Bleach vol.26 The Mascaron Drive

After the mostly Ichigo-centric volume 25, 26 gives us a look at what everyone else has been doing to get ready for the coming war. In the midst of this all, Urahara tells Orihime that she shouldn't get herself involved and isn't fit to fight. Later on, a group of Arrancars come to town much earlier than expected, but their true motive for this visit is not what any of our heroes are expecting.

Orihime is the true star of this volume. She and Chad have always been the anomalies in Bleach because of the their powers, so I'm glad that the story (and the characters) are taking notice that Orihime's powers are freaking weird. Unfortunately for Orihime, the wrong people are taking notice. As for Chad, Urahara wonders to himself about the nature of his powers for a brief moment.

There are quite a few interesting moments in this volume, starting with Hitsugaya and Momo's chat at the beginning of the volume, where we find out that she's kinda damaged since we last saw her (which was...getting stabbed in the gut by the man she loves). She still thinks there's an explanation for the betrayal!!! Kubo does a nice job of making her look frazzled: sweaty, shaky, bags under her eyes, and stroking her arm like a scared child.
Other intesting scenes include everyone's favorite Quincy archer (he hates you!), Uryu, training with his dad. I like how's he had to fight with gadgets ever since losing his powers, though he probably won't need them much longer. The training in this arc has been handled well. Ichigo got a chunk of chapters devoted to his, and that was necessary because he had to do a lot, but Kubo has done a good thing in reducing everyone else's training to a only handful of scenes where we don't really know (or need) the specifics.
I also really enjoyed seeing Rukia and Orihime being friends. It's always been clear that they get along, but we rarely see them interacting together while not in the presence of Ichigo, so it was nice seeing them having fun together and Rukia giving her a good ol' pep talk.

As for the villains' side, we get to witness the creation of an Arrancar, Wonderweiss, through a loophole in the Hogyoku's seal. That bit really needs some more explanation, and there also needs to be more explanation about the Arrancars. Are they all made from the Hogyoku? If not, what's the difference? Hopefully, we'll get these answers soon.
Other new Arrancars include Luppi, the girl...err guy on the cover, who's taken Grimmjow's spot in the Espadas. I'm more intrigued by Wonderweiss, though, who's just plain weird.
Both of the newcomers get involved in the fight at the end, but the highlight of these battles is Ichigo's rematch with Grimmjow, where he gets to show some of the results of his (unfinished) training, and it's pretty darn cool, let me tell you. Then we get a short tease of Urahara getting involved as well!
The volume ends with a cliffhanger, with Orihime having a very unfortunate run-in with someone.

The art, as always, is great, and the characters are super stylish. (Really, who the hell trains in a suit and fancy shoes? The Ishidas, that's who)

Overall, this was a good volume with some neat character moments, but it still has that in-between feeling. We know a new arc is about to begin, so this volume, especially the ending, left me more with a feeling of anticipation for what's to come.