User blog comment:Godisme/Hear.Fear.Here/@comment-4431351-20120718234337

There was some decent artwork in this chapter, although it could have been better storywise. I was expecting Äs's power had something to do with "Fear", when Kirge revealed the meaning of his letter. Yeah, I understand why you're all saying Byakuya's out of character. Compared to his fights with Renji and Ichigo, this is indeed a weak version of him. Of course we can't forget he is infected with True Fear. Like Äs said, fear is necessary for survival, but (s)he speaks about the Fear we all have, instinctwise, to survive dangerous situations. (S)he just takes control over it and magnifies it (I'm a bit speculative here, I know). The Fear becomes too big to overcome in one instant and so long the opponent is temporary frozen, (s)he acts. The illusions Byakuya is seeing are normal in this situation, that's what happens when fear rules our minds, it changes our thoughts. However, Byakuya can overcome this fear, as seen at the end of the chapter, when he attacks Äs.

Still, I liked this chapter, we got a nice explanation about his/her powers and we will just have to wait to see who, hopefully, killed Kirge. Although I don't think Kubo will show us next week, he has so many fights going on at the same time, he should concentrate on a couple and not jump from here to there. I got it, it's war, it's chaotic, it's desperate, now focus.