#bleach 612

We open up 611 to find Ichibe in pieces and the rest of the Royal Guard fallen in battle. As Yhwach sets his sights on the Soul King, Ichigo and company arrive. They're shocked by the carnage they find and Ichigo hears a voice in his head.The voice turns out to be Ichibe's, who puts himself back together after Ichigo calls him name, continuing Kubo's tradition of making a character's epic death inconsequential by not following through with it. Ichibe explains that he stole some of Ichigo's powers to heal himself when he called his name. It's convenient and doesn't really make sense, so it's best to just roll with it. Ichibe implores Ichigo to stop Yhwach since it's going to take some time before he's at full power again. Ichigo seems shocked but if I were him I'd be used to everybody asking me to bail them out at this point.

After Ichibe reiterates how important the Soul King is for keeping the balance of the universe intact, we immediately cut to the Soul King with a sword in his chest. The sword is none other than Yhwach's, who bids him farewell while casually dropping the bombshell that they're father and son, confirming a long-standing theory that Yhwach and the Soul King are related. Yhwach vows to stop being humiliated by the Soul King and notes that he probably saw his fate coming since he can see into the future. The Soul King remains in his cocoon, either unable or unwilling to react.

The attention shifts from the Soul Palace down onto the battlefield, where Renji and Rukia find Shinji and Omaeda. Shinji looks like he's in rough shape but shakes off his wounds while Omaeda now worships the 5th division captain for saving them from Bazz-B (offscreen of course). There's a possible implication that Shinji used his bankai since Omaeda said they used their zanpakutos to block Bazz-B's attack and his shikai really wouldn't be able to do that, but since we didn't see it anyway it doesn't really matter. Soi Fon shows up along with Hinamori and explains that the lieutenant healed their injuries in a rare moment of competence. She then opens a door to a safe-house as Shinji explains that all of the captains and lieutenants got an urgent distress call that was to be met even at the cost of leaving a battle.

They find Urahara, Byakuya, Nanao, and Yoruichi's little brother inside. Soi Fon proceeds to fangirl over yet another member of the Shihouin clan. Shinji asks Urahara where everybody is and we get some updates on characters that we haven't seen for months. The 7th division is basically on its own since Komamura reverted back to a dog. Kurotsuchi is still out and about with the (presumably) still-zombified Rose and Kensei. Kenpachi, HIsagi, Ikkaku, and Yumichika are all getting medical treatment but Kenpachi's in the worst shape. Shunsui bailing Aizen out at Central 46 while Hitsugaya and Rangiku remain missing in action. A skeptical Shinji asks Urahara what he plans on doing once everybody's gathered, who tells them that they're going to break into the Soul Palace. They all act how you'd expect, but Urahara assures them that it should be possible due to a combination of their combined spiritual power, the heavenly armor brought by Yoruichi's brother, and a special platform created by Kurotsuchi. We then abruptly cut back to the Soul Palace, where Ichibe apologizes and says defeating Yhwach is impossible.

Both chapters were relatively quick to read through, but they gave us a lot to digest.

Ichibe is very much alive, despite being blown to pieces. At this point, I'm going to withhold judgment on this development. On one hand, his "death" was pretty brutal, and had he really died it would've been the most significant loss we've seen since Yamamoto got sliced in half. On the other hand, if he was able to piece himself back together just by having Ichigo call his name then he almost certainly has a few more tricks up his sleeve which are sure to be epic.

Yhwach and the Soul King being related probably wasn't as big of a shock as Kubo hoped it would be, since the fandom has been calling it for at least the past year and a half. Still, it was nice to have a confirmation on a popular theory. That's all I'm going to say about their relationship at the moment, since it's probably going to be months before it gets addressed again.

The updates from the safe house provided some of the best information on what's going to happen with the future of the arc. In other words, an all-out battle/series of battles looks to be in the very near future. On the shinigami's side, we have only have a handful of captains who haven't been seriously wounded, zombified, or currently recovering from previous injuries. We haven't seen the last of the Royal Guard, but it's probably going to take a lengthy stay in Kirinji's baths before they make a reappearance. Other than that we have an assortment of Visoreds, Fullbringers, and Arrancar waiting in the wings. In terms of sheer numbers, Yhwach possesses quality over quantity, with Haschwalth, Uryuu, and the elite Sternritters on his side. The battle lines have officially been drawn, and even though Ichigo will inevitably save the day I have a feeling we're about to have a bloodbath on our hands before all is said and done.

Predictions, Theories, and Unanswered Questions:

There was a lot of set up in these two chapters so there's a lot of possibilities moving forward that should be addressed, including:

The Royal Guard: For a while I believed that the remaining soul reapers would split up into mini-squads that would be led by the Royal Guard to take on the elite Sternritters. While it's still a possibility, I saw an intriguing theory that if Yhwach indeed becomes the Soul King by killing his father, the Royal Guard would be bound to serve him and fight the Gotei 13. It would be a cool theory that would explain why Ichibe is so hopeless at the end of 612, but my biggest worry is that it would turn the Royal Guard into fodder (something may people would argue has already happened).

Captains who aren't immediately headed to the Soul Palace: Kenpachi's still in pretty rough shape but I'm pretty sure his spiritual power alone is more than enough to make it to the Soul Palace, so I have a feeling he and the others that are being healed will make a dramatic entrance when the time comes. The image of Iba and Komamura on their own doesn't bode well for either of them, and Urahara's words made it pretty clear that they're being left out to dry since they're no longer of use. That leaves Hitsugaya and Rangiku, whose whereabouts are anybody's guess at this point.

Death of the Soul King: Many people are under the impression that if the Soul King dies, all of the worlds will collide since he's the lynchpin keeping everything together. This collision could scatter everybody and add a bit of unpredictability to an arc that seems headed for another series of back-to-back-to-back battles.