It was a bit sleepy episode, but I suppose it ended the filler arc nicely enough. Headphones surviving was, on the other hand, somewhat to be expected since good guys rarely have died in this series, as was demonstrated in the SS arc already, when none of the victims of Aizen ended up dead, just wounded. And Headphones did, at the end, turn against Kariya, making him a better man than the rest of the ilk. He would have been better-off dead in my opinion, but what can you do...

The preview didn't tell that much to me, but then again, I haven't read the manga. So, I'm just eagerly looking forward to it with the word development on top in my mind.

Golden cup was great once again. It's nice how they had somebody among the writers who could keep 'em fine during this full year.