As is the case with most Shonen anime, protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki ultimately ended up with the greatest abilities in Bleach. Ichigo was way more than he seemed to be at the beginning of the series. However, it was later revealed he was the son of a Soul Reaper captain and a full-blooded Quincy, the latter holding the Hollow known as White within her. This led to their first child Ichigo being a human, a Soul Reaper, a Quincy, and even part Hollow hybrid, making him a truly unique being.
Ichigo's Zanpakuto acted as a representation of his Soul Reaper nature while simultaneously being a base for all of his other powers. Known as Zangetsu, it also represented his ever-growing knowledge of his true nature. Throughout the series, Zangestu kept changing in shape and form. Every time this happened, Ichigo also underwent some kind of change or gained a greater understanding of his potential. That said, the sword he used at the start of the series was never seen again after he unlocked his Shikai. In fact, Ichigo would go on to have two distinct Zangetsus, both of which appear in the Thousand-Year Blood War arc.
Updated on May 14, 2024, by Ajay Aravind: With the third cour of Bleach's Thousand-Year Blood War arc set to be released at some point in 2024, anime-only fans can't wait to see how the protagonist triumphs over the final villain. However, they have already seen Ichigo's newest Zanpakuto, a pair of swords collectively known as Zangetsu. Given his seriously convoluted lineage, we have updated this article with some more streamlined information.
Ichigo's Soul Reaper Abilities Were Different From the Start
The first time readers/viewers got a true glimpse of Ichigo's actual powers was when he awakened his own Soul Reaper powers and was almost turned into a Hollow. While the almost-Hollowfication was explained away at this point, it was actually the first moment in the series that hinted at Ichigo's true nature. The awakening of his Soul Reaper abilities was quite different in every other case.
All Soul Reapers are given Zanpakuto when joining the ranks of the Gotei 13 organization. These specific Zanpakuto are known as Asauchi and have been forged by Oetsu Nimaiya personally. These basic Zanpakuto have no real special abilities when they are given to their respective Soul Reapers, as the wielders must imprint their own souls and power onto the blade. This is why there are no duplicates when it comes to Zanpakuto, as each has its own name, powers, and spiritual energy. But how did Ichigo do this if he never had an Asauchi in the first place?
Asauchi are forged by melding the souls of multiple Soul Reapers into the form of a blade. Coincidentally, this is how Sosuke Aizen created the Hollow known as White, which later infected Ichigo's mother and was passed on to Ichigo himself. When Ichigo awakened his Soul Reaper powers, rather than imprint his power and soul onto an Asauchi, he did so onto the Hollow within him, turning that Hollow into his Zanpakuto spirit. This is why his inner Hollow looked like a completely white version of Ichigo.
Old Man Zangetsu Was a Manifestation of Ichigo's Quincy Powers
For most of the series, Ichigo was led to believe that Old Man Zangetsu was his Zanpakuto spirit, and that White was some kind of mysterious infection. This was all a lie fabricated by the Old Man spirit, which was in fact the manifestation of his Quincy powers. Knowing that if Ichigo became a Soul Reaper it would mean later going against Ywhach, the Old Man did everything he could to restrain those powers and become the dominant spirit within Ichigo. He only started relenting when he realized Ichigo would die without access to more of his Soul Reaper and Hollow powers.
At first, Ichigo only had access to his Shikai, which while incredibly strong, was only a fraction of his true power. In this state, Zangetsu looked like a giant khyber knife. Ichigo's spiritual energy in this state was bright blue, similar to that of a Quincy's. As such, this could be an indicator of the Old Man's interference. Even in this Shikai state, the inner Hollow was occasionally able to intervene on Ichigo's behalf. This was done by either training him inside Ichigo's Inner World or by creating Hollow Masks that increased both his offensive and defensive abilities.
Ichigo's original Bankai was probably the biggest hint as to the connection between his Soul Reaper and his Hollow powers. In this form, Ichigo's sword became a long, black daito, which looked suspiciously similar to White's own blades when it attacked Isshin and Masaki Kurosaki, Ichigo's parents. Ichigo's spiritual energy became pitch-black with a blood-red outline around it — according to Ulquiorra, it felt closer to that of a Hollow's energy than that of a Soul Reaper's. Ichigo also gained a cloak that resembled the Old Man's and became significantly faster and stronger than he was before.
Ichigo Could Access Hollow and Soul Reaper Abilities Simultaneously
It was only in the Bankai state that White Ichigo would try to take control. For a Soul Reaper to be able to perform Bankai, they must have an incredibly strong connection to their Zanpakuto and be able to draw out its full power. In Ichigo's case, due to his Zanpakuto being a Hollow, this would mean that he would need to draw out even more of White Ichigo's power and create a stronger connection between the two. This probably made it much easier for Ichigo's inner Hollow to exert control over him, which could be seen during his fight with Byakuya.
This influence and fight for control would become one of the biggest plot points of Bleach during the Arrancar arc. During this arc, Ichigo not only came to an understanding with his spirit but also further mastered his Hollow-based powers by being able to extract more of them. Ichigo would grow a Hollow mask over his face while his blade stayed the same. The understanding they came to was that Ichigo would get to keep control of his body, but once he failed then his inner Hollow would get to take over.
