Bleach

[Neversoft]

Is Shunsui still fighting Stark? How's that going?

[Axel]

In the manga?

[RandomManJay]

Is Shunsui still fighting Stark? How's that going?

Quite good, his Shikai is awesome now that we know his abilities !

[LoveToStack]

Assuming the spoilers for this week's chapter are true then, without revealing the outcome of any fights, I can say that more panels were dedicated to crappy fraccion fights than to actual espada fights. >:@

[Jord]

Damn chad has gotten epic (episode 158)

His right arm is now at full strength and hes got his left arm now!

I knew he would get stronger !

[Whers]

Chad fails, he's just a tall guy. With a huge arm.

[Neversoft]

If they actually cut Chad out of the story, if he just suddenly wasn't there, I don't think I'd even notice. He pretty much has no place in the story. What a waste of screentime.

[LoveToStack]

Chad and the other friend-plebs; Rukia, Orihime and Ishida all need at least two powerups to actually be worth something. One powerup to put them on-par with Ichigo and then another to make them worthy of opposing opponents higher than the espada.

[Neversoft]

None of them should be on par with Ichigo. That would mess things up. Imagine it was Rukia who took down Grimmjow. That's just not right. Ichigo should always be the strongest, and the others should be captain/vice captain soul reaper level. Ishida is pretty much on par with Renji for example, if not stronger. Chad is pretty strong, I just think he's a waste of screentime because he doesn't really do anything. The story could actually flow perfectly without him. At least the other characters have a reason for being and a monologue every now and then, as well as the odd meaningul fight at times that actually triggers something in the main story.

[LoveToStack]

Obviously they can't be on-par with him but they need a powerup that will take them to the level he is at now (at which point he will be well beyond said point). But that being the case, if the enemies they're fighting are all roughly at the same level then it's either going to be Ichigo winning comfortably while his friends stuggle and maybe win. Or Ichigo struggling (which will always be the case, it's never a OHKO) with his friends getting raped (much like they are in the current arc).
Seriously the powerlevels in bleach are wayyy messed up. Especially if you've read up to date in the manga.
Without spoiling things too much - the best someone like Ishida could probaby aspire to is the Quincy Final form he used in SS, which was pretty powerful taking out Mayuri with ease etc. Then Chad with his 'powerup' (won't spoil it for people who haven't reached it yet but you know what I mean), he could maybe get full body armour or some crap like that. And Rukia could achieve bankai. But the antagonists atm, Espada, are well beyond that. Once you get into the higher numbers, people start firing off attacks the size of nukes.
Tbh the only way I can see Ichigo's friends being of any use is in some DBZ style spirit bomb attack where they all come together blablabla and win out.