Mayuri is one over-the-top bastard.

There were some interesting plot twists in the volume! Mr. Yoruichi, the cat, not actually being a cat was surprising and extremely interesting. Uryû battle was pretty intense as well. I'm looking forward to see who this all works out for him :)

We finally meet 13th captain

Byakuya has indeed shown up and hanataro decided to fight him to keep him away so Rukia can escape. Gandhi refuses to help but takes pity seeing hanataro and puts himself in the line of fire.

Ichigo wakes up and finds that mr yoruichi has saved him and bandaged up his wounds. Ichigo questions how and Yoruichi reveals his true form - actually a woman.

Ichigo hollow mask was found in his pocket again despite telling yoruichi that he threw it away into the sewers, yoruichi asks him to give it to them.

Yoruichi reveals that they flew using a cool rare item. He feels byakuyas spiristuak pressure and gets up despite his wounds to grab the flying rod and runs off. Yoruichi follows him.

Rukia tries to stop Byakuya but she can’t before Ganju gets absolute destroyed by his Bankai.
Captain Ukitake (cap 13) shows up and stops Byakuya from killing Ganju. They feel massive spiritual pressure and Ichigo shows up and basically tells Rukia she’s being rescued whether she likes it or not. He’s going to fight Byakuya again and this time he is much stronger.
Ukitake mentions he is reminded of someone by Ichigo and Byakuya claims they’re not related and he’ll take care of him.

He manages to avoid the shun-po (basically misty step ) unlike last time but he’s about to use his bankai and Yoruichi shows up and stops him.

Back in the lock up, Renji speaks with his zanpakto Zabimaru and tells him Ichigo is not the enemy anymore.

We find out more about Yoruichi - she was supreme commander of the secret remote squad and the general
Corps leader of the first division punishment force. She’s been gone for over 100 years and she clearly knows Ukitake and Byakuya. She then knocks out Ichigo and runs off with him saying she’ll train him to be good enough to fight Byakuya in 3 days. Then Byakuya leaves.
Ukitake is left to sort Rukia out and has his third seats (there’s two of them) take Rukia back inside and the other to go and request help from 4th division to heal Ganju. He admits to Hanataro he won’t turn him in since he was trying to help Rukia (he basically says she was in his division).

Meanwhile Orihime and Uruyu are dressed in stolen soil reaper clothes and trying to blend in lol

At some point we hear from mayuki (cap of 12) and he’s pissed to hear Aizen is dead. We see he has managed to find Orehime and Uruyu and is following them like a lil
Chameleon.

Yoruichi is going to train Ichigo to use bankai which is the second form of the zanpakto. Only kenpachi out of all the captains can’t use it - this is why I love him.

Anyways, Orihime and Uruyu get accosted by an 11th division dude and he questions which division they are and they say 11th and he points out their insignia is 12th. Some people from 12th show up and beat him up and are nice to them. Uruyu is suspicious and tries to get Orehime away in time for a bunch of the guys to blow up.

Turns out captain Kurotsuchi sent them to get blown up possibly from the inside out - I really hate this dude.

We even get a little back story for one of the guys he blows up…

So thankfully Orihime has used her shield ability to block the blow and managed to protect the guy from 11th as well. Mayuri wants to take her as a research subject and Uruyu demands the guy from 11th escapes with her. He grudgingly runs off with her since she protected him.

Mayuri shows how much of a nasty piece of shit he is by torturing Uruyu, stabbing and beating up his assistant captain who is his daughter her created in his research and telling him he’s the reason all the other Quincy are dead including Uruyu’s grandpa.
Now Uruyu has murder in his soul

There's actually a lot of great moments here.

Rukia is about to be saved but her brother says "hell no" and marches towards her cell. That's when Ichigo shows up and challenges him. After a badss meeting we get a pretty one sided battle and then a new character is revealed and her powerset. On top of that we get some qunicy action as our favorite bow and arrow user goes head to head with a evil sick fuck.

Overall, super fun arc and I always said Tite Kubo did a great job with pacing and action in this arc. I can't wait to get into more. A 4 out of 5.

I love how good this story is getting.

I watched the anime with my husband last night, so now he knows what's going on (at least in the first 3 episodes). We are going to watch the entire series, but I don't like to watch past where i'm reading. The anime first aired in Japan in 2004, and you can really tell. lol The aspect ratio was all off, and the picture was just a small square on our TV. But, I think it's really well done, and I know the quality will just keep getting better. I love finding a new manga and then watching the anime.

OK, but speaking of the manga, how bananas good is this issue? I swear I thought a character was dead. And Mr. Yoruichi is badass. I loved his part in this volume. This story just keeps getting better.

fights are getting good & mayuri just pure evil

asa

I'm late to the bandwagon but at least I'm trying

I like when Ichigo and Yoruichi start the race to save Rukia.

These are so good! It's been so long since I watched the beginning of the anime series, that I don't remember a lot of what is going on in each volume. But that being said, I am loving this all over again! Well worth the read!

I've been enjoying the last few books more than the first ones. Someone really needs to kill the current bad guy, though.

Captain Ukitake, head of the 13th Company, awakens to learn the news of Captain Aizen’s death and decides to look into things for himself. Meanwhile, Ganju is arguing with Hanatoro about rescuing Rukia, on Ichigo’s orders as he faces down Byakuya. Ganju refuses to help the soul reaper who killed his brother! However, he relents when he sees Hanatoro prepare to face down the powerful Byakuya without even a sword!

Mr. Yoruichi has taken the injured Ichigo to safety, to his dismay. But when he wonders how the cat was able to drag him to safety, he is in for a huge surprise! Meanwhile, Ganju is facing Byakuya, who plans to simply walk away from him until he learns that Ganju is a Shiba! Now it’s on! Only Ukitake’s provident arrival saves Ganju’s life.

Ichigo arrives and announces his intention of saving Rukia, despite her protestations, but Byakuya tells Ukitake that he will dispose of the pest. “You’ve got a big mouth, boy,” he tells Ichigo. Can Ichigo defeat such a powerful Soul Reaper? Or will he require some kind of divine intervention?
Orihime has a plan to help Ishida and herself not stand out to the Soul Reapers. They “borrow” some Soul Reaper uniforms in order to be inconspicuous. But when someone asks what squad they belong to, they give the first answer that comes to mind, only to find they chose the wrong one. But help comes from an unexpected source… or is that a trap?

Each volume of Bleach gets more and more exciting! And we learn more and more about the characters. The people you might think you dislike grow on you while some turn out to be wolves in sheep’s clothing! But there is still so much to discover! What about the mask in Ichigo’s pocket? How did it get there and what does it mean? Also, the more we find out about Kiskue Uruhara, the more we don’t know. Former Captain? The plot thickens indeed! I love the scenes of Ichigo learning to use his bankai, and I love Zangetsu! Also, the scenes with Ishida facing down Captain Kurotsuchi are fabulous! The captain is rather different, I have to admit, and difficult to like but very interesting.

Looking forward to the next volume!