User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 658 - Fatal Matters Are Cold/@comment-24531362-20160120021433

Analysis mode ENGAGE!:

So to start off we go to Askin vs. Boobs and Bro. Showing that his The Deathdealing can work retroactively to heal injuries inflicted by reiatsu he's adjusted to, Askin does those puns about death that he's become famous for. Yūshirō tries attacking a taunting Askin, but gets SHOT THROUGH THE HEART (x3!) by the unfazed Ritter.

With this being basically half the chapter, I will uncharacteristically interrupt my analysis to reflect over this portion. Askin has, over the course of the sub-arc, elevated from comically aloof yet somehow inferior 'picked last for Schutzstaffel dodgeball' villain to possibly the most intimidating of Yhwach's crew. Part of what makes him awesome is his ability to psyche everyone out. Pernida, Lille, and Gerard are all very straightforward in their motifs, but there's something eerily reserved and unpredictable about Askin that I love. We'll just have to see what the crew does to pull a win here.

Next, we get to this chapter's second half, wherein the rest of the Gotei crew is facing off against a massive Gerard. Apparently, every current Captain and Vice-Captain has already been rekt. Offscreen. Again. Gerard is now simply searching for anyone he missed. He muses about how difficult it would be to find any survivors, before opting for the miracle of taking them all out at once... by destroying the entire arm of Wahrwelt. Seems logical to me. Hiyori, Lisa, Love, and Hachi all pop out, intending to stop the giant, but Gerard seems unfazed. His nonchalant attitude prompts the three to don their Hollow masks for the first time in literal years, before launching one of the coolest combo moves ever. It doesn't mean sh*t though, because Gerard can just tank it and get back to destroying his surroundings, or so he thinks. All of a sudden, Gerard gets frozen in place by a resurgent Hitsugaya, still in his swaggin' Nazi digs.

This part of the chapter appealed to me far less. Sure we got Hollowfication again, but the knowledge that all of the characters in the Gotei crew have been taken out by Lille and Gerard (OFFSCREEN) with many of them not showing us their new powers (coughByakuyacough) bummed me out. Also, Hitsuguya is back. As evidenced by the fact that I wrote | an entire blog post about my dislike for the character some months back (shameless plug is shameless), I was none too thrilled by this turn of events. Dude's had his time to shine (or flicker dimly as is my opinion). Technically, he's had his time twice now, if you count Zombiegaya curbstomping the Gotei in Marching Out The ZOMBIES. Let someone else have a turn, why don't ya.

That's a wrap!