Finally a good episode again. There were almost no interuptions at all and at last something significant happened. Man I was so excited when hollow-Ichigo appeared, I've been waiting for that since the episode they showed him inside Ichigo. It's wierd though that Zangetsu lets him be there, so he can't be all bad right. It sucks a little though that Ichigo is immortal now a days. Everytime he is about to get defeated they just bring out the mask.

One stupid thing about the episode was the silly shit with Inoue at the end of the figth. And she all of a sudden turns into Hinata. Ehy didn't she heal Ichigo? He just lies there with fatal wounds and she's like "omg Ichigo-kun... ummm... I... was really... worried about... ummmm... you".

And about Ichigo getting slower. Was it not because of that Byakuya's bankai made it easier for fatal wounds to appear? So the strain from Ichigo's bankai (much like Lee opening gates and what not) became even bigger. And the wounds that Byakuya made also became more severe.