Ichigo's End of Series (Hell Chapter) ZANGETSU, EXPLAINED - The Truth Revealed? | Bleach Discussion

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Beware manga spoilers in this video!
I wasn't expecting this, but Kubo himself has dropped an answer to one of Bleach's most frustrating questions - what is the nature of Ichigo's zanpakuto, Zangetsu, at the end of the series? Does his still have two blades? What was his 'true' Bankai in the end? We don't quite get a clear cut answer, but I'll do my best to pry something from it...
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[@MrTommo2304]

Wow, I actually had to crack out the talking points for this one to make sure I said everything I wanted to! What do you think of this answer we've been given? Was there anything I missed or misinterpreted? Let me know!

[@CaptainKotetsu]

Nice video! I never really thought about this at the end of the series. I always thought his original zangetsu schwacked Yhwach purely for nostalgia and not because it made any sense.

[@imbored5951]

Then what about Ichibe? Does he have a sheath??

[@DJStreamZzz]

MrTommo2304 how did u like the Bleach Brave Souls artbook I saw you got it a while ago. How did u like it? I received my book about 2-3 weeks ago. I thought it was amazing but I wish it had the beyond bankai artwork as well for byakuya, Ken, Unohana, etc. ( cant remember if yamas was in there) keep making vids man. Awesome content!

[@qb4428]

Okay, listening to this makes it seem like Kubo is trying to cover his butt. He's a brilliant artist, but a subpar writer, and that's fine.

[@DJStreamZzz]

Also how would u feel about brave souls giving Isshin a Final Getsuga form???

[@cykurosaki1337]

I’m a huge fan of the dual blades so I’m personally hoping that the single blade is his sealed state, and he can transition into the dual bladed shikai.

[@lolsnez7542]

The knife swors is his base form and his shikai are hia dual blades

[@Mosdra_Kazuma]

me too

[@segieth4621]

The dual blades could also just be an ability for his Shikai like Getsuga Tenshou.

[@EleassarNumel]

Apparently he can change between one big sword or two swords whenever he wants, Ichigo probably just feels more comfortable using one big sword. The big question to me is if his sword has another transformation (a new form of Bankai) or if he's in permanent Bankai mode (wich would be similar to when he was in Dangai form)

[@MandatoryFruit]

Same. Though in fairness, Ichigo is definitely more accustomed to single blade combat.

[@梨-i5l]

I am going to miss his old bankai. I liked how his robes were a part of his bankai originally and I kind of wish Kubo had run with that a bit more

[@Sanquinity]

I liked the whole concept of his "original" bankai. All that power surpassing other captains (Unohana thought half of his max reiatsu was already "captain level") condensed into a single blade and robes. The blade giving him explosive concentrated power, and the robes giving him godlike speed and decent defense.

[@Keir_lain]

@@Sanquinity his "original bankai" was just a baby and rushed (literally gotten in 3 days) version of his bankai.

[@khahinmetameta7826]

I liked the fullbring/soul reaper bankai design more.

[@the_ruq_man]

It makes sense for the robe to go, since the robes were the effect of the Quincy powers suppressing the Shinigami power (represented by the traditional shihakusho).

[@DeathNapalmx]

Thinking about it more, the robes seem to be yet another "the blade is me" allegory: the hollow being the blade, quincy being the sheath and given that the robes that made him resemble Yhwach were effectively "sheathing" Ichigo himself...yeah lol

[@xtalia_z6691]

Pretty sure Kubo didn't elaborate more cuz it's gonna be explained more in the anime. But i think it goes as simply as this, the single bladed Zangetsu is his base form, the dual wield is the shikai, and the bankai is the black and white combined. Simple as that. Ofc this is just imo tho.

[@Vezuls]

Agreed. I’m just hoping that we see what his bankai actually does in the hell arc. Juha, a God, was so scared of it he had to blitz break it.

[@jonathanng138]

@@Vezuls Why he use Bankai though? He's base form is already enough to take on anybody let alone his Shikai or his Bankai

[@_MegaMind_]

@@jonathanng138 because Ichigo respect's yhwach as a busted character in his own right

[@_MegaMind_]

@@jonathanng138 Ichigo would've have probably gotten washed sooner if he didn't use bankai

[@arbetor12]

But didn't ichigo have an active shikai Meaning zangetsu was always in shikai Did that change during the thousand year blood war?

[@Wolfboss7]

It is an interesting concept. When Kubo did the interview and mentioned the how a complete Zanpakuto is a sword and sheath, I remembered that Ichigo's Zangetsu NEVER used a sheath (except in his first Shinigami form which I like to think of as "Zero" form). He always used bandages since Zangetsu was too massive for a proper sheath. Given Ichigo's personality and nature, using another sword as the sheath is actually pretty cool and thematically appropriate. In order to reach his full power, Ichigo had to accept all sides of himself and he's willing to use those sides thus creating a big "main" sword and a "sheath" little sword. Old Man Zangetsu has been "sheathing" Ichigo's true power since the start of the series, yet Ichigo never "discarded" him even after he learned the truth, sort of like how a warrior always keeps his sheath around, sometimes even using it in battle. I think this also puts a classical and ironic spin on Yhwach's demise. He essentially "unsheathes" the very sword that ends up killing him. Said sword represents Ichigo's Shinigami powers to boot. It's like those stories with future visions and prophecies where a person tries to change the future after being told of it/seeing it, only for said future to pass, potentially because they tried to change fate. I'm going to cross my fingers when the anime starts up again, this, along with a couple of other things, gets clarified a bit more.

[@loturzelrestaurant]

No, it's really not. It's Nonsensical.

[@backbackback9845]

Do is the sheathing make the sword weaker or is the destroyed version stronger than the sheathed one

[@adam-dn3hi]

The sheethe is the long sword i belive

[@Yvng_Zy]

@@backbackback9845 I don’t know good question

[@lucasbrito7246]

You know what? I actually really like that idea of the "current" Zangetsu being his "base, sealed blade". It would actually make a lot of sense. Kubo stated that Ichigo can go back to dual wielding if he so chooses, so it would be interesting if the way he did it was by unleashing a shikai, which then brings forth his powers of shinigami, hollow and quincy, represented by the dual blades. Of course, it doesn't need to be a shikai and Ichigo could just separate the blades in another way, but it would be so cool finally hearing Ichigo uttering a shikai release command! About the ending of his fight against Yhwach, maybe what happened with Ichigo's blade is actually symbolic of his temporary loss of quincy powers after they were absorbed by Yhwach. If Ichigo's blades represent the newfound balance of his powers, and in bankai state the white casing represents his quincy powers "sheathing" his shinigami/hollow powers in "unity", then when he lost his quincy powers it would stand to reason that the blade would reproduce this loss, with the white casing slowly crumbling away to reveal what was still left. My theory is that once he lost part of his powers maybe the bankai started to wear off as a reflection of this, at the end revealing his sealed blade in the form of "old" Zangetsu. It wouldn't be possible for Zangetsu to simply go back to shikai, since one of the two blades was the embodiment of Ichigo's quincy powers.

