Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27973159-20160314042517/@comment-27565137-20160316042720

Korog wrote: If all Ichigo's previous bankai iterations were Tensa Zangetsu, and Renji's previous bankai was Hihiō Zabimaru, but is now Sōō Zabimaru, what are the chances Ichigo's new and true bankai will be different? Does anyone else want Ichigo's Visored powers back? Also what do you think the new Zangetsu bankai will be like? P.S. Does anyone know if Ichigo will be able to use the same type of device he used to achieve bankai the first time again?

Well. Ichigo and Renji cases are totally different. Renji through Ichibei learned to control his bankai to its full power, thanks to Ichibei telling him what was the name of his bankai that represented it's full power.

Ichigo on the other hand, as far as we know, never had a real bankai to begin with. Let me explain this part! We know that Old Man quincy was suppressing Ichigo's true shinigami+holllow powers, or in other words, he was suppressing the real Zangetsu. What Ichigo had been using until this final arc began was just the part of Zangetsu that Old Man couldn't suppress. Well, by any logic this clearly shows that Ichigo never used his Shikai true powers less alone his bankai. And from what we've seen, or better yet, what we haven't seen... it seems that either Ichigo is holding back his power for whatever reason, or, Ichigo not even using his Shikai powers yet. Don't let the use of Getsuga Tenshou fool you. Even Isshin was able to use Getsuga Tenshou without releasing his zanpakutou real power, that was Engetsu. And Engetsu real power was fire, not Getsuga Tenshou.

Will his bankai be different!? Most likely. Not only in shape but also in name, I suspect. Something tells me Tensa Zangetsu no longer applies. Or it might, who knows... Maybe just like Zabimaru didn't told Renji it's real name because it thought he wasn't ready/worthy to weild its true power, then it makes sense that Old Man, gave Ichigo bankai that name, but it's not its real name. Because like Ichibei said, to know one's zanpakutou full name it's to control its full power. And Old Man didn't want Ichigo to become a true shinigami, because he most likely knew that the real Yhwach was gonna wake up, and if Ichigo became a true shinigami then he would most likely be on Yhwach target list to eliminate.

If I want the Vizard thing back again!? Not really. Lets face it. At the end of the day the Vizards talked big but accomplished very little. They gave Ichigo all that crap about him only being able to hold his mask for a few seconds, and they that had over a century to training, and most of them couldn't even maintain their masks for more than a couple of minutes. While Ichigo during his fight with Grimmjow and later Ulquiora was able to surpass all of them. The only thing I'd like to see again, would be Ichigo using a similar form and mask that Zangetsu used when Young Boy quincy pulled him out from inside Ichigo, and we got to see White Ichigo in his bankai form with the horned mask, claws and every other detail. If some of those details became part of his new shikai or bankai it would be great.

Has for the device. He doesn't need to use it anymore. The device purpose is to teach a shinigami what it takes to reach the level of bankai. Or like Old Man shown, by manifesting all those fake Zangetsus. Ichigo needed to learn not only how to better control his power, but also to recognize the part of himself where his power truly lies. And Ichigo knows this now. He doesn't need to learn it all over again.

Has for what I believe his bankai will be like or what powers it might held, I prefer not to speculate, seeing we haven't seen him do anything significant while he's already presumably in Shikai, less alone what he will do (or not) in his bankai form. Maybe the small blade and big blade become connected by a chain and both blades have the same size, but different shapes... Honestly at this point I believe Ichigo has a lot to prove before using his bankai.