless he faked it because he knew that someone would release him to deal with Yhwach). He even congratulates Rukia on becoming a Vice-Captain, and amicably states that it's great that her achievements against the Arrancar were recognized.

On the other hand, Rukia has the reaction that I knew was likely to be coming since last week: she angrily asks why Aizen is there, to which Aizen responds that he had been let out. When asked by Rukia, Kyoraku presents himself and reveals he is the one who set Aizen free.

Pride Cannot Save the World

Kyoraku knows all the Shinigami well, so he knows what is best to say in the situation he's in. He starts by answering everyone's first question: he states that he decided that the Gotei 13 need Aizen's power.

It might just be me, but Rukia seems more distraught at Kyoraku's actions whereas everyone else is angrily biting at him. Hisagi and Renji demand to know what Kyoraku is saying and if it really is okay; Ikkaku and Yumichika state they can't understand why they'd need Aizen's power and that they cannot give their consent to all this; Soi Fon finishes the protests by calling Kyoraku shameless.

This is when Kyoraku shuts everyone down: "You're talking about pride. Let's talk about Gotei. Pride won't save the world. I don't think it's a bad thing to use evil to throw evil over." He shuts down everyone's complaints so completely that even Aizen comments on the argument being over.

In this situation, Kyoraku is absolutely correct. I'll explain by addressing the three above points:

Yes, Kyoraku knows full well what he is saying and, although it is a dangerous choice, Kyoraku choosing to release Aizen is the best chose they have right now.

Kyoraku was not asking for anyone's consent to the matter, just their acceptance. As the leader of the Gotei 13 now, he has to make all the hard choices, and this is one of them. As for needing Aizen's power, the situation in the Soul King Palace (which they know nothing about) answers in the affirmative. To have any chance of survival against a Soul King-empowered Yhwach and the Auswahlen-empowered Schultzstaffel, they need to have Aizen backing them up.

The current situation is the Godzilla Threshold of the Bleach universe - the point where releasing Aizen from Muken could not possibly make the situation any worse; the point where he's the only viable response left to Yhwach's victory.

Soi Fon might call Kyoraku shameless, but Kyoraku's concern is not about pride or any foolishness like that. Kyoraku summed up his own personality quite well after his killing of Starrk - once you step out onto the battlefield, both sides are evil. Only a rookie can afford to get caught up in things such as manners, style, or even pride.

To reference something Ukitake once said, there are two kinds of battles: the battle to protect your life, and the battle to protect your pride. The current situation is not a battle for the latter, but the former - a battle to protect the lives of everyone around them. Kyoraku knows at least this much, and that is why he is stating that it is not bad to use evil to overthrow another evil - life is what will save the world, not pride. They need to fight in order to live, not to fight in order to protect their pride.

The Devil Bares his Fangs

With the argument over, Kyoraku and Aizen once again enter into their verbal banter as Aizen asks for the restraints on his arms to be removed. However, Kyoraku reminds him that he could only use three keys, and he already used them for Aizen's left eye, mouth and ankles, and that he lacks the jurisdiction to undo any other seals.

The reason this is a game is because Aizen had already undone the rest of his seals by the time Kyoraku unsealed his mouth. As a result, Kyoraku is playing by the book just to play verbal jousting with Aizen. After all, it is but a game to Aizen, and Kyoraku is also a man who likes to play games.

Aizen asks Kyoraku how he expects him to clean up the Gotei 13's mess while bound to the chair, with Kyoraku responding that Aizen should not have any troubles even when bound to the chair, calling it a "minor nuisance" at best, showing that Kyoraku is not underestimating Aizen in the slightest, even though Aizen states (with a hint of sarcasm I believe) that he doesn't have that kind of power right now.

Kyoraku informs Aizen that it is not about whether or not he has the power to do so, as he knows that Aizen won't let the Mini-Mimihagi chew away at him, as Aizen blocks a torrent of Mini-Mimihagi from descending upon him and Kyoraku, to which Aizen comments that Kyoraku is a difficult man. Kyoraku accepts the compliment...right as he realizes just what Aizen is about to do. Kyoraku immediately orders everyone back into the laboratory as Aizen fires off a chantless Kurohitsugi that begins to envelop the area.