[@lapralax7823]

Just yes

[@imperialmind67]

I agree with this 100%!!!

[@hkn3679]

And then for the dual blades, Ichigo can still use them considering he absorbed the broken parts of the Quincy layer and got his power. Perfect, all make sense now I wonder how the anime will adapt that now

[@justinfrometa3927]

It all comes full circle, is released and bankai forms are really similar Before he got is real powers and that remained somewhat the same after

[@chawli2782]

YES thats what kubo said

[@chieflo_vee7955]

Honestly I think Kubo simply ran out of time towards the end and left a lot of threads untied and he currently doesn’t really have a true answer to some of these questions.

[@acapfunknoobboi8568]

i think he didnt comply with the team.. we do realize now kubo didnt have consistency since the early arcs on the story. even arrancar arc didnt have a fully good closure.

[@0005yuki]

i mean kubos health over the anime i wont lie bro needed a rest after 15 years lol

[@toltol5882]

Classic bleach bs, love it

[@rainofkhandaq6678]

Actually no it makes complete sense, lmao. But being small brain = someone else did something wrong.

[@rainofkhandaq6678]

@@toltol5882

[@manuelacosta9463]

I like the theme of fusion given his unique heritage. Beneath the repairing it's also ironic that his fusion nearly lead to him being turned into a mutilated battery to hold the worlds together, that's the only reason he was given back his powers and Zanpakuto. Still glad it didn't come to that and he's gotten a chance at life after what he went through, we'll how things go in the hell arc.

[@elpopman2055]

Just shows how ungrateful and corrupt soul Society still is with them being willing to stab Ichigo in the back.

[@manuelacosta9463]

@@elpopman2055 True. Sadly, it goes back to the ancestor's willingness to do anything to keep the status quo they forced upon the universe going, their descendants then keeping in the truth secret via lies and assassins. No wonder those who know the truth predict that it will all blow up in Soul Society's face someday.

[@virulenthunter3017]

@@elpopman2055 They were literally sh*tting bricks at the thought of having to use Ichigo to do it because they didn't want to. If you saved me, but it turns out that I have to kill you to save the lives of every living being, and the souls of every spirit who is no longer alive, you bet your ass you're not going to live. Ichigo saving the day at that point would've meant literally f*ck all had they not been willing to use him if there wasn't another option around, and you failing to realize that and calling SS corrupt by "stabbing Ichigo in the back" (Not really though) is downright ignorant at best, and intellectually dishonest at worst.

[@SinHurr]

@@elpopman2055 Well, no. Shunsui was _super against it_ even as a hypothetical, but honestly if it came to it, not a goddamned one of them in Soul Society or anywhere else could have actually stopped Ichibei, let alone the entire Zero Squad, from doing it. Mayuri's lab was infiltrated without effort, Soi Fon was manhandled like a sloth on ketamine, etc. We have to remember, Ichibei isn't _exactly_ a shinigami as we know them. He's the *last* living (you know what I mean) creature birthed by the world before it was split. Ichibei, the 5 Noble Ancestors, and the Soul King were the most powerful entities in that combined world, even if they all paled in comparison to the Soul King's power. He's literally millions of years old, nigh-on immortal even by Soul standards, and his powers are absolute hax bullshit. Like really. How could they have stopped him? Other than ask Yhwach to fight him again I guess, but Ichibei really only _lost_ in the first place because he was faffing around.

[@klaussmith6273]

I love how Mr Tommo so neatly addresses all his topics with such articulation. The tone of his voice so suits what is been shared. Other channels I'm subscribed to talking about the other good and popular anime tend to kinda scream a bit or sound very excited I like that too but when I come here the atmosphere changes, I feel like I'm at a seminar of WHO lol

[@TheRealGuywithoutaMustache]

4:03 Seeing that gives me the chills, Ichigo wielding two swords is reminiscent of how Musashi Miyamoto used to fight in the warring states of Japan

[@DauthEldrvaria]

I only know about Musashi from Samurai Warriors and he's fucking awesome.

[@Mark-vy5qs]

I'm reading Musashi rn.

[@gameinsane4718]

I literally only know who that is bc of the Nintendo mobile game Dragalia Lost lol

[@rlman5741]

I know him because of fgo game

[@dann6954]

read vagabond manga is infinitely better than bleach

[@thebigjj4294]

Usually your videos clear up a couple of questions I had from bleach but this one just made me even more confused to the point I paused it went to another video watched it and then came back to yours. I appreciate the fact that you tried to make Kubo's answer clear. I could clearly see the confusion on your face too.

[@chawli2782]

Its because he explained it wrong its quite easy to understand

[@Ortorin]

I think the most likely explanation is rather simple: The shape of Ichigo's zanpakuto is representative of what he expects the sword to be. Right at the start, what could he have excepted but a large sword to take care of a large "demon?" He had no real sword skills; he wasn't expecting to fight the hollow with a katana. When he first got his bankai, he knew that he was going to be fighting other people. His greatest expectation must have been that he needed a "speedier" sword to take care of the smaller, faster problem. I also think that in this first bankai form, his sword is his Qunicy powers, and his outfit is his shinigami/hollow powers. Follow that forward to his reforged zanpakuto. At that point, with the revelations about his true origins, he must have expected some sort of difference in his sword's shape that would follow with his new understanding of his powers. The result was the dual blades / one power covers and sharpens the other dynamic. After the fight with Yhwach, and he reabsorbs the Qunicy powers from the broken sheath, his powers are again recontextualized in himself. He truly understands that all of his powers are one-and-the-same within himself, and he moves forward with a zanpakuto representing "him" as a whole person. What sword would "Ichigo" use in his own mind? It's just a large sword to take care of large "demons."

