Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27110495-20160106235339/@comment-5398287-20160107235638

Wri-El wrote:

And who says Ichigo is even at Shikai? People seem to be forgetting everything Nimaiya said.

Remember way back. To when Ichigo first failed the Asauchi test. Nimaiya said to Renji that no shinigami in all of Soul Society history had been able to awaken his or hers zanpakutou without first having a Asauchi. Well. When Ichigo awoken his own powers during Urahara's training, his zanpakutou appeared even though Ichigo had no Asauchi. What he had was just the final remnants of Rukia power, and his blade wasn't even a real zanpakutou. Something that Urahara pointed out by saying that the blade Ichigo clung to was a hollow blade, with no power whatsoever.

Also Nimaiya pointed out that if Ichigo had manage to do what he had done without the aid of a Asauchi, then with a Asauchi his power would truly be beyond amazing. So Nimaiya himself reveals that either Ichigo was the only exception to the rule and was able awaken his Zanpakutou without a Asauchi, or, the blade Ichigo had used up until that point was never a fully real zanpakutou but just a fraction of a real one. Either way the implications are enormous.

To me, Ichigo still hasn't revealed Zangetsu true form, and he's been using Zangetsu sealed form.

Now anyone can say "Well. But he has used Getsuga Tenshu. So that proves he's at Shikai." And then I'd have to point out another very important fact. When Isshin fought against Aizen together with Urahara and Yoruichi, he too used the Getsuga Tenshu technique without releasing his zanpakutou Engetsu.

So take all this in mind first, before rushing to the conclusion that Ichigo's at Shikai. He might... and most likely isn't at Shikai. For all we know, ever since Ichigo got his full power released ever since his Quincy power stopped holding back the real Zangetsu, all definitions like Shikai and Bankai might not even apply to him anymore. The problem with that assumption is that almost every other sealed Shinigami Zanpakuto that we've ever seen has been in the shape of some kind of standard sword, whether that be a generic katana, a short sword like Gin's, a nodachi like Unohana's, a cane-sword like Urahara's, or even a sword on a stick like Kirinji's - Ichibei seems to be an exception to that, but only because his Zanpakuto has name-related abilities in every stage of release. Meanwhile, Ichigo has two very unique looking swords, one of which has a handle as part of the blade itself, and no proper sheath/scabbard for them; you'll notice that every Shinigami (again, aside from Ichibei "Exception" Hyosube) has a sheath for their sealed Zanpakuto that matches its shape exactly. On top of that, the comparison to Isshin is inaccurate - when he was Getsuga Tenshoing Aizen, we didn't see his sword at all, and given that his Shikai is literally just energy around the blade anyway, we have no way of confirming what stage of release it was in at the time. Of literally every Shinigami, Ichibei included, only Rose has a named, unique technique usable with the sealed form of his Zanpakuto, and that's hardly even using the blade itself, so Ichigo using not only Getsuga Tensho but Getsuga Jujisho as well with his sealed Zanpakuto is highly unlikely. Finally, let's not forget why Ichigo's been stated to be constantly in Shikai - he has no control over his Reiatsu and thus can't seal Zangetsu to begin with.