User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 597 - Winded by the Shadow/@comment-24153155-20140919091847

I think that was a very interesting post, Xilinoc. And although I loved most of the other arcs, I do think that this arc is kinda "grown up" as compared to the previous ones due to most things you have indicated (I love this arc, with the Unohana/Kenpachi duel as one of the best parts). It's a strong point also for Kubo's ability for character and story development. Unfortunately, this is also why I really dislike the Sternritter (This is by no means a negative point and says more about that I think Kubo is succeeding in whatever he is doing), and yeah, I cannot deny that I feel the story is a bit all over the place since a couple of weeks. I personally don't like that pacing so much, but perhaps Kubo is playing with the pacing a bit. I think the problem with weekly manga often is the time span of events; they occur maybe in a couple of hours, whereas it takes us a year and a half to read about it. These things usually work out better when there is no strict publishing schedule and often makes the drawings more detailed as well (Vagabond, for example). It would be interesting to see how Kubo develops if he was to draw a manga based on a similar schedule.