[@ricremricrem2221]

Yeah this makes sense I like how this also implements the fact that both zangetsus had told him that their are not two different beings but one and the same being which represents his power. So in essence Ichigo is finally accepting something that he knows since the time he trained in the dangai.

[@ABlackGuyAdept]

@@ricremricrem2221 when he Obtained Final Getsuga Tenshou, the fact that Juha Bach (old man Zangetsu at the time) and His Hollow power (his true shinigami power) fused was the foreshadowing we needed. It was confusing back then and people called it an asspull used to pull Kubo's writing out of the hole he dug himself but now that you think about it. Ichigo has always been one with all of his inherited abilities. It's just that you cannot expect someone to be able to use something they aren't aware of. You can't expect Clark Kent to use heat vision right off the bat because no one on earth is there to inform him that he has heat vision. So I believe that applies to Ichigo. He has everything but doesn't know it.

[@therogueshon2703]

I recently rewatched and read Bleach and something I'd like to add is that when Ichigo was training with the Zero Division, Kyouraku went to the human world to tell Ichigo's friends and family that Ichigo may not be able to return because he has gotten so strong that it would have an affect on the human world. For this reason both captains and vice-captains have their powers limited via the kentei kaijo. But Ichigo never had his powers limited in this way despite the fact that we knew he was captain level for a long time. I don't know why this is the case and I can't give an answer for it, maybe they just tolerated it thinking it wasn't too bad at the time. However, by the end of the manga Ichigo's power has risen a lot more especially now that Old Man Zangetsu isn't holding it back anymore. So what if Kyouraku was right and Ichigo really couldn't go back to the human world after defeating Juha Bach? Well we know that Ichigo does continue to live in the human world and that plot point Kyouraku brought up was never mentioned again and the manga just ended kind of abruptly in my opinion. So if we assume Kyouraku was right then maybe Ichigo's power had to be sealed in some way so that he could continue living in the human world, maybe by gentei kaijo or some other method. This could explain why he has gone back to having his old zangetsu given that at that level it was okay for him to live in human world. And maybe Ichigo can choose to undo the seal which allows him to have two swords again. This is just an idea I recently came up with that could give further context and understanding into the discussion plus it includes the earlier plot point I mentioned that Kyouraku had brought up but nothing really came of it.

[@rev0568]

Could be both gentei kaijo and some other seal, perhaps something similar to what Kenpachi Zaraki used to wear to keep his own power lower than it was normally.

[@kratiksolanki9894]

This would also explain why the hell gates opened as ichigo should have enough powers to balance the power gap between hell and human world specially with zaraki, byakuya, hitsugaya ,rukiya and renji rising to new powers these six should be able to match the difference created by Yamamoto, utikake and unohona but because ichigo's powers are sealed he the hell now had enough strength to open the hell gates

[@shadower227]

Or perhaps Ichigo is voluntarily suppressing his shinigami/hollow reihatsu using his Quincy powers just like old man zangetsu has been doing it the entire time. Just because old man zangetsu relinquish his hold over ichigos power so the hollow and Quincy side harmonize doesn't mean he cannot voluntarily supress it again if he wants to. The other captains may need tools to supress their shinigami power but because ichigo infused with hollow, and he has Quincy power which is a natural enemy to hollow vice versa, he is capable to supress it and this in turns reverts him back to his usual self with his good old shikai. As to the end of TYBW, my guess is that because his hollow and Quincy was stripped away leaving his shinigami powers, his blade reverts. It just makes sense, throughout the early days of bleach when Zangetsu supress ichigos power, he meant his hollow powers, meaning that Ichigo is mostly using his pure shinigami self in most fights only tapping into his Quincy (Blut vein) and Hollow (white) at dire times. That is default ichigo that we know and that is what we see at the end

[@tyrxian6452]

It's explained in Can't Fear Your Own World that the reason Shunsui warned them is because Ichigo was possibly going to become the new Soul King

[@purplegem5532]

In fullbringers ark there was an explanation that shinigami badge can control reatsu of Ichigo so it wouldn't be too strong

[@arg_9584]

I have to give credit to Kubo, he always finds a way to make unique explanations to our questions, but leaves us with more questions lol. I know Kubo said he won’t discuss this again, but he NEEDS to explain this better in the anime. This will fly over just about everyone’s heads, especially the causal and new bleach fans.

[@rogue1248]

kubo is basically just tetsuya nomura at this point.

[@derrikwilliams2718]

Literally I love this guy I wish we always had this much access to him

[@LowKeyJaded]

I don’t think this some “unique explanation” it’s very odd and confusing and seems to be a product of him being rushed in the end and he himself needing to end the manga rather than explain it in detail like he has always done with every other zanpakto

[@arg_9584]

@@LowKeyJaded fair enough, I think that gives him even more credit for coming up with an interesting explanation regarding the topic.

[@varsoonhks3211]

I hope the anime makes it even more vague so that speedreaders can continue to scratch their heads over it.

[@3cho787]

The concept of a sword being incomplete without a sheath and the quincy side of him being that sheath is very symbolic. I just feel like it should have been the other way around. His shikai being the sheathed sword and his bankai being the two blades would have made so much more sense and would have followed along with the theme of his weapons up to this point.

[@rushpatriot2866]

Idk I think brining two parts of himself in shikai form into a bankai as one whole was the ultimate goal and form. It's complete at that point

[@Atticus-Catnipp]

I'm kinda upset that Ichigo is wielding his former Zangetsu. The whole point of his soul palace training was to manifest his shinigami/hollow and Quincy powers as two swords. Well maybe this will turn out as his sealed zanpakuto

[@dirtydan4519]

Maybe he can switch it when he goes serious

[@Atticus-Catnipp]

@@dirtydan4519 yes that's what I am looking for. This giant sword could be Zangetsu's sealed form and his shikai the double swords again

[@GG-gv7ht]

Have you even seen the translation ?? He can use it

[@ludasrayjin1158]

He can use the double swords

[@miember676]

What I got from Kubo's explanation: He can sheath and unsheath his forms at will, depending on him. Hmm, I guess it's like, Sheathed Shikai- The one Ichigo has in this one-shot Unsheathed Shikai- The dual blade Sheathed Bankai- The one he used to against Yhwach Unsheathed Bankai- The one he used to "kill" Yhwach. And btw, you forgot what Shunsui said if Ichigo's powers aren't sealed? It will cause harm to the World of the Living to the point that he said that Ichigo might not come back. But now, Ichigo can now control it. And the dual blade contains a lot of reiatsu. He must learn to control it somehow if he didn't want to harm the World of the Living. That's why his zanpakuto now is it's sealed form like any other Shinigamis.

