User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 659 - There Will Be Frost/@comment-1248963-20160121181832

My only real qualm with the new chapter is that Shinji is already down for the count without having done anything in this entire arc. I don't think I'll ever forgive Kubo for how poorly he's managed the Visoreds, I sustain they're the biggest waste of characters ever.

I'm also quite frustrated because early on in this arc it was established that the Shinigami had to hollow-fy their bankais so the Stern Ritter couldn't steal them and we briefly saw the effects of that when Hitsugaya fought Cang Du, but Kubo seems to have completely forgotten about this plot point -even though the bankai theft was such a huge deal when all this started- and we never saw it reflected on anyone else's bankai. Now that Hitsugaya is using his bankai again, it's back to how it looked before the hollowfication. I know Kubo writes on the fly, but for Christ's sake stop retconning yourself man.

Ishida's part was easily the strongest section of the chapter. I feel like it's a bit too soon for the Ichigo-Ishida reunion, but it also sort of confirms my idea that Bleach is very likely ending this year. To be honest I'm more interested in seeing where this Haschwalth-Ishida-Ichigo situation leads to than in seeing Hitsugaya beat giant Thor. It feels like a real waste of time when I don't think there's much left to explore about Hitsugaya's character, and you have other people like Shinji or Urahara that have a lot to show and yet we don't get to see that.