Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27458826-20180127131846/@comment-27565137-20180412161011

Well Ichigo's Zanpakutou had indeed more traits similar to that of an Arrancar than that of a Shinigami. The biggest evidence is the Final Getsuga Tenshou. When an Arrancar used his or her Resurrección, the sword would disappear and he or she would assume their true forms/power. When Ichigo performs the so called Final Getsuga Tenshou his "Zanpakutou" completely disappears and even the way he looked... He seemed kinda like a Hollow going through their chrysalis stage before becoming an Arrancar. Like we saw with Grand Fisher. There was also Quincy elments to it. For example when Uryuu uses Letzt Stil before he used it he had to put on that special glove that once put on it couldn't be taken off. It's when Uryuu breaks the glove that he enters his Letzt Stil form. He gets that Reishi flame on his back that was where he got the reishi to form his arrows. While with Ichigo before he performed the FGT his sword was connected to his arm and when he uses FGT the sword vanishes and from his hand we got those black flames/black reishi coming off of it.

So, we can easily conclude that Ichigo's powers primarily hollow like with shinigami and quincy traits. The shape of his sword. The fact he couldn't seal it. In his fight with Zaraki what saved his a** was Blut Vene, Shadow and obviously Zangetsu (the real one). Even his so called "bankai". How could he have a bankai if Zangetsu never taught him that power? Not the real Zangetsu! The one that trained him was his Quincy soul persona. Another thing! How does fake Zangetsu trains Ichigo?! He makes it so tens of swords appear out of nothing. And what did we see as Ichigo trained? That when he began he was so dependent on fake Zangetsu that all of the swords broke with one blow. But as he began to rely more on himself and put real effort into becoming better then each sword he chose started to last longer and longer. And finally his so called bankai.

Let's brake it down shall we... His huge a** sword becomes the size and shape of normal Zanpakutou only it's all black. His shihakusho changed but it served no real purpose. It couldn't be used for defense or attack. Kinda like Yhwach used his shadow to defend or attack. Also like the real Zangetsu pointed out, Ichigo sucked at the use of that power so much so he even shown him a new way of using the Getsuga Tenshou attack. So his "bankai" was as real as Yachiru. Ichigo never had a bankai to begin with or a shikai for that matter. Not while fake Zangetsu was in charge. Also Ichigo so called bankai changed four times! That's four times too many. 1st when he does his training in the Dangai. 2nd when he gets his powers back. 3rd when he uses it against Yuha. 4rd when the sword is shattered and from that shattered sword his old new sword appears. So even his Zanpakutou didn't worked as normal Zanpakutous work. Hell! Even Nimaya said to Renji after he sent Ichigo to the Mortal World, that in the history of Soul Society no Shinigami had ever been able to unlock their Shinigami powers without an Asauchi BUT that Ichigo had come all of his way without one. So Nimaya confirmed that Ichigo never had an Asauchi to begin with, hence he never had a Zanpakutou. At least not a Shinigami Zanpakutou. After all Arrancars have Zanpakutous that are simply what they use to seal away their true powers.

So as I have always seen it. To me Ichigo's so called FGT was actually what one could call his shikai+bankai/resurección/letzt stil. We can't forget that Ichigo was the ultimate hybrid! He was Shinigami, Hollow and Quincy. So all of that has to be taken into consideration.

Take for example Tōsen. His shikai was Suzumushi, his bankai was Suzumushi Tsuishiki Enma Kōrogi, but his Resurrección was called Suzumushi Hyakushiki Grillar Grillo. But both Suzumushi and Suzumushi Tsuishiki were when he was only a Shinigami. After Aizen finally perfected the hollowfication process what we saw in his fight with Komamura was that first and foremost he didn't used his shikai anymore. Didn't any of you ever wondered why? Secondly he used hollowfication, but unlike with that of the Vizards his hollowfication was perfect. Not only did he gained the mask but his own suit changed with the hollowfication. Doesn't this remind any of you of someone else? Because to me it reminded me of how when Ichigo went "bankai" his shihakusho also changed. And third but not least, Suzumushi Hyakushiki Grillar Grillo! That's the only thing he used! It was no longer shikai or bankai, it was Shinigami and Hollow, Suzumushi Hyakushiki was him calling out to his shinigami power but Grillar Grillo was him calling out to his hollow power. So Shinigami and Hollow power as one.

But did we ever saw Ichigo do any of this? We know that Zangetsu was already Shinigami and Hollow as One, but his Quincy Persona kept Zangetsu mostly suppressed. So Ichigo didn't had the need to call for his Shinigami and Hollow power combining names seeing his Shinigami and Hollow power was One, it was Zangetsu. Which leads me to this next point. What was Tensa Zangetsu? Was it Ichigo bankai? I have all but established that Ichigo had no Shikai or Bankai so we know Tensa Zangetsu was not Ichigo's bankai. What was it then? It was when Zangetsu and Old Man turned Young Boy united into a single entity. Tensa Zangetsu was when Ichigo used both the power of Zangetsu and Young Boy. To me when Ichigo says Mugetsu in the FGT form that's him saying the name of his true shikai+bankai/resurrección name. What did we see when he calls out Mugetsu? A black stream of energy forming in his hand like if it was the energy that would normally be inside a Zanpakutou, and then he swings that energy as if it was a sword. And we all saw what it did! It was almost like when Yamamoto used Zanka no Tachi. With Zanka no Tachi everything cut by the blade was not burned or incinerated but rather it ceased to be. That's why when he cuts the ground we see a huge freaking hole but no explosion no nothing, it was like the ground was there and then it wasn't. With Mugetsu we saw something very similar. The black energy didn't exploded, burned or destroyed anything, instead it looked more like it consumed everything it touched and turned it into nothing.

So Ichigo was indeed unique. So unique that we can't really call him Shinigami, Hollow, Quincy, Arrancar or Vizard. Seeing he was none of these things! He has traits from all of them but he was something else altogether. Something that unfortunately Kubo never got the chance to explain us what that something was.