Ch. 617 - Return of the God

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Song to listen to while reading this chapter: "God-Slaying Sword" from the Xenoblade Chronicles OST

GET. HYPED.

So we start off with the promised color page: Aizen in his restraints and seals, with the title of "Return of the God"/ Holy hell, that looks sick. Gotta say, I'm a fan of Kubo making the color pages the chapter title page as well, as it allows him to draw an extra page of stuff happening in the chapter proper.

Moving on, we get a bit more on the effects of Kamikake, as the darkness begins erupting from Ukitake's orifices in a VISCERALLY horrifying manner. God, that looks like something out of a horror film. But, it does its job right, as the shaking stops. Yay, no more imminent disaster, for now at least.

In the palace, Yhwach sees the Kamikake just kinda wrap itself around the Soul King and, for the first time in his tenure in the manga, gets pissed. Apparently, Mimihagi is the only thing his eyes can't predict because it's tied to the Soul King (called it!), and now he thinks it's sentimental or something because it's protected SS for so long. Hey, bro, don't go getting mad at everyone else for failing like you just did.

Back in the Seireitei, it turns out that Kamikake isn't going to last forever; once Ukitake dies, the stabilization crumbles again. Interesting to see Suì-Fēng of all people being the one to reason this out, guess she's smarter and more analytical than we've seen in the past. As such, Urahara tells everyone to get a move on with the doorways.

In Muken, Shunsui's still talking at Aizen, and it turns out that the Central 46 made good on their promise to bind his mouth; apparently he could speak with his Reiatsu instead, but Aizen's not that kind of guy. Instead, Shunsui brought the keys to the seals binding him, and he's allowed to use three, so he's starting with the mouth. Hoo boy, that's a dangerous move.

However, with Ukitake out of the equation, the Shinigami can no longer create and stabilize the doorway to the palace because they're currently missing a massive amount of Reiatsu, which makes sense, I suppose. Cue Lisa and the other Visored coming in to help (love that panel of Lisa stopping Nanao from worrying), and MAYURI KUROTSUCHI showing up out of nowhere, stating this is HIS lab, and revealing a Reiatsu Amplifier to help make up for the deficit. I'd call deus ex machina on that one, but Mayuri's been established as a character who prepares for everything, so whatevs.

Back in Muken, though, Shunsui's unlocked the seal on Aizen's mouth and confirms that we're still in the same year of the Fullbring arc by noting it's been two years since the latter was sealed away. However, he's shocked (and I find it hilarious that Panda translated this moment as "No way.") to realize that Aizen has somehow removed all of his seals despite Shunsui only unlocking his mouth as the man himself steps forward and, in classic fashion, points out that Shunsui still has two keys left. Holy hell.

Overall, great chapter this week. Kamikake is still horrifying, but it was worth it to see Yhwach getting legitimately angry at his plans being disrupted, and I'm glad to see the Visored and Mayuri back in focus. Of course, the "bigger" part of this chapter would be Aizen pulling an Aizen within one chapter of his return, which was awesome. I can't wait to see how he's gonna interact with Shunsui next week.