Once they are down below, Byakuya finally gives his say on the matter - he states that Kyoraku releasing Aizen is an insult to all of them, a sentiment that Kyoraku knows to be true, and he states that he will allow the others to kick him as much as they want for it after the Seireitei is saved.

I have to admit, it must be hard for the Shinigami to not think about this with Kyoraku's words to them after Yamamoto's death. He reminded everyone back then that it is their job to protect the Seireitei, and now he's pulled Aizen out of Muken to fight against the Quincy, something with all the Gotei Shinigami must find insulting to them as individuals. With Kyoraku saying they need Aizen's power, it's like him saying that the Gotei 13 do not have the means to protect the Seireitei or to defeat the Quincy.

Sadly, as we are about to see, Kyoraku is correct either way...

Breach the Firmament and Shoot Down God's Throne

When Kurohitsugi dissipates, there is virtually nothing left in the area it encompassed. No Mini-Mimihagi, none of the rubble, not even any remaining structures are left standing aside from a few pieces of wall remaining stuck on the foundation. The Kurohitsugi annihilated virtually everything in the immediate area - reduced it down to nothing.

Even Urahara himself comments on it, stating in no uncertain terms that, for Aizen to have cast a chantless Kurohitsugi with that much power behind it, he had to be even stronger than when he fought Ichigo. This understandably shocks Renji (he is the guy whose goal was to get strong enough to fight Aizen, after all), who calls Aizen a monster.

Meanwhile, Aizen casually comments on the chair's durability being the same as his restraints, leaving Renji to comment that the reason why he used Kurohitsugi was to attempt to release himself. Given he already undid the majority of his restraints beforehand, Aizen is probably just playing a part at the moment. After all, there's no way the Shinigami would tolerate it if he was actually out of the chair.

As Soi Fon tries to aim Jakuho Raikoben to destroy the dome again, Aizen tells here there is no need for that because his Kurohitsugi's gravity already put cracks in the dome, and that all he needs to do is exert his power to cause the dome to self-destruct. As he begins to do so, all the power he is putting out begins to disrupt the Gate the Shinigami have spent the last nine chapters storing up reiatsu to open, causing the gathered reiatsu to gather, and Rukia pleads with Aizen to stop before that happens.

I said it before, and I'll say it again: Urahara said they'd need the combined power of all the Captain class Shinigami to open the Tenshiheiso Gate to the Soul King Palace. They need that much reiatsu, combined with the energy gathered from the distortions, to bridge the hundreds of thousands of kilometres (perhaps millions of kilometres) of distance between the Seireitei and the Soul King Palace with the Gate. The reason why it hasn't been activated yet is because they lacked the manpower to power up the gate fully, even with the number of powerful Shinigami there and Mayuri's Reiatsu Amplifier.

However, Aizen's not concerned with the Tenshiheiso Gate, and drops this line at the end of the chapter:

"There is a hole in the barrier of the Soul King Palace, right? Now, since you have business to tend to in the Soul King Palace, I'll shoot it down."

In other words, Aizen has so much power at this point that he intends to shoot down the Soul King Palace from a distance comparable to Snake Way's length at minimum. Keep in mind that he is going to do this in restraints that confine his reiatsu around his body. He cast the Kurohitsugi in that state, he's going to destroy the dome in that state, and he's going to shoot down the Soul King Palace in that state.

This is probably the reason why the Soul King Palace has 72 barriers surrounding it in the first place - to keep guys as powerful as Aizen from performing god-level sniping on the Soul King Palace. They certainly did their job, because Aizen had planned to create and use an Ouken to get up to the Soul King Palace before.

And people were joking about Aizen not going to the Soul King Palace when Sado, Inoue and Ganju all went up to the Soul King Palace. Aizen's not "going" to the Soul King Palace because he's going to shoot it down and bring it to him. Given the distance involved, I can only assume that Aizen has some means of yanking it down to the Soul Society within minutes.

This definitely shows the differences between Aizen and Urahara's methods: whereas Urahara utilizes scientific solutions to problems, Aizen will choose to use force when he can do so.

It also shows just how much power Aizen still possesses: it was going to take the combined reiatsu of all the Captains of the Gotei 13 to power the Tenshiheiso Gate; Aizen just decides to shoot down the Soul King Palace with his power alone.

