Shiken said:
wow at this rate bleach might just hit last, they dropped another place this week. http://weeklyjump.livejournal.com/
i wouldnt be surprised in the slightest if kubo wanted to end bleach after aizen and got told to continue because it was popular, then decided to run it into the ground to cancel it >_>; Would explain so much here.
Right now, Bleach really deserves to be ranked so low in Jump, as this arc is the worst so far, in my opinion, and it seems that the Japanese readers think the same.
Regarding your second statement, I don't think Kubo wanted to end the manga after Aizen was defeated, because there are still many unexplained things like the fate of some characters (Grimmjow, Kensei, Nel) or Isshin's past, and he also said before that after the Aizen saga he would do a short arc followed by a much longer one. The short arc is the current fullbringer arc so it seems that he had planned it before concluding the Aizen story.
Regarding this chapter, it's good to see that the final confrontation between Ichigo and Tsukishima has started, which means that this arc will end pretty soon, maybe in three months or so (or at least I hope so) because I really want to see the Shinigamis back in action.