Raiyuu

On the "Aizen psychically knowing the outcome of Ichigo's duel with Ulquiorra" issue: [LIST] [*]As has been mentioned, the fact that Ichigo is in FKT at all is a dead giveaway that he beat Ulquiorra. [*]Ichigo's mask has changed fairly conspicuously, and given his knowledge of all things Hollow, Aizen's probably aware that the altered pattern represents a power upgrade. [*]There's probably a noticeable change in Ichigo's reiatsu, as well. [/LIST] The panel showing Ichigo's DeathKnight form is an aide memoir for us, not a memory of Aizen's. Aizen isn't claiming to know the specifics - only that Ichigo unlocked some form of new power, which is obvious given the evidence.

After the Hinamori-stabbing incident, there was a lot of debate over exactly when Aizen released his shikai. I may be way behind on the speculation here, but I just remembered this: [url]http://www.onemanga.com/Bleach/376/03/[/url] [url]http://www.onemanga.com/Bleach/376/04/[/url] So Kyouka Suigetsu's effect has been active [B]at least[/B] since Aizen got bored and took out Harribel.

Been lurking for a long while. Random thoughts on recent chapters: - Whoop! Tousen confirms that Vizards can access a Resurreccion form. Given that our eight ex-Soul Society Vizards have lived with their powers for a century or more, it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to assume that one or more of them will have gained this extra level of release. And, of course, this makes it very likely that Resurreccion will be Ichigo's next upgrade. My bet is that to control it, he'll need to learn the name of his inner Hollow (probably by beating it out of him in sideways-skyscraper-land). - Re: power level 'confusion' - it utterly rocks that despite Ichigo's main character advantage, the more experienced Captains are still able to take on enemies he can barely scratch. It makes it clear that your 'power level' is not the only arbiter of success in battle, and avoids the Naruto effect whereby after a certain point in the plot, even characters hyped as super-powerful from the beginning (looking at you, Kakashi) are only good for occupying enemies until the protagonist arrives, instead of smacking them down personally. - On a similar note re: Hisagi's sneak attack on Tousen - there's precedent for this kind of cheap/smart (depending on your point of view) strike. I'm thinking of Rukia's terminal Shirafune versus Aaroniero, and Ilfort impaling Ururu on his Resurreccion form's horn. It's essentially a telefrag - releasing your sword in such a position that the released form materialises inside the target, undodgably. Again, this is one of the things I quite like about Bleach: it isn't set in stone that a Lieutenant with shikai can't beat a Captain with Vizard Resurreccion, or that a 12th seat (or whatever Rukia's rank is) with shikai can't beat a released Espada. It doesn't matter how many levels of release and powerup you've unlocked, you can still be taken down if your opponent finds the right opening. It makes the fights a lot less predictable (although I'll admit Naruto has one advantage over Bleach: Kishimoto allows major good guys to die in battle, whereas KT hasn't killed a single good guy since the story started. I'm counting Kaien as having died before the story began, btw).

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE=1]Nice to see Kubo has swapped realms again without bothering to resolve the cliffhangers he creates like a better story-teller would.[/SIZE][/QUOTE] Are you sure you know what the term 'cliffhanger' means? If the cliffhangers were resolved before he switched realms, they wouldn't be cliffhangers.

I agree, Gavin - Lisa's is the worst of the new batch, while Rose's and Hachi's are the coolest (though Hiyori's is still the coolest overall). Not with you on Love's at the moment - seems kind of meh - though it might grow on me once I've seen more of it.

Just when we'd all forgotten about Wanderweiss, he's back. And long after we'd all forgotten about the scary one-eyed thing Hisagi saw in the Garganta waaaaaay back in chapter 178, when Aizen was escaping at the end of the Soul Society arc, that's back too, and looks like it might be even bigger than released Yammy (unless it IS released Yammy, but he definitely had two eyes). If Ukitake and Kyouraku end up going bankai to defeat Starrk, maybe whatever this thing is will force Yamamoto to go bankai too...?

'Deus ex machina' actually means 'God out of the machine', just fyi. Other than that, spot on.

Hah. No way is Harribel going down that easily. I'm hoping once she gets out, she takes notice of Hitsugaya's slip-of-the-tongue about his countdown timer, and just dodges around until it reaches zero and he turns into a snowman or whatever. Also, I'd forgotten how exciting it is when a Captain says "bankai" for the first time.