[@connerswickrath6246]

I generally believe the shiki and bankai forms are just crutches to help them control there powers and during the final battle Ichigo transcended the need for the forms and his sword became what was most familiar and most correct for him the shiki form, but he can power up whenever he wants without the need for extra forms or weapon changes to get full strength, hope this makes sense

[@santiagosolano6807]

This may be a long one. First I think that Kubo saying that he will get back to it in the future is a pretty strong reference to us getting more canon material, hopefully a continuation of the Hell Arc, maybe him explaining to Kazui their powers or how to control them? Second I would like to think the Zangetsu we see in the Hell Arc is his unreleased state, dual zanpakuto is his shikai and the Bankai is the one showed in the TYBW. I would love to finally hear Ichigo’s release command for Zangetsu maybe something like reforge or un-sheath Zangetsu or go the other way saying something like show your true form Zangetsu, something similar to Yamamoto or Kyoraku’s command. Also I really hope we see more of Ichigo in his TYBW Bankai in the future, maybe using a quincy bow or another Gran Rey Cero, I really think we need to see more of what he can do with his bankai and hopefully get a new power to it because out of all the bankai his is kind underwhelming in the creativity of his power.

[@ExtraVictory]

Lol Kubo actually said the opposite. He said he *won't* be getting back to it.

[@ExtraVictory]

He literally said this will be the last time he addresses it lmfao

[@soulalex2752]

@@ExtraVictory he probably wants to save the reveal of his true bankai powers for the anime or the new hell arc. That's what I'm assuming because he doesn't want to just reveal a long time fan question just like that. I think that Kubo would prefer to finally reveal that in his work.

[@ExtraVictory]

@@soulalex2752 but he literally said this *was* the time for him to answer and that he wasn't going to return to this topic from now on lol. He didn't refuse to answer so he could reveal it in the anime, he *did* answer and then said thats all we're getting lol. Besides the anime, which also has extensive involvement by Kubo, confirmed in the trailer that TYBW is the final arc. So its probably going to be elaborated on in the anime, if at all. But it seems very clear there wont be anything more forthcoming beyond what he's already given us, between the source material and his work on the anime and the answer he gave here

[@MashuSlyferiux]

Imagine if Kubo actually gives clear and acceptable explanations for his manga, not possible in this universe

[@Snowshill]

I think as was said due to ichigo having such a profound understanding of his own power he can chnage its form more or less as he sees fit, and as said in the fullbring arc ones poweres can never truely be taken away there are many levels to them. Also sukishimas full bring can utterly rewrite even the past insertign himself into it combined with orihimes power that also fundamentaly rewrites and reverses time to how she wills it could very well have undone ichigos poweres being taken. A combination of all these is likely the case

[@luisz0339]

TLDR: Ichigo can choose to have the two swords or one sword (that looks like his original shikai). The second sword is supposed to represent a sheat and the large sword is the sword that goes inside it. The bankai is technically the same, with the white part covering and all since it is his Quincy powers covering the Shinigami/Hollow powers like a the sheat covers a sword. I hope, you like this version Mr.Tommo!

[@karaokekingskingdom]

the iroy is he caa still pimp up this version with his fullbring

[@sexycybercyborg371]

The larger sword isn’t the one that goes in tho, the smaller one does.

[@jamaalwilliamson5058]

This is incorrect because his larger white sword isn’t his Quincy sword, it’s his shinigami/hollow power. The black sword represents his black sword. So I don’t understand how when ichigo has the dual bladed his Quincy sword represents the sheath but then in bankai is white sword (which is his hollow/shinigami power) being the sheath. It makes no sense and honestly I don’t think Kubo really has a thorough explanation about this given to how ichigo is in the hellverse chapter and how rushed (and how many holes) the last part of the thousand year arc was.

[@karaokekingskingdom]

@@jamaalwilliamson5058 kubo should had just said this big zangetsu- sealed dual wield- shikai merged-bankai simple and effective

[@chawli2782]

@@jamaalwilliamson5058 troll it does makea sense because in bankai they are just combined

[@axelguadalupe8770]

It makes alot of sense thank you for clarifying this, i was so confused about it. I wish kibo could be more clear cut about this type of stuff

[@JioVega]

I always saw Ichigo's final sword as his true nature. Ichigo has always been scatterbrained and dropped into scenarios he doesnt understand. Having 4 sources of power means you have a ton of conditions to meet in order to activate them. During the fight with Yuha, Ichigo says "Sorry Inoue, it takes this guy (his hollow powers) a while to wake up". Yuha stealing Ichigo's powers actually did him a favor, as ichigo was able to then ignore all of those conditions and cleave through Yuha with everything he had left.

[@OmnsaeF]

This makes sense to me. Also, Ichigo's Hollow-Shinigami power (or Zangetsu himself, the hollow) always came to be when Ichigo's life was very much at the edge. So Ywatch kicking his ass and pressing him against a corner was just what he needed for his real power to come forth.

[@MelissaJetzt]

My brain likes to go to a very simple and human conclusion that maybe Kubo made a silly mistake in the haste to finish everything and is just inventing reasoning around it. But ideally I’d prefer if it made sense haha

[@Vezuls]

Love the explanation, but WHAT DOES HIS BANKAI DO!!!!? WE NEVER GOT TO SEE IT BUT WE KNOW JUHA BACH WAS SCARED OF IT. I really hope we see it in this new Hell arc

[@varsoonhks3211]

It kills God. That's all it needs to do.

[@SinHurr]

Stabs gud

[@jhenarddavid5074]

also didn't elaborate its abilities

[@vinothekidd]

Hollowfication

[@shadower227]

The ability to shatter fate. Basically kratos

[@zap7737]

It makes sense that the "Bankai" sword in TYBW was in a sheathe and that's what crumbled when he attacked Ywatcha. Cause I always wondered why it had that weird chain on it, so makes sense it would be a "strap" to go over his shoulder. And you can even see the gap in the crumbled white pieces, where the actual sword would slide in. I guess Ichigo just didn't know it was in a sheathe and was swinging the whole thing 🤣

[@SinHurr]

that's actually super on point and in character. 10/10

[@HUEMOB]

yeah but why would his shikai not have one? most of the others have a sheath when sealed but it disappears in shikai and or bankai why would ichigo be backwarrds it makes no sense and yhwach alraady saw ichigos bankai in use via the future so why would he be so shocked when the sheath shattered he should have known this. we all try to make sense of this ending but honestly the only answer is kubo fucked it all up and there is no sense to begin with

[@ThyBait]

@@HUEMOBhis shikai doesn’t have one because he can make the swords appear and disappear.

