User blog:Xilinoc/Ch. 606 - DIVINE DIVISION

Song to listen to while reading this chapter: "Immortals" by Fall Out Boy (because Big Hero 6 is fantastic, goshdarnit)

Well, that was something.

First off, we've got a slight explanation of WHY Ichibei must now kill Yhwach: apparently, Yhwach simply failed to take all the chances for redemption or whatever that Ichibei gave him, so now comes the death. Guess Ichibei's more evangelical than we thought.

Then, we're back to Soul Society once more, this time for an unexpected arrival: the Visored, or at least the ones who were still in the Human World before all this. Apparently, they were gonna meet up with Yoruichi and Urahara, but Urahara sent her and Ichigo off in advance without any warning, so now Hiyori's pissed off. Fair enough. But more interestingly, we've also got a new character: Yūshirō Shihōin, Yoruichi's little sister. Apparently, Yoruichi contacted her for assistance, so she brought a bunch of stuff - I'm hoping that the divine armor and stuff that the clan owns is somewhere in there, because lord knows I've been hyped about it for a long time.

Back to the palace, Ichibei and Yhwach are clashing as manly men with gratuitous amounts of chest hair do, and Yhwach notes that Ichibei actually looks really happy to be fighting to kill him. Yhwach backhands Ichibei's brush, but it turns out this was *ahem* exactly as planned: Ichibei's brush can cut names, meaning Yhwach's arm is now Ar...and its physical capabilities have dropped dramatically. Ichibei follows this up by slashing Yhwach down the body and sending him crashing into the palace (did anyone else hear a *thunk* and a wacky, Looney Tunes-esque sound effect when Yhwach just kinda bounced off the side of the palace? Poor guy's getting really tossed around these days) and asks him what he thinks of being cut into pieces. But look out folks, because Yhwach's not done just yet: he's gathering Reishi to do something (most likely Quincy: Vollständig or a Quincy spell - hoping for the latter since the former is something I want to see against Ichigo).

Solid chapter this week. It was interesting to see the remaining Visored show up and serve a purpose beyond patching up the holes in the Human World, but I think we're all more focused on there being another Shihōin in the story now. She's quite adorable. Oh, and Ichibei's still being a baller as usual, though Yhwach's about to regain the offensive, it seems. One thing that stood out to me in this chapter, though, was Ichibei's penultimate line of dialogue: "...and I, the notorious head of the Shinigami..." I'm curious as to what he means by that, whether it implies a criminal past like Unohana or something else. Can't wait for next week, as usual.