If the Special War Potentials are all individuals with the potential to reach this level of power, then who could the remaining two possibly be?

Bleach 621 Review

Beyond Their Sights
As I was wondering about last week, Yhwach absorbing Mimihagi did indeed have an effect down below, as we see Ukitake collapse and Mimihagi flow out of him completely. Immediately afterwards, as Urahara comments it seems to be being absorbed, the black arrow that Yhwach fired down last week from the Soul King Palace reaches the Seireitei and encompasses it in a dome.

Here's where both Mangastream and Mangapanda messed up last week - better translations (including Viz Manga) have Yhwach say he "will put a lid on the Seireitei", thus ensuring that no one gets in his way as he absorbs the Soul King. So he wasn't "leaving Seireitei be", but ensuring that no one could come from there to interfere. This leaves the Gotei 13 with a big problem, as the Tenshiheiso seems to need a direct path between one location and another in order for the Gate to connect the two places. Otherwise, as it was with the King's Barriers, it will not work.

Unless Urahara is putting up an act and he actually knows what is going on, this shows that even Urahara is possibly out of his depth in dealing with the current situation, which relates to the title of this section of my review.

From what I have observed, one of the keys behind Yhwach's success as a villain is how little the protagonists know about him. Yamamoto believed that he knew all there was to Yhwach's power, and even Squad Zero's intelligence on Yhwach came from Yamamoto's fights with Yhwach. All those signs point towards Yhwach not using "The Almighty", the Auswahlen, or the wider range of his abilities one thousand years ago during the Shinigami-Quincy War. This makes it quite a glaring detail when Isshin expressed knowledge of the Auswahlen whereas the Squad Zero had no knowledge of it (adding further to Urahara likely putting on an act).

On the other hand, not only does Yhwach knows his enemies well, but he knows how to manipulate them, and he is able to use his true ability to full effect in battle as a result of his enemy's lack of knowledge of his power. Even now, when he's effectively won the war, we still don't know the true extent of his plans, and he has yet to utilize Zanka no Tachi for anything, having done all this under his own power and not the power he stole from Yamamoto.

This is not the same as Aizen was in the Arrancar Saga, where we all knew what Aizen's ability was (even if he never bothered to use Bankai in the entire arc), and we all knew what his main plan was. What we still don't know, however, was Aizen's true reason behind wanting to kill the Soul King, as his dialogue at the end of "Deicide" points towards new territory.

With Yhwach, we've only learnt about the nature of all his abilities recently, and we don't know what is going to happen in the following 7 of the "Final Nine Days". Given he's killed the Soul King and is in the process of absorbing his power, there's very little left for Yhwach to do (unless there something to do with Hell in the future of this arc).

Speaking of the Soul King...

The Horror of God

Back in the Soul King Palace, Yhwach has staggered in the process of absorbing the Soul King. As Lille Barro tries to ask Yhwach if he is alright, these things begin pouring out from Yhwach's body:

In case anyone is wondering, I put together the above image.

As the Mini-Mimihagi begin to swarm out from Yhwach's body, Haschwalth steps in to explain to Lille what they are: a torrent of the Soul King's power that has been at last released from the seals placed upon it by the Shinigami. Because the enormity of the power is such that Soul King/Yhwach (depending on current translations) cannot contain it within their body. As such, they have little choice but to escape in powerful streams.

He also states that they are of no danger to the Stern Ritter, "for the Soul King's enemies are now/only the Shinigami", as the Mini-Mimihagi flow down the black arrow and proceed straight for Seireitei.

Again, it depends on translations and interpretations, but the end result has the same impact. The visuals alone are enough of an indicator for some dark implications regarding the Soul King's true nature.

Looking back on "Deicide", Aizen was speaking nothing but the truth when he called the Soul King "that thing", and I do believe he may also turn out to be right in regards to his rage at Urahara for allowing himself to be controlled by the Soul King. The fact that the Soul King's power alone is flowing out in the form of these small shadow abominations not only demonstrates the vast power possessed by the Soul King, but also its inhuman nature.

