So...Ichigo's true Bankai. These are just my thoughts on it as I said, but what do you think is really going on? Am I right or completely wrong? I'd love to hear your take so let me know!
This is my theory 1) What we call "true Bankai" is not the ultimate bankai, Ichigo's bankai has always been a wearable Bankai who fixed his dress with his Riatsu 2) If only the sword changes it means that ichigo has not yet mastered his skills. (Ichigo himself confirms that he has no experience with his new powers, and he's discovering them while fighting against Ywach), so if this "True Bankai" was destroyed it could still be repaired or evolved. 2) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's "true bankai" for the first time, he also steals ichigo's Quincy / Hollow powers (vol.74 ch 680. pag.1-2-3) 3) Inoue and Tsukishima "fix the blade" (make sure it has NEVER been broken with their powers to change the past and deny events) 4) To form the "true Bankai" the powers of all 4 races are needed. Ichigo must fuse his swords and unite his powers. So if Ichigo no longer has all his powers, that sword is no longer his Bankai even if it has the shape of it. 5) The sword has become an empty shell containing a regressed version of the sword of ichigo, a shape that resembles ichigo's first shikai in appearance ( as seen in the vision of jugram which ywach interprets as a dream) 6) However that form is neither a bankai, nor a shikai nor an asauchi, it is a temporary form born from the change of state of ichigo's powers when the sword was in "true bankai" form 7) what is certain is that ichigo is now only a shinigami and in order to see the true shape of his sword, with only his shinigami powers, he would have to return to shikai (which has also changed) and then reactivate the bankai. 8) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's sword for the second time, he does not destroy the real blade but only its empty shell which contained the temporary and regressed version of the sword. 9) CFYOW vol.2 ch1. ichigo's hollow / quincy powers are back after Ywach's death, Urhara talks about it. Ichibe confirmed it that Ichigo has his powers back because he was a candidate for the Soul King. And you need to be a Hybrid to be even considered. So he has got back his either Hollow, Quincy or both powers back. 10) The adult version of ichigo therefore has all the powers of the 4 races, should have the shikai with the double sword and can combine them to form the "true Bankai" seen the first time. Also after 10 years I expect the dress to evolve too and the "true bankai" to reach its final shape with the dress that has ichigo with the bow in Brave souls. 11) The adult ichigo version released in the game ignores everything I've written so far ... Ichigo's dress is that of a common and generic shinigami, the sword has a shape that should no longer have, whether ichigo had regained the powers or not. 12) -Conclusion: Klab released this new ichigo without reasoning and without asking questions, creating a script hole -This could be a version of ichigo where they ignore the fact that his powers are back (but the sword shouldn't have that shape anyway) -or it could be a version of ichgio with a "strange" Asauchi like kenpachi, where ichigo like isshin can use the blue getsuda with the sealed sword, this version of ichigo would have all the powers but wouldn't be using them for now. -Another very valid theory is that that sword is his bankai when Ichigo only uses his shinihami powers. - When he first activated the bankai ichigo was in shikai but the longer sword was white (quincy powers) and ichigo was using hollowfication so the sword took the aspect we see for a moment against Ywach. -It is possible that in this adult form ichigo raised the double shikai sword and said Bankai without first using the hollow and quincy powers (so the long sword was still black) so the bankai with only his shinigami powers appears as in the image . -If this theory is correct it means that ichigo's new Bankai changes the shape of his sword and clothes depending on how many and which of his race powers he is using. 13) To conclude I would like to ask a question, we know that a bankai of a shigami cannot be repaired, but is ichigo a common shimigami with a common Bankai? Ichigo does not have an affiliation, it is a new chimeric race formed by the DNA of the 4 main races, in theory the Bankai of ichigo that creates by combining its powers is not a common shinigami bankai, we call it bankai but it could be a new type of weapon completely different that only Ichigo and Hikone (if he had a zampakuto) can use, a weapon that is not subject to the rules of the shinigami world, a weapon that is not a common bankai so it can be repaired even when it breaks, for example by using the quincy technique "sklaverei" The sure thing is that we have never seen ichigo's true bankai in action, we only know that it can do the same things as Hikone (CFYOW), merge getsuda with various Cero and Blut, merge reiatsu shinigami with Hierro and blut, merge all 4 speed techniques to use God speed etc.
Mr Tommo this might be your best video I think pretty much nailednit with understanding the symbolism and poetic meaning would love to see more videos this friend.
This was a fantastic video! The symbolism and foreshadowing were on point. I was left pondering a question, though: if Ichigo's Quincy and Hollow powers were robbed from him, is he still a viable Soul King candidate at the end of the story?
@@jixreaper6411 ah see it was my interpretation that the quincy and hallow powers being turned to all white meant just the quincy was stolen and just 'white' remained but given more context from cfyow that means his powers themselves wasn't stolen but more likely just drained like if you had a gas tank, propane tank and nos tank rather than steal the propane and nos tanks leaving ichigo with just a gas tank instead just siphoning the fuel from said tanks that in this case will refill in time cool
The way he explained it really did hit. I do think ichigo did retain his hollow and quincy power (or at least hope) but him becoming a true shinigami is is actually so cool. I dont really know what it means for ichigo's development tho where he just accepted himself and lost it in the final moments
Its cool but unfortunately it's been said in the story ichigo gains all his powers back. I think people are missing the fact that yuha was not a perfect God. Just like kugo did, yuha only stole a portion of his power.
@@ArchAngelKnights I think that works in favor of his theory. Even in soul society ichigo technically had all of his powers. He just didn't have access to them making him mostly a shinigami. Same thing applies here .
@@naboume466 When Aizen was going to be put back in the chair, they considered having Ichigo present. But they chose not to, because they were worried about Aizen somehow being able to influence Ichigo's inner Hollow.
@@blackrabbit1358 This is my theory 1) What we call "true Bankai" is not the ultimate bankai, Ichigo's bankai has always been a wearable Bankai who fixed his dress with his Riatsu 2) If only the sword changes it means that ichigo has not yet mastered his skills. (Ichigo himself confirms that he has no experience with his new powers, and he's discovering them while fighting against Ywach), so if this "True Bankai" was destroyed it could still be repaired or evolved. 2) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's "true bankai" for the first time, he also steals ichigo's Quincy / Hollow powers (vol.74 ch 680. pag.1-2-3) 3) Inoue and Tsukishima "fix the blade" (make sure it has NEVER been broken with their powers to change the past and deny events) 4) To form the "true Bankai" the powers of all 4 races are needed. Ichigo must fuse his swords and unite his powers. So if Ichigo no longer has all his powers, that sword is no longer his Bankai even if it has the shape of it. 5) The sword has become an empty shell containing a regressed version of the sword of ichigo, a shape that resembles ichigo's first shikai in appearance ( as seen in the vision of jugram which ywach interprets as a dream) 6) However that form is neither a bankai, nor a shikai nor an asauchi, it is a temporary form born from the change of state of ichigo's powers when the sword was in "true bankai" form 7) what is certain is that ichigo is now only a shinigami and in order to see the true shape of his sword, with only his shinigami powers, he would have to return to shikai (which has also changed) and then reactivate the bankai. 8) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's sword for the second time, he does not destroy the real blade but only its empty shell which contained the temporary and regressed version of the sword. 9) CFYOW vol.2 ch1. ichigo's hollow / quincy powers are back after Ywach's death, Urhara talks about it. Ichibe confirmed it that Ichigo has his powers back because he was a candidate for the Soul King. And you need to be a Hybrid to be even considered. So he has got back his either Hollow, Quincy or both powers back. 10) The adult version of ichigo therefore has all the powers of the 4 races, should have the shikai with the double sword and can combine them to form the "true Bankai" seen the first time. Also after 10 years I expect the dress to evolve too and the "true bankai" to reach its final shape with the dress that has ichigo with the bow in Brave souls. 11) The adult ichigo version released in the game ignores everything I've written so far ... Ichigo's dress is that of a common and generic shinigami, the sword has a shape that should no longer have, whether ichigo had regained the powers or not. 12) -Conclusion: Klab released this new ichigo without reasoning and without asking questions, creating a script hole -This could be a version of ichigo where they ignore the fact that his powers are back (but the sword shouldn't have that shape anyway) -or it could be a version of ichgio with a "strange" Asauchi like kenpachi, where ichigo like isshin can use the blue getsuda with the sealed sword, this version of ichigo would have all the powers but wouldn't be using them for now. -Another very valid theory is that that sword is his bankai when Ichigo only uses his shinihami powers. - When he first activated the bankai ichigo was in shikai but the longer sword was white (quincy powers) and ichigo was using hollowfication so the sword took the aspect we see for a moment against Ywach. -It is possible that in this adult form ichigo raised the double shikai sword and said Bankai without first using the hollow and quincy powers (so the long sword was still black) so the bankai with only his shinigami powers appears as in the image . -If this theory is correct it means that ichigo's new Bankai changes the shape of his sword and clothes depending on how many and which of his race powers he is using. 13) To conclude I would like to ask a question, we know that a bankai of a shigami cannot be repaired, but is ichigo a common shimigami with a common Bankai? Ichigo does not have an affiliation, it is a new chimeric race formed by the DNA of the 4 main races, in theory the Bankai of ichigo that creates by combining its powers is not a common shinigami bankai, we call it bankai but it could be a new type of weapon completely different that only Ichigo and Hikone (if he had a zampakuto) can use, a weapon that is not subject to the rules of the shinigami world, a weapon that is not a common bankai so it can be repaired even when it breaks, for example by using the quincy technique "sklaverei" The sure thing is that we have never seen ichigo's true bankai in action, we only know that it can do the same things as Hikone (CFYOW), merge getsuda with various Cero and Blut, merge reiatsu shinigami with Hierro and blut, merge all 4 speed techniques to use God speed etc.
Perhaps his true power is that of a god killer, a blade so dangerous it hands out certain death. This denoted by tensa- heavenly chain suggesting a truly inescapable fate, and the zangetsu- slaying moon with the moon being seen as a divine/celestial body. A power that ties into yhwach's fear of death.
I think this is honestly more accurate than the video explanation. Every time some being rises up to try to capture power resembling a god, Ichigo is there, in some manner, and brings them down. Being stripped of the powers doesnt matter. He lost power many times before, yet it isnt ever actually gone. As you put it, he is chained to that fate. Ichigo being a "perfect balance" of the races is a symbol for equality and harmony. Ichigo is taught bias, but befriends people from all sides. Again, that shows him being a draw towards balance.
Even Captain Kuchiki said that his banki name was pretentious. I think Ichigo had the power to kill him in the first fight. He was as good at battle as he progressed. He did lose a lot of the reasoning behind killing to go just to killing when he had the chance or like an all out thing.
No just say what goes around comes around. Both uyru and ichigo sons of mothers he killed finally meets his match. As his father created a reverse arrow to counteract his almighty ability to resurrect himself. I find his defeat very satisfying
I always understood it the same way. The original shikai emerging, which was the form Ichigo's sword took when his Quincy powers were fully repressing his true powers, is an allegory of Ywach's part living inside Ichigo deciding enough is enough and life shall prevail.
@@danwarner7816 I never minded it like other people did. Ywach was a broken BS villain from the start. There was no other way to kill him other than deus ex crap. I was just happy Uryu had a hand in it.
yeah, but maybe gonna be a some filler that explain more. Sometime the manga is to short so they forgot to explain things or something we never know like back story
The reason yhwach broke his bankai was because he feared it , he said that his bankai was a threat to him that's why he had to get rid of it.. with is insane because at that state Ywach was a complete God , yet still perfect ichigo was a threat to him...
Honestly, wonder why. Probably because of the zanpakutô's ability. "Concentrate reiatsu in the blade (then fire it)". Aside from the possible extra damage the hollow reiatsu could deal, what else could it be? Oh, wait. Innate "Sklaverei". Being able to absorb reiatsu/reishi as the natural ability of the weapon... so any spiritual body could be annihilated/absorbed and consumed. Maybe this was it?
Ichigo's special attack; Getsuga Tensho, Byakuya said it means; Piercer of Heaven, that's what I think Ichigo's true power has been all along, to surpass god
Its funny how ichigo's getsuga and gin's bankai mean to "pierce the heavens" and "god slayer" respectively yet neither were actually able to kill aizen who was calling himself a "god." Getsuga tensho did kill yhwach but its still funny to me
@@dharielvillanuevagarza9897 ofc I still think yhwach is a god. The almighty is the ability of a god. I was thinking more like mugetsu wasnt really the best getsuga he could do even tho he became getsuga himself. Maybe his bankai has a different getsuga technique
If I could travel in time a change one entertainment related, it would be making WSJ give Kubo a 1 year hiatus after the Fullbring arc ended so that he could get the operation he needed.
I feel like You should make a video on 'ANYTHING BUT THE RAIN ARC', 10/10 in terms of storytelling, well executed character development of Ichigo, Execution of the story, well explained concept and a detailed backstory. The best arc in BLEACH.
I feel like one the main lessons BLEACH gave us was 'FINDING YOUR TRUE SELF' which as you said was the theme. It's infact very true for every single human being and plays an important role in the development of oneself
Not to sound like "That Guy" but: - in CFYOW it's stated that Ichigo powers eventually returned: When Aizen was getting re-imprisoned it was stated that nobody wanted Ichigo anywhere near it cuz Aizen might trigger his inner-Hollow into causing chaos. - The Longsword represents his Shinigami/Hollow side (which are revealed to be one and the same by Oh-etsu) hence the shape akin to his past shikai and the hollow section and it's going white is more akin to an hollowfication (HoS IS an hollowfication) rather than being Quincy based still awesome video
was going to mention this myself but figured I would look at the comments first before I did. I think we need to add another point to this: - Ichigo's Bankai didn't break a second time and reveal is old Shikai in the process as many people seem to think. The entire time the white part of his Bankai was in fact an elaborate sheath for his Zanpakuto. What this actually means is that his True Bankai looks like his Original Shikai from the start and is covered with the White Sheath giving it a somewhat different appearance. So there really is no symbolism connected with Ywach stealing his Quincy Powers and that makes it look like his original Shikai. This next bit is conjecture on my part but I have always assumed that Ichigo's Bankai works in stages. First, it starts with the black and white design, then it fades away to look like his original Shikai AND THEN (this is where my pure conjecture comes in) that can also break away to reveal His Original Bankai (my only supporting evidence his that the hilt of the True Bankai has the same design as the Original Bankai and Doesn't look like the Original Shikai's hilt, though TBF that hilt was covered in bandages). My belief is that each time he chips away at the sword's size he focuses more and more Reiatsu into his actual attacks. Once again pure speculation but i believe that it fits better with what we know
@@umelgaming3177 Never thought it that way... nice thinking; If I may I've got a funny little theory that I got reminded rn: To me the "Bankai" shattering was as simple as the Bankai wearing off and the blade reverting into its Shikai state. You see: - In CFYOW it's stated that Dual Zanpakuto do NOT exist in nature and are always occurring through outside interference: - Shunsui split his zanpakuto to hide Nanao's one - Ukitake's was due Mimihagi residing in his being - Hisagi doesn't have a dual Zanpakuto: it's a single weapon rather than 2 blades connect by a chain; It Ichigo was the one who choose to reforge his powers separately to better control them however upon entering into Bankai the blades become one again and as we know the "truest" form of Ichigo's power is the Merged Zangetsu. One of the great advantages of "Katana Tensa Zangetsu" was its compressed power that allowed Ichigo to maintain the Bankai for long periods of time, however "Matrioska Tensa Zangetsu" it's a massive blade hence it consumes a lot more reiatsu than ever before. This is pretty much how i interpreted it anyway
@@umbral9021 could also work but didn't that passage from CFYOW also mention that Ichigo is an exception (due to having two sources of power) and not public knowledge (so they left him out of that statement). So it might be the fact that for him having a dual Zanpukuto is actually the natural form and would contradict that statement but they are simply hiding the fact since his powers are not known to the general public. Also, having two fonts of power isn't natural itself so that further makes his dual Zanpakuto being unnatural not matter. Not saying his Bankai cannot be "reforged" as it were. Essentially, my understanding of it is that immature Bankai is still developing. Toshiro is a good example the Ice Petals used to be a timer telling when he would leave his Bankai, now he just transforms into an older version of himself. The common knowledge is that it takes a decade to master a Bankai completely, I think this is due to this volatile and adaptive nature they possess where they cannot be repaired in the truest sense if they are damaged but they can still change in this time period. That being said the combo of Tsukishima's ability to change the past of an object and Orihime's ability to reject time and space were able to fix Ichigo's Bankai completely but that was a one-off occasion. The point here though is that Ichigo's Bankai in the second encounter wasn't damaged and wouldn't need to be reforged. At any time during this second skirmish up to where Ichigo struck the final blow (when the white sheath chipped away) Ichigo was never harmed, nor his Zanpakuto, by Ywach. You gotta remember Aizen was fighting with Ichigo and Ywach was under his hypnosis since they met in Muken. Ywach can only change the future of something if he can actually see it after all and if everything he sees is an illusion then his power is moot. Wow... I wanted to fit everything in one reply and man is it long my bad lol.
