User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 561 - THE VILLAN/@comment-1268838-20131211115621

On one hand, the pacing in these fights has been faster than what we've seen in some of the earlier arcs, particularly in the Arrancar arc. However, looking back at some of the big fights in the arc, a lot of them actually seemed to be needlessly drawn out. Take the Starrk fight, for example: in the end, Starrk, who was barely scathed by the numerous combatants he had to take on, was actually rather soundly defeated by Shunsui, who presumably could have done so from the very beginning.

I think it also goes back to what Shunsui said earlier in the arc, about the Shinigami needing their Bankai in order to win. We're used to Bankai being these huge, dramatic events, but at this point they are being pulled out without much hesitation.