[@nevzataydin1]

@@HUEMOB maybe because aizen confuse him, and silver arrow stops his power momentarily, so anything he saw from that moment onward was over a wrong assumption. he didn't killed ichigo but stab aizen, and he couldn't use his power for a few seconds, so he doesn't know what happened in that few seconds. + tsukishima changed the past, while ywatch absense, this creates another unknown to the ywatch's equation.

[@slevinchannel7589]

Shikai-Writing-Prompt: I'm Idea-Scouting and just want to see what differing Ideas people come up withh for the following explanation: The Shikai allows the concepts of distance and diversity to be manipulated when in direct correlation to each other! This allows him to cut minions or enemies and improve or degrade their teleportation abilities.

[@anteksikora3925]

I've watched like 40 of your videos during last two weeks and I just wanted to thank you for delivering such a good content! Love listening to your explanaitions and theories! Keep up the good work :D

[@necroleis]

I was today years old when I realized that whenever Ichigo unsheathed his old shikai he absorbed the left over cloth.... and no one noticed.

[@themoonlitspice325]

I've been waiting for this explanation for a little while from Kubo, this must have frustrated Bleach fans for ages, if it's only being explained now. Maybe this will appear in the Thousand Year Blood War anime adaptation, if they expand upon the story. I hope that's the route they take with it, so that everyone gets this answer in canon material, rather than needing to turn to online sources to understand it.

[@ZeroX7649]

The explanation is branding. Kubo wanted the final chapter to look cool, lore be damned and he didn't expect to be roped into more Bleach 10 years later and nobody made a satisfying fan theory for him to milk off of yet.

[@felipesantos-er4kk]

@@ZeroX7649 🤦🏽‍♂️

[@ZeroX7649]

@@felipesantos-er4kk Oh you know it's true. And it's pretty clear Kubo doesn't want to attempt to explain this again.

[@jamaalwilliamson5058]

@@ZeroX7649 I agree with you. Kubo’s answer didn’t make complete sense given the hell arc and also the fact that yuha steals ichigo Quincy and hollow powers. I think he wrote himself into such a hole towards the end of the thousand year blood arc that he just tried to rush and finish it quickly without having to explain the gaps. That’s probably why he doesn’t want to address it anymore because he knows he doesn’t have a complete explanation for ichigo that makes sense to the story.

[@ASNS117Zero]

@@ZeroX7649 Yeah, I kind of agree as well. That whole business of the "explanation" Kubo gave was really weak and doesn't make much sense. Like, okay, so you're telling me that Ichigo's releases are just making Zangetsu assume the form that it's 'supposed' to have? Scabbards? What? Is something being lost in translation here? That doesn't match up with anything the series told us about Zanpakuto releases up to this point at all.

[@lucian0043]

I like to believe that after he learned about his heritage he pretty much just merged with zangetsu. Remember when he says "i won't ask you to lend me your power... something something... YOU ARE ME"? I believe this is something beyond bankai, so his blade is nothing more than a sword at this point because the actual Zangetsu is inside him.

[@gundamcollector77]

Yes i think this as well. I really hope one day we get to learn Ichigos shikai activation is "i am Zangetsu".

[@michaelc.r.6416]

@@gundamcollector77 “we are one, zangetsu”

[@SinHurr]

That was really just Ichigo finally understanding what a Zanpakuto really is. It's him. Just pointy and cranky. All Zanpakuto are just _extensions_ of their Shinigami. He doesn't need to borrow Old Man's power, or tell White to get out of his way. _They are him_

[@tacoboy2218]

" the blade is me"

[@miember676]

Q277: In the end, has Zangetsu returned to being just one blade? The "10 years later" version of Ichigo that was added to the Brave Souls game is seen wielding the "Zangetsu that appeared after Tensa Zangetsu shattered" seen in the final stage of the Thousand Year Blood War arc. The dual Zangetsu blades containing the Hollow and Quincy sides are joined together into a single blade when releasing Tensa Zangetsu, so I assumed that it would clearly revert back into two blades once the Bankai is undone. However, after revealing his Bankai, Ichigo has both his Hollow and Quincy powers stolen and the blade gets damaged as well among other things. Would this be the reason why Zangetsu did not return to being two blades again? Or is it possible that if Ichigo so wishes it can be turned into both a single blade and a pair of swords as well? In any case, it's just a game exclusive addition but I was really curious about it. A277: Although this hasn't been touched upon in detail, since I don't plan on expanding upon this topic any further I'm going to answer your question here. The dual Zangetsu is made up of "the blade" and "the scabbard". The correct form of a Zanpakuto is one that includes a scabbard and there are only two blades without one: Sayafushi and Zangetsu. The dual blade state fixes Zangetsu into its "correct form" while its Bankai state provides the scabbard, and what was seen after it shattered is the "True Zangetsu". The shattered scabbard was absorbed by Ichigo so if he wanted to he could split it back into two, but I guess that depends on Ichigo himself.

[@chawli2782]

Well said

[@OmnsaeF]

Thanks for this comment! This implies that Ichigo has enough control of his powers now to make his Zanpakuto appear with or without the scabbard :)

[@haychegriiim1592]

Another great video! Thanks for all of your content and also introducing me to the great Bleach community we have online.

[@rodneylane952]

I actually love Kubo's willingness to allow us to theorize on lore. It shows a confidence in his fanbase to put the pieces he leaves together And as far as his Hell arc form, I think you're right when you say that's how he chooses to seal Zangetsu, because like you said the bankai doesn't have the bandage but in Hell Arc sword does, that's the easiest way to understand it

[@dain6492]

More like he has no real answers and was making stuff up on the spot and painted himself into a corner and him actually explaining it in detail would destroy established lore.

[@rodneylane952]

@@dain6492 if you wanna be cynical about it, yeah, I'll go with my take tho

[@jorgerascon1212]

I guess that's one way of spin it. 🤣🤣🤣

[@jschoma11]

Talking points or not, that's an impressive quantity of quality information. Well done once again.

