Recaps

During a winter-vacation mission, Reigen Shinchō explained to Ulquiorra that human impulses could defy logic, prompting Ulquiorra to reconsider his own choices. He realized he might have acted impulsively when he spared Ichigo Kurosaki for the girl’s sake, and wondered why.

• Tatsuki Arisawa and Asano Mizue awakened their Fullbring and joined the Paranormal Detective Agency, with Mizue recovering her erased memories of Ikkaku Madarame.
• The agency traveled by RV to investigate a family in Wu Port whose elderly relative had likely been murdered and returned as a Hollow.
• Reigen Shinchō told Ulquiorra that emotional impulses could lead people to act against logic, using a murder case he had handled as an example.
• Ulquiorra considered Reigen Shinchō’s claim that he might have Emotional Deficiency Disorder and reflected on whether he had ever acted impulsively.
• Ulquiorra remembered sparing Ichigo Kurosaki during their earlier battle for a girl’s sake and wondered why he had done it.

Ichigo and his group took a paid job to exorcise a Hollow haunting a wealthy family, where Asano Mizue exposed the client’s guilt over his father-in-law’s death. After Tatsuki and Mizue defeated the Hollow, its final curse unsettled them, while Orihime continued to wonder whether Ulquiorra had truly become harmless.

• Reigen Shinchō’s group arrived at a villa and Ulquiorra identified a Hollow that was close to devouring the wealthy man.
• Ichigo located the Hollow in the father-in-law’s old study, and Asano Mizue used her ability to make the wealthy man remember his crime.
• The wealthy man paid the group, and Tatsuki and Asano Mizue went to fight the Hollow with Orihime and Ulquiorra backing them up.
• Tatsuki and Asano Mizue defeated the Hollow, which cursed the family before disappearing, and Ulquiorra relayed its final words.
• Tatsuki worried that they might go to Hell, but Ulquiorra reassured her, and the group left the villa with their payment.
• Orihime remained wary of Ulquiorra, while Tatsuki and Mizue teased her about her feelings.

Uryū confessed his feelings to Orihime, who asked for time to think, while Ulquiorra struggled to understand why he could not stop thinking about her. After confronting Orihime with his confused feelings and frightening her into tears, Ulquiorra was left questioning whether he liked her.

• Uryū went home and tried to ask Ryūken about love, but lost his nerve and left without an answer.
• Uryū confessed to Orihime and asked her to be his girlfriend, and she asked for time to think.
• Ulquiorra brooded over why he had interrupted Uryū and Orihime, then admitted he could not stop thinking about her.
• Ulquiorra questioned Orihime about why she affected him and revealed that she had changed his thoughts during his fight with Ichigo Kurosaki.
• Orihime cried, pushed Ulquiorra away, and ran to her room, while Ulquiorra's killing intent frightened Uryū.
• Ulquiorra wondered whether he liked Orihime Inoue and what it meant to like someone.

Ulquiorra struggled to understand his feelings for Orihime and tried to justify killing her, but Jun helped him reconsider his logic and connect his affection to his search for a heart. The chapter left Ulquiorra ready to follow his heart, though he had not yet said what he would do.

• Ulquiorra tried to kill Orihime because he believed his affection weakened him, then convinced himself he could not kill her because Aizen and his father valued her.
• After Shizuoka Airyu reported the situation, Jun took the group to the World of the Living and visited Ulquiorra in seclusion.
• Jun warned Ulquiorra against losing himself in human philosophy and urged him to help the Arrancar develop instead.
• Jun challenged Ulquiorra’s fear that accepting Orihime would leave him vulnerable, and Ulquiorra realized his siblings and Ichigo were not current threats.
• Jun connected Ulquiorra’s feelings for Orihime to his search for a heart and the development of Segunda Etapa, then told him to follow his heart.

Ulquiorra made a grand public confession to Orihime, but his bluntness and uncertainty frustrated her, and she took him away from the school to talk. After he misunderstood her challenge to meet more people and walked off to investigate, Jun and Isuzu argued about the situation until Golvi released a mysterious powder that prompted Ulquiorra to return and protect Orihime.

