Short Summary
12 years after the defeat of the Wandenreich, the gates of Hell begin to crack open.
Main Summary
When last we saw Ichigo and his friends, they'd grown up and moved on with their lives, but still keep in touch. One night Kazui - the son of Ichigo and Orihime - runs off into the night with Kon to check out this supernatural spot he'd discovered. The place in question does not look friendly.
In the Soul Society, the captain-class Soul Reapers are preparing the much-belated funerary rites of their fallen comrades Yamamoto, Unohana and Ukitake. Renji Abarai and the other lieutenants are tasked with procuring a live Hollow and slaughtering it in front of the gravesite of the fallen as is tradition. Renji invites Ichigo to the funeral due to his high standing among the Soul Reapers.
Ichigo instead tags along with the lieutenants. There he meets the newly-promoted Rindo Atau and Yuyu Yayahara. What nobody realises is that Renji and Rukia's daughter Ichika has tagged along and is watching them from the shadows. Suddenly the group are attacked by a group of Hollows, only these Hollows have hoops growing out of their bodies instead of holes and black chain markings on their skin. Before Renji can act, he's blindsided by a familiar face: Szayaelaporro Granz.
The former Espada explains that Hollows and Arrancar who are sent to Hell become a kind of Hellspawn. They were able to break free from Hell due to the true nature of the Soul Society's funeral rites. It's established that Soul Reapers who become captains have spirit energy so dense that when they die they can't assimilate into Soul Society the same way a regular soul does. The ritual is intended to help them pass on, but in truth it sends the deceased captains to Hell. With the rites for Yamamoto and Unohana completed, they've already been damned and the death of Yhwach coupled with the disappearance of Aizen means the gates of Hell can now be opened from within. Szayaelaporro states that since Ichigo slaughtered one of the Hell Hollows while carrying the talisman Ukitake gave him, it's enough to damn Ukitake as well. At that moment, the former Arrancar is impaled by an oversized version of Ukitake's shikai emerging from the gates of Hell. Now incapacitated, Szayaelaporro warns Ichigo one last time about the implications of his return before being dragged back into damnation.
Howl From the Jaws of Hell has the following tropes:
- BFS:
- Ichigo's zanpakuto is still in the form of a single massive blade resembling his false Shikai,note and is powerful enough to effortlessly cut down the Hell Hollows and slice through the Chains of Hell.
- Ukitake's zanpakuto dwarfs Szayaelaporro Granz in size when it impales him.
- Bookends: The one-shot chapter begins and ends with Kazui's night out adventure.
- The Bus Came Back: Szayelaporro returns. After dying he reformed in Hell and bided his time planning revenge on Renji and Uryu.
- Call-Back: Isshin previously stated that if a captain-class Soul Reaper doesn't practice self-control, their zanpakuto would become large and unwieldy. Ukitake's zanpakuto is shown to have increased in size to the point where it's bigger than Szayelaporro.
- Creepy Child: A layer of sinisterness is added to Kazui, as he casually opens a gate to Hell and sends a Plus through it, all with a smile on his face. Not helping matters is that the introductory chapter ends on him smiling happily at a group of Hell Butterflies, right after Szayelaporro cast their existence in a more sinister light.
- Foreshadowing: The opening narration has a pair of twin fish. Kazui also chases after some fish-shaped spirits that lead him to a dimensional gateway implied to lead to Hell. Twin fish was a motif of Jushiro Ukitake's zanpakuto.
- Immortal Immaturity: Rukia may be older than the average human and both a Captain and mother now, but she still acts as if she's in high school when ribbing Ichigo, and ends up thinking what she sees on TV is real.
- Medieval Stasis: Finally subverted for the Soul Society, as the soul pagers used have been updated to be more akin to smartphones, and the Soul Society has gained access to television, which Rukia spends a lot of time watching. While Renji credits the effort to Urahara, something Mayuri takes offense to.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Ichigo and the other Soul Reapers find out all too late that their funerary rites condemned three of the strongest Soul Reapers to Hell. Now that the gates of Hell can be opened from within, there are some sinister implications. And if Szayelaporro is to be believed, the only reason the gates can be opened from the inside is because of the Soul Reapers imprisoning Aizen and defeating Yhwach, their powerful Spiritual Pressures keeping the gates shut, but with one imprisoned in the Muken and the other forcibly made into the Soul King's replacement, the gates are freed to be open from either side. And that includes captains you would never, ever want to face, such as Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Retsu Unohana and Jushiro Ukitake.
- Oh, Crap!: When the Soul Reapers realize that the deceased Captains have been sent to Hell, Rukia in particular is devastated — as it means Ukitake, a close friend of hers, has been damned. Ichigo is also horrified to learn that he played a role in Ukitake's damnation by slaying the Hell Hollows while carrying his Subsitute Soul Reaper badge.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Hollows who are condemned to Hell differ from other Hollows by having the holes that originally formed over their hearts migrate to other parts of their anatomy to form hoops. They also have black chain-markings on their skin and their faces beneath the masks no longer look human, if one Hell-Hollow skeleton is anything to go by. Arrancar who are sent to Hell have their holes detach completely to form halos.
- Post-Script Season: What this arc serves after the defeat of Yhwach in The Thousand Year Blood War Arc.
- Red Baron: The three Captains that were cast into Hell have been christened with new titles in Hell, Szayelaporro uttering them all before being dragged back to Hell: "Court Guard Founder" Genryusai Yamamoto, "Death Sword" Retsu Unohana, and "Kamikake God Sworn" Jushiro Ukitake.
- The Reveal:
- What happens to Hollows and Arrancar who are sent to Hell is revealed, rendering Bleach: Hell Verse's depiction unambiguously non-canon — though the Chains of Hell are still a thing, with Szayelaporro being able to summon and control them.
- It's revealed that the bodies of deceased Captain-class Soul Reapers are too spiritually dense to decompose into Spirit Particles, necessitating a sacred ritual said to help them pass on... but which actually damns them to Hell.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Discussed. Rukia ribs Ichigo for allegedly making Orihime stay at home and be a housewife via emotional abuse. Ichigo vehemently denies the accusation, then asks her how she even knows about some of what she's talking about. Turns out the Soul Society recently got access to cable television, and Rukia's been watching it lately. While she has a smug grin when she says this, Ichigo chides her and says she shouldn't believe everything she sees on tv.
- Tsundere: Ichika is shown to be one for Kazui, indignantly protesting that they're just friends when Ikkaku teasingingly implies she has a crush on him.
- Unknown Rival: When Ichigo intervenes in his fight with Renji, Szayelaporro decides to kill him as well. Ichigo, having never met Szayelaporro during the Arrancar Arc, has no clue who the former Espada is, and is confused and annoyed by his apparent familiarity with him.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Ichigo's presence with the Lieutenants is ultimately what completes the ritual to damn Ukitake to Hell. Normally, a Hollow has to be captured and brought before the grave of the Captain the ceremony is being held for. However, Ichigo is still in possession of his Substitute Soul Reaper badge, which technically serves as Ukitake's "eyes", and as he was present as the Lieutenants killed all of the Hollows from Hell, the ceremony was completed then and there, Ukitake being damned to Hell and subsequently dragging Szayelaporro back with him using a massive Sogyo no Kotowari.
- Younger Than They Look: The "mister sniffly crybaby man" Kazui secretly hangs out with claims to be just 15. Kon doesn't believe it.