Given the appearance of Mimihagi, and the existence of these Mini-Mimihagi, I would not be surprised if the "Human" appearance we have seen the Soul King take on thus far is actually just a shell, and the Soul King's true appearance is as some kind of shadowy abomination of unfathomable power. That would explain the missing limbs and why the Soul King is sealed in a chrysalis - the Chrysalis seals the King's power and contains him within a Human form, and the missing limbs are a further precaution to separate and divide the Soul King's power.

But whoever did all this to the Soul King did so a very long time ago, to such an extent that the Soul King's Right Arm became a folklore figure in the Rukongai, and it is entirely possible that none but the Squad Zero (and Haschwalth) might be aware of the Soul King's true nature.

The fact that Haschwalth knows this much in the first place further demonstrates his unique character and position in the Vandenreich. He knows things that no other Stern Ritter is aware of, and in ways he's more like Yhwach's other half than a separate individual.

But that is enough speculation on my part regarding the Soul King for now...

The Assault of Shadows

Back down in the Seireitei, we see Hisagi asking what is going on, while Soi Fon tells him that it has to be the work of the Quincy, stating that the Shakonmaku has a piece missing, which the Right Arm used to make its way towards the Soul King Palace, and asserts that the gap will become a convenient target for the Quincy.

While she's right about the shroud being the work of the Quincy - Yhwach's work, to be precise - I do believe she's wrong about the gap in the Shakonmaku being a convenient target for the Quincy. Firstly, there are no active Stern Ritter left in the Seireitei (that we know of) who could try to take advantage of it. Secondly, she does not know why the shroud came down (Yhwach wants to keep the Shinigami in the Seireitei).

To punctuate her words, she exits out of the lab and activates her Bankai in order to destroy the shroud. If there's one thing I know about Soi Fon from reading Bleach, is that she has a lot of confidence in herself. She does not know what the shroud is - only that the Quincy are behind it - yet she's confident that she can blow apart that shroud with her Bankai. Given that Yhwach made that shroud with the power of the Soul King's Right Arm, it's going to take a lot more than a giant missile to destroy the shroud.

But she doesn't get the chance to test whether or not she could destroy the shroud, as the Mini-Mimihagi finished their descent and immediately began swarming Soi Fon, who was about to be completely engulfed in the swarm if not for Omaeda's assistance, who she promptly chastise for his concern and hits him for "taking so long". Look Soi Fon, we all know Omaeda's not perfect, but at least show some appreciation for his efforts instead of playing Tsundere to the hilt.

Following immediately behind are Hisagi, Ikkaku and Yumichika. While Ikkaku already has Houzukimaru released, we see Hisagi and Yumichika release their Shikai without needing to utter the release command, which likely indicates that the both of them do indeed have Bankai.

However, they too are quickly swamped by the tide of the Soul King's power, and even Byakuya's Senbonzakura was only able to push back one swarm of them which was only replaced by another.

NOTE: If this is just the normal Senbonzakura, then Byakuya's Shikai received a massive power-up in proportion to Byakuya's own increase in power, since I can only recall him using so many petals before when he was in Bankai.

Given that the Shinigami do not know what these things are, it is likely their attacks are not working because the Mini-Mimihagi are not physical entities, but personifications of the Soul King's vast power. As such, the swarm will continue going for as long as Yhwach continues absorbing the Soul King's power. They might stop when he's completely finished absorbing the Soul King's power, but that's not an immediate solution that the Shinigami can wait around for.

Fortunately for them (sort of), they have help from their worst nightmare...

The Man Who Became God

As it seems like the Shinigami will be overwhelmed, the Mini-Mimihagi are suddenly crushed under an incredible power, as a familiar voice mocks the Shinigami for using their Zanpakuto against the Mini-Mimihagi, when they could simply use their reiatsu to crush them in one fell swoop.

Enter Aizen, sitting on a chair, still in the restraints that keep his reiatsu confined around his body (which doesn't seem to be an issue for Aizen's reiatsu-crushing the Mini-Mimihagi).

You got to hate his smug personalities. He states things like they are something that can obviously be done, but knows there is a distinct difference between himself and his enemies (or allies). It's like he's mocking the Shinigami for needing to bring him out of Muken to help against Yhwach.

We already know that Rukia's shocked at Aizen's return, so that leaves the reactions of everyone else unaccounted for. Doubtless the Visoreds will be very mad to see him again - especially the hot-headed Hiyori. As such, I can only imagine how people will react to learning that Kyoraku is the one who released him from Muken. The Gotei is not going to be happy with its Captain-Commander...