[@mattelwood980]

By this explanation it sounds like Ichigo is at a point where it's "build your own Zanpakuto". Being less adept at dual wielding my guess would be he prefers to keep the blades as one in Shikai, if his sheath is just his quincy power whose to say he can't just will it to be made of reishi. Bankai could very well be the large white sheathed blade once again. His sword wearing its power as opposed to Ichigo in his prior Bankais.

[@quincyquincy4764]

HAHAHAHAHA

[@ZeroX7649]

Either that or Kubo realized midway through drawing Ichigo in the TYBW, drawing a dual wield kind of sucks and there's a reason so few manga characters do it.

[@beezydagod41]

Him not being use to dual blades is out cuz no matter how unique or weird the zanpakto is the user is always able to wield it. Look at renji or ikkaku.

[@sonoftheredfox]

I think this just speaks to the complexity of Ichigo's personality and character. On the surface I think the average reader/viewer just looks at him as this guy who yes, at his core. is fueled completely by his desire to protect, and this pushes him to continually level up. But his various Bankai and Shikai forms continually expose the layers of his multiple generational sources of power and how as he learns to call them up he continues to transcend previous forms and attain greater power.

[@MrYutbe57]

The implication, IMO, is that this is the single bladed version of his Shikai and he can, at will, switch to dual bladed. Furthermore, his Bankai would have two forms: the OG bankai (hyperspeed movement) and the Tybw Bankai (devastating slash that reverts him to Shikai). The OG Zangetsu's ability is Getsuga Tensho and the Dual Blade is Getsuga Jujisho. Idk.

[@loturzelrestaurant]

How Nonsensical. The Sheeth looks like a Blade, yeah, sure, yeah. Sure. Ok. Yeah.

[@SinHurr]

@@loturzelrestaurant Makes perfect sense. Sheath, cap, scabbard. All things that keep the real danger contained. Tiny sword keeps big sword in check. This tracks. Like a cannonball, but it tracks.

[@peltycrikts6990]

This is a case of. I don't think anyone knows exactly the vision of Tite Kubo's BLEACH. Until just recently the mangaka pointed to aspects to the story. Fans either missed, overlooked, ignored, that Kubo has highlighted as important. And were clearly part of the story from the beginning. Has anyone actually questioned how Zanpakuto worked. How the shinigamai actually worked. The differences between all the species of this world, and why they function the way they do. What are the Quincy and Yhwach really. Aizen and Ichigo and how deep does Ichigo's nature delve into the whole of the BLEACH story.

[@synystermango6029]

Sounds like Kubo wrote himself into a corner tried to explain it then said yeah I'm not coming back to this subject

[@frankadrian6380]

No it actually makea perfect sense he didnt write himself into a corner

[@jordanbrandt1411]

I honestly think you did a good job explaining everything and having a competent theory as well. I think it would be really helpful if we got a little more visual information on true shikai/bankai for ichigo, but it seems like between the sheathing concept and Ichigo's abillity to change the zanpakuto shape at will, he has kind of created a loop hole for any possible inconsistencies or confusing parts with established zanpakuto in the past. The only thing I don't really like about the new set up is that there is a less established difference in his powers, because it seems to kind of make less clear exactly what it means for him to go into shikai or bankai. At the same time, Ichigo's ability has always pretty much been that he has had an increase in physical strength/speed and a different type of getsuga.

[@TheSlammurai]

I would go as far as to say that his butter knife was probably ALWAYS the sealed version and NOT the shikai. It seems like he may have never had a shikai or a bankai to begin with. It was just his hollow powers pretending to be shinigami powers. Now that he has a proper zanpakuto, he can use an actual shikai (which is dual) and bankai (which is combined) and the butter knife goes back to being the sealed version. That was the interpretation I had.

[@DragonLordJesus]

I think Ichigo is just in a constant state of Bankai. He is always in Shikai, it's what he was comfortable with. So maybe, now that his bankai is a unified state, in a form he is familiar with, he just stays in it.

[@tiosevenstars]

It's my fav blade so it would be amazing to be his constant blade! So nicely designed ^^

[@MelissaJetzt]

Like the Total Concentration Breathing of the Bleach universe, maybe?

[@facelessskull8143]

The idea that he can sort of shape his sword however he wants depending on which powers he wants to use is interesting but honestly feels like an excuse more than explanation. I'd like to see more to back this up from earlier in the series. I think the scene where Ichigo is first learning bankai, where he's surrounded by all the swords and he has to find the real one, could be a good way to do that. It'd be nice to see a scene where those things are linked in some way.

[@Stunnedfunn]

Perfect case of kubo over doing it and not wanting to add more to what he said. Very annoying. Thanks for the explanation yours has been the best I've found so far.

[@randyneves9701]

Kubo is very frustrating, he makes something vague and when fans ask for an explanation he makes it even more vague. It’s really petty and frustrating not to get a straight answer

[@cbohnstedt4477]

I really hope that is his fully sealed sword now; hearing what his Shikai command is would be so cool after all this time! What do you folks think it would be? My guess would be it's subversively simple and direct like Ichigo's fighting style has been this whole time. Something like, "Cut, Zangetsu."

[@NickKrillin]

It's probably what "Zangetsu" says to him right before he releases it the first time, "Advance, never stop. Retreat and you'll age. Be afraid and you'll die."

[@0eyes]

@@NickKrillin That’s way too long for a command

[@NickKrillin]

@@0eyes Tell that to Shunsui and Ukitake

[@0eyes]

@@NickKrillin truee

[@wildstorm3486]

I read this in a FanFiction story years ago. This story had Ichigo’s release command be “Protect, Zangetsu” That I think is perfect for Ichigo. He originally got the powers to protect his family and it’s also why he kept fighting. And on top of that Zangetsu itself was limiting his powers in a misguided attempt to protect Ichigo.

[@serge263]

I think Ichigo's real power in Sealed-Shikai-Bankai is to alter the shape and form of his sword based on what he wants/needs. That's what makes the most sense to me. So, his sword and powers are how he wants them to appear. So, he just goes with what's most comfortable for him. Meaning, Ichigo has no real limits on the shape of his sword.

[@blacksoldier430]

That seems right, almost all shikai that we know alters the form of the swords others just summons things or does crazy shit but the only thing we saw Ichigo do was the getsuga tensho and I really doubt that a energy slash could be a shikai technique

[@serge263]

@@blacksoldier430 Though Ichigo's overall ability is to reshape his powers/sword(s) however he wishes, Getsuga Tensho is his primary combat/offensive ability.

