yeah, the manga is only a couple of arcs ahead (is that a spoiler to say? :x)

dang it.. as much as i hate hate the idea of sitting through another filler arc in any way similar to the previous one, if it means we get episodes as awesome as these recent few in the future, i guess i'll just have to take it..

i really hpe they actually get writers and animators this time though.. i mean, there should really be a limit to how ridiculous the filler arcs can be....