@@umelgaming3177 it's all speculation baby XD still nice to find ways to make up for the lack of information; Also you reminded me of the time Zangetsu (Hollow) said that He and Old Man were once one and the same but Ichigo lead them to split so i dunno
I really don't think Ichigo as a shinigami is "his true self" because it undermines the whole of Ichigo's story, Ichigo was born a hybrid its who he is, but its representation of shinigami duty and will overcoming the quincy A pure god who can see the future being between by shinigami who shatters fate as a mirror of the shinigami taking apart the soul King
You really can tell Bleach was rushed the moment Tite Kubo didn't even explain the MC "True Bankai" capabilities, its like Ichigo's still full of untapped potential that we won't be able to see. Damn I wish we will eventually saw it in Burn the Witch.
@Roman Francis I just wish they do justice in explaining certain things that didn't get a chance to explain in the manga in the anime and fillers I wouldn't mind lots of them.
@@shinjihirako8304 if thely actually get it animated, I would be okay with a lot of the final arc being more filler than actual story. So long as it is originally the way Kubo had wanted to have the story before being rushed.
I have a gut feeling the anime will fill in some gaps. I say this because Kubo uses a line from Shunsui in the 2nd the last chapter as a direct jab at Shounen Jump saying "let a man work at his own pace" its obvious too. All the final fights were around 10chapters but Ywachs was 3 or 4.
Could be his unique heritage coalescing and combining to fit the situation with him finding his true self. The dark irony Is that his sheer power nearly led to him being diced up and used as a linchpin while harvested of said power.
This is wrong for 2 reasons. Ichigo was still a soul king candidate after his fight. In order to be soul king you need qunicy and shimigami powers.The shell coming off is just his bankai being completed.
well he can regain his powers later after kill yawach or them returning slowly like with his shinigami powers. Considering the shikai was a fake that imitated his real powers it must look like his true bankai, fake Bankai form was a result of ichigo getting to use little of his true powers.
@@storageunit2683 to quote cell "to be perfectly honest Ichigo's compliance isn't a factor" I don't think the zero division really cared about what he wants so long as the gears keep turning.
Ever since he met Rukia, Ichigo has identified himself as a shinigami. When he found out about his Hollow powers he didn't identify himself as a Hollow, when he found out about his Quincy powers he didn't identify himself as a Quincy. Ichigo chose the path of the Shinigami through everything he has been through, so it's fitting that at the very end he has become a true and pure shinigami as opposed to a hybrid.
It's not just that he didn't identify himself as Hollow or Quincy, it's the fact that he didn't accept those powers and parts of his soul as essential parts of his being and essential parts of himself.
I don't think Ichigo was pure Shinigami when defeating Yhwach. We know Tsukashima restored his bankai, making it so that it was never broken. And we know White and Old Man Zangetsu are his Zanpakuto spirits. So Ichigo must have regained his hollow and Quincy powers in that moment as you cannot use Bankai without Zanpakuto spirits. So he was still transcendent, a perfect hybrid, when everything was said and done. Shikai is the true form of the Asauchi while Bankai is the true form of the Zanpakuto spirit, as explained in the manga and light novel. This explains the duality of his true Bankai blade since he now has 2 Zanpakuto spirits whereas before he only had 1: White. But i think you're reversing the two sides. The case is White and the inner blade is Old Man Zangetsu. The reason I think this is because ichigo used that as his Shikai back when Old Man Zangetsu was the "core" of his power and, for all intents and purposes, his Asauchi. Until Oetsu reforged his Zanpakuto of course. Therefore, that final blade he used to kill Yhwach was actually the sum his Quincy powers meaning that Ichigo defeated Yhwach not with White, but with Old Man Zangetsu.
This is my theory 1) What we call "true Bankai" is not the ultimate bankai, Ichigo's bankai has always been a wearable Bankai who fixed his dress with his Riatsu 2) If only the sword changes it means that ichigo has not yet mastered his skills. (Ichigo himself confirms that he has no experience with his new powers, and he's discovering them while fighting against Ywach), so if this "True Bankai" was destroyed it could still be repaired or evolved. 2) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's "true bankai" for the first time, he also steals ichigo's Quincy / Hollow powers (vol.74 ch 680. pag.1-2-3) 3) Inoue and Tsukishima "fix the blade" (make sure it has NEVER been broken with their powers to change the past and deny events) 4) To form the "true Bankai" the powers of all 4 races are needed. Ichigo must fuse his swords and unite his powers. So if Ichigo no longer has all his powers, that sword is no longer his Bankai even if it has the shape of it. 5) The sword has become an empty shell containing a regressed version of the sword of ichigo, a shape that resembles ichigo's first shikai in appearance ( as seen in the vision of jugram which ywach interprets as a dream) 6) However that form is neither a bankai, nor a shikai nor an asauchi, it is a temporary form born from the change of state of ichigo's powers when the sword was in "true bankai" form 7) what is certain is that ichigo is now only a shinigami and in order to see the true shape of his sword, with only his shinigami powers, he would have to return to shikai (which has also changed) and then reactivate the bankai. 8) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's sword for the second time, he does not destroy the real blade but only its empty shell which contained the temporary and regressed version of the sword. 9) CFYOW vol.2 ch1. ichigo's hollow / quincy powers are back after Ywach's death, Urhara talks about it. Ichibe confirmed it that Ichigo has his powers back because he was a candidate for the Soul King. And you need to be a Hybrid to be even considered. So he has got back his either Hollow, Quincy or both powers back. 10) The adult version of ichigo therefore has all the powers of the 4 races, should have the shikai with the double sword and can combine them to form the "true Bankai" seen the first time. Also after 10 years I expect the dress to evolve too and the "true bankai" to reach its final shape with the dress that has ichigo with the bow in Brave souls. 11) The adult ichigo version released in the game ignores everything I've written so far ... Ichigo's dress is that of a common and generic shinigami, the sword has a shape that should no longer have, whether ichigo had regained the powers or not. 12) -Conclusion: Klab released this new ichigo without reasoning and without asking questions, creating a script hole -This could be a version of ichigo where they ignore the fact that his powers are back (but the sword shouldn't have that shape anyway) -or it could be a version of ichgio with a "strange" Asauchi like kenpachi, where ichigo like isshin can use the blue getsuda with the sealed sword, this version of ichigo would have all the powers but wouldn't be using them for now. -Another very valid theory is that that sword is his bankai when Ichigo only uses his shinihami powers. - When he first activated the bankai ichigo was in shikai but the longer sword was white (quincy powers) and ichigo was using hollowfication so the sword took the aspect we see for a moment against Ywach. -It is possible that in this adult form ichigo raised the double shikai sword and said Bankai without first using the hollow and quincy powers (so the long sword was still black) so the bankai with only his shinigami powers appears as in the image . -If this theory is correct it means that ichigo's new Bankai changes the shape of his sword and clothes depending on how many and which of his race powers he is using. 13) To conclude I would like to ask a question, we know that a bankai of a shigami cannot be repaired, but is ichigo a common shimigami with a common Bankai? Ichigo does not have an affiliation, it is a new chimeric race formed by the DNA of the 4 main races, in theory the Bankai of ichigo that creates by combining its powers is not a common shinigami bankai, we call it bankai but it could be a new type of weapon completely different that only Ichigo and Hikone (if he had a zampakuto) can use, a weapon that is not subject to the rules of the shinigami world, a weapon that is not a common bankai so it can be repaired even when it breaks, for example by using the quincy technique "sklaverei" The sure thing is that we have never seen ichigo's true bankai in action, we only know that it can do the same things as Hikone (CFYOW), merge getsuda with various Cero and Blut, merge reiatsu shinigami with Hierro and blut, merge all 4 speed techniques to use God speed etc.
I think that having his original shikai as the final sword does actually have very strong connotations of symbolism, but I think its more that its his shinigami powers finally settling inside himself properly without the interference of the quincy side and the hollow side. From what Ive read of the lore of Zanpakuto and Shinigami in Bleach, a Shinigami is utilizing the powers of the soul inside to combat hollows and other beings. Essentially, both the Shikai and the Bankai of a shinigami are a representation of the soul, in fact a display of the soul. Its why some characters can only perform shikai, as they dont understand their zanpakuto spirit, or the representative of the soul enough to use their power. Ichigo has had outside influences on his soul from the moment he was born, with a shard of Ywachs soul in him from his heritage and the hollow that accompanied it. Although Ichigo accepted both of them as a part of Zangetsu, with Old Man Zangetsu guiding his powers and Hollow Ichigo supplementing it, both Old Man Zangetsu and Hollow Ichigo were still very much outside influences, and both were still not part of Ichigos soul originally. In the scenes where his bankai was consistently being broken, this shows Ywach essentially stripping Ichigo of the outside influences on his life, and when Ichigo is actually drained of them, he finally reaches his actual bankai, which incidentally resembles the sword that Ichigo gained when he was most sure of his life, of his identity, and most importantly, when he felt that he was himself with no influence. Both Old Man Zangetsu and Hollow Ichigo were distinctly separate from Ichigos own soul. Hollow Ichigo resembled Ichigo because he grew with Ichigo while Old Man Zangetsu was always viewed as a mentor for Ichigo instead of being him. In fact, although the Old Man and Hollow Ichigo have stated that they are both Zangetsu, it is never directly stated that they are Ichigo. The loss of the Old Man and the Hollow leave Ichigo slowly crumbling, like the outer form of his sword in his bankai, but the main component, Ichigo himself remains inside, and remains the same after everything. (I dont know if this makes sense, Ive only watched a few episodes of Bleach, so please do tell me if I am wrong about anything!)
The hollow powers are fused with his shimigami powers and later on his fullbring powers fused with those two. With his true bankai his Quincy powers may have fused or tried to with the rest.
How many years later, I've been waiting for you to make this video eve since I found your channel. Literally, I can't stress to you enough how literally.
Got an idea based on clues from Brave Souls’ 10 Years Later characters: Ichigo still seems to have that exact same blade that emerged from the “True Bankai” but it no longer strains him and he treats it as a Shikai. If we go with the theme of the Moon, it could be an aspect of Ichigo’s constant growth, of the moon constantly going through waxing and waning cycles, continually progressing and evolving in contrast to the conventions of most Zanpakuto. Even Oetsu considered Zangetsu massively unorthodox due to never using an Asauchi for the longest time. It could be that the Bankai that’s the subject of this video was the True Bankai back then, but now there’s a NEW True Bankai ten years later. And it would probably make the Wandenreich cower on sight.
This. I like this. This wraps up everything into a neatly explained bow that both ties in the ending but also still allowing my brain to not be sad that he lost the other parts of his powers. This head canon makes my brain stop hurting xD
When it comes to Ichigo’s true Bankai, it seems that it is a combination Bankai. The white fragments potentially being the manifestation of his Quincy abilities, the chains being potentially his Shinigami abilities, while the Black black blade is his Hollow abilities. His unique nature may be why his Bankai is so different from the status quo of others. This would be similar to the Shinigami who ultimately fused with his Bankai and grew too powerful, or the Zanpaktuo Muramasa that developed to be able to be separated from his master Shinigami despite being a direct manifestation of his spiritual pressure like all Shinigami zanpaktuo. Each of these were so distinct that they became something else. We even have Nanao who wields a clan Zanpaktuo and does not actually have one of her own despite being a Shinigami. Her sword was there long before her and will be there after she is passed on for another of her clan to wield. We even have the fan favorite with his ice Dragon Zanpaktuo and he was one of two people who had the same Zanpaktuo. So instead of one Shinigami having two swords, we have one manifestation having two Shinigami wielding it at the same time. I share this to give context to the idea that there have been unique abilities within the Bleach Universe. Ichigo’s Zanpaktuo may just be another one of these distinctions. So when The Quincy king attacked Ichigo’s Bankai a second time, it may have been the Quincy ability that shielded his blade and shattered to allow his Hollow abilities as the blade to cut through him... or maybe the blade was his Shinigami abilities and the chains were his hollow abilities... either way, it could have been the unique nature of his abilities to be able to splinter apart to prevent the Quincy King from holding control over him. I say this because Ichigo’s Journey in the story included a developing relationship between his personified abilities and having them work together in some way. Just a thought I had.
In the "Can't Fear Your Own World" Light Novel (with Kubo being the writer's main source of information), it is stated that Ichigo kept his Quincy and Hollow powers, so he's still a Tribird. I like to think that the final panel was Ichigo breaking through the barrier that hid his True Bankai. Bare in mind Ichigo had just achieved his new Bankai. As Byakuya said, it takes years for a Shinigami to master their Bankai and draw out it's full potential. Look at Toshirō, he trained all throughout the Manga and achieved his true Bankai at the end of the series. The time skip to where Ichigo is a fully grown adult (and married to Orihime, both of whom created their child, Kazui) could shed some light on Ichigo's Bankai, considering he's had a decade or so to train and master it. In the Manga, it's HEAVILY implied that Ichigo's Bankai is a blade that can kill anything permanently, with no constraints. It's why Yhwach called it dangerous and broke it, and also why he made Ichigo kill the Soul King. Only Ichigo's blade could kill the Soul King. Yhwach has the power to see the future, and knew that Ichigo would attempt to stop him, so he waited in the Soul King's room. When Ichigo killed Yhwach, the remaining piece of him in the future (Kazui was about to grab it, not knowing what it was), disappeared. This is because Ichigo's blade deals out a permanent death, with no limit to it's effect. It completely erases whoever is cut down by it. Think of it like this, here's an example; Ichigo cuts off Yhwach's arm, then that arm is sent to the future. When Ichigo kills Yhwach, his arm, which is in the future, disappears with Yhwach's present body, as that arm is still a piece of Yhwach. The name of Ichigo's Bankai is "Tensa Zangetsu" (天鎖斬月), which translated says "Heaven Chain Slaying Moon". In Japanese mythology, the moon represents a divine entity. The chain is the chain of fate. His Zanpakutō's Bankai name is quite literally "The heavenly chain of fate that slays Deities". This is represented in the chain that appears attached on the Bankai's kashira-gane. Even Ichigo's iconic attack "Getsuga Tenshō" is translated as "Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer", aka "Heavenly Divine God Piercer".
