Zach Goodier
Sternritter "W" has fallen, and the way to Juha Bach seems to finally open up for Squad 0, but of course, it's never that simple. Juha Bach calls forwards more "soldat," as well as 4 "Elite Guards" who rise up from the shadows to face-off with Senjumaru. Things quickly turn ugly, as these "Sternlichters" "M" The Miracle, Sternlichter "X," The Exorcist, Sternlichter "C," The Consersory, and ,a familiar face, Sternlichter "D," The Deathdealing. They quickly overwhelm Senjumaru, and boast that it is the tendency of losers to be too slow in realizing they have already lost now that Juha Bach has arrived at the Soul Palace. Can Squad 0 hold out long enough for Ichigo and his friends to arrive, or will they arrive only to find corpses and ruins?
I am starting to view these new faces literally coming out of nowhere as a major irritant in this story arc, since every time it seems like some progress is being made in wearing down the Quincy army, more randomly come out of the woodwork to take their place. This chapter is probably one of better occasions of introducing new troops (and by better, I mean somewhat less irritating than the last 732,720,347 times it's happened), but this has been a long overused plot device to keep the "twists and turns" coming, despite the fact that it just seems to drag out this story more since few, if any, of these characters have been remotely interesting.
I believe an important part of setting up these arcs is introducing the major characters (both friend and foe) early, and establishing who they are and what they're about, then pitting them against one another. However, especially on the Quincy end, these characters have been tossed in with no previous knowledge of their existence.
The action is good, but the arc overall feels rushed and lazy on the story end when new characters are only just being introduced as we are quickly approaching what is expected to be the epic climax of this arc, as well as this series.
