User blog comment:Godisme/Wrath as a Lightning/@comment-5336416-20120815053939

despair is obviously a constant theme in bleach but how would kubo develope the story without it? yh ichigo is always despairing when things go wrong but u have to look at the situation as it is. of course u are going to feel depressed if ur locked up in some unbreakable cage and unable to help ur friends. it would be easy for kubo to end the arc by making ichigo kill all the quincies in one go. i think that kubo is making people realise the importance of the gotei 13 by not having ichigo there. we will begin to see how the gotei 13 will cope without ichigo. also how is ichigo going to get stronger without despair? the whole reason he gets stronger is to protect his friends, how is going to do that if his friends do not need protection. this is why i think he rant about protecting his friends are important. it is also going to make us understand more about the people around ichigo and thus gives them a bigger role to play.