Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-44061-20130307153642/@comment-1393830-20130309160638

Lemursrule wrote: Will-O-Wisp wrote: Then how do you explain Ichigo has Zangetsu's spirit in his inner world, as well as his own Soul Reaper powers? We don't know exactly why and how Ichigo had/has an inner world, it's up to Kubo to give us an explanation. My theory and a theory of many others is that Ichigo unintentionally used the Quincy abilities he inherited from his mother to manipulate reshi in a way that he could mimick the powers of another being such as a shinigami.

I don't think it is anything difficult to explain. Ichigo is not a Shinigami, but his soul form is. He doesn't need to have inherited powers from Isshin to be a Shinigami in soul form. He specifically underwent training with Urahara to turn him into a Shinigami. That was the point of shattered shaft. Urahara even stated that he had his own latent Shinigami powers. Though I suppose it is time I gave my own views on all of this.

I think there is a simple explanation to all of Ichigo's powers, though some came around purely to help the plot.

First and foremost, his Shinigami powers are the basis of the story. When Nimaiya and Isshin say he is not a Shinigami, I take that as he is a Human who has the powers of a Shinigami in soul form. He is not a Shinigami in his natural state nor was he born to a Shinigami as so many people think. Since he had a large amount of spiritual power, Urahara recognized that he could become a Shnigami if he underwent the proper training. I don't think he is mimicking Shinigami powers, thats his own natural power.

His Hollow powers came about as a consequence of Shattered Shaft training. He took too long, causing a Hollow mask to form. His two hollow forms are just him losing control over these powers and his inner Hollow taking over. The new form developed due to Bankai. Ichigo had never entered his Hollow form in Bankai before and we have seen Hollow Ichigo looks different when Ichigo is in Bankai.

His Fullbringer powers are much easier to explain now. Whereas before I had believed it was due to Hollow Ichigo, it is now pretty easy to see its because Masaki had been attacked by many Hollows before, being that she was a Quincy.

And of course his Quincy powers are from his mother.

I don't think he is any kind of mimic. He has several powers for the sake of the story, but they are all explainable.