• Ulquiorra bought 1,526 roses and confessed his love to Orihime in front of the school, where students and teachers cheered them on.
• Orihime pulled Ulquiorra out of the classroom and asked whether he understood what it meant to like someone; he said she alone made him care.
• When Orihime suggested he might meet other people who were different, Ulquiorra took her literally and walked away to investigate.
• Jun and Isuzu argued about whether they should interfere, while Golvi blew powder around them.
• Ulquiorra sensed an unknown attack, returned to Orihime, and told her to stay by his side.

Orihime and Ulquiorra awaken from a shared dream in which Ichigo kills Ulquiorra, and Jun reveals that Golvi’s ability caused it. The dream exposes Orihime’s growing feelings for Ulquiorra, leaving her embarrassed as he promises to protect her and struggles to understand her.

• Ulquiorra escorts Orihime across the desert when Ichigo arrives, and the two fight in a battle that ends with Ichigo killing Ulquiorra in their dream.
• Orihime wakes beside Ulquiorra, who explains that they shared the dream and suspects someone used an ability on them.
• Jun reveals that Golvi’s Shared Dream ability trapped Orihime and Ulquiorra in a dream shaped by their shared thoughts.
• Jun, Isuzu, and Golvi leave, while Ulquiorra analyzes the dream and Orihime realizes she feels safe with him and has feelings for him.
• Orihime tells Ulquiorra to be quiet, and he earnestly agrees to submit to her and protect her.

Jun and the explorers descended into the Bottomless Abyss, found its floor thousands of kilometers below the entrance, and began mapping its vast branching passages. After discovering a boundary and the Skyline Cloud Sea beyond it, the groups returned to the abyss and split up to search for more connections.

• Jun told Ulquiorra to stay in the World of the Living and follow his heart after Ulquiorra said he could feel a heartbeat beside his Hollow Hole.
• Jun and more than 150 explorers descended 3,779 kilometers and reached the bottom of the Bottomless Abyss, which proved larger than the explored Endless Sea.
• Jun divided the explorers into six groups, and his group coordinated with nearby teams as they charted branching passages downward.
• Jun’s group and the sixth group joined forces after their passages connected, then explored together for three days and descended nearly 800 more kilometers.
• Team four found a spatial connection to a new world, which the explorers named the Skyline Cloud Sea, and the groups returned to the abyss and split up to explore its boundaries.

Jun investigated a region where violent Menos Grandes overwhelmed Grimmjow and found a Vasto Lorde whose berserk state seemed tied to a mental influence. Jun led a powerful team back into the region, where Starrk achieved Segunda Etapa and began sharing Spiritual Power among his allies.

• Jun's team reunited with Ichigo Kurosaki, Ulquiorra, and the Paranormal Detective Agency, and learned that Grimmjow had been badly injured while fighting in a region full of unusually violent Menos Grandes.
• Pandele questioned a captured Chimera Vasto Lorde, who lost his reason whenever he tried to recall what had happened to him, and Jun suspected a mental influence.
• After Grimmjow returned wounded, Jun consulted Zegrod and assembled a team of Arrancar and fighters capable of Hollowfication Mask Fusion, including Ichigo Kurosaki and Uryū.
• The team entered the strange region, cleared a path through attacking Adjuchas, and followed Dolfen's directions while Starrk protected them with his Resurrección abilities.
• Jun urged Starrk to consider the difference between a group and a family, and Starrk achieved Segunda Etapa, using Family's Gift to share Spiritual Power through his Spirit Wolves.

Jun and his group found the ancient Arrancar Arturo Platido guarding a mysterious source in a small world, and learned that Uryū’s powers seemed connected to Arturo’s legendary Son of Heaven. Arturo’s frantic questions about Uryū’s ancestry left Jun believing he had uncovered the final piece of an old mystery.

