Goddamn chapter 266. Arroniro who was claiming to be Kaien is some horrifying experiment thing after Rukia blew a hole in the wall. The light touched him and his disguise faded.

Ikkaku released his bankai on earth.. I thought that, Ichigo being the exception, that they couldn't do that... are they just not allowed to? or can they regardless? Additionally I know I'm going to be flogged for this, but I never really got into the manga. anyone know if there is a torrent I can d/l and get up to speed?

No, they can do Bankai one earth, it's just that VCs and Captains have so much reiatsu that it affects the real world, so they're limited to only 20% of it when there. Thing is, Ikkaku isn't a vice-captain nor a captain, so he had no limiter on him.

As for the manga, Bleach7.com has the manga all the way up to the latest one as well as raw images from 266 (which is a serious fucking shocker).

Ikkaku having a bankai was cool, I didn't expect that of someone who's a third seat

- Shawlong's going to explain the numbering system for the Arrancar in the next episode. Basically, the Numeros (Decimo Trecer, Sexto, etc...) are ranked in terms of seniority. The top 10 Arrancar are in a group called the Espada and are ranked by strength, #1 being the strongest. Yammy already mentioned he's the 10th, Ulquiorra hasn't stated his number and Grimmjow ID'd himself as #6 (Sexta Arrancar)

- Neither SS or Aizen even know of their existence, and later on you see why they couldn't detect them anyway. Needless to say, the series is going to heat up again. The animation was absolutely flawless, as was the pacing in the last few episodes.

I may be mistaken (or it may not have been said yet in the anime?), but I think Ikkaku is of a higher level (lieutenant?), but he wants to stay subordinate to Kenpachi Zaraki. <3 So he keeps his bankai a secret to avoid being promoted or something.

Yup, that's it. They're going to explain it in the next episode. There's a pretty good reason why he wants it a secret, and you'll also find out how far back Yamichka, Ikkaku and Zaraki go back.

Ikkaku's bankai definitely raises his coolness factor. I liked him as comic relief before, but his Zanpakutou seemed kind of lame compared to others.

As for why he kept it hidden, I figured it was at least partially to keep Zaraki from challenging him on a daily basis. Knowing Zaraki there'd be no end to it until he had a definitive victory.

In episode 54 when Ichigo goes to save Rukia and Ukitake uses that family crest thing to stop the execution you're not really told how it can stop something as strong as a million zanpaktou. Does the manga say anything else about this. Also how did the captain of the healing squad become a captain? When she releases her zanpaktou that weird whale thing seems to come out which seems to be useless to fight with

It was awesome to see how badly Ichigo got owned by Grimmjow. Yay for shiny blood. I liked that new song used when Ichigo had the flash backs when he was pounded on. Very sad and mellow song. I can't wait to see next weeks episode. Ishida should be getting his powers back.

On 121, when Grimmjow was beating the shit out of Ichigo, the fuckin sound effects kicked ass! When he uppercuted him, my speakers boomed, and we were all like, "DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!"

Ulquiorra breaking the news to Ichigo that Rukia's down for the count (she's probably not dead) and the conflict afterwards were pretty nice. The pacing was brisk, keeping that sense of urgency Ichigo must have when he's trying to make the most of those eleven seconds.

Unfortunately, Ulquiorra's #4, two steps up from GJ whom he couldn't off. The short, but sweet counterattack from our Emo Espada had ole Ichigo's head spinning and the rank revelation killed his hopes on the spot.

This newest chapter has Ishida taking on #8 (Zael) since Renji's losing, and Grimmjow apparently coming to save Orihime from Loli and Menoli. Those two are definitely doing their best to turn her into a humanoid sack of meat.

Yeah, just had to say that "rank revelation" was a bit of a dagger to Ichigo's hopes. Sorry, I have to use the word whenever it's opportune. =p

The animations for these should be amazing. Yes.

Looks like a setup episodes and pretty much stuck to the manga, though I'm pleased with how they're using the filler characters. They essentially use them as comic relief or devices to stop the plot and eat up time.

They've finally reached the part where Ichigo finds the Vizards and the whole Ichigo/Hollow thing gets explained further. I can't wait for the next episode. Those of you who've read the manga probably know why.

I don't know how far you got, but the Bound (I prefer that translation) were created by the Shinigami. Uryuu temporarily regained his powers using a Quincy relic and let the Bound into Soul Society since everyone is more powerful there, without realizing they could regenerate using the spirit particles.

Once they actually started fighting there the Bound were each killed off pretty quickly except for the strong guy and Kariya. Hitsugaya didn't finish off the strong guy, so he now lives secretly in the forests somewhere. He was overly sentimental and didn't really want to destroy everything. Kariya's plan turned out to be detonating these big spirit generators buried under the Seireitei, but they were deactivated in time. Kariya was almost beaten by Uryuu, but the relic broke and Bankai Ichigo had to finish the job, as always.

Oh, and Kariya's doll was the wind itself. Just to explain how his attacks worked.

kariya gets freaking destroyed.

Wow, it looks like Ichigo's dead and Grimmjow's brought Orihime to revive him.