But this week is a little special, because Bleach made it to 600!
Spoilers after the cut.
Don't you hate when the cannon fodder turns out to be somewhat useful?
I guess I shouldn't be surprised by the fact that the Royal Guard isn't a bunch of patsies set in "His Majesty's" path. But really, I am surprised, because they're a group of characters whose look was essentially stolen from One Piece and then given some tweaks to make them fit in the wider Bleach universe.
So it would have made perfect sense if Shutara had been dead after getting shot in the forehead, because a bunch of transplanted One Piece characters ought to be cannon fodder and nothing more.
Of course, they're a tricksy bunch. And now this battle that looked like it might end in an expeditious time-frame now looks like it'll get drawn out to such lengths that we'll all be bored by it when it finally and gracelessly ends.
I suppose this is better than the nigh-endless nonsense down in Seireitei. The RG, for all their faults, are powerful characters who are fighting other powerful characters. The top three Quincy have yet to be involved, but they don't really need to be involved at this point because there are so many people to take out first before heading up to see the Soul King.
And apparently, Nimaiya can actually fight. Chalk up another surprise.
We'll see how all of this plays out over the next few chapters, of course. Unless there's yet another turnaround and the story goes back to Seireitei (or in a twist everyone will have foreseen, goes back to Ichigo and his team), this battle should take a while.
