User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 561 - THE VILLAN/@comment-5147109-20131211163958/@comment-14244059-20131211213446

I think a lot of the points you're making have yet to be explained for a reason.

True, Yhwach murdered two of his elite soldiers simply because they were defeated, but that was to showcase just how big of a dick he is and I kind of like seeing a villain not take pity on his subordinates for once. I dunno, that's just a personal thing, though. Anyways, he doesn't care about any of his subordinates at all and, to me at least, it just seems like he could do this all himself with or without their help, he's simply using them as a means to achieve his goals more quickly, much like Aizen did with the Arrancar.

As for the stealing Bankai then giving them back, perhaps it's lulling them into a false sense of security? Explained in those terms, it seems like a valid tactic to me, especially if you wanna troll your enemy, but Yhwach doesn't really seem like the type to do that so I've got nothing. Overall he just didn't seem to care what happened to them and I think that just adds to the whole idea that he just does not give a damn about any of his subordinates and that he's letting these battles go on because it's less time consuming and he may or may not be on a schedule.

As for Sui-Feng whipping her Bankai out (along with Byakuya, Komamura and Hitsguaya), I think it was a matter of "to hell with pride, I need to win this fight in a single blow if possible and hopefully figure out just how they're sealing Bankai so we can negate it." Plus, why would someone who hates their Bankai care if it's sealed or not? (I say sealed because that's what they thought was happening at the time) If I had a technique I hated so much it insulted my pride just to think about using it, I wouldn't shed any tears over it being sealed away temporarily, even if it's a trump card. It's not like the Shinigami have techniques like Kido (and for Sei-Fung, Shunko) they can use, right? I have no excuses for the other three, though. I'll give you that the whole tactic was a crap idea, but somebody had to make the sacrifice.

I guess I'm just riding the hype of watching the Shinigami fall. They always felt way too unbeatable to me and that was really boring to watch. The Quincy seem like fun villains because they're not completely invincible like Aizen was, but they're not so weak they just get walked over like the Arrancar. They're overpowered, yes, but (in my opinion, at least) not in a bad way. Yet.

I have nothing to say about Kensei, Rose and Shinji not using their Hollow masks. I can't figure that out for the life of me, but maybe somehow they got rid of their Hollows powers somehow? Yes, it was said this is impossible, but other "impossible" things have happened. They haven't even mentioned still having them, so I don't think it's completely out of left field to assume they may just not have them anymore. I guess we'll see in future chapters, though.