Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-44061-20130307153642/@comment-20665861-20130917175717

Zangetsu is a Zanpakto.

The Zanpakto as wielded by Ichigo prior to the shattered shaft incident is (mostly) Rukia's, a shinigami's, powers and part X Ichigo power, source of which TBD.

Zangetsu as wielded by ichigo after the shattered shaft incident is that of that 100% X Ichigo power.

Lets say for the sake of argument that X power is Quincy power.

In that case Ichigo has not been returning hollowed souls to soul society he has been completely destroying them for the last couple arcs. If he has no shinigami powers, then he would not have been able to do soul burials. Guess what guys, he hasn't done a soul burial since before the shattered shaft incident. Not a proof by any means, but I do find it interesting.