User blog comment:Lemursrule/BLEACH 337 Review: Funny Farm/@comment-4173672-20110905094007/@comment-1429792-20110905171610

It makes sense for a filler in terms of showing how much he has regressed. Ichigo lost his powers and when he regained them, he has no Zanpakuto and his power is unstable. The Hollow mask he used at the start of the arc is not relevant. He was shown weakening many times between then and now and he finally lost his power, getting it back by dubious means. There is something clearly fundamentally different with him

Not saying it is right or a smart move by Studio Pierro, clearly it is not. They have shown time and again that they will do things in filler that contradict canon material. For them sometimes it becomes less about making sense storywise and more about style and what they think would be cool to do, what would make sense in terms of showcasing that.