BA chapter 351 spoiler thread in a nutshell:

[khyata]

- Ichigo is a plotkai ape and Kubo is clearly hopped up on hallucinogens for making him defeat Ulquiorra.

- Ulquiorra's character has been fucked six ways to Sunday, therefore Bleach is trash and Kubo is the epitome of evil.

- Kubo is trash for not making the fight drag on for the better part of our adult lives, therefore everything is plotkai and

Comments

[khyata]

He pretty much has been. And it also irks me that people think this..thing/glorified Allon type beast is somehow a power up for Ichigo. I guess it makes him more ruthless, but at what cost? At the cost of utterly losing his humanity? And it also begs the question as to the hero/villain dynamics that has been going on in this fight, yes? How can we truly reconcile ourselves to an Ichibeast without a shred of humanity, without a shred of his niceness and nobility and accept him as the 'hero'? Ulquiorra seems to appear more and more human (in direct contrast to Ichibeast), for all his bloviating about true despair or otherwise. So really, these chapters for me have opened up a lot of questions about the nature of the hollow/human dynamics and kudos to Kubo's brilliance for that.

Bleach is so noted for using inexplicable power-ups. Whyo suddenly complains when Ichigo powers up in Chapter 351? I guess it's different for Ulquiorra fans when he does it to Ulquiorra (yey, double standards).

Word. Much as I love Ulquiorra (I really really do), this fight had to end sometime? And judging by that last spoiler pic with the two-toned cero, I don't think Ulq's out. I think he managed to obstruct Ichibeast's point blank cero at the last minute with his own black one, but we'll just have to wait and see on that.

And I also agree 100% with you on Ichigo being kicked around several times by several espada, before he FINALLY achieved some sort of quasi 'powerup', and even that moment is mired in irony. Heh, Bleach is immensely entertaining at the moment. :D