That does explain somewhat why Ichigo's blade is also more than capable of killing those with the ability to heal, too. But Aizen who had essentially transcended Godhood at the height of his power survived. Still. The last couple of Arcs of Bleach were essentially all cop-outs because Kubo was being incredibly overworked.
@@Unethical.Dodgson Aizen didn't survived, each time he was cut he was transformed into different being or gaining diffrent and batter body. More like he died many time and relocated in new type of body
Yeah, it's a big katana (which are historical) with the white blade being like his hollow mask. That said, it's meant to crack in order release its full power. It's Ichigo's trope seen in his blade.
Or maybe it's simply bcuz you're out of touch, Kubo had the idea , if he didn't shonen jump would have never accepted the idea which is how this works. Kubo was literally suffering with disease , broken ligaments and barely getting sleep . It's a miracle we even got what we got.
Yeah, I mostly agree with a lot of this. I really thought we would've gotten more Quincy-like projectile-based combat from Ichigo in this final arc. Like I was thinking he could make the 2 blades operate like a makeshift bow and arrow and then have a new ability that can unite them from any distance so it's a kind of Flying Raijin kind of move but it's really a super-fast version of Shunpo on the level of Yoruichi's speed. So he fires one blade and then moves to that location immediately to fire again, rinse and repeat and it would line up conceptually with the speed boost he got when he took on Byakuya in the Soul Society arc.
It took me forever to realize it. But the look of his sword is that of an unfinished sword. Just the tang and blade. I always took that as symbolic of how he was not done growing.
dang, i really appreciate your analyses of the various major moments in the series. i was never able to quite grasp what was all going on with these final chapters, but this makes a lot of sense and gives me a new appreciation for kubo's creative and narrative choices with the limited time and space he had towards the end of the series
Ishida: *shoots the arrow through Yhwach, causing his powers to temporarily fade away* Ichigo: *slashes towards him* Tensa Zangetsu: *starts breaking away* Ishida: "No! It's too late! The Zanpakuto is going to break!" Tensa Zangetsu: *breaks to reveal Ichigo's Zanpakuto he used in the first arc of the story* Ichigo: "Ah yes...my old faithful."
This makes sense. Although I kinda wish we could have seen more of ichigos quincy powers. Also. Who else wishes that Ichigos friend(kago, tatsuki, and the others) got a little more development. Like how they feel about ichigo's shinigami crap, how they deal with and cope with knowing about the soul society and hollows. And who else wishes that Karin and Yuzu were more relevant to the story and perhaps unlocked their powers. And maybe a little side story about how they are handling the fact that they don't get to spend as much time with ichigo and are always worrying about him and stuff. There's a lot of room for storytelling and character development surrounding ichigos friends, school life, family life. Etc... Thats all from me wat about you
I'm pretty sure Ichigo still has his hollow powers because in CFYOW it's stated that Ichigo wasn't aloud to place seals on Aizen for fear that he might influence the hollow inside him.
Any speculation on the powers of his true bankai? Here's my theory. Since the powers of one's zanpakuto are supposed to be a reflection of one's true inner self, I think there's a few directions Kubo was going to go (or could have gone) with this. And as an aside, one aspect of the bankai is that it had to be something that would be a serious threat to the overpowered nature of the soul-king-empowered almighty: the ability to alter the present by changing the future. It has to either: 1. suspend/stagnate the world around Ichigo, 2. nullify the abilities of others on contact, 3. affect all possible futures, i.e. its strikes occur across all possible alternate futures and dimensions (and thus Yhwach wouldn't be able to nullify its attack by manifesting a future in which he was never hit, necessitating the need for him to instantly break the blade before receiving his first strike), or 4. another possible option. With all that in mind, what is Ichigo's true self? What motivates him in every battle he's ever been in? The answer: it is the desire to protect others, to such a massive extent that it even includes his enemies. Ichigo doesn't desire battle or destructive power, he desires the ability to protect the people around him. All throughout the series, we see time and time again Ichigo has the chance to defeat opponents in an instant, but he almost always hesitates at the moment of opportunity. He could've slain Byakuya in the soul society arc, Ichigo literally had his sword at Byakuya's throat before the captain even realized what had happened. Ichigo didn't want Byakuya to die, he wanted Byakuya to see his point of view. And also time and time again, when Ichigo finally does defeat his opponent, the eventual outcome is almost always that his opponent either becomes Ichigo's friend/ally, or gains an understanding of Ichigo's point of view before dying. One thing I rarely see people catch on to is that this desire manifests itself as a subtle and unwritten power of his zanpakuto; his ability to understand the motivations and feelings of others during sword combat isn't some kind of 6th sense that is intrinsic to him, it is a power of his sword as a reflection of his true self. His zanpakuto has a lot of destructive potential due to Ichigo's own massive spiritual power, but its true ability is understanding others. And I would speculate that his sword also grants a subtle effect in reverse: through combat, his opponent is imprinted with a subtle understanding of Ichigo's emotions and desires, and this makes them more likely to find common cause with Ichigo. So with all that in mind, lets look at the options I mentioned above: #1 seems okay, but falls apart when you consider that if its power was area stagnation, it wouldn't have been broken by the almighty in the first place. #2 is possible, but it doesn't fit with Ichigo's true inner self. He was never about canceling the abilities of others, he was about protecting others. #3 seems like a really good counter to the power of the almighty, but it doesn't really fit Ichigo's personality and it is too direct of a counter to a specific ability. So that leaves option #4: I believe that Yhwach wasn't fearful of Ichigo's bankai because of its destructive power, but rather because Ichigo's bankai had the ability to make Ichigo and his opponent gain a true understanding of each other's feelings, motivations, and goals. If this is the case, Yhwach would have seen a future where, upon being struck by Ichigo's bankai, Yhwach was forced to regain an understanding of compassionate humanity and completely abandoned his crusade to remake the world that spanned over a thousand years of planning and struggle. There is no greater threat to Yhwach's goals than seeing the world from his opponent's perspective, and losing the motivation to continue his crusade. He can counter any attack that strikes him by using the almighty, but what happens when he no longer wishes to counter the attack after being affected by its influence? To someone like Yhwach, such an ability would indeed be fearsome and would have to be destroyed before it could influence him.
perhaps it is like uchiha clan's of naruto series izanagi/izanami, with his bankai ichigo is able to make his any of his enemy surrender and came with a true understanding of themselves
This is a really great explanation given the lack of info concerning his true banki and what happens in this last arc! With that being said I still kinda hope not…I like ichigo being an amalgamation of all these different races an power. I would ask though based on the explanation given here why is ichigo being an amalgamation not his “true self”? The explanation of why he doesn’t use a mask anymore is spot on…so similarly him using all his powers should be representative of his true self (his powers inherently from his father, mother and the hollow white).
Few things about this vid, now that I've finished writing my headcanon. - The white blade is his hollow power, representing White/Hollow Ichigo/Shirosaki. Dialogue in the fight also stated that Ichigo needed Yhwach's quincy power to tip the balance between his own quincy and hollow powers. That's what Ichigo meant by not being able to do it on his own. - Ichigo gets his powers back in the CFYOW novels. Been confirmed. Really cool theory, though. Love the thematic analysis. I've never seen this take before.
I kind of hope Ichigo still has his quincy / hollow powers. I know he probably doesn't but it does feel like a bit of a slap in the face for him to go through all the hassle of learning the truth about his powers only to lose 2/3 of them haha
Some of the things you've talked about in this video have never crossed my mind but make so much sense! Especially symbolism is something that goes over my head from time to time but taking that into account really makes this a solid hypothesis! I hope we get the hell arc fleshed out very soon and there will be some confirmed info on this
just happened to stumble on this video and I must say, this is the first time someone has put together all of what happened at the end of bleach in a way I could wholely agree with. Thank you and well done.
Your theory makes sense but my I only issue is that in CFYOW Ichigo is still stated to be the hybrid being right? Does he still count as that hybrid if that power was taken away? Or did his Hollow/Quincy power return to him after Yhawch’s defeat?
It should be oppressingly obvious that Kubo had so many good ideas set up for the finale and didn't have the time or manpower to pull off what he really wanted to do. From what I heard he had plans for pretty much every single major character in the final arc, as in fights, flashbacks and information dumps that would of set up pretty much every single last point of the final battle. So many very good characters that just had off screens, one pagers, or nothing at all but had all these starts of a story that where never finished or at least mentioned or shown.
I always thought of zangetsu spirits as parents for ichigo. While quincy is the mother side caring for ichigo and zangetsu hallow is the father pushing him to his limits. Like married couple 😂
I'll like all your videos. Your videos are so on point and I love that there mostly on a one cut and not chopped of different scenes. Bleach will always be goat!
When Ichigo forges his "true shikai", it is still not his true shikai but only his hollow and quincy powers. You can see that the blades are both missing their cores. After Ichigo releases his "true bankai", it is still only his quincy and hollow powers. Yhwach only took Ichigo's quincy and hollow powers, but his own powers representing his younger form stayed behind and Ichigo basically killed Yhwach with his own power, representing the original shikai given to Ichigo by younger Yhwach. There are two big questions open: - How did Ichigo come into possession of Yhwach's powers? Probably passed down by his mother as a distant relative. - What does Ichigo's true zanpakutou look like? This is still not revealed.
Great explanation! My only concern is he is probably going to suffer a debuff. With all of those other powers he had access to, he grew in power so many times by further understanding them. It's going to be interesting to see if he gets those back somehow.
He lost his Hollow and Quincy powers but still remains his Shinigami and Fullbring abilities and Kubo has stated that if Ichigo exploited that Fullbring side of him he could become the strongest in the series. But I don't know if that was before he lost half of his potential or after.
I think his Bankai being his first Shikai goes completly against the evolution of the character. Everyone moves forward with their skills, but then suddenly and for NO REASON AT ALL his ultimate power is... His first one? Why let Ywhach take his powers away? Kubo really messed this up.
Ichigo's Bankai is his Hollow/Soul Reaper and Quincy powers in harmony. His sword reflects that by combining his two Zanpakuto into one. The "sheath" and chain are just as much a part of his blade as the underlying power. Moreover, by having him overlay like that it means that if the upper layer breaks he'll still have the underlayer to fall back on which works well symbolizing how he always gets back up no matter how hard he gets beaten down. So it actually embodies his growth and journey.
@@corruptangel6793 He was a GOD. Now he Isn't. That's really bad, doesn't matter how you look at It. In fact, I don't know why they still compares Ichigo to Hikone in CYFOW, since I cannot see Ichigo surviving 10 seconds against Kenpachi Zaraki like Hikone did without his full power. Imagine if Goku lost his Super Sayan transformation after Freeza died? Or If Sasuke lost his Rinnegan after the war arc? You don't elevate your main character to the god tier just to nerf him right after. The only message I see is "I will make my protagonist WEAKER, while also making the antagonist OMNIPOTENT, and them I will make the weaker guy kill the stronger guy just because I have to end this somehow". The final battle of Bleach is broken because of this single decision. Uryu's silver arrow is a "Deus Ex Machina" that was only necessary because Kubo nerfed Ichigo to the extreme. We could have had a final battle worthy of both Ichigo and Ywhach if that wasn't the case. KUBO FUCKED UP.
@@bigbangrafa8435 he still could use Bankai. That means he still has White and Old Man Zangetsu as Bankai is impossible without Zanpakuto spirits. This means he still has his Quincy and Hollow powers. Therefore he is still Transcendent class. The simple fact that he could kill Yhwach, even an exhausted Yhwach, is proof of this.
@@bigbangrafa8435 Yhwach isn't omnipotent. Even if Yhwach himself claims to be. His ability is actually quite fascinating in how it works and it's restrictions and weaknesses. That said, I won't deny that the silver arrow was stupid, not to mention redundant. It should have been Uryu using Volstandig and his Anti-thesis to reverse Yhwach absorbing Ichigo for just a second so he could break free and land that final blow.
I assumed he reverted to shikai to counter the bankai being broken again. He knew it would break so he timed a reversion back to his shikai the moment it happened so he could still slice him.
@@ExtraVictory I don't see your point. I'm aware that it broke I said so in my comment. My theory was because his bankai was breaking that he reverted to shikai so that he still had the sword to hit with.
@@ivanbackfromthecardshop8093 but he didn't revert lol. That was *my* point, as i said in *my* comment. He didn't revert, it just shattered. Thats not how zanpakuto work lol, the bankai doesn't shatter into a smaller shikai inside it when you reseal the bankai lol. In fact a bankai shattering is a VERY big deal as we both know so no sword would use that as a reversion method lol. Im not accusing you of claiming the bankai never broke or anything. Im just accusing your theory of being wrong lol. Not that it's a bad idea, its actually a good idea. And it wouldve been cool if Ywach managed to stop the bankai because it was crumbling and ichigo reverted to shikai and sliced through with the structurally intact sword lol. But in the end lets be honest. Kubo just wanted Ichigo to do the deed with his old sword and so he did whatever he had to in the procsss of making that happen lol. So yeah his bankai just crumbled and what's left just happens to resemble his old shikai lol
It feels like his bankai shattering and revealing his original shikai in a metaphorical sense was like a callback to his origins/roots, what started it all basically
Shouldn't ywach have died after absorbing ichigos Quincy powers along with hollow powers... I mean ywach is still a quincy and hollows should be poisonous to him
I like this theory, but I have my own take on it. Maybe instead of it being a representation of him losing his power it’s of his power fulling coming together undistinguished. Look at it like this, his horn of salvation, the white on his sword still show that his power are deprecate but are being used together. It’s like ichigo has a key to a door to another room. Yes it’s his but that door still has to be opened. I think his true bankai is a visual representation of no longer having a door. Instead of having two rooms and a door it’s just one big room. No longer being able to distinguish between the three powers. Making a perfect union rather than three separate power sources, making ichigo accept and truly understand that these abilities aren’t three but one.
