This volume of Bleach follows Ichigo as he remembers his mother and the circumstances behind her death. Eventually, a hollow shows up to wreck Ichigo's day of mourning, yet this hollow seems to have a direct connection to Ichigo's mother's death, and this is one connection Ichigo can't forgive. Along the way, we are introduced to Kon, the teddy bear body of the mod soul introduced in the previous volume. And Orihime and Tatsuki, Ichigo's classmates, discuss the events surrounding Ichigo's mother's death.

Most of this volume is back story and the fighting of the same creature, so it lost a little of the speed that was introduced in the first volume. But this was one of those inevitable slow-downs, as the events in this volume are important in making the characters more lovable, especially Ichigo. Seeing him as a cry-baby youngster and seeing the change that happened because of his mother's death really solidifies his tough-guy attitude, which is really a defense mechanism to keep people away from him and out of danger. This will become obvious to you once you read this volume (and I assure you, this isn't a spoiler as none of this is mentioned).

Still, even though this volume slowed a bit I still have to recommend it, mainly because of the ending cliff-hanger, as it appears to introduce a true antagonistic force. Plus, the art is still the same and comedy, when it's there, is enough to smile at, even if most of it is unoriginal.