3.5 rounded down to a 3. A lot of great Ichigo moments in the first half; very Ichigo-lite in the second half for obvious plot-related reasons. As much as I (surprisingly) enjoyed reading the battles in this volume and seeing everyone's various techniques come out to play after the time skip, I am so bloody glad that the next volume is apparently the conclusion of this story arc. This arc has felt more like a bumper to something bigger than a proper full-blown storyline, so I won't be too sad to say goodbye to it. ( )

This volume was about the Fullbringers. The volume before this one was I think about Ichigo losing his Shinigami powers then he met Ginjo. He was the one who teach him how to use a Fullbring. But that was just Ginjo's ploy to get Ichigo's powers. That's what happened in the last volume before this.

And now that Ichigo was a taunted by Ginjo and well, he doesn't have any powers left now that the latter get it all... Rukia saved the day. It was always Rukia who instilled Ichigo some points about how to go on etc, etc. Remember how Ichigo got his Shinigami powers in the first place? Rukia had to stab him and put some Shinigami powers in him.

That's what she did again in this volume. BUT, now, the sword that was used was full of all the thirteen Captains and thirteen co-captains' reiatsu. And tadah! Ichigo's Shinigami powers were back and he's stronger than ever.

I love how they paired off enemy vs Captains. Bleach is really great but still mysterious. I still got all my questions about Ichigo and his family and I've been waiting for the answers. STILL. :/ ( )