Honestly the whole quincy and hollow thing was super confusing when it first dropped in the manga but hearing it put so cohesively really cleared it up. It also explains why adult ichio in bbs only has one blade
This is my theory 1) What we call "true Bankai" is not the ultimate bankai, Ichigo's bankai has always been a wearable Bankai who fixed his dress with his Riatsu 2) If only the sword changes it means that ichigo has not yet mastered his skills. (Ichigo himself confirms that he has no experience with his new powers, and he's discovering them while fighting against Ywach), so if this "True Bankai" was destroyed it could still be repaired or evolved. 2) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's "true bankai" for the first time, he also steals ichigo's Quincy / Hollow powers (vol.74 ch 680. pag.1-2-3) 3) Inoue and Tsukishima "fix the blade" (make sure it has NEVER been broken with their powers to change the past and deny events) 4) To form the "true Bankai" the powers of all 4 races are needed. Ichigo must fuse his swords and unite his powers. So if Ichigo no longer has all his powers, that sword is no longer his Bankai even if it has the shape of it. 5) The sword has become an empty shell containing a regressed version of the sword of ichigo, a shape that resembles ichigo's first shikai in appearance ( as seen in the vision of jugram which ywach interprets as a dream) 6) However that form is neither a bankai, nor a shikai nor an asauchi, it is a temporary form born from the change of state of ichigo's powers when the sword was in "true bankai" form 7) what is certain is that ichigo is now only a shinigami and in order to see the true shape of his sword, with only his shinigami powers, he would have to return to shikai (which has also changed) and then reactivate the bankai. 8) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's sword for the second time, he does not destroy the real blade but only its empty shell which contained the temporary and regressed version of the sword. 9) CFYOW vol.2 ch1. ichigo's hollow / quincy powers are back after Ywach's death, Urhara talks about it. Ichibe confirmed it that Ichigo has his powers back because he was a candidate for the Soul King. And you need to be a Hybrid to be even considered. So he has got back his either Hollow, Quincy or both powers back. 10) The adult version of ichigo therefore has all the powers of the 4 races, should have the shikai with the double sword and can combine them to form the "true Bankai" seen the first time. Also after 10 years I expect the dress to evolve too and the "true bankai" to reach its final shape with the dress that has ichigo with the bow in Brave souls. 11) The adult ichigo version released in the game ignores everything I've written so far ... Ichigo's dress is that of a common and generic shinigami, the sword has a shape that should no longer have, whether ichigo had regained the powers or not. 12) -Conclusion: Klab released this new ichigo without reasoning and without asking questions, creating a script hole -This could be a version of ichigo where they ignore the fact that his powers are back (but the sword shouldn't have that shape anyway) -or it could be a version of ichgio with a "strange" Asauchi like kenpachi, where ichigo like isshin can use the blue getsuda with the sealed sword, this version of ichigo would have all the powers but wouldn't be using them for now. -Another very valid theory is that that sword is his bankai when Ichigo only uses his shinihami powers. - When he first activated the bankai ichigo was in shikai but the longer sword was white (quincy powers) and ichigo was using hollowfication so the sword took the aspect we see for a moment against Ywach. -It is possible that in this adult form ichigo raised the double shikai sword and said Bankai without first using the hollow and quincy powers (so the long sword was still black) so the bankai with only his shinigami powers appears as in the image . -If this theory is correct it means that ichigo's new Bankai changes the shape of his sword and clothes depending on how many and which of his race powers he is using. 13) To conclude I would like to ask a question, we know that a bankai of a shigami cannot be repaired, but is ichigo a common shimigami with a common Bankai? Ichigo does not have an affiliation, it is a new chimeric race formed by the DNA of the 4 main races, in theory the Bankai of ichigo that creates by combining its powers is not a common shinigami bankai, we call it bankai but it could be a new type of weapon completely different that only Ichigo and Hikone (if he had a zampakuto) can use, a weapon that is not subject to the rules of the shinigami world, a weapon that is not a common bankai so it can be repaired even when it breaks, for example by using the quincy technique "sklaverei" The sure thing is that we have never seen ichigo's true bankai in action, we only know that it can do the same things as Hikone (CFYOW), merge getsuda with various Cero and Blut, merge reiatsu shinigami with Hierro and blut, merge all 4 speed techniques to use God speed etc.
During the anime adaptation, I hope they let him keep all of his powers when he beats Ywhach. I feel like using in-world time Ichigo accepts who he really is and where his powers really come from and then in like 3 or 4 hours it's all gone. I feel like he was robbed honestly.
This is the best explanation I've seen so far, the only thing I would add would just reinforce your explanation of why you don't ever see him wearing his mask anymore. He does. It's just literally fused with his abilities, worn on his body. That's the form his fullbring takes. Also after he recovers his shinigami powers it can be seen at all times underneath his shihakusho. Dope theory mate.
But if Yhwach takes Ichigo's Hollow side with the Quincy, wouldn't he be poisoned by the hollow reiatsu powers? Apart from that, good take on Ichigo's true shinigami bankai. Maybe his Bankai is like Ikkaku's, in which basically he is pure raw power compared to other bankai that have excentric abilities and displays of power.
my little Opinion on this I think Zangetsu during the soul society arc was not PURE, the closest to pure Shinagami we had seen up to this point but I think that the lack of bandages and less bold and precisely ground edge represents that NOW we have witnessed Ichigo at his purest Shinagami, and the casing shattering so easily is a representation of him discarding all those extra powers, understanding that trying to use all 3 of these opposing powers at once makes it entirely unstable. He went from using 3 Pillars of sand to using 1 pillar of stone. I would not be surprised if we see him using quincy and hollow powers again but only as backup boosters, not replying on them anymore.
Shikai is the true form of the Asauchi while Bankai is the true form of the Zanpakuto spirit, as explained in the manga and light novel. This explains the duality of his true Bankai blade since he now has 2 Zanpakuto spirits whereas before he only had 1: White. Meaning Ichigo's true Bankai is him using all his powers at once in harmony. The case and chain being White and the inner blade is Old Man Zangetsu. Kubo actually put a lot of thought into it.
@@ДушанПоповић-т6н it might be disappointing, the lack of new powers and even how the fight went down, but the ending really was the culmination of Ichigo's journey and growth as a person/warrior. The way he fights now, as well as his form/abilities shows his maturity in battle as well as his acceptance of all that he is. Plus his willingness to fight alongside with others shows that his will to protect no longer strangles himself and those around him.
@@corruptangel6793 agree on everything, but i hoped for more from his final fight. When I read it for first time i was like "what the hell, this is it". But then i gave a lot of thoughts and accepted TYBW with all it's great ideas and all plot holes.
Makes sense with how that could be the case and it also works when you consider that Hollow Reiatsu is toxic to Quincies. So even if Yhwach is too powerful for it to be lethal, Ichigo's Hollow powers were at least on par with a Vasto Lorde's and it would have still impared Yhwach, making him vulnerable to Ichigo's killing blow.
I don’t believe that’s his true bankai I just think it’s the combination of both Shikais turning into his true Shikai. Which is why they call it “True Zangetsu in BBS”
Oh yeah I've heard that theory that we never actually got to see ichigos true bankai. I don't know there's certainly evidence for the theory but I guess we'll see.
@@ek-od8ku I would really like for it to be true and to have it be shown in the anime, I do wonder if they would change something that major for the anime adaptation. Time will tell I guess.
I always thought that this final form of Tensa Zangetsu was Ichigo's shinigami powers in its purest form , not the power of a hollow, not the power of a quincy, only the brute power of the most powerful substitute shinigami
You really cleared that up especially cause I completely forgot about yuha stealing his powers. That being said I know realize that I think it would’ve been so much better to see that hollow attached to his Quincy power be what cause the little lapse in Yuhas powers instead of the stupid arrow. Like if yuha didn’t realize the hollow powers were attached to the Quincy powers and we see at the end a flash of whites face and the hollow reatsu he inadvertently took in causes his Quincy powers to lapse or causes him to cough or be poisoned or something like that sense we know they’re incomparable. Idk I feel that would’ve been more acceptable than the whole arrow thing
I would have loved to see Ichigo's Shikai sword as a double edged sword like the anime filler character Kageroza has. That was a very cool looking sword for a filler character. And it was very cool to look at the choreography of the fight using that double edged sword.
How cool would it be if his bankai would be different "modes" like for example he has a Hollow mode that is more offensive and he gets his mask back, then he gets the ranged mode and its a manifestation of his Quincy powers and he uses a bow like Uryu's and finally a defensive mode which is his fullbringer power which we never actually saw. I think it would he cool because it would use the fact that Ichigo a combination of all races in one person.
To put it in simpler terms Ichigo has always been a Shinigami just an impure version with aspects of Hollow and Quincy powers. And the ending in a sought purify’s Ichigos being in making him a full fledged shinigami.
You are right! The white on the sword is the Quincy and even the chain could represent the hollow and at the end of bleach all of that broke off revealing the sword underneath which looks like his old shikai. And ichigo being pure shinigami. I like how it ties up nicely. But now ichigo is the least interesting character in bleach. Another thing is I don’t think he can use his shikai again because his shikai was a representation of all his powers. Also with his old shikai being his new bankai we wont see him change form. I always felt that personally ichigos bankai was underwhelming. All the other captains had a form change or it got really big or they had multiple abilities. But ichigo just had getsuga tensho and that was it. What made him cool was that he had a high reiatsu and he had the hollow and then Quincy. But now that he has lost that he is just a shinigami that has a bankai that’s alway on and he can only do getsuga tensho. Yeah it’s cool that his bankai is alway on but if his bankai wasn’t so underwhelming then that would be awesome. Maybe I’m wrong but I would love to hear other peoples opinion of it z
I'd like to point out after it was broke the first time in order to fix it Tsukishima used his fullbring to rewrite it's history to allow it to be fixed. But, bankai are not supposed to be repairable so what could he have done? My guess he rewrote it to where that is not his bankai anymore, it's his shikai. This partly fits with what we saw in the recent hell chapter, Ichigo with his original shikai on his back.
I’m glad that you were able to come to this conclusion. It’s what makes the most sense to me. However I find it sad that White Ichigo and Old man Zangetsu more than likely aren’t there anymore. If that is indeed the case, I wonder what manifestation Ichigo’s zanpakto takes now? Unless because the blade is literally him if it does at all now.
Didn't anyone else seem to think his shoulder guard WAS the representation/replacement for his mask? The placement that ties his white quincy side to his black shinigami side? The coloring. It all seems pretty evident that it represents that all his powers are present and in balance then? It seemed pretty obvious to me.
I noticed the same thing. His armor looks strikingly similar to his old Hollow mask design. Also, in case you didn't know, he gets his Hollow and Quincy powers back. The novels confirm that he still has them.
@@Grognack well it makes much more sense. His powers come from who he is, who his parents were, genetics essentially. The energy may be taken, but why or how could he still be himself without all that he always was. I mean the whole damn story is ichigos journey to find inner peace and balance and understanding and accepting all that he is.
His powers from the soul society arc was actually quincy powers im pretty sure. Because zangetzu says he led him away from his shinigami powers and towards his quincy powers instead.
10:44 Kubo has stated that at this moment the white outer shell(the Quincy power) was reabsorbed into ichigos soul. It's also stated that White/hollow is the base of Ichigos soul reaper powers which he obviously still has.
My first thought was Ichigo quincie's power left over rebelled against yuhawach being the message something like "you cannot take something that it's part of me even if it was given by you" that would make sense of why it takes the shape yuha/sangestsu "allowed" Ichigo to have at first and why yuhawach was so surprised seeing it.
In the light novels, it is said he regained his Quincy powers included so I believe something else happened in the final battle. I think because Ywhach absorbed reio and mimihagi that in that final blow by Ichigo it reverted back to his old zangetsu because of mimihagi's regressive/stagnative power. IDK for sure but it makes the most sense to me as Ywhach couldn't use his original power almighty in the moment. But then again just a theory so don't get mad if something I said is contradictory because it's just what I thought of it. I do like the idea of symbolism too though.
So...Ichigo's true Bankai. These are just my thoughts on it as I said, but what do you think is really going on? Am I right or completely wrong? I'd love to hear your take so let me know!
This is my theory
1) What we call "true Bankai" is not the ultimate bankai, Ichigo's bankai has always been a wearable Bankai who fixed his dress with his Riatsu
2) If only the sword changes it means that ichigo has not yet mastered his skills. (Ichigo himself confirms that he has no experience with his new powers, and he's discovering them while fighting against Ywach), so if this "True Bankai" was destroyed it could still be repaired or evolved.
2) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's "true bankai" for the first time, he also steals ichigo's Quincy / Hollow powers (vol.74 ch 680. pag.1-2-3)
3) Inoue and Tsukishima "fix the blade" (make sure it has NEVER been broken with their powers to change the past and deny events)
4) To form the "true Bankai" the powers of all 4 races are needed. Ichigo must fuse his swords and unite his powers.
So if Ichigo no longer has all his powers, that sword is no longer his Bankai even if it has the shape of it.
5) The sword has become an empty shell containing a regressed version of the sword of ichigo, a shape that resembles ichigo's first shikai in appearance ( as seen in the vision of jugram which ywach interprets as a dream)
6) However that form is neither a bankai, nor a shikai nor an asauchi, it is a temporary form born from the change of state of ichigo's powers when the sword was in "true bankai" form
7) what is certain is that ichigo is now only a shinigami and in order to see the true shape of his sword, with only his shinigami powers, he would have to return to shikai (which has also changed) and then reactivate the bankai.
8) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's sword for the second time, he does not destroy the real blade but only its empty shell which contained the temporary and regressed version of the sword.
9) CFYOW vol.2 ch1. ichigo's hollow / quincy powers are back after Ywach's death, Urhara talks about it.
Ichibe confirmed it that Ichigo has his powers back because he was a candidate for the Soul King.
And you need to be a Hybrid to be even considered. So he has got back his either Hollow, Quincy or both powers back.
10) The adult version of ichigo therefore has all the powers of the 4 races, should have the shikai with the double sword and can combine them to form the "true Bankai" seen the first time. Also after 10 years I expect the dress to evolve too and the "true bankai" to reach its final shape with the dress that has ichigo with the bow in Brave souls.
11) The adult ichigo version released in the game ignores everything I've written so far ... Ichigo's dress is that of a common and generic shinigami, the sword has a shape that should no longer have, whether ichigo had regained the powers or not.
12) -Conclusion: Klab released this new ichigo without reasoning and without asking questions, creating a script hole
-This could be a version of ichigo where they ignore the fact that his powers are back (but the sword shouldn't have that shape anyway)
-or it could be a version of ichgio with a "strange" Asauchi like kenpachi, where ichigo like isshin can use the blue getsuda with the sealed sword, this version of ichigo would have all the powers but wouldn't be using them for now.
-Another very valid theory is that that sword is his bankai when Ichigo only uses his shinihami powers.
- When he first activated the bankai ichigo was in shikai but the longer sword was white (quincy powers) and ichigo was using hollowfication so the sword took the aspect we see for a moment against Ywach.
-It is possible that in this adult form ichigo raised the double shikai sword and said Bankai without first using the hollow and quincy powers (so the long sword was still black) so the bankai with only his shinigami powers appears as in the image .
-If this theory is correct it means that ichigo's new Bankai changes the shape of his sword and clothes depending on how many and which of his race powers he is using.
13) To conclude I would like to ask a question, we know that a bankai of a shigami cannot be repaired, but is ichigo a common shimigami with a common Bankai? Ichigo does not have an affiliation, it is a new chimeric race formed by the DNA of the 4 main races, in theory the Bankai of ichigo that creates by combining its powers is not a common shinigami bankai, we call it bankai but it could be a new type of weapon completely different that only Ichigo and Hikone (if he had a zampakuto) can use, a weapon that is not subject to the rules of the shinigami world, a weapon that is not a common bankai so it can be repaired even when it breaks, for example by using the quincy technique "sklaverei"
The sure thing is that we have never seen ichigo's true bankai in action, we only know that it can do the same things as Hikone (CFYOW), merge getsuda with various Cero and Blut, merge reiatsu shinigami with Hierro and blut, merge all 4 speed techniques to use God speed etc.
Mr Tommo this might be your best video I think pretty much nailednit with understanding the symbolism and poetic meaning would love to see more videos this friend.
This was a fantastic video! The symbolism and foreshadowing were on point. I was left pondering a question, though: if Ichigo's Quincy and Hollow powers were robbed from him, is he still a viable Soul King candidate at the end of the story?