This was retrospectively an obvious foreshadowing to when Ichigo basically transformed into a full Hollow. While in this form, Ichigo was stronger than ever before, having full access to his Hollow powers as well as his Soul Reaper ones. In many ways, this might have been the truest manifestation of his Bankai at that moment. Given that his Hollow was his Zanpakuto, their connection was probably the strongest it had been up until that point. In this form, informally known as Ichigo's Vasto Lorde, he was capable of overwhelming Ulquiorra's Segunda Etapa without even trying.
Mastering Fullbring Allowed Ichigo to Access Hollow Powers Without the Mask
Interestingly enough, it was Ichigo's connection to the Hollow within that actually saved his powers. After his final battle with Aizen, Ichigo eventually loses all of his powers and ends up learning Fullbring as a way to bring them back. Fullbring was a power developed by humans that relied on Hollow spiritual energy. Children of mothers who had survived Hollow attacks were able to draw out the souls and power from inanimate objects, especially from ones they have a connection to. Ichigo realized that, by accessing his Hollow powers, he should be able to reawaken his Soul Reaper ones due to their connection to one another.
In Ichigo's case, he did this with his Substitute Soul Reaper badge that had been with him since the beginning of his journey. The badge even contained a large amount of his power. With a little help from Rukia, who used her own Soul Reaper powers to jumpstart the vestiges of what remained of his own, Ichigo was able to regain his powers. This new form made him far stronger than ever before, demonstrating an even greater bond between him and his Hollow.
After mastering Fullbring and regaining his Soul Reaper powers, Zangetsu was a whole different kind of monster. In both Shikai and Bankai, the blade had become bigger, with his Shikai getting even larger than before. Meanwhile, his Bankai became longer with unique serrations along the blade, now even more closely resembling White's original arm-blades. At this point, it seemed like Ichigo was as powerful as he was while using the Hollow mask without ever having to actually wear it, perhaps even stronger.
Ichigo's Inner Hollow Was the True Zangetsu In Bleach
However, even after all that Ichigo still hadn't unlocked his true powers and didn't even have a real Zanpakuto. After he lost devastatingly to Ywhach, Ichigo was taken to the Royal Realm to recuperate and have his Bankai reforged. This is where Nimaiya Oetsu informed him that he never even had a real Zanpakuto in the first place. It was around this time that Ichigo learned his true origins and the complex relationship between his parents. This finally made him fully understand who exactly he was and what his powers could become.
One of the main reasons that his Hollow and Soul Reaper powers were so closely linked was due to his parents. A flashback scene revealed that Ichigo's mother, a Quincy named Masaki Kurosaki, was at the risk of Hollowification after White bit her shoulder. To protect her, Isshin Shiba created a soul chain between his Soul Reaper powers and the Hollow inside her. This caused Isshin to lose his Soul Reaper powers, but it also permanently linked the Hollow to them. This made the Soul Reaper powers inherited by Ichigo the same as his Hollow powers, while somewhat distinct from his Quincy side.
This revelation led to a meeting within his mind/soul with the Old Man while Nimaiya was forging his Zanpakuto, who claimed that he had been lying to Ichigo the entire time. He revealed himself to be a manifestation of Ichigo's Quincy powers, and that the inner Hollow had been the true Zangetsu the whole time. Strangely enough, Ichigo realized that the Old Man was incorrect and wholly accepted his Quincy heritage along with everything else. Instead of gaining one Zanpakuto, Ichigo ended up with two, with the larger one representing his Hollow powers and the smaller one being his Quincy abilities. Ichigo's Soul Reaper powers acted as the base that linked the three together by transforming his Hollow and Quincy sides into separate Zanpakutos.
Ichigo Learned to Be At Peace In Order to Master His Power
Ichigo could now draw on both sets of powers and use them as blades, but he could also go into a Hollowified state while maintaining complete control of his body. In this form, he gained one horn on the left side of his head as well as Hollow markings, with his larger sword turning snow-white. In Bankai, the swords would merge, as a way of signifying the unity and balance between his powers. The larger sword became a hard white shell over the smaller blade, creating a weapon that looked much like his original Shikai.
The Hollowified form resembled the state that the Zangetsu spirits took when they merged together while training Ichigo in the Dangai before his final fight with Aizen. This merged form trained Ichigo to achieve his full power as a Soul Reaper, making him stronger than Aizen after merging with Hogyoku. By the end of their battle, Ichigo crushed Aizen with a technique known as the Final Getsuga Tensho, bringing an end to the villain's reign of terror. Therefore, it makes sense that both spirits help Ichigo become the strongest he could ever be, with power rivaling that of Ywhach and his Elite Guards.
It might be weird to imagine that the Old Man was wrong, but it was more so that he didn't understand what he was any better than Ichigo previously did. No Quincy has ever had a manifestation of their powers in the form of a spirit like Ichigo, which already proved that there was something different about the Old Man. Beyond that, the Old Man might have limited Ichigo's power, but he also helped train him much of the time, further showing that he was just as much of a Zanpakuto spirit as White was. Even his new Bankai represents this progression, as the Hollow blade wraps around the Quincy one, signifying a perfect symbiosis. Ichigo finally managed to find the inner peace that both his Zanpakuto spirits wanted, giving him full control of the power that had always been his birthright.
