Zangetsu (Zanpakutō spirit)



Ichigo Kurosaki, a Soul Reaper, grew a hollow in himself, a commonality of most Hollows. He is also the longest-running villain in Bleach history, randomly appearing in almost every single story arc, including the Bount arc and the Amagai arc. He was also the main focus of the Vizard arc. His presence can also be felt throughout the Hueco Mundo and Captain Amagai arcs whenever Ichigo dons his inner hollow's mask to fight tough opponents like the Espada. He had disappeared after Ichigo defeated him in his Inner world. He will most likely return as he said if Ichigo wanted to control his power then Ichigo shouldn't die before he shows up again. Implying that Ichigo has yet to fully master his Vizard mask and the Hollow may return during Ichigo's fight with Ulquiorra.

Appearance
His overall appearance is practically the opposite of Ichigo, especially in his clothing. While Ichigo wears a black standard shinigami uniforms, his Hollow self wears a white shinigami uniform with black cloth belts. His skin and hair are also fully white and his eyes are black (on contrary to humans' white eyes) with yellow iris. His overall white color has led to the creation of his fan-name: "Shirosaki" (a play on his white color, Ichigo's last name being Kurosaki, "kuro" meaning black and "shiro" meaning white).

When the Hollow was introduced for the first time in the anime, he had black teeth rather than white as shown in the manga, obviously to further signify the difference from Ichigo. However, this was later changed to normal white when he appeared again in Ichigo's inner world (see above).

He also has his own version of Zangetsu, Ichigo's zanpakutō: On contrary to Ichigo's black cleaver with silver edge wrapped in white cloths, his Zangetsu is silver with black blades and black wrapping cloths.

Abilities
His real-world full hollow appearance (seen in episode 123) is that of a humanoid beast with bulging, muscular legs, a mask with red stripes down one side, some of Ichigo's hair along his back and head, and a long tail with a red tip. His left arm is a large claw with which he appears to be able to fire energy beams of some sort. He has super-speed regeneration, and the ability to grow extra appendages. And his right arm is a point, which can be used to impale enemies. It is also seen in episode 123 to be used as a super-Cero charger. This cero is pink, unlike the normal red. He is also apparently able to fire out a tentacle with a large mouth at the end, which would presumably be used to catch fleeing souls were the hollow allowed to run rampant. It is suspected that he has many more abilities, but many are seen in episode 123. His body is covered in a hard, chitinous shell, unlike many other hollows. If Ichigo were ever to turn into a complete hollow, it would be the end of the world, according to the Shinigami.

His real world partial hollow is only seen as a mask covering part of Ichigo's face and steadily growing larger. However, in this form, unlike in the full one, Ichigo is merely unconscious and the hollow is stepping into the void, controlling his body. He forms a hollow hole in Ichigo's body when transforming into a full hollow in episode 123.

Personality
His most distinguishing feature is his maniacal laughter and lunatic grins. He is brutal and sadistic, his only reason for existence being to take over Ichigo's power and his body to use it to kill everything and anything he sees. He taunts Ichigo as being weak and unsuitable for being a counterpart of, though he relishes the idea of taking Ichigo's powers for himself. He battles like a berserker, ignoring injuries and overpowering his enemies with brute strength and force. He also protects Ichigo's body when he is about to die, because if Ichigo died, he would too.

Control over Ichigo's powers
The Hollow is capable of taking over Ichigo's body and powers when Ichigo falls unconscious in a fight. When he does this, a white mask starts forming on Ichigo's left side of the face and the eyes blacken. (Note: in episode 82 of the anime, his right eye was normal in color. However, in other countries, this was corrected to the proper black.) He is able to ignore most of the injuries Ichigo has sustained up to that moment, and starts fighting like a berserker (much as he does when battling Ichigo in his inner world) with fearsome strength and speed, much more than Ichigo's already abnormal levels.

In the Vizard arc, Ichigo underwent a full transformation into a Hollow. This full Hollow is shown as a white humanoid lizard with long orange hair and slit eyes seen through the eyeholes on its full mask. It displays powerful abilities such as instant regeneration, growth of additional body appendages, and an exceedingly powerful Cero.

Physical Abilities
The Hollow is seen to be much more powerful than Ichigo, overpowering Ichigo very easily. His physical strength is already greater than Ichigo, while he gains any power that Ichigo does, evidenced by his use of Bankai. He is capable of deflecting Ichigo's Getsuga Tenshō with his unarmed left hand, and his own Getsuga Tenshō is incomparably stronger than Ichigo's. His actual limit is unknown, as he was never in any case seen fighting with all his strength.



After Ichigo subjugated the Hollow, he started using the Hollow powers.