[@tnuhenaj3752]

Maybe i have misunderstood but i was under the impression that the sheathe was the larger sword not the smaller one. For 2 reasons. In his bankai when the sheathe is still on the outside it is white just like the hollow blade and the inside is black like the quincy blade. Secondly the true sword inside the sheathe is the the original zangetsu, which was the form of ichigo's sword when quincy zangetsu's power was prevalent in ichigo's body. and the small sword is the quincy blade. Also it makes sense for the small sword to go into the bigger one and the big sword has a hole in it like something can go inside. It might seem counterintuitive having the quincy sword being the true one since the hollow is supposed to be the true power but thats a bit of a misconception. Both swords are equally his true power both quincy and hollow its just that until that point old man zan was lying to ichigo and suppressing him. Lastly an arrancar's zanpakuto disappears in resureccion so it makes more sense for the hollow sword to dissipate and become part of his body than the quincy weapon. As a last point this harkens back to when ichigo and aizen were fighting how he said that the next level or true form of the zanpakuto is for the wielder to fuse with their sword. Which may have something to do with how he absorbs the sheathe when it breaks and can bring it out. Aizen also lost his zanpakuto against ichigo but was able to bring it out in the war and he was able to use kyokasuigetsu on yhwach without it during the first invasion.

[@DragonLordJesus]

You make a fascinating point!! But considering that Bankai's usually have the sword becoming something wild, the smaller blade becoming the sheathe is rather tame to be honest lol. I feel like the sizes more represent the quantity of that power in question, as Ichigo is primarily a shinigami with a hollow has his actual Zanpakuto spirit, the larger sword would represent those powers with it's size, and in that sense because he not proficient with his Quincy powers its much smaller. The larger sword turning white represents his Hollow state, he even uses it as a substitute horn when he charges his Gran rey cero ( I even think the slot in the larger sword is suppoused to be for the smaller sword but actually represents a hollow hole). But when he goes into Bankai, i do not think that the color scheme is suppoused to continue over, but instead represent duality of Quincy and Shinigami powers, and there balance and symbolism are what are at play. The white sheathe represents his Quincy powers, (White because Quincys have always been presented with the color white) protecting and holding back (Like how Old Man Zan was doing) the Black Shinigami blade (Black because Shinigami are usually present with the color Black.). As for the sword's appearance being the same as when Old man Zan was in control, i do not think Ichigo's Zanpakuto was going to change much, it seems that a False Zanpakuto is never to far off the mark of the True Zanpakuto. But that just how i see it.

[@nineteenct]

I like your point on the Arrancar’s release, how they absorb their their sword and manifest their true nature. For every one of Ichigo’s transformations he has to “wear” his power to grow stronger, from his first bankai, hollow mask, fullbring, etc. Also I think Ichigo’s choice is a big deal here, he chooses to have Zangetsu be in the form he’s most familiar and comfortable with. He was always at odds with his Hollow side, but believed in Old Man Zangetsu entirely, and *chose* his True Bankai to represent his old sword’s appearance

[@ecxm91]

Thanks for the update and theory crafting. Its possible ichigos true power is to fuse/split souls. Starting with his own. So it explains why he can split his sword and sheath or fuse it or use one part of it individually. My guess is his preference is to use his hollow/shinigami powers which is what you see in hell arc. When necessary he can summon his Quincy powers and fuse them for a bankai. It also explains why he is the only one who could kill ywach because his power is able to split any soul, even the soul kings. Just a weird theory here

[@anthonydaulhac3755]

Good analysis, thanks for that. After having his zanpakuto reforged, I would have liked to see Ichigo with a base blade, like any Shinigami (after all, he's a true one then and has a proper control over his reiatsu). Then we could have seen Ichigo call Zangetsu with his incantation to Shikai, and to Bankai. New forms would have been OK then as Ichigo's quincy powers had been ripped off him

[@robobo1726]

Good explanation, thx

[@Ultimataco]

I hope when the anime comes back we can actually see ichigo do SOMETHING with his “true” bankai. Maybe he puts up more of a fight with it before it gets broken. I would like to see what he can do with that bankai

[@kaidrazarc8000]

I think Kubo was rushed not in right head space so hes not happy with the result himself, I'd guess his logic was - Ichigo landing the final hit with his old Shika would be iconic/full circle - after getting some rest maybe he didn't like the "new Bankai" and preferred the traditional Shika = cleaver, Bankai = katana look - now hes trying to match the ending to his vision going forward & they dont exactly line up so he was to just brush passed it to focus on the good stuff ahead One way he could try to revolve it is his classic look is him just tapping into shinigami powers then he has mask/horn for hollow powers and dual weilding for quincy powers. That way we can get both classic & dual weilding ichigo in the future

[@xiaokong9920]

My thought of Ichigo blade in Hell Arc. Kubo stated that Ichigo now can choose which form his blade will be, what if in hell, that is his zanpakutou in sealed stated? and when he unsleash his shikai/full power, they will go to dual blade? He use like his former zangetsu because of being more comfortable but at the same time, it is his holding back his power, just like when Byakuya stated that shinigami learn to control their reiatsu in their blade so that they not carry mountain size zanpakutou. I think it is the same concept

[@MugnifyRTS]

MrTommo I enjoy your videos man and I feel bad that I haven’t subbed to support you! I’m a reactor and I want support more creators the best way I can!

[@44harbordale44]

Flame Rebirth pointed out something that gave me a little relief , Ichigo's Bankai always has a chain replacing the cloth. So the Hell Arc chapter was almost certainly his Shikai...aaaaand you said it right as I finished typing this comment 🤣🤣

[@derekrichardson7853]

This revelation by Kubo just leaves me more confused I think. Lol Once I heard about what Kubo had said I was looking forward to hearing your take on this. Great vid as always.