@@Psychoveliatonet point 9 of my theory could be useful to you XD
@@jixreaper6411 ah see it was my interpretation that the quincy and hallow powers being turned to all white meant just the quincy was stolen and just 'white' remained but given more context from cfyow that means his powers themselves wasn't stolen but more likely just drained
like if you had a gas tank, propane tank and nos tank
rather than steal the propane and nos tanks leaving ichigo with just a gas tank
instead just siphoning the fuel from said tanks that in this case will refill in time
cool
This is literally the best explanation of Ichigos Bankai. Never heard this one before but absolutely makes sense. Well done Tommo.
The way he explained it really did hit. I do think ichigo did retain his hollow and quincy power (or at least hope) but him becoming a true shinigami is is actually so cool. I dont really know what it means for ichigo's development tho where he just accepted himself and lost it in the final moments
Its cool but unfortunately it's been said in the story ichigo gains all his powers back. I think people are missing the fact that yuha was not a perfect God. Just like kugo did, yuha only stole a portion of his power.
@@ArchAngelKnights I think that works in favor of his theory. Even in soul society ichigo technically had all of his powers. He just didn't have access to them making him mostly a shinigami. Same thing applies here .
@@ArchAngelKnights when was it said that Ichigo got all his powers back ?
@@naboume466 When Aizen was going to be put back in the chair, they considered having Ichigo present. But they chose not to, because they were worried about Aizen somehow being able to influence Ichigo's inner Hollow.
Considering the badass designs in BBS , ichigo got like 3 new forms with all brand new techniques too, I think kubo definitely had an idea in mind.
Also explains why adult Ichigo has his old shikai in BBS as well.
What is BBS?
@@matheusvasconcellos308 Bleach: Brave Souls, a mobile game based off bleach.
@@matheusvasconcellos308
Bleach brave souls
@@blackrabbit1358 This is my theory
1) What we call "true Bankai" is not the ultimate bankai, Ichigo's bankai has always been a wearable Bankai who fixed his dress with his Riatsu
2) If only the sword changes it means that ichigo has not yet mastered his skills. (Ichigo himself confirms that he has no experience with his new powers, and he's discovering them while fighting against Ywach), so if this "True Bankai" was destroyed it could still be repaired or evolved.
2) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's "true bankai" for the first time, he also steals ichigo's Quincy / Hollow powers (vol.74 ch 680. pag.1-2-3)
3) Inoue and Tsukishima "fix the blade" (make sure it has NEVER been broken with their powers to change the past and deny events)
4) To form the "true Bankai" the powers of all 4 races are needed. Ichigo must fuse his swords and unite his powers.
So if Ichigo no longer has all his powers, that sword is no longer his Bankai even if it has the shape of it.
5) The sword has become an empty shell containing a regressed version of the sword of ichigo, a shape that resembles ichigo's first shikai in appearance ( as seen in the vision of jugram which ywach interprets as a dream)
6) However that form is neither a bankai, nor a shikai nor an asauchi, it is a temporary form born from the change of state of ichigo's powers when the sword was in "true bankai" form
7) what is certain is that ichigo is now only a shinigami and in order to see the true shape of his sword, with only his shinigami powers, he would have to return to shikai (which has also changed) and then reactivate the bankai.
8) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's sword for the second time, he does not destroy the real blade but only its empty shell which contained the temporary and regressed version of the sword.
9) CFYOW vol.2 ch1. ichigo's hollow / quincy powers are back after Ywach's death, Urhara talks about it.
Ichibe confirmed it that Ichigo has his powers back because he was a candidate for the Soul King.
And you need to be a Hybrid to be even considered. So he has got back his either Hollow, Quincy or both powers back.
10) The adult version of ichigo therefore has all the powers of the 4 races, should have the shikai with the double sword and can combine them to form the "true Bankai" seen the first time. Also after 10 years I expect the dress to evolve too and the "true bankai" to reach its final shape with the dress that has ichigo with the bow in Brave souls.
11) The adult ichigo version released in the game ignores everything I've written so far ... Ichigo's dress is that of a common and generic shinigami, the sword has a shape that should no longer have, whether ichigo had regained the powers or not.
12) -Conclusion: Klab released this new ichigo without reasoning and without asking questions, creating a script hole
-This could be a version of ichigo where they ignore the fact that his powers are back (but the sword shouldn't have that shape anyway)
-or it could be a version of ichgio with a "strange" Asauchi like kenpachi, where ichigo like isshin can use the blue getsuda with the sealed sword, this version of ichigo would have all the powers but wouldn't be using them for now.
-Another very valid theory is that that sword is his bankai when Ichigo only uses his shinihami powers.
- When he first activated the bankai ichigo was in shikai but the longer sword was white (quincy powers) and ichigo was using hollowfication so the sword took the aspect we see for a moment against Ywach.
-It is possible that in this adult form ichigo raised the double shikai sword and said Bankai without first using the hollow and quincy powers (so the long sword was still black) so the bankai with only his shinigami powers appears as in the image .
-If this theory is correct it means that ichigo's new Bankai changes the shape of his sword and clothes depending on how many and which of his race powers he is using.
13) To conclude I would like to ask a question, we know that a bankai of a shigami cannot be repaired, but is ichigo a common shimigami with a common Bankai? Ichigo does not have an affiliation, it is a new chimeric race formed by the DNA of the 4 main races, in theory the Bankai of ichigo that creates by combining its powers is not a common shinigami bankai, we call it bankai but it could be a new type of weapon completely different that only Ichigo and Hikone (if he had a zampakuto) can use, a weapon that is not subject to the rules of the shinigami world, a weapon that is not a common bankai so it can be repaired even when it breaks, for example by using the quincy technique "sklaverei"
The sure thing is that we have never seen ichigo's true bankai in action, we only know that it can do the same things as Hikone (CFYOW), merge getsuda with various Cero and Blut, merge reiatsu shinigami with Hierro and blut, merge all 4 speed techniques to use God speed etc.
Perhaps his true power is that of a god killer, a blade so dangerous it hands out certain death. This denoted by tensa- heavenly chain suggesting a truly inescapable fate, and the zangetsu- slaying moon with the moon being seen as a divine/celestial body. A power that ties into yhwach's fear of death.
Now that’s an awesome interpretation
And that would kinda make him the truest “soul reaper” which definitely ties into the themes in the vid, great interpretation!
I think this is honestly more accurate than the video explanation.
Every time some being rises up to try to capture power resembling a god, Ichigo is there, in some manner, and brings them down.
Being stripped of the powers doesnt matter. He lost power many times before, yet it isnt ever actually gone.
As you put it, he is chained to that fate. Ichigo being a "perfect balance" of the races is a symbol for equality and harmony.
Ichigo is taught bias, but befriends people from all sides. Again, that shows him being a draw towards balance.
Even Captain Kuchiki said that his banki name was pretentious. I think Ichigo had the power to kill him in the first fight. He was as good at battle as he progressed. He did lose a lot of the reasoning behind killing to go just to killing when he had the chance or like an all out thing.
@@shawnupole7526 only reason ichigo lost that fight was because not only was he injured but he was crushing himself under his own spiritual pressure
"Its all fading to white"
I guess you could say he was....Bleached?
I'll see my way out.
See your way back in
Ok...I'll give you that one lol
The wordplay is amazing.
Truly a quality dad joke, I did chuckle like an idiot looking at m screen right now
Alright 🤝 take my like
if zangetsu was a young ywatch
i always figured it turning into his old shikai
is a young ywatch rejecting the monster he becomes
😉shhh you telling all the secrets
No just say what goes around comes around. Both uyru and ichigo sons of mothers he killed finally meets his match. As his father created a reverse arrow to counteract his almighty ability to resurrect himself. I find his defeat very satisfying
I always understood it the same way. The original shikai emerging, which was the form Ichigo's sword took when his Quincy powers were fully repressing his true powers, is an allegory of Ywach's part living inside Ichigo deciding enough is enough and life shall prevail.
@@danwarner7816 I never minded it like other people did. Ywach was a broken BS villain from the start. There was no other way to kill him other than deus ex crap. I was just happy Uryu had a hand in it.
@@ZeroX7649 fairs bro tbf i prefer aizen
Tite kubo needs to explain a lot when anime is back especially his true Bankai.
Agree, I'm looking forward to some proper explanations when he'll be working with the anime crew and fill some plot holes
tes
Kubo needs to expand a ton of things about his manga, a cheese has less holes than Bleach
Yeah. But that's extra work on an arc he didn't want to do that also got axed so he won't.
yeah, but maybe gonna be a some filler that explain more. Sometime the manga is to short so they forgot to explain things or something we never know like back story
The reason yhwach broke his bankai was because he feared it , he said that his bankai was a threat to him that's why he had to get rid of it.. with is insane because at that state Ywach was a complete God , yet still perfect ichigo was a threat to him...
True
Honestly, wonder why. Probably because of the zanpakutô's ability. "Concentrate reiatsu in the blade (then fire it)". Aside from the possible extra damage the hollow reiatsu could deal, what else could it be? Oh, wait. Innate "Sklaverei". Being able to absorb reiatsu/reishi as the natural ability of the weapon... so any spiritual body could be annihilated/absorbed and consumed. Maybe this was it?
@@lunarohmus that wouldn't make sense he has hollow powers in horn of salvation so the hollow poison is outta it
@@anthonyhaye2385 ut he was still able to use blue vain despite having hollow powers on him
@@lunarohmus it's because Ichigo is essentially like the Soul King
Ichigo's special attack; Getsuga Tensho, Byakuya said it means; Piercer of Heaven, that's what I think Ichigo's true power has been all along, to surpass god
Its funny how ichigo's getsuga and gin's bankai mean to "pierce the heavens" and "god slayer" respectively yet neither were actually able to kill aizen who was calling himself a "god." Getsuga tensho did kill yhwach but its still funny to me
@@jaden3997 well.. Maybe being a god doesnt mean having regeneration necessarily. Aizen-sama does have that.
@@dharielvillanuevagarza9897 ofc I still think yhwach is a god. The almighty is the ability of a god. I was thinking more like mugetsu wasnt really the best getsuga he could do even tho he became getsuga himself. Maybe his bankai has a different getsuga technique
it's heaven moon piercer actually. Moon represents aizen and heaven represent yawach.
And lets be real. Aizen knew all along. Thats why he raised him in a way. He just didnt expect himself to be surpassed
Kind of sour that we didn't get to see what Ichigo could do in bankai with his hollow/quincy powers intact.
If I could travel in time a change one entertainment related, it would be making WSJ give Kubo a 1 year hiatus after the Fullbring arc ended so that he could get the operation he needed.
@@masterprick1 Right? Man this was just a sin to force it to be rushed.
Seriously. a good chunk of the fights in that arc are lame
@@irregulargamer1352 i especially hated the wrestler dude.
@@robertsiemon410 he looks like a goon you'd see in a filler arc not a main arc called "the thousand year blood war"
I feel like You should make a video on 'ANYTHING BUT THE RAIN ARC', 10/10 in terms of storytelling, well executed character development of Ichigo, Execution of the story, well explained concept and a detailed backstory. The best arc in BLEACH.
Agreed
Everything but the rain*
@@ludasrayjin1158 in some translations it was translated as anything but the rain so....I sticked with the one .
@@kushagrasharma5402 fair enough
Agreed with you, an awesome story
I feel like one the main lessons BLEACH gave us was 'FINDING YOUR TRUE SELF' which as you said was the theme. It's infact very true for every single human being and plays an important role in the development of oneself
Ok captain obvious...
Not to sound like "That Guy" but:
- in CFYOW it's stated that Ichigo powers eventually returned: When Aizen was getting re-imprisoned it was stated that nobody wanted Ichigo anywhere near it cuz Aizen might trigger his inner-Hollow into causing chaos.
- The Longsword represents his Shinigami/Hollow side (which are revealed to be one and the same by Oh-etsu) hence the shape akin to his past shikai and the hollow section and it's going white is more akin to an hollowfication (HoS IS an hollowfication) rather than being Quincy based
still awesome video
Yeah. A lot of people forget that his powers returned to him.
was going to mention this myself but figured I would look at the comments first before I did. I think we need to add another point to this:
- Ichigo's Bankai didn't break a second time and reveal is old Shikai in the process as many people seem to think. The entire time the white part of his Bankai was in fact an elaborate sheath for his Zanpakuto. What this actually means is that his True Bankai looks like his Original Shikai from the start and is covered with the White Sheath giving it a somewhat different appearance. So there really is no symbolism connected with Ywach stealing his Quincy Powers and that makes it look like his original Shikai.
This next bit is conjecture on my part but I have always assumed that Ichigo's Bankai works in stages. First, it starts with the black and white design, then it fades away to look like his original Shikai AND THEN (this is where my pure conjecture comes in) that can also break away to reveal His Original Bankai (my only supporting evidence his that the hilt of the True Bankai has the same design as the Original Bankai and Doesn't look like the Original Shikai's hilt, though TBF that hilt was covered in bandages). My belief is that each time he chips away at the sword's size he focuses more and more Reiatsu into his actual attacks. Once again pure speculation but i believe that it fits better with what we know
@@umelgaming3177 Never thought it that way... nice thinking;
If I may I've got a funny little theory that I got reminded rn:
To me the "Bankai" shattering was as simple as the Bankai wearing off and the blade reverting into its Shikai state.
You see:
- In CFYOW it's stated that Dual Zanpakuto do NOT exist in nature and are always occurring through outside interference:
- Shunsui split his zanpakuto to hide Nanao's one
- Ukitake's was due Mimihagi residing in his being
- Hisagi doesn't have a dual Zanpakuto: it's a single weapon rather than 2 blades connect by a chain;
It Ichigo was the one who choose to reforge his powers separately to better control them however upon entering into Bankai the blades become one again and as we know the "truest" form of Ichigo's power is the Merged Zangetsu.
One of the great advantages of "Katana Tensa Zangetsu" was its compressed power that allowed Ichigo to maintain the Bankai for long periods of time, however "Matrioska Tensa Zangetsu" it's a massive blade hence it consumes a lot more reiatsu than ever before. This is pretty much how i interpreted it anyway
@@umbral9021 could also work but didn't that passage from CFYOW also mention that Ichigo is an exception (due to having two sources of power) and not public knowledge (so they left him out of that statement). So it might be the fact that for him having a dual Zanpukuto is actually the natural form and would contradict that statement but they are simply hiding the fact since his powers are not known to the general public. Also, having two fonts of power isn't natural itself so that further makes his dual Zanpakuto being unnatural not matter.
Not saying his Bankai cannot be "reforged" as it were. Essentially, my understanding of it is that immature Bankai is still developing. Toshiro is a good example the Ice Petals used to be a timer telling when he would leave his Bankai, now he just transforms into an older version of himself. The common knowledge is that it takes a decade to master a Bankai completely, I think this is due to this volatile and adaptive nature they possess where they cannot be repaired in the truest sense if they are damaged but they can still change in this time period.
That being said the combo of Tsukishima's ability to change the past of an object and Orihime's ability to reject time and space were able to fix Ichigo's Bankai completely but that was a one-off occasion. The point here though is that Ichigo's Bankai in the second encounter wasn't damaged and wouldn't need to be reforged. At any time during this second skirmish up to where Ichigo struck the final blow (when the white sheath chipped away) Ichigo was never harmed, nor his Zanpakuto, by Ywach. You gotta remember Aizen was fighting with Ichigo and Ywach was under his hypnosis since they met in Muken. Ywach can only change the future of something if he can actually see it after all and if everything he sees is an illusion then his power is moot.
