666 Satan was like a 2nd rate part 1 Naruto. There was massive deja vu all over it, from the demon-within-ostracized-kid-protagonist to the artstyle, and the writing was pretty mediocre. Cool demon designs though, and some cool abilities here and there, but nothing really special IMO.
Anyway, it's good to see Bleach being usual Bleach: Boring, badly paced, and oh so stupid. I mentioned this before where I thought Kubo had forgotten about it, but here he spends an entire chapter recapping the workings of the whole soul balance thing, and yet he still managed to get it hilariously wrong.
It is so amusingly dumb to me, that I actually made graphs of it!
The problem:
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My solution:
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Mayuris Canon solution:
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But anyways, the chapter itself…it was just so redundant. Even for Bleach, when the only plot advancement is the mention of the "Quinzy Blut", the pacing is unusually slow.
In soul society; I wouldn't be surprised if the recap was as long, if not longer than the initial explanation. I can understand the need for a reminder in a series as long as this, but the way to do it is like how Oda recapped characters and abilities in Impel Down, not with 7 friggin pages. And it was just so ham-fisted, obvious and unnatural exposition. As inorganic and lazy as a character sitting on his couch and telling about how he moved and got a new job as a sailor after his wife from the previous movie cheated on him with a bowling instructor.
Unimportant shinigami A: Golly, I sure don't understand what is going on!
Unimportant shinigami B: Me neither! If only someone could explain this to us in nice clear schematics from 450 chapters ago...
???: What ho there!
Shinigamis: It's captain Exposition!
Captain Exposition: Yes, and I have sprung into existence for the sole purpose of recapping this plot point for you!
I seriously wouldn't be surprised if Ryuuken/Aizen/Sszayel Aporro in shinigami robes dropped off the face of the manga after this scene. And weren't SS supposed to be invaded? That foot is taking some time to drop out of the sky.
It's not much better in Hueco Mondo, where the action scene amounts to nothing more than Fritz getting hit twice, and slammed into the ground a few times. Epic Fight!!! We're not free from Recapsposition here as we need to be told what Allon is again, and both the explanation and the berserk, Rawr! panels feels like they're lifted almost directly from its last appearance.
Only this time, This page contained only one panel instead of two, and Allon is poised to last 3 chapters instead of 4 before his utterly pointless, stalling ass is vaporized again.