User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 610 - Mausoleum of Skulls/@comment-28861328-20141219003243

Kubo really isn't better than this. I don't know what makes you think he is. He was better than this... oh... two arcs ago. Hell, I was even a big fan of the Fullbring arc (one of the few that liked it).

This? This is just what I've been saying all along. Kubo, for the life of him, cannot break his cycle. New hero gets introduced, begins thrashing villain, villain does something cool, hero unleashes new power and begins to win, when victory is assured the villain recovers, insta-kills hero. For the villain deaths, use the same formula and switch the roles. He's done it with every single Stern Ritter to date and every Shinigami whose died to date.

Yama-jii's fight was the exact same as Ichibei's, same pacing, same format, same everything: only difference was the pretty pictures and the abilities used. "[His] name is Yhwach" was the only reason Kubo could give us for why Ichibe miraculously burst into a trillion pieces despite absolutely handing the "Sealed King" his pale, wrinkly *** for the last few chapters. Sounds oddly like how Zaraki was able to survive in the vacuum of space because "[he] is Zaraki Kenpachi".

I don't know what anyone is expecting anymore. Kubo hasn't been improving for over a year now and, really, when you think about it, everything we're reading now is building up for the moment when Ichigo blasts through into the Soul Palace and scores a predictable victory against Yhwach, reestablishing himself as the hero with zero relevance to the plot, but somehow manages to save everyone.

Brilliant.