User blog comment:Apocaylpse06/Ichigo Kurosaki's (New) Zanpakuto/@comment-4136718-20110817030332/@comment-5090141-20120508233528

well technically you arent one and the same with your zanpakuto because they have their own spirits that actually turned against their owners in the zanpakuto rebellion arc in which all but a few zanpakutos spirits rebelled and did not fight with their owners anymore wanting to be independent of the soul reapers so all the zanpakuto blades became regular katanas and did not go into shikai or bankai at the commands of the soul reapers