Well theres no certainty that Bleach will end with the Karakura battle. There is still the Royal Guard mentioned earlier to introduce, plus the Vizards/Urahara/Isshin/Ryuuken fighting, I don't think even Kubo would cram that many battles into one arc, so I think we're in for an arc in Karakura and one where the SS king is at least.

I'm thinking it will play out like this:


I dunno. We'll see how it pans out. I'd really like to see something involving Hell, though; a Hell arc would be cool.

all this crap about Ichigo getting NEW BANKAI BLAH BLAH SUPER POWERS FROM SHINIGAMI is dumb, i think what will happen is his hollow will come back to power(like it said it would be back(iirc from when ichigo beat it)) and he will be able to go FULL HOLLOW FORM(he looked sick)\

i dont care about the rest

Well, according to the spoilers released for the latest chapter, the past arc has ended and the battle at Karakura is continuing

Looks like we have to watch the 4 lieutenants fight Barragan's fraccion now, could either turn out booooring good guys win after 2-3 chaps each of generic slash-from-the-shoulder-across-body exchanges, or fairly interesting if say, each lieutenant has been training some and developed a Bankai...

Thats if next week isn't
Ichigo: You have drawn your sword!
Ulq: I have drawn my sword!
Ichigo: Your sword, you have drawn it!
Ulq: My sword, I have drawn it!
*GLARE*
Ichigo: I'll save you, Orihime!
Ulq: Nay, knave, I shall destroy you!
Ichigo: Nuh-uh!
*GLARE*
ends

Yeah, I think Stark's Espada Number 1 too. Should be interesting to see how it turns out. I know that a while ago Matsumoto and Yumichika were training for their Bankai when Luppi interrupted, so I'm betting they'll pull theirs out in a short while, and I wouldn't be surprised to see Hisagi or Kira's either. There's a lot going on at the moment, you've got:
-Ichigo vs Ulqiorra
-What the Vaizards are going to do
-Soul Society Squad/Hueco Mundo Squad stuck in hugeass fireball; there are lots of them, and what are they going to do/who are they going to fight?
-Four Shinigami vs Fraccion
-The rest of the Shinigami in Hueco Mundo (Renji, Kenpachi, Chad, etc)
Basically, enough material to keep this arc running for at least six months, I reckon.

I'd seriously like to see Gin go off and do his own thing against Aizen, ala a Starscream to Megatron allusion.  Would be a very interesting way to introduce a "new" villain.  Also, I find it interesting that Gin kind of always seemed like the bad guy and that at the end of the episodes, he's the one explaining Shinigami/Quincy/Vaizard powers/quirks/"clothes."

That would potentially elongate the series more and they could toss in more interesting things.  I don't want Bleach to end, but at the same time...  I guess I can understand that it'd be better for it to end early than for it to end late and really crappy.

--Terin

For all who really CARE or w/e, DB subbed and released the second movie, Diamonddust Rebellion. Should check it out; for a SJ movie it was pretty entertaining.

Man, I really want to find the guy who invented the concept of "canon" and punch him in the crotch. (and when he's down maybe kick him in the face for an indeterminate amount of time)

It's fucking fiction! Stop trying to "assign" some type of legitimate "reality" to it, and enjoy it for what it is! Why can't you just follow whatever the hell storyline you damn well please and take whatever happens in the setting they give you exactly at face value? If it produces inconsistencies then FUCK IT, and fuck every last nerd that raises a hissy fit about it (God knows they need it).

I enjoyed the Movie immensely even though it wasn't canon. By the way, life invented canon.
It's a series of events that fit into a timeline and storyline. Even though I love nonsensical
anachronic scenes that hardly make up a logical story, I find a fictional story and world more
interesting if it makes sense (even if it's set in a world where magic and powerlevels
OVER 9000!!!!11 are common business).

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't have enjoyed the majority of games and movies if
halfway through they'd go "That character was cool, but let's kill her for the hell of it and
bring her back later, just like that. I'd be like it never happened".

Do you mean halfway through the movie/game itself? Or do you mean halfway through the huge overarching storyline that spans three decades before and/or after the setting of the movie/game?

Well of course it wouldn't make sense to do it halfway through one specific movie/game. It's a closed system that needs a coherent plot in order to generate a decent amount of immersion.
But what's wrong with having a sequel that takes place five years after where one of the main characters die, only to be followed by a novel that takes place 7 years later where that same character was alive the whole time? Is it really that important to have an "official" record of which series of events gets to actually count? I find it more interesting if I get to make my own inferences about how the world is supposed to make sense, or even following things that don't make sense in a larger context, when the reasons behind such inconsistencies are important to the specific story I'm being told.

But to each his own. If people feel more comfortable being able to track a "canon" record of what happens in which fictional setting, then complaining about it just makes me as bad as the people who complain whenever they don't get an agreed upon standard for which storylines fit into a certain setting as a whole. I can just follow my own inferences and pretend as hard as I can that "canon storylines" don't exist. (although when people keep bringing it up like it has some kind of increased relevance or importance, it makes it rather hard)

One thing is for sure, if the Bount arc (along with that princess arc currently airing) is concidered canon, then I wash my hands of the whole ordeal. Fuck canon.