I like how Ishida gets to fight. Rukia is being the butt of jokes and that annoys me. But hopefully we'll see how strong she got. No Renji or Ikkaku. I dislike both so that's a plus.
Kenpachi is so uninteresting. That time guy was. His powers could be awesome if they expanded. But freaking no.
Byakuya is still a douche like ever. If Tsukishima gets beaten that easily, I'll be annoyed.
I am enjoying Kenpachi's insta-win more than ever, now.
I agree that Sea-Shell Head is a bit annoying. Maybe it's because his arrogance surpasses Aizen's and he's so faggy about everything? (Forgive the slang)
And what Ishida stated was kind of obvious. I feel that that particular plot point was a bit forced. Trying to "retcon" to force the story, imo. However, Ishida does make a good point about the plot: Ishida assumed there was another Substitute Shinigami but never mentioned it.
I also like it that both Ichigo and Ishida thought to themselves that the REAL reason was a "third" option.
Any speculations on what the third reason we didn't know about Ginjo?
I am going to assume it is going to be an ass-pulled reason.
The character the story is about. I.e, the main character is Ichigo. If we're going to generalize main characters as the ones who have the most attention, Ichigo's Nakama would be those. Hitsugaya barely interacts with our main character and so he is not a main character.
Of course, I'm going from the manga. In the anime, he could have loads of attention. But I wouldn't care. Doesn't make him any more of a main character than it does, say, Hinata.