A new chapter of Bleach is out, so let's talk about it.
Spoilers and transitions (what a twist!) after the cut.
It looks like Kyouraku is done for the moment. He and Nanao were successful in vanquishing one of the elite....
Wait a minute, no they weren't.
In keeping with the usual nonsense in the manga, Barro isn't dead, or close to it. He was sent down to Seireitei in an explosion of feathers that somehow sprouted (that's not how feathers work!) into multiple copies of his owl form.
And here the chapter takes a weird turn into the surreal.
There's always a crescent moon in the Bleach universe, no matter what realm the characters are inhabiting. Seireitei, Karakura, Hueco Mundo, it doesn't matter; they all share the crescent moon.
I'm not sure if the crescent moon is present in the Soul King Realm, or Wahrwelt, or whatever else you want to call it.
At any rate, I mention the crescent moon because when Kira Izuru makes his long-awaited return, the hole in his chest frames the ever-present crescent moon. He then uses Wabisuke to take out a few of the copies, while Aizen and the rest of the lackey-class shinigami gape.
The next battle should be interesting, despite the fact that two of the people involved in it have been featured quite extensively. Renji and Byakuya are up against Gerard Valkyrie. The elite Quincy looks like the bruiser type, a physical fighter that doesn't rely on tricks. So of course, that'll be subverted quickly.
But will it go another seven (or so) chapters, thus further delaying what I really want to see?
