History WhamEpisode / BLEACH

* Chapter 633: Every few decades an apparently powerless quincy would be born and culled. Then a period of two centuries passes without one being born at all until Haschwalth. Yhwach explains these legendary quincies have the ability to [[SuperEmpowering share power]] instead of absorbing reishi ''just like Yhwach''. Unlike Yhwach, they cannot also [[PowerNullifier steal power]]. This leads to complete reinterpretation of both Uryuu and Ichigo's statuses given Uryuu's alleged lack of talent and Ichigo's apparently unique inability to manipulate reishi the way both quincies and shinigami can.

* Chapter 633: Every few decades an apparently powerless quincy would be born and culled. Then a period of two centuries passes without one being born at all until Haschwalth. Yhwach explains these legendary quincies have the ability to [[SuperEmpowering share power]] instead of absorbing reishi ''just like Yhwach''. Unlike Yhwach, they cannot also [[PowerNullifier steal power]]. This leads to complete reinterpretation of both Uryuu and Ichigo's statuses given Uryuu's alleged lack of talent and Ichigo's apparently unique inability to manipulate reishi the way both quincies and shinigami can.
* Chapter 637: Pernida Parnkgjas, long thought to be simply another cannon fodder Sternritter to be cut down on the way to Yhwach, is actually the left arm of the Soul King.

* Chapter 633: Every few decades an apparently powerless quincy would be born and culled. Then a period of two centuries passes without one being born at all until Haschwalth. Yhwach explains these legendary quincies have the ability to [[SuperEmpowering share power]] instead of absorbing reishi ''just like Yhwach''. Unlike Yhwach, they cannot also [[PowerNullifier steal power]]. This leads to complete reinterpretation of both Uryuu and Ichigo's statuses given Uryuu's alleged lack of talent and Ichigo's apparently unique inability to manipulate reishi the way both quincies and shinigami can.

* Chapter 633: Every few decades an apparently powerless quincy would be born and culled. Then a period of two centuries passes without one being born at all until Haschwalth. Yhwach explains these legendary quincies have the ability to [[PowerDonor share power]] instead of absorbing reishi ''just like Yhwach''. Unlike Yhwach, they cannot also [[PowerNullifier steal power]]. This leads to complete reinterpretation of both Uryuu and Ichigo's statuses given Uryuu's alleged lack of talent and Ichigo's apparently unique inability to manipulate reishi the way both quincies and shinigami can.

* Chapter 633: Every few decades an apparently powerless quincy would be born and culled until a period of two centuries passed without one being born at all until Haschwalth. Yhwach explains these legendary quincies have the ability to share power instead of absorbing reishi ''just like Yhwach''. Unlike Yhwach, they cannot also steal power. This leads to complete reinterpretation of both Uryuu and Ichigo's statuses given Uryuu's alleged lack of talent and Ichigo's apparently unique inability to manipulate reishi the way both quincies and shinigami can.

* Chapter 633: Haschwalth has been revealed to be the alter ego of Yhwach, and an actual Power Donor.

* Chapter 617: '''''Enter Aizen Sousuke.'''''

* Chapter 633: Haschwalth is revealed to be the alter ego of Yhwach, and an actual Power Donor!

* Chapter 621: Yhwach starts absorbing the Soul King, releasing the seals on the Soul King's power. The power floods Soul Society, attacking the Soul King's enemies. Not the Quincies, however; the enemies of Soul King are now the Shinigami.