Bleach Chapter 613-620, Volume 68 Review

This review will be encompassing all of the events pertaining to the past eight chapters of Bleach, so I'll be talking about the events as a whole and not chapter-by-chapter.

The Meaning of "Peace"

The words that seem to define what is occurring right now were uttered by Ichibei right after he sent Ichigo and Co against Yhwach: "I'm very sorry, poor Humans. You have no chance of defeating Yhwach...but worry not. This is the nature of all peace. Isn't that right, Yhwach?"

It is a dark interpretation of the nature of "peace", and it seems to hint at Ichibei and Yhwach sharing the same views on what "peace" is. In one of the omake for the manga volumes of this arc, the word "Peace" was splattered by blood, and Yhwach often spoke of "peace" while waging war for the sake of that "peace".

If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that Ichibei is defining "peace" as such - "Peace" comes when you cannot be challenged or defeated by any other power. "Peace" comes when you have defeated all the opposition to your cause.

But that is more troubling is that we do not know for what reason Ichibei is saying this. He said so himself that the Living World, Hueco Mundo and Soul Society will collapse if the Soul King is killed, so why does he seem so...unconcerned?

Given the Soul King can see the future, is there something that is going to come about if Yhwach reunites all the "limbs" of the Soul King, and that is the outcome that Ichibei and the Soul King wants?

The Gate to Heaven, the Sacrifice to God

While the events of the Soul King's death, and Ichigo and Co's foreseen failure to defeat Yhwach unfolded, the remainder of the Gotei 13 has been called together by Urahara to use the Tenshinheiso in order to create a gateway to the Soul King Palace to assist Ichigo and Co. However, while it requires the collective reiatsu of all the Captains to work, the Shinigami are quite short on the manpower.

Kensei and Rose are dead and in storage, a fact that Mayuri has not revealed, and Byakuya has not disclosed for some reason (likely the indignation and anger of the Shinigami - especially the Visoreds - towards Mayuri for this); Toshiro and Matsumoto are unaccounted for, which leads me to believe that Mayuri used a different drug on them that he did on Kensei and Rose; Komamura has lost his Shinigami powers, and he and Iba will not be meeting up with the other Captains, and Kyoraku is busy...elsewhere.

Moreover, when the Soul Society started to collapse as a result of the Soul King's death, Ukitake chose to release the Kamikake he had prepared earlier, which was revealed to be the missing Right Arm of the Soul King to everyone's surprise - even Urahara's - to temporarily take the Soul King's place and stabilize the Soul Society. Because he was incapacitated in such a manner, a significant amount of the reiatsu needed to power the gate was lost, and could only be made up by Hiyori and Co joining, and Mayuri amplifying everyone's reiatsu with his Reiatsu Amplifier Device.

People complained about the last of these earlier, but considering the fact that they are still in the Seireitei and the gate has not been fully made, even that was not enough to fully complete the gate. Given Ichigo and Co took the express ride up in what has been a futile effort, I think the Gotei 13 can be forgiven for their efforts to make a wormhole gate bridging two dimensions across millions of kilometres taking so long.

But even with all the efforts they have made to create the Gate, and the sacrifice Ukitake made by invoking the Kamikake, they could not have anticipated the events occurring up above...

The Almighty's Blood, The Created God, The Right Hand, The Schutzstaffel, and The Successor

Because up above, the Soul King was killed, and Ichigo and Co were unable to save him...

To be more specific, Yhwach's connection to all who share his blood is so absolute that, when Ichigo tries to pull out Yhwach's sword from the Soul King's body, Yhwach bestowed the reiatsu in his Spirit Weapon to Ichigo and it called out to his Quincy blood - to Zangetsu - and Ichigo was forced to cut down the Soul King by his own hands.

With the Soul King dead, all Ichigo could do was attack the Yhwach in retaliation, who explained the Soul King's function of regulating the flow of souls into and out of Soul Society - a flow he was created to stabilize, because the Soul Society was unstable before his existence.

With the Soul King now dead by Ichigo's hand, that flow of souls has destabilized once more and the worlds are on the verge of collapse, and Yhwach says it is all because of Ichigo. As he said this, Yoruichi "traps" Yhwach within a field of razor wires, and tells Inoue to use her power to revive the Soul King.

