Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-11927664-20130711005557/@comment-4161952-20130727210758

The arc isn't perfect. I had no problem with Byakuya being alive after his fight with As Nodt, with him being my favorite character and all. I see this as an opportunity for the story. He will get stronger in the Royal Palace and gain the power to get revenge against As Nodt in the future. Oetsu will reforge his Zanpakuto and gain new abilities.

This is one of the problems of this arc in many people's eyes. Kubo set everything up for Byakuya's death, only to keep him alive. I can see why they would be upset about this. They thought Kubo would finally be killing characters off.