I suppose you could say everyone's happy with this outcome: Hitsu fangirls get to stop crying now it's been revealed he's alive and has common sense (!!!), while the rest of us will always have this panel. [center][img]http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/5603/355.png[/img][/center]

Aww man, Halibel lost her scary mask jaw bit. That was my favourite bit of her character design and we got to see it for what, two chapters? Of course, she's made up for it by bisecting Li'l Frosty :animesmil It's unlikely he'll die - remember that old explanation about beheading being the only way to kill a Reaper for certain? - but last time we saw Kira he was struggling just to patch up Matsumoto's missing midriff, so he'll probably need help if he's going to reattach Hitsugaya's arm/leg/side at the same time. I'm VERY optimistic about a Vizard intervention. We haven't seen the Hueco Mundo Captains in a long while, but chances are they're being saved up to help Renji, Chad and Rukia deal with Colossal Yammy. (Not forgetting Isshin, Urahara, Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizuiro either, of course. The former two - possibly three? - could have a part to play here too. Or perhaps they'll be waiting when the Blazing Fortress burns itself out and we discover Aizen and company have snuck off to Soul Society while no one's watching...)

What's it about, you say? Ichigo's personal arc is all about how far you're willing to go to obtain the power you need to protect the people you love, and how much you're willing to let that power change you. That theme's really at the fore in the most recent events. If Ichigo hadn't changed, Inoue and Ishida would be dead - does that make it okay that he's turned into something so divorced from his normal self that he can't speak, only howl, and sends Inoue, the one he gained this power to protect, flying just to show off the power of his swing? We now return you to your regularly scheduled fanboy speculation. Ulquiorra: No matter how much it looks like one, there's no way a human can use a Cero... Yet we've seen Shinji use one against Grimmjow, while masked (I refuse to use the horrifically clunky term "Hollowfied"). Could this mean what Ichigo is currently going through is another stage of powerup that the Shinj has already mastered? So we all saw the full-Hollow transformation coming, but we were all expecting him to look like [URL="http://www.onemanga.com/Bleach/222/02/"][U]this[/U][/URL], right? What's going on? His mask is completely different. New shape, new design, new horns. It's almost like the Shirosaki we know isn't involved in this. [EDIT] Plus I was wrong about the Cero Oscuras ... looks like Ichigo's Cero is white (blue? like his spirit power in the anime? or red? like normal Cero in the anime?), presumably to make it less confusing when he and Ulquiorra shoot Ceros at one another...

It'll be a spontaneous powerup [I]a la[/I] Wichigo beating up Byakuya - the powerup happens without the need to train, it's uber-powerful, but it's uncontrollable and has some deleterious effect on Ichigo (probably that his Hollow is in control of his body and, as usual, wants to eat his human soul). Once the spontaneous but dangerous powerup has boosted him to the point where he can end the fight victorious, he'll need a training arc to learn to control it, rather than rely on it to pop up spontaneously when he's in a bind, and to suppress whatever its side-effects turn out to be. I'm expecting further delving into the sideways-skyscraper world. During Vizard training we saw a glimpse of an inner-inner world (when he spaced out in the middle of fighting Wichigo to get lectured on loosening up and enjoying the fight by Inner Kenpachi), so there's definitely room for development beyond the tried-and-tested "beat Wichigo until he agrees to let you ride him like a horsey" technique. Basically by the end of this series Ichigo is going to have All The Powers (TM) - Shikai, Bankai, Vizard mask, Arrancar Resurreccion, Royal Guard powers... Afterthought: I can't help thinking he saw the supposedly released-Espada-only Cero Oscuras and thought, "That matches my colour scheme, I think I'll learn that!" This is the only reason we haven't seen him shooting a Cero since he nearly turned full Hollow in Vizard training - he's been waiting to see if they come in black!

Perhaps if Ichigo can learn the name of his Hollow, he can learn a controlled Resurreccion-style released state like Chad's? Everything's pointing to his needing a new addition to his arsenal, and the Arrancars are the only ones whose powers he hasn't already harnessed in some way. Maybe an Intensive Training Arc under Neriel is called for?

I know what you mean. (For a start I was expecting released Ulquiorra to look horrifyingly bad-*** and he kind of doesn't.) At least next week's chapter will make up for it by being called (if I've been ticking off the sins right) 'The Lust'. Ichi x Ulqui?

The human-form-equals-Vasto-Lorde thing goes like this: Vasto Lorde [B]Menos Hollows[/B] have a 100% chance of looking completely humanoid when they become Vasto Lorde [B]Arrancars[/B]. It's possible, perhaps even likely, for Adjuchas and Gillian Menos to look completely humanoid when they become Arrancars as well. They just don't have a 100% chance. Released form is irrelevant. Also, every one of the Espada bar Aaroniero looks humanoid now they're Arrancars. Grimmjow looked like a panther when he was a Menos, and now he looks human - but it's confirmed he was an Adjuchas. Basically, all Hitsugaya's rule is good for is judging who definitely [B]isn't[/B] a Vasto Lorde (e.g. Aaroniero, Iceringer, Demoura, Grand Fisher) - it is and always has been useless for judging who [B]is[/B].