• Starrk’s Spirit Wolves helped the group safely reach a spatial opening that was causing nearby Hollows to become irritable.
• Jun gave Nel the shield Undying Unbroken, and accepting it triggered her Second Resurrección before she entered the opening.
• Nel returned and reported that an ancient Arrancar was guarding the source, so Jun led the group into the small world to meet him.
• The Arrancar identified himself as Arturo Platido, recalled knowing Zegrod when he was called the Sea King, and refused to reveal what he guarded.
• Arturo singled out Uryū as a possible descendant of the Son of Heaven, and Jun urged him to demonstrate his powers and expel his Silver Blood.
• Arturo grabbed Uryū and demanded to know whether he was the Son of Heaven’s son or grandson and why he was not alive, while Jun realized he might have solved an old puzzle.

Jun and Uryū questioned Arturo and learned that he was an ancient Arrancar appointed by the Son of Heaven to guard the entrance to a sealed world. Arturo’s account revealed that the world was Hell, and Jun concluded that its gates imprisoned powerful souls at risk of becoming monstrous.

• Uryū told Arturo he might be a distant descendant of the Son of Heaven, while Jun stepped in to explain how much time and language had changed.
• Jun learned that Arturo had guarded a hidden route since an ancient age and that the miasma had appeared only within the past hundred years.
• Arturo recounted how the Son of Heaven united factions of the dead against the Arrancar, then joined them to seal evolved monsters inside a world stripped of Reishi.
• Arturo explained that the Son of Heaven had later tasked him with killing any monsters that escaped the sealed world.
• Jun identified the guarded place as Hell and its entrance as the Gates of Hell, explaining that powerful souls could be dragged there if they risked evolving into monsters.
• Jun said Ichigo Kurosaki’s Final Getsuga Tenshō had put him in such a state, leaving the group stunned.

Jun used the Five Wooden Gourds Crest to locate Hell and opened its gates, revealing that the Soul King had died after creating and separating the worlds. Nobunaga Oda escaped from Hell, and he and Jun prepared to make trouble in the World of the Dead.

• Jun asked Arturo whether he would interfere if Jun found Hell, and Arturo said he would not.
• Jun learned from Arturo that the Soul King had died after separating the World of the Dead and that parts of him had remained in Soul Society, the Dangai, and the World of the Living.
• Jun activated Nobunaga Oda’s Five Wooden Gourds Crest, and Uryū erased the black fog covering the gates of Hell.
• Jun and Uryū forced the gates open, and Nobunaga Oda struggled through while the gates crushed his arm and leg.
• Nobunaga Oda severed his trapped arm and leg, escaped Hell, and greeted Jun before declaring they would do something great in the World of the Dead.

Jun learned from Nobunaga that Hell was packed with powerful, unstable souls and faced a growing crisis as its population surged. He agreed to deal with the threat, and Nobunaga promised to help him.

• Jun took Nobunaga to the World of the Living, then brought Arturo back to the Endless Sea, where Arturo reunited with Zegrod and pledged to help Jun.
• Nobunaga explained that Hell held monsters judged capable of reaching the Transcendent Level, including twelve ancient beings who had fought until none remained.
• Nobunaga described how Shōtoku Taishi sacrificed himself to reveal why people were dragged into Hell and how they might escape, allowing Nobunaga to give Jun his family crest.
• Nobunaga said he had killed Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Akechi Mitsuhide, and other old acquaintances to survive Hell, where souls grew stronger by absorbing Spiritual Power from the dead.
• Nobunaga warned that Hell held at least eighty Critical Level beings and hundreds just below that, with its growing population pushing power toward an eventual eruption.
• Jun agreed to take care of Hell's crisis, and Nobunaga promised to help him until the task was finished.

Soul Society reeled after the Captain-Commander’s defeat and Jun Shimizu’s threat, while Mashiro Kuna’s clash with Chōjirō Sasakibe deepened the Visoreds’ break with it. As Soul Society tried suppression, discontent spread and more than five hundred Soul Reapers fled to Jun’s Expedition, leaving the conflict poised to escalate.