* Chapter 528: Masaki is confirmed to have been a Quincy and Kurosaki is her family name, not Isshin's.
* Chapter 529: Isshin was the captain of the Tenth Division and his surname was Shiba, making Kuukaku and Ganju the cousins of Ichigo and Hitsugaya the protege of Isshin.
* Chapter 535: We finally learn how Isshin gave up his Shinigami powers (he wears the same power-sealing type of Gigai that Urahara gave to Rukia). We learn more about Hollowfication (it needs an outside force to disrupt it so you can restore sanity). We learn why it took so long before the Visoreds could show up in the main storyline (it took the full 100 years before Urahara restored their sanity, leaving them with a solid 20 years to gain notoriety and stabilize themselves via training). We learn why the Hollowfication was subdued for so long (the Gigai literally ties his soul to Masaki, which allows him to enter her mind and subdue the Hollow). We learn how the "soul suicide" resulting from Hollowfication can be stopped (which created the Visoreds). In an overlap of the soul suicide revelation, we also find out why Tosen blew up after he was stabbed by Hisagi (didn't have something to counterbalance his Visored form).
* Chapter 537: Yhwach possesses the ability to take back the power and lives from any Quincy and decided to do it to all impure Quincies nine years ago: Masaki was depowered in battle against the Grand Fisher. Katagiri (Uryuu's mother) was depowered at the same time and lingered in a coma for three months before dying. Yhwach is therefore the most personal enemy of Ichigo to date, and simultaneously is revealed to be the most personal enemy of Uryuu to date. And then we learn that Uryuu has joined the Vandenreich and Yhwach is calling him "son".

* Chapter 544: Yhwach reveals his reasoning for what happened in the last chapter. Uryu was the only mixed-blood to survive the Holy Selection, because of a mysterious special power that Yhwach wants to know more about. Haschwalth deduces a second reason: Yhwach is ''expecting'' Uryuu to betray him, and Yhwach believes in keeping your friends close and your enemies even closer. Even if Ishida was planning to mount an assassination, the scrutiny from the Stern Ritters will prevent him from doing so. This nips fan expectations over a protagonist joining the antagonist's side in the bud.
* Chapter 546: The Seireitei vanishes into shadow to be replaced ''by the vandenreich's city'' and Yhwach reveals that the old Quincy tale of the Sealed King has a stanza that isn't commonly recited: He reclaims his heartbeat, mind and his power, alright... and then he reclaims his world. Yes, apparently the Soul Society did once belong to Yhwach.

* Chapter 502: Byakuya, previously thought by the fandom to have unassailable plot armour, is curb-stomped in one of the most graphic attacks in the entire manga, followed by Kenpachi in Chapter 505.

* Chapter 621: Yhwach starts absorbing the Soul King, releasing the seals on the Soul King's power. The power floods Soul Society, attacking the Soul King's enemies. Not the Quincies, however; the enemies of Soul King are now the Shinigami.
* Chapter 625: Yhwach has '''completely absorbed''' the Soul King, becoming the threshold for the realms to exist.

* Chapter 625: Yhwach has '''completely absorbed''' the Soul King.
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* Chapter 614: Ichigo does not save the Soul King...His Quincy blood causes him to kill the Soul King himself!!

* Chapter 624: after lots of Foreshadowing....''Grimmjow is back''.

* Chapter 624: '''Grimmjow has returned.'''

* The biggest one, by far, is that Aizen not only faked his death and took part in the conspiracy, he's the ''mastermind'' behind it all. The entirety of Bleach from here on would never be the same.

* Chapter 558: The Human Tranformation Technique wears off, Komamura becomes an ordinary wolf. His entire clan is made for revenge, the very thing Sajin warned Tousen against, and ironcially the thing he fell victim to in response to Yamamoto's death. This effectively kills off his character and more or less means his days of living like a human AND his Shinigami career are over.

* Chapter 611: '''Yhwach successfully stabs the Soul King'''

* Chapter 576-577: At the end of the former chapter, we finally learn the name of [[BloodKnight Ken]][[{{Badass}} pachi's]] Zanpakuto (Nozarashi). In the latter chapter, we finally, FINALLY get to see its Shikai form.
* Chapter 585: Yhwach reveals that Ichigo's arrival to the battlefield has inadvertently left a path open for him to invade the Royal Realm.

* Chapter 590: Several fallen Arrancar, including Charlotte and ''Luppi'' are back and fighting the Vandenreich.
* Chapter 591: Giselle brings out her latest zombie...''Toshiro Hitsugaya''.
* Chapter 611: '''Yhwach stabs the soul king. And calls him FATHER.'''

