Bleach vol.27

I've been looking forward to this volume for quite a while, as it marks the beginning of a new arc in Bleach.
The first few chapters pick up where the last one left off with the gang fighting some Vizards, and most notably, Urahara jumping in...oh and Orihime running into Ulquiorra. But Urahara fights! He's one of the coolest characters in the series, so any time he gets to fight is a treat. His fight is kind of silly, involving some of his gadgets and whatnot. And speaking of the coolest Bleach characters, Shinji also steps in for a bit!

As for the main part of this volume, like last time, Orhime is once again the true star of the volume. Ulquiorra has come to take her to Hueco Mundo, and threatens to kill her friends if she resists, but he allows her to see one person to say goodbye to (in an invisible form). She chooses to go see Ichigo, of course. After finding out that she is missing, Ichigo and Renji's group want to go rescue her, but the leaders of the Soul Society decide she is a traitor and not worth the trouble of rescuing when they have bigger things to worry about. Obviously, this won't stop Ichigo.

There were several scenes that I really loved in this volume, the biggest one being Orihime's goodbye to Ichigo. Her speech is touching and fittingly (for her character) somewhat childlike. The other great scene is Tatsuki confronting Ichigo about Orihime's disappearance, in addition to the secret's he's been hiding. Tatsuki is a character I really like and who hasn't had much screen time, so I was happy to see her get down right pissed off about being left in the dark, especially when it involves Orihime.

Things were pretty tense this volume, and the stage is set for another epic arc. Yes, this looks to be yet another mission to save a damsel in distress, but this time it feels like there's more at stake, partly because Orihime seems like a much more innocent and vulnerable character than Rukia (and also much more of a mystery because of her powers), and partly because she's being sent to evil central. Either way, I'm sure there will be some great battles along the way.
Once again, I wish Viz would speed up its release a bit.