Wow... I wanted to fit everything in one reply and man is it long my bad lol.
@@umelgaming3177 it's all speculation baby XD still nice to find ways to make up for the lack of information;
Also you reminded me of the time Zangetsu (Hollow) said that He and Old Man were once one and the same but Ichigo lead them to split so i dunno
I really really really hope this gets more fleshed out in the anime. We deserve more of his “true” bankai and more explanation on it
I really don't think Ichigo as a shinigami is "his true self" because it undermines the whole of Ichigo's story, Ichigo was born a hybrid its who he is, but its representation of shinigami duty and will overcoming the quincy
A pure god who can see the future being between by shinigami who shatters fate as a mirror of the shinigami taking apart the soul King
I hope his true Bankai would actually have a cool power and not just Speed and Getsuga Tenshou
He can use grand rey cero
@@lonewolfshinobi he can do that in shikai, im talking bankai something fresh
i feel like is something op if yhwach was scared of it
Abilities an arrancar can use
In theory ichigo should be able to use all the
You really can tell Bleach was rushed the moment Tite Kubo didn't even explain the MC "True Bankai" capabilities, its like Ichigo's still full of untapped potential that we won't be able to see. Damn I wish we will eventually saw it in Burn the Witch.
@Roman Francis I just wish they do justice in explaining certain things that didn't get a chance to explain in the manga in the anime and fillers I wouldn't mind lots of them.
They rushed Kubo.
@@shinjihirako8304 if thely actually get it animated, I would be okay with a lot of the final arc being more filler than actual story. So long as it is originally the way Kubo had wanted to have the story before being rushed.
He should do season saga of bleach.
I have a gut feeling the anime will fill in some gaps. I say this because Kubo uses a line from Shunsui in the 2nd the last chapter as a direct jab at Shounen Jump saying "let a man work at his own pace" its obvious too. All the final fights were around 10chapters but Ywachs was 3 or 4.
Could be his unique heritage coalescing and combining to fit the situation with him finding his true self. The dark irony Is that his sheer power nearly led to him being diced up and used as a linchpin while harvested of said power.
This is wrong for 2 reasons. Ichigo was still a soul king candidate after his fight. In order to be soul king you need qunicy and shimigami powers.The shell coming off is just his bankai being completed.
well he can regain his powers later after kill yawach or them returning slowly like with his shinigami powers. Considering the shikai was a fake that imitated his real powers it must look like his true bankai, fake Bankai form was a result of ichigo getting to use little of his true powers.
Ichigo doesnt want to be the soul king.
@@storageunit2683 We know. But he's still a candidate.
@@storageunit2683 to quote cell "to be perfectly honest Ichigo's compliance isn't a factor" I don't think the zero division really cared about what he wants so long as the gears keep turning.
@@storageunit2683 Neither did the first one really.
Ever since he met Rukia, Ichigo has identified himself as a shinigami.
When he found out about his Hollow powers he didn't identify himself as a Hollow, when he found out about his Quincy powers he didn't identify himself as a Quincy.
Ichigo chose the path of the Shinigami through everything he has been through, so it's fitting that at the very end he has become a true and pure shinigami as opposed to a hybrid.
It's not just that he didn't identify himself as Hollow or Quincy, it's the fact that he didn't accept those powers and parts of his soul as essential parts of his being and essential parts of himself.
"Huge bread knife".
That's it, that's his power. ~FIN
I don't think Ichigo was pure Shinigami when defeating Yhwach. We know Tsukashima restored his bankai, making it so that it was never broken. And we know White and Old Man Zangetsu are his Zanpakuto spirits. So Ichigo must have regained his hollow and Quincy powers in that moment as you cannot use Bankai without Zanpakuto spirits. So he was still transcendent, a perfect hybrid, when everything was said and done.
Shikai is the true form of the Asauchi while Bankai is the true form of the Zanpakuto spirit, as explained in the manga and light novel. This explains the duality of his true Bankai blade since he now has 2 Zanpakuto spirits whereas before he only had 1: White. But i think you're reversing the two sides. The case is White and the inner blade is Old Man Zangetsu. The reason I think this is because ichigo used that as his Shikai back when Old Man Zangetsu was the "core" of his power and, for all intents and purposes, his Asauchi. Until Oetsu reforged his Zanpakuto of course. Therefore, that final blade he used to kill Yhwach was actually the sum his Quincy powers meaning that Ichigo defeated Yhwach not with White, but with Old Man Zangetsu.
This is my theory
1) What we call "true Bankai" is not the ultimate bankai, Ichigo's bankai has always been a wearable Bankai who fixed his dress with his Riatsu
2) If only the sword changes it means that ichigo has not yet mastered his skills. (Ichigo himself confirms that he has no experience with his new powers, and he's discovering them while fighting against Ywach), so if this "True Bankai" was destroyed it could still be repaired or evolved.
2) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's "true bankai" for the first time, he also steals ichigo's Quincy / Hollow powers (vol.74 ch 680. pag.1-2-3)
3) Inoue and Tsukishima "fix the blade" (make sure it has NEVER been broken with their powers to change the past and deny events)
4) To form the "true Bankai" the powers of all 4 races are needed. Ichigo must fuse his swords and unite his powers.
So if Ichigo no longer has all his powers, that sword is no longer his Bankai even if it has the shape of it.
5) The sword has become an empty shell containing a regressed version of the sword of ichigo, a shape that resembles ichigo's first shikai in appearance ( as seen in the vision of jugram which ywach interprets as a dream)
6) However that form is neither a bankai, nor a shikai nor an asauchi, it is a temporary form born from the change of state of ichigo's powers when the sword was in "true bankai" form
7) what is certain is that ichigo is now only a shinigami and in order to see the true shape of his sword, with only his shinigami powers, he would have to return to shikai (which has also changed) and then reactivate the bankai.
8) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's sword for the second time, he does not destroy the real blade but only its empty shell which contained the temporary and regressed version of the sword.
9) CFYOW vol.2 ch1. ichigo's hollow / quincy powers are back after Ywach's death, Urhara talks about it.
Ichibe confirmed it that Ichigo has his powers back because he was a candidate for the Soul King.
And you need to be a Hybrid to be even considered. So he has got back his either Hollow, Quincy or both powers back.
10) The adult version of ichigo therefore has all the powers of the 4 races, should have the shikai with the double sword and can combine them to form the "true Bankai" seen the first time. Also after 10 years I expect the dress to evolve too and the "true bankai" to reach its final shape with the dress that has ichigo with the bow in Brave souls.
11) The adult ichigo version released in the game ignores everything I've written so far ... Ichigo's dress is that of a common and generic shinigami, the sword has a shape that should no longer have, whether ichigo had regained the powers or not.
12) -Conclusion: Klab released this new ichigo without reasoning and without asking questions, creating a script hole
-This could be a version of ichigo where they ignore the fact that his powers are back (but the sword shouldn't have that shape anyway)
-or it could be a version of ichgio with a "strange" Asauchi like kenpachi, where ichigo like isshin can use the blue getsuda with the sealed sword, this version of ichigo would have all the powers but wouldn't be using them for now.
-Another very valid theory is that that sword is his bankai when Ichigo only uses his shinihami powers.
- When he first activated the bankai ichigo was in shikai but the longer sword was white (quincy powers) and ichigo was using hollowfication so the sword took the aspect we see for a moment against Ywach.
-It is possible that in this adult form ichigo raised the double shikai sword and said Bankai without first using the hollow and quincy powers (so the long sword was still black) so the bankai with only his shinigami powers appears as in the image .
-If this theory is correct it means that ichigo's new Bankai changes the shape of his sword and clothes depending on how many and which of his race powers he is using.
13) To conclude I would like to ask a question, we know that a bankai of a shigami cannot be repaired, but is ichigo a common shimigami with a common Bankai? Ichigo does not have an affiliation, it is a new chimeric race formed by the DNA of the 4 main races, in theory the Bankai of ichigo that creates by combining its powers is not a common shinigami bankai, we call it bankai but it could be a new type of weapon completely different that only Ichigo and Hikone (if he had a zampakuto) can use, a weapon that is not subject to the rules of the shinigami world, a weapon that is not a common bankai so it can be repaired even when it breaks, for example by using the quincy technique "sklaverei"
The sure thing is that we have never seen ichigo's true bankai in action, we only know that it can do the same things as Hikone (CFYOW), merge getsuda with various Cero and Blut, merge reiatsu shinigami with Hierro and blut, merge all 4 speed techniques to use God speed etc.
With all the cool sword designs in Bleach, for some reason I still prefer the bigass kitchen knife that is Ichigo's old shikai/true bankai
I think that having his original shikai as the final sword does actually have very strong connotations of symbolism, but I think its more that its his shinigami powers finally settling inside himself properly without the interference of the quincy side and the hollow side. From what Ive read of the lore of Zanpakuto and Shinigami in Bleach, a Shinigami is utilizing the powers of the soul inside to combat hollows and other beings. Essentially, both the Shikai and the Bankai of a shinigami are a representation of the soul, in fact a display of the soul. Its why some characters can only perform shikai, as they dont understand their zanpakuto spirit, or the representative of the soul enough to use their power. Ichigo has had outside influences on his soul from the moment he was born, with a shard of Ywachs soul in him from his heritage and the hollow that accompanied it. Although Ichigo accepted both of them as a part of Zangetsu, with Old Man Zangetsu guiding his powers and Hollow Ichigo supplementing it, both Old Man Zangetsu and Hollow Ichigo were still very much outside influences, and both were still not part of Ichigos soul originally. In the scenes where his bankai was consistently being broken, this shows Ywach essentially stripping Ichigo of the outside influences on his life, and when Ichigo is actually drained of them, he finally reaches his actual bankai, which incidentally resembles the sword that Ichigo gained when he was most sure of his life, of his identity, and most importantly, when he felt that he was himself with no influence. Both Old Man Zangetsu and Hollow Ichigo were distinctly separate from Ichigos own soul. Hollow Ichigo resembled Ichigo because he grew with Ichigo while Old Man Zangetsu was always viewed as a mentor for Ichigo instead of being him. In fact, although the Old Man and Hollow Ichigo have stated that they are both Zangetsu, it is never directly stated that they are Ichigo. The loss of the Old Man and the Hollow leave Ichigo slowly crumbling, like the outer form of his sword in his bankai, but the main component, Ichigo himself remains inside, and remains the same after everything. (I dont know if this makes sense, Ive only watched a few episodes of Bleach, so please do tell me if I am wrong about anything!)
The hollow powers are fused with his shimigami powers and later on his fullbring powers fused with those two. With his true bankai his Quincy powers may have fused or tried to with the rest.
Well done, from "The blades are me" to "I am the blade"
Kubo confirmed that the casing that shattered on the outside is the scabbard of the blade and once it shattered ichigo absorbed it back into his soul.
Awesome comment. This is Canon now!
*Rise, Angelo Benosa!*
* *Spanish Battle Music Plays* *
The special for this unit version of Ichigo in BBS is the hypest shit ever lol
I never skip that attack animation
OHHH HOLY CRAP YOU JUST PUT TO REST YEARS WORTH OF CONFUSION THANK YOU
The realization hit me like a truck when he said ichibe was saying ichigo is becoming "a true shinigami"
He gets his powers back.
How many years later, I've been waiting for you to make this video eve since I found your channel. Literally, I can't stress to you enough how literally.
Got an idea based on clues from Brave Souls’ 10 Years Later characters:
Ichigo still seems to have that exact same blade that emerged from the “True Bankai” but it no longer strains him and he treats it as a Shikai.
If we go with the theme of the Moon, it could be an aspect of Ichigo’s constant growth, of the moon constantly going through waxing and waning cycles, continually progressing and evolving in contrast to the conventions of most Zanpakuto.
Even Oetsu considered Zangetsu massively unorthodox due to never using an Asauchi for the longest time.
It could be that the Bankai that’s the subject of this video was the True Bankai back then, but now there’s a NEW True Bankai ten years later. And it would probably make the Wandenreich cower on sight.
This. I like this. This wraps up everything into a neatly explained bow that both ties in the ending but also still allowing my brain to not be sad that he lost the other parts of his powers.
This head canon makes my brain stop hurting xD
@@Closer2Zero The novels confirm that he gets those powers back.
When it comes to Ichigo’s true Bankai, it seems that it is a combination Bankai. The white fragments potentially being the manifestation of his Quincy abilities, the chains being potentially his Shinigami abilities, while the Black black blade is his Hollow abilities. His unique nature may be why his Bankai is so different from the status quo of others. This would be similar to the Shinigami who ultimately fused with his Bankai and grew too powerful, or the Zanpaktuo Muramasa that developed to be able to be separated from his master Shinigami despite being a direct manifestation of his spiritual pressure like all Shinigami zanpaktuo. Each of these were so distinct that they became something else. We even have Nanao who wields a clan Zanpaktuo and does not actually have one of her own despite being a Shinigami. Her sword was there long before her and will be there after she is passed on for another of her clan to wield. We even have the fan favorite with his ice Dragon Zanpaktuo and he was one of two people who had the same Zanpaktuo. So instead of one Shinigami having two swords, we have one manifestation having two Shinigami wielding it at the same time.
I share this to give context to the idea that there have been unique abilities within the Bleach Universe.
Ichigo’s Zanpaktuo may just be another one of these distinctions. So when The Quincy king attacked Ichigo’s Bankai a second time, it may have been the Quincy ability that shielded his blade and shattered to allow his Hollow abilities as the blade to cut through him... or maybe the blade was his Shinigami abilities and the chains were his hollow abilities... either way, it could have been the unique nature of his abilities to be able to splinter apart to prevent the Quincy King from holding control over him. I say this because Ichigo’s Journey in the story included a developing relationship between his personified abilities and having them work together in some way.
Just a thought I had.
In the "Can't Fear Your Own World" Light Novel (with Kubo being the writer's main source of information), it is stated that Ichigo kept his Quincy and Hollow powers, so he's still a Tribird.
I like to think that the final panel was Ichigo breaking through the barrier that hid his True Bankai. Bare in mind Ichigo had just achieved his new Bankai. As Byakuya said, it takes years for a Shinigami to master their Bankai and draw out it's full potential. Look at Toshirō, he trained all throughout the Manga and achieved his true Bankai at the end of the series.
The time skip to where Ichigo is a fully grown adult (and married to Orihime, both of whom created their child, Kazui) could shed some light on Ichigo's Bankai, considering he's had a decade or so to train and master it.
In the Manga, it's HEAVILY implied that Ichigo's Bankai is a blade that can kill anything permanently, with no constraints. It's why Yhwach called it dangerous and broke it, and also why he made Ichigo kill the Soul King. Only Ichigo's blade could kill the Soul King. Yhwach has the power to see the future, and knew that Ichigo would attempt to stop him, so he waited in the Soul King's room.
When Ichigo killed Yhwach, the remaining piece of him in the future (Kazui was about to grab it, not knowing what it was), disappeared. This is because Ichigo's blade deals out a permanent death, with no limit to it's effect. It completely erases whoever is cut down by it. Think of it like this, here's an example;
Ichigo cuts off Yhwach's arm, then that arm is sent to the future. When Ichigo kills Yhwach, his arm, which is in the future, disappears with Yhwach's present body, as that arm is still a piece of Yhwach.
