Just saw the chapter. Well, this tops just about everything we've seen so far in terms of asininity and tastelessness. The lack of dialog in this chapter felt ridiculous; there were about….9 pages(?) without a single speech bubble. More like a picture book than a manga. I had expected the chapter to be lacking (as per usual), but this was exceptionally poor.
The ordeal with Rangiku was appalling. Not simply because of the clearly-implied sexual assault (which can be a meaningful story element when done correctly), but because there was almost no emotional impact behind the scene. She comes across as another random, unfortunate victim of the Rukongai, instead of a legitimate supporting character with ties to Gin's past and motivations. And because those Shinigami were under the authority of Aizen, Gin decides to kill Aizen because of it? Sure, okay--although we don't know yet if Aizen had ordered this or if his subordinates acted on their own, without his knowledge. In either case, I'll go ahead and guess that guy Gin was focusing on in the second-to-last page was the mysterious 3rd seat in the 5th Division that Gin had killed before he met Aizen.
@Waytoo:
wait wait wait
did aizen have the hyogoku in that flashback?
so i guess he accidentally left it inside rukia one day prompting the entire soul society arc years later?
This is what was bothering me when I read the spoilers. How long, exactly, has Aizen had the Hougyoku?? Because if Gin was still living in the Rukongai, then this must predate the events of TBtP by around a decade, since Gin had already graduated from the Academy 9 years before the Hollowfication incident with the Captains. Wouldn't the Hougyoku still be in the possession of Urahara at this time? He had even used it to try and reverse the Hollowification process during the mini-arc. Urahara then later hid it inside of Rukia, which is where it fell into Aizen's current possession–or so I thought. Aizen having it before then doesn't make any sense.
Have I overlooked something here regarding the timeline?