Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-1970092-20160521174544/@comment-27565137-20160522145154

Kman111 wrote: Well, he used a technique which looked like flames, but as you (should) know, no Zanpakuto uses two different elements. Getsuga Tenshou is an energy attack, so it would stand to reason that that other attack was also an energy attack.

Some people simply found it weird like when fighting Aizen, Isshin used Getsuga Tenshou without using his shikai. Which was shown Isshin doing it again when he entered Masaki's mind and slashed at the hollow mask that was gonna strike her with another Getsuga Tenshou, again not using Engetsu.

Yeah, and Toshiro has been shown firing ice in the same manner as his Shikai. Does that mean he can use ice techniques with his sealed sword? Probably not. Kubo probably just doesn't want to show characters releasing their swords constantly for every single instance.

Or it can be a simple generic technique inside the Shiba clan. Also the basis for using that technique isn't that complicated. The blade absorbs the user reiatsu, compresses it and then releases the attack in a form of highly concentrated reishi.

Which in a way we've seen other characters do. Not exactly the same but similar enough.

The quincies and their most of their techniques are based on a similar principle.

Even Zaraki 'Nozarashi' uses a similar form of attack. The main difference being that huge ass blade instead of releasing the reiatsu it holds, it keeps it inside the blade. That's why Zaraki says it can cut through anything. Zaraki himself is a beast of raw power, if we take that power an channel it through his blade then the affects are similar to those of GT. When fighting Ichigo, Nnoitra and Yammy we saw how powerful a simple swing of his blade, made Zaraki zanpakutou cut through things even at a distance.

So Getsuga Tenshou is most likely not linked to the zanpakutou Shikai. Which would explain why Isshin was able to use it without using Engetsu. And maybe it's Kubo's way of saying to the fans "Hey. People. You haven't actually seen Ichigo true Shikai power, less alone his Bankai."

But I'm gonna wait and let my suspicions prove themselves true or false.