* Chapter 616: Ukitake becomes a temporary substitute for the Soul King and Kyoraku goes to the Muken and calls out '''AIZEN.'''
* Chapter 617: Kyoraku opens the restraints on Aizen's mouth, '''only for Aizen to have appeared to have undone the rest of the restraints already.''' '''AIZEN HAS RETURNED.'''
* Chapter 620 - 621: Ichigo and Co are forced out of the Soul King Palace by Uryu, Yhwach begins absorbing the Soul King, and the Soul King's power is released and begins flowing out in a torrent as small, one-eyed shadowy creatures to attack the Soul King's enemies - '''The Shinigami'''.

* Chapter 617: Kyoraku opens the restraints on Aizen's mouth, '''only for Aizen to have appeared to have undone the rest of the restraints already.''' ''AIZEN HAS RETURNED.'''

* Chapter 617: Kyoraku opens the restraints on Aizen's mouth, '''only for Aizen to have appeared to have undone the rest of the restraints already.'''

* Chapter 587: '''Yhwach has arrived to the Royal Realm.''' Just let this sink in. Not even Aizen has ever made it this far.

* Chapter 611: '''Yhwach kills the soul king. And calls him FATHER.'''
* Chapter 614: Ichigo does not save the Soul King...[[spoiler:His Quincy blood causes him to kill the Soul King himself!!]]

* The Soul Society arc sets the Soul Society's laws up as the problem, given a face by [[PillarsOfMoralCharacter Byakuya]], whom was dead-set on killing his sister, Rukia. And then he [[TakingTheBullet takes the bullet for her when Gin tries to kill her]]. When asked why, he reveals that his wife Hisana (who looks like Rukia), was actually Rukia's sister, and he adopted her into the family to fulfill a promise he made to a dying Hisana. The reason he was set on executing her was not because of the law, but because he ''also'' made a promise to his dead parents ''to'' uphold the law.
* After debuting as a cat with a masculine voice, it was rather surprising to see Yoruichi Shihoin turn out to be a ''female human'', and a former captain of the Gotei 13, at that.
* Ganju spoke a lot (and spoke well) of his brother Kaien, so when it was revealed that ''Rukia'' killed him, it was quite a shock. In fact, her guilt over the MercyKill of Kaien was a large part of why she went along with Byakuya and Renji to begin with.
* Isshin Kurosaki was once thought of as little more than an eccentric pervert who happened to be Ichigo's father. A couple years later, we see him carrying a Zapakuto while wearing ''a captains' robe'', showing off his power level by easily disposing of former ArcVillain Grand Fisher. That, and he's acquainted with Kisuke Urahara, Yoruichi Shihoin and Ryuken Ishida.
* Speaking of Ryuken, one of the first things we learn about him is how he refused to be a Quincy "because there's no profit." Years later, he actually saves his son Uryu from an Arrancar, and takes it upon himself to restore Uryu's Quincy powers.
* Ikkaku Madarame, a mere 3rd Seat, was wielding ''Bankai''. Talk about AlmightyJanitor.
* Introduced as a TagalongKid, Nnoitra reveals that Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck was once an Espada. After she forces herself back into her adult form, we see that she was once Espada number ''three'', and she's ''still'' a better fighter than Nnoitra.
* Ulquiorra was once built up as the strongest Espada under Aizen's command, to the point where Ichigo even asks if he's the Primera. Ulquiorra calmly reveals that he's only the ''fourth'' strongest.
* Chapter 322. PluckyComicRelief Yumichika Ayasegawa.... isn't. In fact, he's so powerful he can one-shot fracciones that are making lieutenants struggle. And the only reason he's not using his power has nothing to do with narcissism. It's because of UndyingLoyalty to his division's code of conduct. Ouch.
* Chapter 392. Hitsugaya stabs Aizen, only for Ichigo to reveal that it was illusion. Instead, he learns that he stabbed ''Hinamori'', thus allowing Aizen to single-handedly take out Hirako, Hitsugaya, Soifon ''and'' Kyoraku, ''all at once''.
* Aizen moving his shirt away, showing that he fused the Hogyoku within himself, granting him immortality and the ability to go OneWingedAngel ''several'' times.
* A rare subversion comes along here. Way back, we learn that Kaien Shiba was once Rukia's lieutenant, and she had to kill him in order to save him from a Hollow. That's not the WhamEpisode. That comes when Aaroniero Arruruerie unmasked himself, revealing ''Kaien's face''. It takes a while until we learn that Aaroniero was only posing as Kaien, quite literally using his corpse as a way to catch Rukia off-guard.
* Isshin suddenly showing up in his Soul Reaper form, right in front of Ichigo. He not only decides to fight Aizen, he ''flung Aizen straight through a building'', proving that yes, he really is captain-level.
* Chapter 415. Gin's betrayal of Aizen reveals over a century's worth of vengeance plotting, because pieces of Rangiku's soul was used to fuel the Hogyoku.