• After the battle in the World of the Living, Mashiro Kuna attacked Kensei Muguruma, and Chōjirō Sasakibe’s defense of Soul Society intensified her hatred and resumed the fighting.
• Retsu Unohana stopped the battle, and the Visoreds let go of their reluctance to treat Soul Reapers from Soul Society as enemies.
• Soul Society’s leaders faced the Captain-Commander’s defeat, Jun Shimizu’s threat, and growing interest among young Soul Reapers in Jun’s ideas and the deaths of Kakyō and Tōsen.
• Soul Society responded to the unrest with suppression, judgment, and punishment, as Jun’s warning about tearing it apart continued to unsettle the organization.
• A member of the Twelfth Division opened the Senkaimon, and more than five hundred Soul Reapers fled to the Expedition within six months.

Tōshirō and Rangiku hid from Soul Society’s search squads while Iba warned them about the pursuit and Soi Fon’s imprisonment. Soi Fon escaped with Ōmaeda, learned that the Yunshui Family was hunting others as well, and left him hidden in Rukongai while she went to gather information.

• Tōshirō lured Iba’s squad away from Rangiku, then Iba secretly visited them and explained that Dōgimaru could track anyone it cut.
• Iba warned Tōshirō and Rangiku that Kaien and his family were also being hunted, and told them Soi Fon had been imprisoned over her two Zanpakuto, Shikai, and Bankai.
• Rangiku comforted Tōshirō as he grieved Momo’s death, and he realized that the sword he carried looked like Hyōrinmaru but was not his own.
• Ōmaeda brought Soi Fon Suzumebachi and urged her to escape, and she killed the guards, freed herself, and recovered her other sword and clothes.
• Ōmaeda told Soi Fon that the Yunshui Family was hunting Rangiku, Kaien, and others, so she led him through a secret passage into Rukongai.
• Soi Fon told Ōmaeda to hide and went to gather information while he stayed behind.

Ukitake and Kyōraku discussed their doubts about Soul Society and Jun’s actions while Kaien Shiba faced a pursuit team demanding evidence of his supposed collusion with Jun. After Byakuya learned that the Shiba Clan had uncovered secrets Jun left behind, he suspected Jun had anticipated the upheaval and remained composed.

• Ukitake and Kyōraku discussed whether to oppose Soul Society’s direction and questioned Jun’s creation of Arrancar.
• Kaien Shiba defended his wife and infant from a pursuit team that demanded weapons and Kidō they believed Jun had given him.
• A messenger arrived and the pursuit team withdrew, allowing Kaien to take his family into hiding.
• A Sixth Division member told Byakuya that the Second Division had found a hidden room of secrets Jun left for the Shiba Clan.
• Byakuya inferred that Jun had anticipated Soul Society’s crisis and calmly returned to practicing calligraphy.

Soi Fon gathered Tōshirō and Rangiku and brought them to the Kuchiki estate, where Ōmaeda and the Shibas had also arrived. Sōjun called everyone together to discuss how to respond to Soul Society’s worsening crisis.

• Byakuya told Soi Fon to find Hitsugaya and the Shibas, move Rangiku and the Shiba family to the Kuchiki estate, and monitor the Second Division.
• Soi Fon reunited with Ōmaeda and sent him to find Kaien and his wife while she went to locate Tōshirō and Rangiku.
• Soi Fon found Tōshirō and Rangiku in hiding, and they agreed to move Rangiku to the Kuchiki estate after learning that the arresting Soul Reapers had left to investigate Jun Shimizu’s treasures.
• Soi Fon used a secret passage provided by Byakuya to lead Tōshirō and Rangiku safely into the Kuchiki estate, where they met Mino and the baby.
• Soi Fon and Ōmaeda joined Kaien and Sōjun in the front hall, and Sōjun began a discussion about how to handle the situation.

Sōjun explained that Jun’s reform aimed to give everyone the ability to resist abuse, winning Tōshirō, Soi Fon, and Ōmaeda’s support. He then showed them the Kuchiki Clan’s collection of Zanpakuto and secret texts, leaving them shaken by the idea that such knowledge could be shared openly.