Now, I won't say that "not even Inoue could revive the Soul King", because I fully expected it to happen. As Yhwach stated - something he likely knows because "The Almighty" allows him to "know" any power he sees - Inoue's Shun Shun Rikka are a Human power, whereas the Soul King is an entity that exists on another plane entirely. While the idea that Inoue has "god-like" powers because of how Aizen described them, I felt that to be false ever since the events of "Deicide", where the concept of "Transcendence" was revealed.

But to get back to events, the intervention of the Kamikake does reveal something interesting to all of us - there is at least one thing that Yhwach cannot "see" with his eyes: the Soul King himself. While Yhwach has been shown to see the future in every circumstance up to that point, the Soul King is a variable in the future that he could not "see". Because of this, it makes one wonder if there is anyone else whom Yhwach cannot "see".

With the Kamikake in place, Ichigo hinders Yhwach's initial effort to destroy, and Yoruichi leaps into action to set up a barrier around Kamikake to protect it and make it the new Soul King - unaware that Mimihagi is only temporary. Meanwhile, Yhwach begins interrogating Ichigo on his motives for stopping him, citing that Ichigo was the one who cut down the Soul King because his blood cannot forgive the Soul King, so he should be standing in Yhwach's way.

The last time Aizen played these mind-games with Ichigo (no reason to fight him because all his friends are safe), Ichigo was completely shaken, and that was on top of the events that happened with Ulquiorra. On the other hand, Ichigo has an answer for Yhwach - to stop him, and protect the Living World, Hueco Mundo and Soul Society. While Yhwach calls arrogant and asks if he thinks he is the only one who can do it, Ichigo once again rebukes him - even if someone else could defeat Yhwach, that wouldn't mean Ichigo could just run away and do nothing.

(See, Sado? Even if it wasn't a question you didn't mean, of course Ichigo would make the decision to fight to protect everyone).

With Ichigo punctuating his response by a black Getsuga in Shikai that blows the roof off of the Soul King's house, he states that he heard that Yhwach's blood flows in his veins, but he says, and I quote: "So what? That won't make me do whatever you want".

(Rukia would be so proud )

However, Yhwach has his own rebuttal - he claims Ichigo's will is connected to his own, so he never once fought of doing whatever he wanted with Ichigo. To Yhwach, all of Ichigo's actions - from his gaining his Shinigami powers and elevating them to a level to defeat Aizen, and regaining his powers - were all for his benefit, a point he pushed when claiming Ichigo regained his power for the purpose of killing the Soul King.

While Yoruichi tells Ichigo that Yhwach is speaking nonsense...is it really?

If Aizen had succeeded in killing the Soul King in his own campaign, Yhwach would have had him to deal with instead of the Squad Zero and the Soul King, and the level of power that Aizen possessed likely would have been big trouble for Yhwach. After all, we did see just recently that Yhwach sought to take the Soul King's power for his own, something that he would not have been able to do had Aizen gotten his way.

But with Aizen's defeat by Ichigo, not only was that one issue dealt with, but it also meant that Aizen was weakened to a level that Yhwach considered manageable - enough to ask him to join the Vandenreich as a Special War Potential.

Furthermore, whose presence in Hueco Mundo prompted Yhwach to invade Soul Society early? Ichigo's presence. Whose arrival in Seireitei from the Royal Realm gave Yhwach the opening he needed to invade the Soul King Palace? Ichigo's arrival.

His speech is actually the opposite of Aizen. Whereas Aizen was asking Ichigo whether or not he thought that all his encounters throughout the series were "fate", Yhwach is saying the opposite - because Ichigo has the blood of a Quincy flowing through him, all his actions were for Yhwach's benefit because, in the end, Ichigo would kill the Soul King because of his blood.

Aizen admitted to having manipulated events so that Ichigo would reach the point where he developed the power of a Transcendent Being; Yhwach stated he didn't need to do anything (at least in Mangapanda) because all of Ichigo's actions would be for Yhwach's benefit, because they would lead to Ichigo being the one to kill the Soul King.

It shows the two villains are opposite of one another - whereas Aizen was the manipulator of Ichigo, Yhwach is the one who considers it "fate" that Ichigo would kill the Soul King because they share the same blood.

