#bleach 622

*Easter traveling kept me from doing a review last week, but luckily 622 and 623 feel like one big chapter so a joint review will be easy.

We pick up right where we left off in 621. Everybody’s shocked by Aizen coming to save the day and he politely compliments her promotion to lieutenant, glossing over the fact that the last time they saw each other he was ripping the Hogyoku  from her chest. Before things can devolve any further, Shunsui shows up to defuse the situation. He admits that they’re going to need Aizen’s power and they react exactly how you’d think they would. Among the hilariously petty responses, we have Yumichika and Ikkaku expressing their disapproval and Soi Fon telling him he has no shame. Shunsui, rightfully, doesn’t give a shit and tells them there’s worse things than fighting evil with evil.

Aizen agrees and wants his restraints removed. Shunsui patiently reminds him that he doesn’t have the authority to lift the seals, but notes that the great Sosuke Aizen probably won’t be weighed down be such an obstacle. Aizen admits that he doesn’t have that kind of power at the moment. Shunsui, continuing to demonstrate why he’s Captain-Commander, tells Aizen that he can either fight from his chair or get devoured by mini-Yhwachs. Right on cue a swarm of them descend from the sky and as Aizen prepares to fight back a very panicked Shunsui commands the rest of the Gotei 13 to seek shelter in the lab. Aizen unleashes a massive kido spell that envelops himself along with the mini-Yhwachs.

Back in the lab Byakuya, who until this point has been silent, reminds Shunsui that enlisting Aizen is an insult to all of them. Shunsui’s patience understandably appears to be wearing thin and tells Byakuya he can kick his ass after they’ve protected the Seireitei. They leave the lab and examine the aftermath of Aizen’s attack and Urahara observes that Aizen has probably gotten stronger since his fight with Ichigo, which is insane to think about.Aizen compliments his chair, which remains unscratched even after bearing the full brunt of his Kurohitsugi. Renji makes the connection that Aizen’s attack doubled as an attempt to free himself, but before he can think about it Soi Fon unleashes her bankai again. She plans on destroying the veil above them once and for all but Aizen tells her it isn’t necessary. The power of his Kurohitsugi left cracks in the veil and he can finish the job by applying pressure on it with his reiatsu. The immense pressure from Aizen’s reiatsu is messing with the gate the Gotei 13 is planning on using to get the Soul Palace and Rukia tells him to stop. Aizen isn’t concerned with the gate: He’ll simply bring the Soul Palace to them by breaking the barrier with his reiatsu. He begins amplifying his reiatsu, much to everyone’s concern except Shunsui’s. Aizen goes from smug to shocked and it’s a sight to see.

Shunsui explains that while the restrains can’t completely eliminate Aizen’s reiatsu, they’re able to keep it suppressed and close to him. It’s because of technology created by none other than Mayuri, who shows up to elaborate further. All living things have flowing reiatsu and since Aizen is immortal there was no point in trying to develop anything that could eliminate it altogether, so instead Mayuri successfully focused on restraining it instead. Mayuri now has total control over the amount of reiatsu that Aizen can release at any given time He also casually drops the bomb that there are other immortal criminals imprisoned in Muken, but whether that development is explored further remains to be seen. He calls Aizen naive for thinking that he’d be able to overpower his restraints, and refuses to let Aizen go through with his plan of shooting down the Soul Palace because it would essentially be insulting to him. Aizen attempts to goad Mayuri into letting him release the maximum amount of reiatsu but is attacked before Mayuri can respond.

The attacker turns out to be NaNaNa, whose designation is finally revealed to be “The Underbelly,” which evidently allows him to see the weak points in his opponents. It’s a cool ability, but one that would probably be cooler if it wasn’t attached to NaNaNa. He leads a full-on assault on Aizen, who seems more bored by it than anything. The rest of the remaining Sternritters appear behind NaNaNa and they’re a sorry-looking bunch. An exasperated Shunsui wonders about the status of the gate and Nanao tells him the reiatsu has scattered and they’re back to square one, which is like the tenth time that’s happened since the gate was revealed in the first place. Shunsui enlists the help of Urahara to stabilize the gate, who obliges as a few dozen undead shinigami appear around them courtesy of Giselle. Mayuri seems annoyed that she’s still alive and Shunsui tries to find common ground with the Sternritters since bringing down the Soul Palace is in neither of their best interests. NaNaNa rejects the offer and gets shot through the chest by Bazz-B just as Shunsui’s about to draw his swords. A reserved-looking Bazz-B explains that if the Seireitei gets destroyed then so will the Wandenreich, since the Wandenreich exists in its shadows, which doesn’t really explain why the Quincies have now lead two consecutive invasions on Soul Society, but let’s just go with it. Mayuri is understandably suspicous, and an unconcerned Bazz-B tells them that they’ll help with the gate as long as they can come to Soul Palace to help take down Yhwach. Shunsui is probably a healthy mixture of pleased and suspicious, but keeps a strong poker face at the revelation.

Kubo’s been on a roll ever since he directed his attention back at the Gotei 13, and these chapters were no exception.