• Kaien rejected the reformist cause and left to question the Captain-Commander, while Sōjun assured him that the Kuchiki Clan would continue protecting his wife.
• Tōshirō understood that Jun wanted ordinary souls to have the right to resist the powerful, and he pledged his life to that future; Soi Fon and Ōmaeda also agreed to help.
• Sōjun outlined a plan to suppress the Second Division’s extremists, purge corrupt members from the divisions, and ally with reformist nobles, then said they would wait for news from Kaien.
• After Soi Fon reported that the Shiba Clan’s hidden treasures had been found, Sōjun led her, Tōshirō, and Ōmaeda to the Kuchiki Clan’s secret chamber.
• The three visitors were awestruck by the Zanpakuto and texts, and Tōshirō found a book about Zanpakuto with multiple forms; Sōjun invited them to read anything and suggested the knowledge might someday be available to everyone.

Kaien Shiba tried to reach Captain-Commander Yamamoto to demand action against the unrest, but Kensei Muguruma defeated him and carried him back to the First Division. Tōshirō learned that Hyōrinmaru’s Sword Soul had abandoned him for another sword, leaving him devastated.

• Kaien Shiba left the Abandoned District and charged toward the First Division, determined to confront Captain-Commander Yamamoto.
• Kensei Muguruma intercepted Kaien, and the two fought as Kaien’s Nejibana-powered attacks forced Kensei to reveal Wind Sever: Dankū.
• Kensei destroyed Kaien’s defenses with Jidanpū’s explosive power, defeated him, and carried his bloodied body to the First Division.
• Tōshirō read Jun’s explanation that a Sword Soul could move between Zanpakuto sharing the same name and realized Hyōrinmaru’s Sword Soul had left him.
• Tōshirō fell to his knees beside Hyōrinmaru and wept, believing he no longer deserved the sword’s acknowledgment.

After learning that Jun had replaced his Sword Soul, Tōshirō received comfort from Soi Fon and Sōjun, who urged him to search for Hyōrinmaru rather than blame himself. Meanwhile, Kenpachi Zaraki led the 11th Division in a violent raid on the Second Division to seize Jun’s secret treasures.

• Soi Fon told Tōshirō that she had once been unable to sense her Sword Soul and explained how Shimizu-san helped her understand her Zanpakuto.
• Soi Fon revealed that Shimizu-san had returned to Soul Society and become captain of the Tenth Division because he had high hopes for Tōshirō.
• Sōjun encouraged Tōshirō to stop wallowing in regret, gave him Hyōrinmaru, and urged him to search for his Sword Soul.
• After hearing that Jun’s secret treasures had been moved to the Second Division, Kenpachi Zaraki assembled the 11th Division and ordered them to take the treasures.
• Zaraki and the 11th Division stormed the Second Division, killed members who tried to stop them, and carried away the books and swords.

After the Second Division’s destruction, the 11th Division distributed books on Kidō and Zanpakuto, sparking a rush to study and train. Kenpachi Zaraki entered his Inner World, other captains showed signs of change, and the First Division grew increasingly detached from Soul Society’s new order.

• Kenpachi Zaraki asked Tachikawa Reihei to sort and read the recovered books, while the 11th Division gave away its Kidō texts and Yumichika took charge of them.
• Yumichika copied the Kidō books for the Twelfth Division and the other squads, prompting a scramble that ended with every division obtaining copies.
• Soul Reapers used Kenpachi Zaraki’s violent Reiatsu as a training ground, and Retsu Unohana’s new hair tie and Shūhei Hisagi’s return signaled changes in the Fourth and Ninth Divisions.
• Kenpachi Zaraki’s Reiatsu training stopped when he entered his Inner World, and Sajin Komamura’s Reiatsu then became a replacement for the training gathered around the 11th Division.
• Soul Society resumed its duties and settled into a new order while the First Division remained mysterious and increasingly overlooked.

Jun learned that abnormal spatial fluctuations near the Silent Sand Sea signaled the Wandenreich’s approach, and he gathered his forces for the coming war. He moved everyone to Las Noches to wait for the Quincy, with Baraggan and Szayelaporro agreeing to help as needed.

