The "Let's split up each take a different passageway!" development is pretty stupid strategically but useful dramatically, to let each individual have a turn in the spotlight - the Ichigo & Nel double act still has plenty of mileage in it, and it's going to be good to see how Rukia, Renji, Ishida and especially Chad each fare on their own.
I'm of the opinion that any strategy for taking on Las Noches with the amassed ranks of Arrancar and Espada contained therein is going to be stupid, because the entire plan to invade Hueco Mundo was a big dumb idea in the first place. Yeah, the extent to which the characters care about Orihime left them with no real choice, and you've got to admire their bravery, but still...
It's worth remembering with the plan to split up that right now each member of the team has one Arrancar scalp hanging from their belts, with the exception of Ichigo who has had his ass repeatedly handed to him since he returned from Soul Society and hasn't won a major fight since he took on Byakuya (if we're sticking to the facts from the canon material). We seem to be in a very different place from when Ichigo, Chad, Ishida, Orihime and Yoruichi went on the Rukia Rescue Misson. In that earlier arc our heroes had plenty of hidden assets that weren't apparent when they left Urahara's shop (we didn't properly know that Ichigo was a Shinigami by birth, despite Urahara cryptically telling him that Byakuya didn't destroy his own Shinigami abilities, only those lent to him by Rukia; we didn't know that Ichigo was a Vaizard; we didn't know that they had a captain on their side in the shape of Yoruichi; and we didn't factor on the team finding so many allies in their mission) and we certainly had nothing to really prepare us for how difficult the mission would be.
This time round there seem to be no hidden facets to each character's power level. They have no captains with them, although you could say that both Renji and Ichigo are at that power level neither of them have the fine tuned experience of Yoruichi. They don't have a healer in their party (Rukia's abilities notwithstanding, and now she's on her own). And they have only one ally in the form of Nel, who is likely to be more than meets the eye but whose loyalties may be considerably different than they seem (she is an Arrancar, after all).
Soul Society, as antagonistic as it was set up to appear, is nowhere near the level of threat represented by Las Noches. And compared to the full scale assault that might be levied against the gang if they stayed as one unit, splitting apart does at least offer Rukia and Ishida a chance at stealth while the rest of them go around happily trashing stuff like complete bakas. |
