護廷十三隊侵軍篇 後半

Despite all the flaws and inconsistency in setting and character portrayal, I have to say this filler arc is somewhat passable for the most part. As long as Nozomi isn't involved, that is.

As it turned out, dimension locks were indeed applied in the background by Urahara and Tessai, so it pacifies my rant concerning the battles in the Real World. But I still have a problem with Nozomi. She's basically written as a Mary Sue, where she's able to withstand attacks that disabled Vice Captain and even Captain class shinigami, and wields a zanpakutou capable of absorbing ridiculous amount of energy.

I do like the last bit of the arc where the bonds between comrades were put into focus. 仲間 and 絆 are undoubtedly two of the 王道 elements for shounen manga, and I always buy it. XD

Starting from ep.330, one character gets featured along with the 10-year anniversary logo before the end credit roll. Scenes from past episodes were also played during the ED song, starting from the first episode to the end of the arrancar arc. All the filler arcs were skipped and only the main story was shown, which is the way it should be.

ep.330 - Ichigo; from Ichigo meeting Rukia to Ichigo defeating a Menos Grandes (ep.1-14)
ep.331 - Renji; from Renji finding Rukia to Renji fighting Ichigo in Soul Society (ep.15-30)
ep.332 - Ishida; from Ichigo defeating Renji to Ichigo stopping Soukyoku in front of Rukia (ep.31-54)
ep.333 - Byakuya; from Ichigo rescuing Rukia to Aizen revealing his true self (ep.55-62)
ep.334 - Hirako; from Hirako attacking Ichigo to Grimmjow retreating from the Real World (ep.110-121)
ep.335 - Grimmjow; from Grimmjow losing his left arm to Grimmjow getting healed by Orihime (ep.122-127, 138-143)
ep.336 - Nel; from Ichigo & co meeting Nel in Hueco Mundo to Ichigo defeating Grimmjow (ep.144-146, 150-167)
ep.337 - Kenpachi; from Szayel Aporro fighting Ishida & Renji to Aizen vs. shinigami @ Real World (ep.191-203)
ep.338 - Urahara; from the pendulum swinging back to 110 years ago to the Vizard moving out to pay Aizen back (ep.206-212)
ep.339 - Ulquiorra; from Aizen vs. shinigami @ Real World to Ulquiorra turning into ash before Orihime could reach him (ep.215-226, 266-272)
ep.340 - Gin; from Rukia & co fighting Yammy to Ichigo returning to the Real World (ep.273-291)
ep.341 - Aizen; from Aizen defeating all shinigami to Ichigo losing his spirit power after Aizen is sealed (ep.292-310)
ep.342 - Rukia & Ichigo; interactions and key scenes of Rukia and Ichigo throughout the main story (ep.1-342 minus filler arcs)

Yes, I re-watched ep.342 again. I also went back to read ch.423 where Ichigo and Rukia separates, then the last few pages of ch.459 where Rukia makes Ichigo a shinigami again. Judging from the arm badge, Rukia is now the Vice Captain of the 13th Squad!

I've kinda stopped following the weekly Jump and just opted for reading the volumes, so I'm dying to read vol.53! Maybe I should go and read the whole series from vol.1 again...