One's power is the ability to deceive everyone who sees his Zanpakuto release with perfect illusions; the other's power is the ability to see the future itself. One makes other people see what is not real; the other sees what will happen. It's the contrast between a manipulator and deceiver, and one who believes in "fate".

(Yes, I did copy and paste part of my post from the last chapter thread)

Ichigo re-iterates that the Quincy blood doesn't matter and that he will still stop Yhwach. Then Yhwach deals the armour-piercing question: "Why do you speak of "stopping" me? What am I to you? Am I not your mortal enemy? Can you not even use the word "kill" to the man who killed your mother?" Right here, Yhwach went right towards the hidden heart of the matter - he is the one who killed Masaki. The last time Ichigo went into a fighting wanting to "kill", things did not turn out so well for him (Tsukishima and Ginjo), and Yhwach is really direct in his mind-games with Ichigo, compared to Aizen.

But before things can go any further, Uryu arrives.

And everything starts to fall apart for Ichigo and Co (by which I mean Yoruichi).

Uryu fires an arrow off at Yoruichi and hits her in the shoulder, an injury and distraction that causes the barrier she set up around Mimihagi to shatter, and allowed Yhwach to slip by Ichigo and force-push him away with a blast of reishi to reach Mimihagi. Although Yoruichi tries to stop Yhwach with a two-hit kill technique, Pernida intervenes and uses "The Compulsory" to twist and contort Yoruichi's arm into a bloody mess, punctuated by Yhwach force-pushing Yoruichi straight out of the palace.

Yhwach laid a hand directly on Mimihagi, and Ichigo is stopped from attacking Yhwach by Uryu's arrow. Then Yhwach rips Mimihagi off of the Soul King, which causes part of the Palace to collapse, as Ichigo is now forced to confront the issue with Uryu siding with Yhwach.

Beforehand, Ichigo and Co must have had a reason for joining with the Vandenreich, as he would not be with them lightly. But given everyone's shocked reactions, I doubt they ever thought Ishida would go so far as to actually attack them. This is not like what happened with Tsukishima and "Book of the End" (since Kubo tends to draw parallels between his arcs), where Inoue and Sado believed Tsukishima was the "most important person" in their lives and that Ichigo had gone mad - and Ichigo knew they had been made to believe as such; this is Uryu making the active choice to assist Yhwach in his efforts and attack Ichigo and Co.

This is why Ichigo is so angry at Ishida. He "knows" that Yhwach's actions will result in all the worlds being destroyed, and he knows that Ichigo and Co are there to stop him, and Ichigo does not understand why Uryu is helping him regardless. The answer he gives, I feel, echoes back to their parting words at the beginning of the arc: "It's because I am a Quincy".

At the beginning of the story arc, Uryu stated he could not go with Ichigo and Co for Hueco Mundo, and Ichigo had assumed that it was because the Quincy destroy Hollows. Now Uryu is stating that his reason for siding with Yhwach is because he himself is a Quincy. Now, we know that is not the true reason, but I'll get to that later.

Immediately after he says that, all the Schutzstaffel (Gerard carrying Pernida, who had previously fallen from the Soul King Palace, under his arm) arrive and surround the Nakama. They are not impressed in the slightest, with Gerard even calling them small fries.

(Why did anyone think that Inoue and Sado would be able to fight against the Schutzstaffel, again?)

Before actual combat could commence, Uryu states their interference was not needed, and shoots out the ground from under Ichigo and Co's feet, causing them all to fall from the Soul King Palace. To punctuate his point, Uryu fires off another arrow at Ichigo as he is falling before Lille Barro can fire the "X-Axis".

Uryu then explains to the suspicious Lille Barro his reasoning for his actions: he knew what Lille was thinking - the Nakama likely wouldn't survive the fall from the Soul King Palace, and they would have no means of coming back up there even if they did, but killing them before they fell would mean they wouldn't have to worry about them at all.

At least this way, Ichigo and Co have a chance of survival (Lille would have killed them all). Nevertheless, Gerard applauds Uryu for his actions, and states that Uryu has gained his approval, to which Uryu replies with a solemn smile. We know that Uryu is likely doing all this just to earn their trust so he can do what he came to the Vandenreich for, but it is saddening all the same.

