This volume starts off with a bang.

So the end of the last volume had Rukia stopped by her older brother and a red headed warrior with a sword. They plan to take her back to soul society but not if Ichigo can help it. The start of this is great with fast paced battles, brutal loses, and good amount of emotion. The 2nd half is the typical shonen training to get stronger. It's cool and all to see the ways they do it but it's not very interesting in the end. Just because we've seen it done in a million mangas. If going to do it, do something unique people.

But overall still solid. A 3 out of 5.