The name of Ichigo's Bankai is "Tensa Zangetsu" (天鎖斬月), which translated says "Heaven Chain Slaying Moon". In Japanese mythology, the moon represents a divine entity. The chain is the chain of fate. His Zanpakutō's Bankai name is quite literally "The heavenly chain of fate that slays Deities". This is represented in the chain that appears attached on the Bankai's kashira-gane.
Even Ichigo's iconic attack "Getsuga Tenshō" is translated as "Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer", aka "Heavenly Divine God Piercer".
That does explain somewhat why Ichigo's blade is also more than capable of killing those with the ability to heal, too.
But Aizen who had essentially transcended Godhood at the height of his power survived.
Still. The last couple of Arcs of Bleach were essentially all cop-outs because Kubo was being incredibly overworked.
@@Unethical.Dodgson Aizen didn't survived, each time he was cut he was transformed into different being or gaining diffrent and batter body. More like he died many time and relocated in new type of body
Yeah, it's a big katana (which are historical) with the white blade being like his hollow mask. That said, it's meant to crack in order release its full power. It's Ichigo's trope seen in his blade.
yhwach was so powerful he stopped kubo from coming up with a idea for a bankai ability for ichigo's true bankai
Or maybe it's simply bcuz you're out of touch, Kubo had the idea , if he didn't shonen jump would have never accepted the idea which is how this works. Kubo was literally suffering with disease , broken ligaments and barely getting sleep . It's a miracle we even got what we got.
@@kushagrasharma5402 it was a joke calm down
@@yaboybomber6773 ahh sorry for overreacting bro. You're one hell of a bomber.
Considering the badass designs in BBS , ichigo got like 3 new forms with all brand new techniques too, I think kubo definitely had an idea in mind.
Yeah, I mostly agree with a lot of this.
I really thought we would've gotten more Quincy-like projectile-based combat from Ichigo in this final arc.
Like I was thinking he could make the 2 blades operate like a makeshift bow and arrow and then have a new ability that can unite them from any distance so it's a kind of Flying Raijin kind of move but it's really a super-fast version of Shunpo on the level of Yoruichi's speed.
So he fires one blade and then moves to that location immediately to fire again, rinse and repeat and it would line up conceptually with the speed boost he got when he took on Byakuya in the Soul Society arc.
He woild need training for it I believe
It took me forever to realize it. But the look of his sword is that of an unfinished sword. Just the tang and blade. I always took that as symbolic of how he was not done growing.
dang, i really appreciate your analyses of the various major moments in the series. i was never able to quite grasp what was all going on with these final chapters, but this makes a lot of sense and gives me a new appreciation for kubo's creative and narrative choices with the limited time and space he had towards the end of the series
This is great, but one thing is that in the Can't Fear Your Own World it's said that he regained those hollow and Quincy powers within a few months
Ishida: *shoots the arrow through Yhwach, causing his powers to temporarily fade away*
Ichigo: *slashes towards him*
Tensa Zangetsu: *starts breaking away*
Ishida: "No! It's too late! The Zanpakuto is going to break!"
Tensa Zangetsu: *breaks to reveal Ichigo's Zanpakuto he used in the first arc of the story*
Ichigo: "Ah yes...my old faithful."
This makes sense. Although I kinda wish we could have seen more of ichigos quincy powers.
Also. Who else wishes that Ichigos friend(kago, tatsuki, and the others) got a little more development. Like how they feel about ichigo's shinigami crap, how they deal with and cope with knowing about the soul society and hollows.
And who else wishes that Karin and Yuzu were more relevant to the story and perhaps unlocked their powers. And maybe a little side story about how they are handling the fact that they don't get to spend as much time with ichigo and are always worrying about him and stuff.
There's a lot of room for storytelling and character development surrounding ichigos friends, school life, family life. Etc...
Thats all from me wat about you
I’m looking forward to the anime because somewhere it was mentioned it would take liberties with Kubo and let him expand in places he was rushed.
I thought of the white part as a sheath
Ichigo´s Bankai makes everthing so easy, its a One Hit Kill.
Sometimes
Ahhh... Man i really wish he doesn't lose any of his hollow and Quincy powers he's just dope as he currently is...
He gets them back.
He still has em
His true bankai only looks cool with fused hollow form with white skin
I'm pretty sure Ichigo still has his hollow powers because in CFYOW it's stated that Ichigo wasn't aloud to place seals on Aizen for fear that he might influence the hollow inside him.
Yeah. He's still a Shinigami/Hollow/Quincy tribrid.
@@Grognack 💚
I won't spoil it. But this video was a joy to watch, even though that last part of Ichigo becoming only a soul reaper, in the end, isn't correct.
Yep. He still has his Hollow and Quincy powers.
Any speculation on the powers of his true bankai? Here's my theory.
Since the powers of one's zanpakuto are supposed to be a reflection of one's true inner self, I think there's a few directions Kubo was going to go (or could have gone) with this.
And as an aside, one aspect of the bankai is that it had to be something that would be a serious threat to the overpowered nature of the soul-king-empowered almighty: the ability to alter the present by changing the future. It has to either:
1. suspend/stagnate the world around Ichigo,
2. nullify the abilities of others on contact,
3. affect all possible futures, i.e. its strikes occur across all possible alternate futures and dimensions (and thus Yhwach wouldn't be able to nullify its attack by manifesting a future in which he was never hit, necessitating the need for him to instantly break the blade before receiving his first strike), or
4. another possible option.
With all that in mind, what is Ichigo's true self? What motivates him in every battle he's ever been in? The answer: it is the desire to protect others, to such a massive extent that it even includes his enemies. Ichigo doesn't desire battle or destructive power, he desires the ability to protect the people around him. All throughout the series, we see time and time again Ichigo has the chance to defeat opponents in an instant, but he almost always hesitates at the moment of opportunity. He could've slain Byakuya in the soul society arc, Ichigo literally had his sword at Byakuya's throat before the captain even realized what had happened. Ichigo didn't want Byakuya to die, he wanted Byakuya to see his point of view. And also time and time again, when Ichigo finally does defeat his opponent, the eventual outcome is almost always that his opponent either becomes Ichigo's friend/ally, or gains an understanding of Ichigo's point of view before dying.
One thing I rarely see people catch on to is that this desire manifests itself as a subtle and unwritten power of his zanpakuto; his ability to understand the motivations and feelings of others during sword combat isn't some kind of 6th sense that is intrinsic to him, it is a power of his sword as a reflection of his true self. His zanpakuto has a lot of destructive potential due to Ichigo's own massive spiritual power, but its true ability is understanding others. And I would speculate that his sword also grants a subtle effect in reverse: through combat, his opponent is imprinted with a subtle understanding of Ichigo's emotions and desires, and this makes them more likely to find common cause with Ichigo.
So with all that in mind, lets look at the options I mentioned above:
#1 seems okay, but falls apart when you consider that if its power was area stagnation, it wouldn't have been broken by the almighty in the first place.
#2 is possible, but it doesn't fit with Ichigo's true inner self. He was never about canceling the abilities of others, he was about protecting others.
#3 seems like a really good counter to the power of the almighty, but it doesn't really fit Ichigo's personality and it is too direct of a counter to a specific ability.
So that leaves option #4: I believe that Yhwach wasn't fearful of Ichigo's bankai because of its destructive power, but rather because Ichigo's bankai had the ability to make Ichigo and his opponent gain a true understanding of each other's feelings, motivations, and goals. If this is the case, Yhwach would have seen a future where, upon being struck by Ichigo's bankai, Yhwach was forced to regain an understanding of compassionate humanity and completely abandoned his crusade to remake the world that spanned over a thousand years of planning and struggle.
There is no greater threat to Yhwach's goals than seeing the world from his opponent's perspective, and losing the motivation to continue his crusade. He can counter any attack that strikes him by using the almighty, but what happens when he no longer wishes to counter the attack after being affected by its influence? To someone like Yhwach, such an ability would indeed be fearsome and would have to be destroyed before it could influence him.
perhaps it is like uchiha clan's of naruto series izanagi/izanami, with his bankai ichigo is able to make his any of his enemy surrender and came with a true understanding of themselves
I get the hollow power becoming one with him, but I do miss the hollow mask moments. It was always so hype
Your delivery, voice, script and video is overall really great and fun to watch. Keep going !
This is a really great explanation given the lack of info concerning his true banki and what happens in this last arc! With that being said I still kinda hope not…I like ichigo being an amalgamation of all these different races an power. I would ask though based on the explanation given here why is ichigo being an amalgamation not his “true self”? The explanation of why he doesn’t use a mask anymore is spot on…so similarly him using all his powers should be representative of his true self (his powers inherently from his father, mother and the hollow white).
Few things about this vid, now that I've finished writing my headcanon.
- The white blade is his hollow power, representing White/Hollow Ichigo/Shirosaki. Dialogue in the fight also stated that Ichigo needed Yhwach's quincy power to tip the balance between his own quincy and hollow powers. That's what Ichigo meant by not being able to do it on his own.
- Ichigo gets his powers back in the CFYOW novels. Been confirmed.
Really cool theory, though. Love the thematic analysis. I've never seen this take before.
I kind of hope Ichigo still has his quincy / hollow powers. I know he probably doesn't but it does feel like a bit of a slap in the face for him to go through all the hassle of learning the truth about his powers only to lose 2/3 of them haha
I think the novels explain that he got them back. That’s what I’ve read at least
@@zach415 Yeah, he got them back.
Some of the things you've talked about in this video have never crossed my mind but make so much sense! Especially symbolism is something that goes over my head from time to time but taking that into account really makes this a solid hypothesis! I hope we get the hell arc fleshed out very soon and there will be some confirmed info on this
Yhwach feared Zangetsu because he was a Carbon Copy of his Power and a likeness in a Zanpackto, the only closest Power that could destroy him
just happened to stumble on this video and I must say, this is the first time someone has put together all of what happened at the end of bleach in a way I could wholely agree with. Thank you and well done.
I disagree, it makes no sense that his “True self” is only a quarter of his being
Your theory makes sense but my I only issue is that in CFYOW Ichigo is still stated to be the hybrid being right? Does he still count as that hybrid if that power was taken away? Or did his Hollow/Quincy power return to him after Yhawch’s defeat?
It was confirmed that his powers returned to him shortly after Yhwach's defeat.
His powers returned to him slowly after Yhwach defeat
It should be oppressingly obvious that Kubo had so many good ideas set up for the finale and didn't have the time or manpower to pull off what he really wanted to do. From what I heard he had plans for pretty much every single major character in the final arc, as in fights, flashbacks and information dumps that would of set up pretty much every single last point of the final battle.
So many very good characters that just had off screens, one pagers, or nothing at all but had all these starts of a story that where never finished or at least mentioned or shown.
I always thought of zangetsu spirits as parents for ichigo. While quincy is the mother side caring for ichigo and zangetsu hallow is the father pushing him to his limits. Like married couple 😂
No just a distant abusive uncle that comes in at the last moments of your life
I'll like all your videos. Your videos are so on point and I love that there mostly on a one cut and not chopped of different scenes. Bleach will always be goat!
When Ichigo forges his "true shikai", it is still not his true shikai but only his hollow and quincy powers. You can see that the blades are both missing their cores. After Ichigo releases his "true bankai", it is still only his quincy and hollow powers. Yhwach only took Ichigo's quincy and hollow powers, but his own powers representing his younger form stayed behind and Ichigo basically killed Yhwach with his own power, representing the original shikai given to Ichigo by younger Yhwach.
There are two big questions open:
- How did Ichigo come into possession of Yhwach's powers? Probably passed down by his mother as a distant relative.
- What does Ichigo's true zanpakutou look like? This is still not revealed.
that final spread alone with the slash told me that Kubo 100% had an idea but wasnt able to fully explain it
Great explanation! My only concern is he is probably going to suffer a debuff.
With all of those other powers he had access to, he grew in power so many times by further understanding them. It's going to be interesting to see if he gets those back somehow.
He lost his Hollow and Quincy powers but still remains his Shinigami and Fullbring abilities and Kubo has stated that if Ichigo exploited that Fullbring side of him he could become the strongest in the series. But I don't know if that was before he lost half of his potential or after.
Love your videos and your explanation
I think his Bankai being his first Shikai goes completly against the evolution of the character. Everyone moves forward with their skills, but then suddenly and for NO REASON AT ALL his ultimate power is... His first one? Why let Ywhach take his powers away? Kubo really messed this up.
Ichigo's Bankai is his Hollow/Soul Reaper and Quincy powers in harmony. His sword reflects that by combining his two Zanpakuto into one. The "sheath" and chain are just as much a part of his blade as the underlying power. Moreover, by having him overlay like that it means that if the upper layer breaks he'll still have the underlayer to fall back on which works well symbolizing how he always gets back up no matter how hard he gets beaten down. So it actually embodies his growth and journey.
@@corruptangel6793 He was a GOD. Now he Isn't. That's really bad, doesn't matter how you look at It. In fact, I don't know why they still compares Ichigo to Hikone in CYFOW, since I cannot see Ichigo surviving 10 seconds against Kenpachi Zaraki like Hikone did without his full power.
Imagine if Goku lost his Super Sayan transformation after Freeza died? Or If Sasuke lost his Rinnegan after the war arc? You don't elevate your main character to the god tier just to nerf him right after.
The only message I see is "I will make my protagonist WEAKER, while also making the antagonist OMNIPOTENT, and them I will make the weaker guy kill the stronger guy just because I have to end this somehow".
The final battle of Bleach is broken because of this single decision. Uryu's silver arrow is a "Deus Ex Machina" that was only necessary because Kubo nerfed Ichigo to the extreme. We could have had a final battle worthy of both Ichigo and Ywhach if that wasn't the case. KUBO FUCKED UP.
@@bigbangrafa8435 he still could use Bankai. That means he still has White and Old Man Zangetsu as Bankai is impossible without Zanpakuto spirits. This means he still has his Quincy and Hollow powers.
Therefore he is still Transcendent class. The simple fact that he could kill Yhwach, even an exhausted Yhwach, is proof of this.
@@bigbangrafa8435 Yhwach isn't omnipotent. Even if Yhwach himself claims to be. His ability is actually quite fascinating in how it works and it's restrictions and weaknesses.
That said, I won't deny that the silver arrow was stupid, not to mention redundant. It should have been Uryu using Volstandig and his Anti-thesis to reverse Yhwach absorbing Ichigo for just a second so he could break free and land that final blow.
@@bigbangrafa8435 CFYOW confirms that Ichigo's Hollow and Quincy powers return to him. Chill out.
Awesome video, I've been waiting for a good explanation and this video was amazing!
I assumed he reverted to shikai to counter the bankai being broken again. He knew it would break so he timed a reversion back to his shikai the moment it happened so he could still slice him.
Yea I think that’s his new shikai after his other powers were stolen, I’m guessing his bonkai “broke” when it ran out of those powers.
It literally shattered lmfao he didn't revert anything. And the bankai was already badly cracked all the way through anyway. So yeah lol.
@@ExtraVictory lol
@@ExtraVictory I don't see your point. I'm aware that it broke I said so in my comment. My theory was because his bankai was breaking that he reverted to shikai so that he still had the sword to hit with.