* The reveal that Tsukishima bookmarked Karin, Yuzu, Ikumi, Tatsuki, Keigo ''and'' Mizuiro, effectively brainwashing half of Ichigo's loved ones and forced him to seek help back at Xcution. Until it's revealed that Xcution, Orihime ''and'' Sado were all bookmarked as well, leaving Ichigo only with Ginjo for help.
* Chapter 458. The ArcVillain is revealed to be Ginjou, not Tsukishima.
* Chapter 460: The full extent of how Ichigo has changed the Soul Society is revealed here. The order to break the law and directly interfere with a human's future by giving him shinigami power... comes from Yamamoto himself.

* Yhwach decides to attack the Soul Society ''on the day'' of his declaration of war, [[CombatPragmatist without even bothering to wait]] the five days he initially specified.

* Chapter 514: Ichigo's time in Opie's prison actually awakened his innate, but largely dormant, Quincy energy, which is why he could use Blut Vene.

* Chapter 518: After spending years missing in action from the story, Kuukaku and Ganju not only reappear, they're the ones that send Squad Zero into the Royal Realm. Not too long after that, we see Ginjo, Tsukishima and Kutsuzawa have passed on to Soul Society, and are now training with Kukaku.
* Chapter 520: Shunsui Kyouraku, once the LazyBum, takes over as the new captain-commander, ''forcing'' Central 46 to allow for Zaraki to fully train with Unohana. Furthermore, he reveals that she didn't always go by the name "Retsu". At one time, she renamed herself "Yachiru".
* Chapter 521: Hikifune was the creator of the Gikon and Modified Souls like Kon, and Nimaiya is '''the creator of the Zanpakuto'''.
* Chapter 523: Kyoraku confirms that Unohana was the first Kenpachi, founding the 11th Division and laying the work for [[BloodKnight everything it's built on]].
* Chapter 527: By defeating Unohana, Zaraki learns his zanpakutou's name. Meanwhile, Ichigo ''fails'' his training this time around, meaning that his zanpakutou will not be fixed. He's kicked out of the Soul Society until further notice.

