From the back cover:
Ichigo and Yoruichi race to save Ichigo’s friends from Rukia’s cold-blooded brother, Byakuya Kukichi. They arrive to find Ganju in tatters, and Rukia with him. Ichigo is bent on defeating her brother this time, but he is nowhere near prepared. Can he learn decades’ worth of skill in just a matter of days?
Review:
Of course he can! This is a Shonen Jump manga!
I didn’t enjoy this volume as much as the previous few, even though a couple of significant things happened. Yoruichi’s true form is revealed, for one, and I like the character design and how it retains some cat-like traits. Also, it was good to see Uryuu and Orihime again.
There were just a lot of bothersome things regarding women in this volume. Orihime was ushered away from the fight for her protection and against her wishes. Kurotsuchi (a Soul Reaper captain) was incredibly abusive to his female Assistant Captain. There was one powerful female character in the earlier chapters, but it didn’t really balance out the other things.
Other frustrating things include Ichigo’s embarking on yet another training mini-arc and the fact that Uryuu’s smackdown of the evil, maniacal Kurotsuchi (also head of research and development and fond of conducting sadistic experiments on unwilling subjects) was delayed until the next volume. What a vile character that guy is!
[…] Reviews: Ed Chavez podcasts his thoughts on Walkin’ Butterfly and 10, 20, 30. Jen Parker reviews Dash! at Yaoi Suki. At PopCultureShock’s Manga Recon blog, Ken Haley checks out vol. 1 of The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls: Revenge of the Hori Clan. Michelle reviews vols. 14, 15, 16, and 17 of Bleach at Soliloquy in Blue. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie looks at MW, vols. 5, 6, and 7 of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, and vol. 2 of Parasyte. At CBGXtra, Billy Aguiar reviews vol. 1 of Street Fighter II. It must be Dan Polley day at Manga Life, because all the new reviews are by him: vol. 1 of Psycho Busters, vol. 5 of Omukae Desu, vol. 7 of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch, vol. 10 of xxxHolic, and vol. 2 of Trigun. […]