@@ivanbackfromthecardshop8093 but he didn't revert lol. That was *my* point, as i said in *my* comment. He didn't revert, it just shattered. Thats not how zanpakuto work lol, the bankai doesn't shatter into a smaller shikai inside it when you reseal the bankai lol. In fact a bankai shattering is a VERY big deal as we both know so no sword would use that as a reversion method lol. Im not accusing you of claiming the bankai never broke or anything. Im just accusing your theory of being wrong lol. Not that it's a bad idea, its actually a good idea. And it wouldve been cool if Ywach managed to stop the bankai because it was crumbling and ichigo reverted to shikai and sliced through with the structurally intact sword lol. But in the end lets be honest. Kubo just wanted Ichigo to do the deed with his old sword and so he did whatever he had to in the procsss of making that happen lol. So yeah his bankai just crumbled and what's left just happens to resemble his old shikai lol
It feels like his bankai shattering and revealing his original shikai in a metaphorical sense was like a callback to his origins/roots, what started it all basically
Shouldn't ywach have died after absorbing ichigos Quincy powers along with hollow powers... I mean ywach is still a quincy and hollows should be poisonous to him
I like this theory, but I have my own take on it. Maybe instead of it being a representation of him losing his power it’s of his power fulling coming together undistinguished. Look at it like this, his horn of salvation, the white on his sword still show that his power are deprecate but are being used together. It’s like ichigo has a key to a door to another room. Yes it’s his but that door still has to be opened. I think his true bankai is a visual representation of no longer having a door. Instead of having two rooms and a door it’s just one big room. No longer being able to distinguish between the three powers. Making a perfect union rather than three separate power sources, making ichigo accept and truly understand that these abilities aren’t three but one.
All these years I never knew yhwach took ichigos hollow and Quincy powers
@Roman Francis wait does he really?
@Roman Francis but that doesn’t say he’s a Quincy
Well maybe cuz his Quincy is attached to his hollow there two sides of the coin
@Roman Francis ya googled it says they recover from it
That was great! Thanks for your interpretation, it's given me some closure on that final moment sword reveal.
Honestly the whole quincy and hollow thing was super confusing when it first dropped in the manga but hearing it put so cohesively really cleared it up. It also explains why adult ichio in bbs only has one blade
He gets his Hollow and Quincy powers back.
This is my theory
1) What we call "true Bankai" is not the ultimate bankai, Ichigo's bankai has always been a wearable Bankai who fixed his dress with his Riatsu
2) If only the sword changes it means that ichigo has not yet mastered his skills. (Ichigo himself confirms that he has no experience with his new powers, and he's discovering them while fighting against Ywach), so if this "True Bankai" was destroyed it could still be repaired or evolved.
2) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's "true bankai" for the first time, he also steals ichigo's Quincy / Hollow powers (vol.74 ch 680. pag.1-2-3)
3) Inoue and Tsukishima "fix the blade" (make sure it has NEVER been broken with their powers to change the past and deny events)
4) To form the "true Bankai" the powers of all 4 races are needed. Ichigo must fuse his swords and unite his powers.
So if Ichigo no longer has all his powers, that sword is no longer his Bankai even if it has the shape of it.
5) The sword has become an empty shell containing a regressed version of the sword of ichigo, a shape that resembles ichigo's first shikai in appearance ( as seen in the vision of jugram which ywach interprets as a dream)
6) However that form is neither a bankai, nor a shikai nor an asauchi, it is a temporary form born from the change of state of ichigo's powers when the sword was in "true bankai" form
7) what is certain is that ichigo is now only a shinigami and in order to see the true shape of his sword, with only his shinigami powers, he would have to return to shikai (which has also changed) and then reactivate the bankai.
8) When Ywach destroys Ichigo's sword for the second time, he does not destroy the real blade but only its empty shell which contained the temporary and regressed version of the sword.
9) CFYOW vol.2 ch1. ichigo's hollow / quincy powers are back after Ywach's death, Urhara talks about it.
Ichibe confirmed it that Ichigo has his powers back because he was a candidate for the Soul King.
And you need to be a Hybrid to be even considered. So he has got back his either Hollow, Quincy or both powers back.
10) The adult version of ichigo therefore has all the powers of the 4 races, should have the shikai with the double sword and can combine them to form the "true Bankai" seen the first time. Also after 10 years I expect the dress to evolve too and the "true bankai" to reach its final shape with the dress that has ichigo with the bow in Brave souls.
11) The adult ichigo version released in the game ignores everything I've written so far ... Ichigo's dress is that of a common and generic shinigami, the sword has a shape that should no longer have, whether ichigo had regained the powers or not.
12) -Conclusion: Klab released this new ichigo without reasoning and without asking questions, creating a script hole
-This could be a version of ichigo where they ignore the fact that his powers are back (but the sword shouldn't have that shape anyway)
-or it could be a version of ichgio with a "strange" Asauchi like kenpachi, where ichigo like isshin can use the blue getsuda with the sealed sword, this version of ichigo would have all the powers but wouldn't be using them for now.
-Another very valid theory is that that sword is his bankai when Ichigo only uses his shinihami powers.
- When he first activated the bankai ichigo was in shikai but the longer sword was white (quincy powers) and ichigo was using hollowfication so the sword took the aspect we see for a moment against Ywach.
-It is possible that in this adult form ichigo raised the double shikai sword and said Bankai without first using the hollow and quincy powers (so the long sword was still black) so the bankai with only his shinigami powers appears as in the image .
-If this theory is correct it means that ichigo's new Bankai changes the shape of his sword and clothes depending on how many and which of his race powers he is using.
13) To conclude I would like to ask a question, we know that a bankai of a shigami cannot be repaired, but is ichigo a common shimigami with a common Bankai? Ichigo does not have an affiliation, it is a new chimeric race formed by the DNA of the 4 main races, in theory the Bankai of ichigo that creates by combining its powers is not a common shinigami bankai, we call it bankai but it could be a new type of weapon completely different that only Ichigo and Hikone (if he had a zampakuto) can use, a weapon that is not subject to the rules of the shinigami world, a weapon that is not a common bankai so it can be repaired even when it breaks, for example by using the quincy technique "sklaverei"
The sure thing is that we have never seen ichigo's true bankai in action, we only know that it can do the same things as Hikone (CFYOW), merge getsuda with various Cero and Blut, merge reiatsu shinigami with Hierro and blut, merge all 4 speed techniques to use God speed etc.
Is good to see you are almost 60K. I remember when you had less than 10K. Congrats man! 😁
During the anime adaptation, I hope they let him keep all of his powers when he beats Ywhach. I feel like using in-world time Ichigo accepts who he really is and where his powers really come from and then in like 3 or 4 hours it's all gone. I feel like he was robbed honestly.
He eventually gets it back after the Light Novels I heard, before he had Kazuki. But still he was def robbed
@@mezasepkmn Really? Never heard that. Good to hear though.
Genuinely a great explaination. Thank you for sharing with us.
I hope the anime tweaks the ending
This is the best explanation I've seen so far, the only thing I would add would just reinforce your explanation of why you don't ever see him wearing his mask anymore.
He does. It's just literally fused with his abilities, worn on his body. That's the form his fullbring takes. Also after he recovers his shinigami powers it can be seen at all times underneath his shihakusho.
Dope theory mate.
But if Yhwach takes Ichigo's Hollow side with the Quincy, wouldn't he be poisoned by the hollow reiatsu powers? Apart from that, good take on Ichigo's true shinigami bankai. Maybe his Bankai is like Ikkaku's, in which basically he is pure raw power compared to other bankai that have excentric abilities and displays of power.
Yhwach was at a state to be considered a soul king especially after absorbing the soul king himself and mimihagi sama
my little Opinion on this
I think Zangetsu during the soul society arc was not PURE, the closest to pure Shinagami we had seen up to this point but I think that the lack of bandages and less bold and precisely ground edge represents that NOW we have witnessed Ichigo at his purest Shinagami, and the casing shattering so easily is a representation of him discarding all those extra powers, understanding that trying to use all 3 of these opposing powers at once makes it entirely unstable. He went from using 3 Pillars of sand to using 1 pillar of stone. I would not be surprised if we see him using quincy and hollow powers again but only as backup boosters, not replying on them anymore.
Kubo never had any idea to answer this question, i am certain of that.
For Ichigo's Bankai, it is as disappointing as his fight vs Yhwach.
Shikai is the true form of the Asauchi while Bankai is the true form of the Zanpakuto spirit, as explained in the manga and light novel. This explains the duality of his true Bankai blade since he now has 2 Zanpakuto spirits whereas before he only had 1: White. Meaning Ichigo's true Bankai is him using all his powers at once in harmony. The case and chain being White and the inner blade is Old Man Zangetsu.
Kubo actually put a lot of thought into it.
I hate how he had so much time constraints.
I hope they use the anime to better flesh it out tbh
@@corruptangel6793 yes, it makes sense but i hoped we would see something rather than raw Fighting from Ichigo.
@@ДушанПоповић-т6н it might be disappointing, the lack of new powers and even how the fight went down, but the ending really was the culmination of Ichigo's journey and growth as a person/warrior. The way he fights now, as well as his form/abilities shows his maturity in battle as well as his acceptance of all that he is. Plus his willingness to fight alongside with others shows that his will to protect no longer strangles himself and those around him.
@@corruptangel6793 agree on everything, but i hoped for more from his final fight. When I read it for first time i was like "what the hell, this is it". But then i gave a lot of thoughts and accepted TYBW with all it's great ideas and all plot holes.
Makes sense with how that could be the case and it also works when you consider that Hollow Reiatsu is toxic to Quincies. So even if Yhwach is too powerful for it to be lethal, Ichigo's Hollow powers were at least on par with a Vasto Lorde's and it would have still impared Yhwach, making him vulnerable to Ichigo's killing blow.
I don’t believe that’s his true bankai I just think it’s the combination of both Shikais turning into his true Shikai. Which is why they call it “True Zangetsu in BBS”
Oh yeah I've heard that theory that we never actually got to see ichigos true bankai. I don't know there's certainly evidence for the theory but I guess we'll see.
That could actually be true too. Nice theory.
@@crossin8772 Yup and I made a full analysis on my theory on my instagram page @shonen.kon
@@ek-od8ku I would really like for it to be true and to have it be shown in the anime, I do wonder if they would change something that major for the anime adaptation. Time will tell I guess.
I always thought that this final form of Tensa Zangetsu was Ichigo's shinigami powers in its purest form , not the power of a hollow, not the power of a quincy, only the brute power of the most powerful substitute shinigami
I kind of like how you have your microphone in the way. Gives a more real life feeling and an air of professionalism.
Thanks for your continued posts, Appreciate it
This channel's discord is the only one I follow to watch the vids as soon as they are released because quality is always delivered ❤
You really cleared that up especially cause I completely forgot about yuha stealing his powers. That being said I know realize that I think it would’ve been so much better to see that hollow attached to his Quincy power be what cause the little lapse in Yuhas powers instead of the stupid arrow. Like if yuha didn’t realize the hollow powers were attached to the Quincy powers and we see at the end a flash of whites face and the hollow reatsu he inadvertently took in causes his Quincy powers to lapse or causes him to cough or be poisoned or something like that sense we know they’re incomparable. Idk I feel that would’ve been more acceptable than the whole arrow thing
He gets his powers back. The novels confirm this.
That panel with the wrappings peeled off the grip of Zangetsu is fucking mint. I never noticed how nice design on the grip looks.
I would have loved to see Ichigo's Shikai sword as a double edged sword like the anime filler character Kageroza has. That was a very cool looking sword for a filler character. And it was very cool to look at the choreography of the fight using that double edged sword.
How cool would it be if his bankai would be different "modes" like for example he has a Hollow mode that is more offensive and he gets his mask back, then he gets the ranged mode and its a manifestation of his Quincy powers and he uses a bow like Uryu's and finally a defensive mode which is his fullbringer power which we never actually saw. I think it would he cool because it would use the fact that Ichigo a combination of all races in one person.
To put it in simpler terms Ichigo has always been a Shinigami just an impure version with aspects of Hollow and Quincy powers. And the ending in a sought purify’s Ichigos being in making him a full fledged shinigami.
You are right! The white on the sword is the Quincy and even the chain could represent the hollow and at the end of bleach all of that broke off revealing the sword underneath which looks like his old shikai. And ichigo being pure shinigami. I like how it ties up nicely. But now ichigo is the least interesting character in bleach. Another thing is I don’t think he can use his shikai again because his shikai was a representation of all his powers. Also with his old shikai being his new bankai we wont see him change form. I always felt that personally ichigos bankai was underwhelming. All the other captains had a form change or it got really big or they had multiple abilities. But ichigo just had getsuga tensho and that was it. What made him cool was that he had a high reiatsu and he had the hollow and then Quincy. But now that he has lost that he is just a shinigami that has a bankai that’s alway on and he can only do getsuga tensho. Yeah it’s cool that his bankai is alway on but if his bankai wasn’t so underwhelming then that would be awesome. Maybe I’m wrong but I would love to hear other peoples opinion of it z
I'd like to point out after it was broke the first time in order to fix it Tsukishima used his fullbring to rewrite it's history to allow it to be fixed. But, bankai are not supposed to be repairable so what could he have done? My guess he rewrote it to where that is not his bankai anymore, it's his shikai. This partly fits with what we saw in the recent hell chapter, Ichigo with his original shikai on his back.
The anime just needs to come out all ready damn!!!!!!!
I’m glad that you were able to come to this conclusion. It’s what makes the most sense to me. However I find it sad that White Ichigo and Old man Zangetsu more than likely aren’t there anymore. If that is indeed the case, I wonder what manifestation Ichigo’s zanpakto takes now? Unless because the blade is literally him if it does at all now.
if I remember correctly it is confirmed in the novels based after the series that all of his powers returned in the end.
@@raymondmckay6990 That's awesome if true!
@@gasmask360 it is true
This actually blew my mind. Like this is well thought out. Good fucking job bro
Didn't anyone else seem to think his shoulder guard WAS the representation/replacement for his mask?
The placement that ties his white quincy side to his black shinigami side? The coloring. It all seems pretty evident that it represents that all his powers are present and in balance then? It seemed pretty obvious to me.
I noticed the same thing. His armor looks strikingly similar to his old Hollow mask design.
Also, in case you didn't know, he gets his Hollow and Quincy powers back. The novels confirm that he still has them.
@@Grognack well it makes much more sense. His powers come from who he is, who his parents were, genetics essentially. The energy may be taken, but why or how could he still be himself without all that he always was.
I mean the whole damn story is ichigos journey to find inner peace and balance and understanding and accepting all that he is.
@@TheNuclearGeek Exactly.
His powers from the soul society arc was actually quincy powers im pretty sure. Because zangetzu says he led him away from his shinigami powers and towards his quincy powers instead.
10:44 Kubo has stated that at this moment the white outer shell(the Quincy power) was reabsorbed into ichigos soul. It's also stated that White/hollow is the base of Ichigos soul reaper powers which he obviously still has.
My first thought was Ichigo quincie's power left over rebelled against yuhawach being the message something like "you cannot take something that it's part of me even if it was given by you" that would make sense of why it takes the shape yuha/sangestsu "allowed" Ichigo to have at first and why yuhawach was so surprised seeing it.
You should do Everything but the Rain, by itself it’s so quintessentially Bleach, also Turn back the Pendulum would be cool to!
In the light novels, it is said he regained his Quincy powers included so I believe something else happened in the final battle. I think because Ywhach absorbed reio and mimihagi that in that final blow by Ichigo it reverted back to his old zangetsu because of mimihagi's regressive/stagnative power. IDK for sure but it makes the most sense to me as Ywhach couldn't use his original power almighty in the moment. But then again just a theory so don't get mad if something I said is contradictory because it's just what I thought of it. I do like the idea of symbolism too though.