* Chapter 528: Remember when Isshin lamented how Ryuken doesn't often call him "Kurosaki?" We learn that Masaki was already known as "Kurosaki" by the time she met Isshin; he adopted her family name over his own. Now, the big revelation? Masaki was a Quincy. It was already guessed by the fans at this point, but we at least have official confirmation.
* Chapter 529: Isshin was the captain of the Tenth Division and his surname was ''Shiba''. Two popular fan theories turned out to be true. Plus, Rangiku was his lieutenant (even back then) and Hitsugaya was the 3rd Seat.
* Chapter 530: Combined with a WhamShot. At the very end, we see a creature bearing ''Ichigo's Hollow mask''.
* Chapter 531: That creature from earlier? It's the progenitor to the Visoreds and Arrancars.
* Chapter 532: Masaki kills White, on her own, without help, after letting it ''bite'' her. It establishes that Masaki [[BadAss is not to be trifled with]], and it reveals why Ichigo was able to use Fullbring (e.g. mother needs to come in contact with Hollow).
* Chapter 534: Masaki starts to develop a Hollow hole as a result of the proto-Arrancar's "target Hollowfication" powers.
* Chapter 535: Perhaps the biggest info-dump of this mini-arc thus far. We finally learn how Isshin gave up his Shinigami powers (he wears the same power-sealing type of Gigai that Urahara gave to Rukia). We learn more about Hollowfication (it needs an outside force to disrupt it so you can restore sanity). We learn why it took so long before the Visoreds could show up in the main storyline (it took the full 100 years before Urahara restored their sanity, leaving them with a solid 20 years to gain notoriety and stabilize themselves via training). We learn why the Hollowfication was subdued for so long (the Gigai literally ties his soul to Masaki, which allows him to enter her mind and subdue the Hollow). We learn how the "soul suicide" resulting from Hollowfication can be stopped (which created the Visoreds). In an overlap of the soul suicide revelation, we also find out why Tosen blew up after he was stabbed by Hisagi (didn't have something to counterbalance his Visored form).
* Chapter 537 is a double-whammy. Katagiri (confirmed to be Uryu's mother) and Masaki were both killed by Yhwach, who enacted ThePurge on all "impure" Quincies so he could take their powers. While Grand Fisher was still the culprit in Masaki's murder, she would've mopped the floor with him had it not been for Yhwach stealing Blut from her. The second one? Uryu Ishida has joined the Vandenreich.

* Chapter 541: Fake Zangetsu admits he's been suppressing Ichigo's real power all along, because he didn't want him to become a Shinigami. ''AND'' he even wanted to kill Ichigo with his own hands, should that ever happen. Good thing he changed his mind.

* Chapter 544: Yhwach reveals his reasoning for what happened in the last chapter. Uryu was the only mixed-blood to survive the Holy Selection, because of a mysterious special power that Yhwach wants to know more about. Haschwalth deduces a second reason: Yhwach is ''expecting'' Uryuu to betray him, and Yhwach believes in keeping your friends close and your enemies even closer. Even if Ishida was planning to mount an assassination, the scrutiny from the Stern Ritters will prevent him from doing so.

* Chapter 547: The Seireitei flat-out disappears. Meaning, it effectively ''no longer exists''; it's been turned into a bunch of shadows and it was replaced, fully, by Yhwach's city. The explanation? Yhwach describes how there was a space between the living world and the Soul Society; this space was littered with Reishi. After the war, the Quincies fled to that space and manipulated its Reishi to create a [[PocketDimension city within the shadows]] underneath the Seireitei; they've been there ''the entire time the series has gone on''. The reason they bypassed the giant shield in the first assault was because they were ''already'' within the shield to begin with.
* Chapter 554: Turns out that by stealing back their Bankai, the Shinigami have returned the Stern Ritters their ability to unleash their [[OneWingedAngel Vollstandig]] once more. And seven of them proceed to do just that. Oh, and Yhwach planned for all this to happen.
* Chapter 556: Komamura's past is revealed! He comes from a family of humanoids who were turned into animals as punishment for some unknown sins committed in the past. In exchange for beating his ancestor, he learns about the secret family technique - rip out your heart and you will cross the BishonenLine and become human.
* Chapter 558: The chapter contains a very tragic one. The Human Tranformation Technique wears off, and we find out the compensation. Komamura becomes an ordinary wolf, not an anthro. His entire clan is made for revenge, the very thing Sajin warned Tousen against, and ironcially the thing he fell victim to in response to Yamamoto's death. This effectively kills off his character and more or less means his days of living like a human AND his Shinigami career are over.

* Chapter 569: [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Rukia. Uses. Bankai]]. And [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps]] As Nodt with it too.