User blog comment:Lemursrule/BLEACH 310 Review: S.O.U.L (sorry on unacceptable lateness)/@comment-2080507-20110227065400

This is just a theory, but the reason they changed the ending was so that they could actually have a filler arc. The anime is really close to the manga, and it would be really hard to do a filler arc without Ichigo having powers. If you listen to Kisuke's wording, he kind of implies it when he say, 'it could be tommorow, or in a year.'So Ichigo may still have his powers, and once the filler arc if over, we'll see the real ending.