Quote Originally Posted by DarthEnder
You know what I miss though? Earlier in the series, they'd always just skip ichigo getting more powerful and have him kicking ass be a surprise during his fights, and THEN they'd do a flashback and show you how he got more powerful.

That's more interesting that the way their doing it now.
True, but this time it could be a bit different, because he's not just finding a new technique or powering up otherwise. He's rather changing and already fighting for his life (or at least personality). I don't think they can just skip just a fundamentally important fight and show it in a short flashback later on. Though this isn't a fight against Arrancar, who took the place of the primary (bulk of) enemies, but for Ichigo this is actually an older enemy than Aizen or the Arrancar.