User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 567 (Rukia be like "I ain't even scared though")/@comment-5693502-20140205150657

Nice chapter, I'm liking this on-going theme of zanpakutō becoming "complete".

Maybe I'm just reading into it too much, but Rukia's not really dead, more like in cryo-stasis except she retains full sentience and can control her frozen body like a puppet (Rukia-style Ransōtengai anyone ?). Also it seems like Sode no Shirayuki is now a "temperature-type" zanpakutō rather than simply an Ice-type zanpakutō since it doesn't explicitly produce ice, just lowers the temperature of things (ice can still be created but only as a by-product of water falling below its freezing point).