I just got a chance to finish reading chapter -100 and I swear I started tearing up after reading page five and six. Ise Nanao, an itty-bitty little girl, is already a member of the 8th Division. Every month she spent the evening with the then Vice-Captain, Yadomaru Lisa, who would read with her. Seeing Nanao asking Kyouraku where Lisa was and hearing him assure her that she’ll be back in the morning made me want to start crying. In fact, the only thing that stopped me was the fact that I was in a public place and didn’t feel like getting stared at.

Still though, Kubo really knows how to mess with his reader’s emotions. Lisa is on the mission that will inevitably change her life forever (remember Mashiro and Kensei are already in their Hollow forms after the sneak attack). She’s getting sliced up badly and there’s this young little girl waiting for her to return so that she [Lisa] can read to her. You know that even if she does return in the morning, like Kyoraku promises, she’s going to be a Vizard or at least not in any shape to read with Nanao.

I don’t want to spoil the chapter too much more, but suffice it to say, we see exactly who attacked Kensei and Mashiro in the previous chapters. Who got the ball rolling, and just what Shinji meant when he told Ichigo all those chapters ago that they [the Vizard] were aware of Aizen’s plans long before he came along. Bastard Aizen!!