• Jun heard from Ulquiorra that abnormal spatial fluctuations had appeared near the Silent Sand Sea and announced that the final war was coming.
• Jun ordered Natasha to contact Aizen and Pandele, recalled his allies, and assembled thirty-five limit-level combatants alongside himself and Aizen.
• Ichigo, Rukia, and Sado prepared to take part, while Orihime stayed with Ulquiorra and Uryū left to consult his father about the Quincy conflict.
• Arturo and the Basilosaurus offered to help, but Jun told them to remain by the sea.
• Jun brought his forces to Las Noches, explained to Baraggan and Szayelaporro that the spatial fluctuations came from enemy Quincy, and received their agreement to help if needed.

As the Wandenreich descended on the Silent Sand Sea, Jun’s forces launched a counterattack and quickly exposed the limits of the enemy’s abilities. Ulquiorra killed one of the two Y Schrift bearers, but the war continued with Yhwach still in play.

• Isshin Kurosaki and Ryūken joined Jun’s forces, while Baraggan agreed to fight and Szayelaporro stayed behind to provide research support.
• Yhwach brought Silbern and the Wandenreich army to the Silent Sand Sea, where the first wave of foot soldiers was wiped out by a barrage of Ceros.
• Jun approached Yhwach and shook his hand, but Yhwach cut down a fake Jun before thirty-seven streams of power from Las Noches charged the enemy.
• Ulquiorra attacked Yhwach, who was revealed to be one of the two Y Schrift bearers; after surviving a Lanza del Relámpago by absorbing its energy with Quincy Vollständig, he was killed by two more.
• Ryūken explained how Quincy Vollständig and Sklaverei worked, including the danger that absorbing a soul could cause it to take control of the Quincy.

Starrk, Natasha, Kuruyashiki, Gin Ichimaru, and Yoruichi defeated Sternritter opponents as Jun’s strengthened allies overwhelmed the Quincy forces. The chapter ended with Yoruichi killing Gremmy Thoumeaux after outpacing and striking him with a second Open Heaven.

• Starrk confronted an impostor using his likeness, overwhelmed him with Spiritual Power, and destroyed him in an explosion.
• Natasha activated Segunda Etapa and melted Giselle Gewelle with Venom.
• Kuruyashiki combined Hollowfication with Bankai and devoured Nianzol Weizol with Gagaku Kairō: Gaki Shura.
• Gin Ichimaru killed Nananana Najahkoop with Kamishini no Yari before he could respond.
• Yoruichi struck Gremmy Thoumeaux with Open Heaven, caught up to him using her Spiritual Power Flow Butterfly Wings, and defeated him with a second blow.

Yhwach’s inheritance from the Soul King and the lineage’s divine powers were explained as the battlefield’s Sternritter were defeated by Jun’s allies. As Auswählen activated, several Sternritter still fought, and new beams of light descended from the sky.

• The chapter explained how the Soul King divided his remains, how Yhwach inherited his bloodline, and how both generations granted powers to their chosen followers.
• Sado transformed into his complete form and defeated Mask de Masculine and James after repeatedly overpowering Mask’s healing and strength boosts.
• Shizuoka Shinto killed Jerome Guizbatt, Pandele killed Berenice Gabriel, Yamichi Shinma defeated Meninas McAllon, and Nelliel killed Driscoll Berci.
• Oka killed Robert Accutrone, while Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi killed PePe Waccabrada.
• Cang Du, BG9, Bazz-B, Liltotto Lamperd, As Nodt, and Bambietta Basterbine continued fighting their opponents as Auswählen activated and beams of light descended.

Jun arrived as the battle against Yhwach’s remaining Sternritter wound down, deciding who would live and killing As Nodt after Golvi judged her usefulness exhausted. The fighting continued with Gerard Valkyrie overwhelmed by three opponents, though he roared and fought at his limit.

• Auswählen drained the remaining Sternritter, while Yhwach used the absorbed power to replenish five others.
• Jun reached the battlefield and chose to spare Cang Du, Liltotto, and Bazz-B after hearing the others’ opinions.
• Jun erased As Nodt when Golvi said she had nothing more to teach her, leaving five Sternritter alive.
• Jun’s forces continued fighting the remaining opponents, with Felix, Tejuda, and Takashō Taihei gaining the upper hand against Gerard Valkyrie.
• Gerard grew to more than three hundred meters tall, but Felix and Tejuda wounded him while Takashō Taihei was struck far away.