Uryu has hardly ever been praised by anyone for his efforts, but now the Schutzstaffel are praising him. His father talked down to him, Ichigo ignored him in their fight with Ginjo, and he's been the outsider in general among the Nakama. He must be conflicted by this (receiving praise from Gerard), as he's receiving praise from the very people who are the enemies of his friends.

Now that Ichigo and Co are out of the Soul King Palace, Yhwach appears to be moving forward with his true intentions.

The Mask They All Wear

If there is any commonality throughout Bleach, is that people tend to wear masks to hide their true intentions, motives, and personality. Aizen wore a "mask" in front of the whole Gotei 13 for over a century while he plotted the Soul Society's downfall; Ginjo had Tsukishima make him into the "mask" in order to get close to Ichigo and steal his Fullbring power once it was completed; Ichibei wore the "mask" of a benevolent Monk in front of Ichigo and sent him to confront Yhwach, knowing full well that Ichigo would fail in his efforts.

Now, it seems that Yhwach's true motives are being unveiled. No longer does Yhwach have on the "mask" of the man who seeks the destruction of all the worlds; while he does blow apart Mimihagi, he does not destroy it outright, as he claimed before - he takes Mimihagi's power for himself, and decides to absorb the entirety of the Soul King. While he's only just begun, it can be assumed that he will become the new Soul King once he is finished, leaving him as the linchpin holding the worlds together.

However, I believe this is only part of the puzzle. The Kaiser Gesang stated that Yhwach will reclaim the world in nine days. So far, we are only on Day Two of those "Final Nine Days", yet all of this has already happened. There is still more that Yhwach intends to do. What is it and where is something we still do not know.

In addition, there is also the "mask" that Urahara wears. Back in the "Lost Agent Arc", Urahara told Isshin that Ichigo getting his powers back "would take away his future", and I can't help but think that this may have been what Urahara's words meant. While he surmised in front of everyone that Ichigo likely "didn't make it in time", I would not be surprised if Urahara knew full well that Ichigo had dealt the final blow to the Soul King.

Even as Urahara interacts with everyone around him, he is always hiding the deepest truths from everyone around him. I can't even be sure if he was genuinely unaware of what Mimihagi actually was.

There's too much to Urahara that we cannot know for certain, as he's always playing another field while everyone else can only see one.

Speaking of those with hidden intentions...

Return of the God

You all knew this was coming. There's no way I could make the review complete without talking about Aizen's official return to Bleach.

Just about everyone called this dance when Kyoraku went to speak to Central 46. This is a move that Kyoraku is executing behind everyone's backs. I certainly believe that no one would have agreed to this particular course of action if Kyoraku had put it to a vote - not even Urahara. Both Kyoraku and Ukitake were well aware of the possibility - nay, the inevitability - of the Soul King being killed by Yhwach, and they have planned accordingly.

For Ukitake, it was to buy time with the Kamikake; for Kyoraku, it was letting the Devil out of the pitch-black prison into which he was cast.

Simply put, while Ichigo was unable to stand up to Yhwach after the latter had awakened "The Almighty", Aizen may very well be the only one who can currently stand against Yhwach on even ground - especially after Yhwach absorbed Mimihagi. Despite the fact he was sealed away, and despite the fact that he supposedly lost all his power, we saw clearly that Aizen still possessed a level of power like what he possessed in "Deicide", since the guard who tried to add a restraint to Aizen had his fingers disintegrated just by getting close to the reiatsu around his body.

We also know that Aizen possesses the powers of Kyoka Suigetsu still, as he used them to mess with Yhwach's perception of time in the brief time they spoke with each other.

Kyoraku said that his and Aizen's interests were about to align, which could mean that Kyoraku predicted that Yhwach will become the new Soul King by absorbing all of the old Soul King's power. In other words, Kyoraku's interest is to defeat Yhwach, and Aizen's is to kill the Soul King - this makes it a two-in-one deal.

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With the Soul King having been killed and Yhwach taking his power for his own, the future of the story has been left uncertain, especially with the revelations regarding the Soul King's missing "limbs" and the return of Aizen to the fold.

I am intrigued by the direction things are going in the story, and I do look forward to seeing what will come next.