[@Rico_g15]

THANK YOU FOR THIS

[@dweller132]

A potential theory I have about this is that Zangetsu can store some of Ichigo's power in itself, making it so he can eventually return to full power despite it being drained. Yhwach does break Tensa Zangetsu and absorb Ichigo's Quincy powers, but the broken bankai still has the white shell afterwards. Due to being able to fuse Zangetsu and OM Zangetsu together, it makes Ichigo immune to the effects of stealing power. Another theory that goes along with it is that the Soul King had laid plans to stop Yhwach, and Ichigo ended up playing into one of them. Since the Almighty's power is seeing and altering futures, the Soul King must have a greater version of it, so the one future Yhwach saw himself die in is the one that the Soul King intended Ichigo to fulfill when the time came. Once Ichigo came into the picture, that future would take place no matter what happened. We do know from the novels that the Soul King's nails were scattered among humans and shinigami spirits, so perhaps that was the groundwork for his plans. Eventually, someone with these fragments of himself would evolve and become strong enough to stop Yhwach and/or replace him. Then Aizen came along and unknowingly fed into the plan, developing Ichigo into someone who could do what the Soul King wanted. And all the rest fell into place.

[@Law34prez]

I think he answered it this way because we may very well get additional info as hell chapter progresses

[@DairyDuke]

Am I the only who thought the blade breaking at the end of the series was him coming out of Bankai and into Shikai? The face markings and clothes change when this happens - all of his power exhausted from the fight. Early in the series it's revealed that Ishin is a Soul Reaper. When he's taking out Grand Fisher, he makes a point to talk about how Shinigami can control their blades to make them practically any shape they want. Ishin makes his small sword super long, for example. We see this repeated shortly after with Urahara and his cane sword. It's why the base sword's turn into different shapes when they're released. When Ichigo's sword is broken at the end to reveal his original sword, I figured that was him defaulting to his most natural, comfortable state - when he awakened his Shinigami powers for himself. Without his Quincy powers, he could no longer sustain this new fusion Bankai and this is where the "Sheathe" lost its spirit density. Just like at the start of the series when Ichigo's first sword is cut up by Byakuya, this outer layer of his Bankai turned into a husk without any spirit density. There's a clear shift during the fight when his Bankai fails. Since the sword's form is directly related to the wielder's frame of mine (Something repeated throughout the series), even after Ichigo absorbs his Quincy powers back, there's no need to change them/reforge back to dual-sword since the threat was over.

[@hazurding]

similar to my theory i just commented, i was surprised not to see more people thinking along this line.

[@FutureOverYou]

Great breakdown!

[@thatonetemplar]

Regardless of any of this, what I most want to know is what his Bankai's abilities actually are. Just a 10x stats boost would be super lame for the main character

[@GameCyborgCh]

i mean this was what his original bankai did

[@thatonetemplar]

@@GameCyborgCh Yeah and it was lame then too, it became his new base. It was so lame that they had to use Hollow powers to make his abilities actually exciting

[@primorock8141]

There's a theory floating around that it's fate manipulation

[@thatonetemplar]

@@primorock8141 That sounds kinda dumb ngl

[@primorock8141]

​@@thatonetemplar yeah it's how some people explain his plot armour which can be said for any mc really

[@alucrash1]

The line of thinking that makes sense to me here would be the sheath is brittle because it's Quincy power's are weak due to yuwach, then I believe that he has originally dual wielded when he reforges his blade because his melding of his Quincy and shinigami powers were incomplete still. after bankai they were able to reach a state of synergy so now he probably maintains a singular blade. additionally, much like his old bankai his new bankai involves his pauldron and Horn and all the other accessories that he gets

[@abdoul5176]

I'm excited for the future of bleach but I really hope Kubo takes advantage of the upcoming adaptation to flesh out his ideas.

[@Jmax2018]

I feel like Kubo just accidentally fucked up Ichigo's powers and doesn't know how to fix it

[@Drakkonemus]

This series had so much potential. Ichigo has had a slew of swords, power loss, power gain and aspects of every race in the series. Yet we get spiral of confusion and almost new cool powers per version outside of energy wave. Wish we could have gone back to fullbring with some of those alternative attacks he had or just go deeper into new quincy abilities.

[@khoihuynh9308]

his sword is big because of his rietsu. his bankai condenses that in to a smaller blade. his new bankai is the result of condensing his full power, so the blade is just that big (cant condense it anymore).

[@oldargxp1358]

Don't forget that at the beginning of the series, when Ichigo first acquires his Soul Reaper powers along with his zanpakuto, the blade does have a giant sheath. This base form of Zangetsu was used up until his training with Urahara to learn the name of his zanpakuto: Zangetsu. This means that Ichigo did have a true zanpakuto. My point can be further proven because there are very few zanpakuto that have sheaths when in Shikai form, for example, Byakuya's Senbonzakura and Renji's Zabimaru, both of which do not have sheaths for these states. Ichigo's Zangetsu was always seen in Shikai form ever since he learned its name in the Anime, which explains why it never had a sheath. The wrappings also provided a "sheath" while Zangetsu was not in use but also stayed in released Shikai form. this was because of the fact that due to the massive reiatsu level, Ichigo could not control that amount of energy while in a sealed (base zanpakuto form) state.

[@Fureiji88]

My head hurts trying to wrap around everything you just said

[@achumumu3487]

Byakuya says something about Kenpachi when he uses his Shikai or Bankai (Can't quite remember exactly when) but says something along the line of "Oh, maybe there isn't such a thing as a sustained release Shikai." While he said this about Kenpachi I thought some of this had to pertain to Ichigo and maybe what we saw was never really his Shikai but the base form of Zangetsu and so, when Yhwach breaks the sheath of Ichigo's Bankai, what Ichigo actually kills him with is the base form of his sword. Simply a thought I had, love the lore of Bleach and the theory behind zanpakuto's and such but I'd be lying if this answer from Kubo still didn't leave me confused lol.

[@murfeel1173]

This is even more confusing cuz no one realized that Kenpachi's sword was never even in Shikai; they only assumed it was cuz they thought he had a Bankai he was just choosing to never use. So their ideas about Shikai were all wrong anyway. And in Ichigo's case, him never having a sheathe makes no sense either, since in the Substitute Shinigami arc it very much did have a sheathe, worn on his back with that huge buckled strap. So I have no idea what's going on, LOL.

[@sadekesandy1880]

Yeah I agree so what we've been calling his "true bankai" all the time was just the base form of his sword which would make sense since we know for a fact he never had a true shikai or bankai up until the TYBW

[@Bootleg_Sasuke]

@@murfeel1173 In the Substitute Shinigami arc, he was borrowing Rukia's powers. But when he actually awakens his own powers, he does not have a sheathe.

[@Barni2212]

Kubo didn't explain clearly because I think he doesn't know either. At this point Zangetsu is a: "I will be whatever I want to be" Kubo shoud said something like: "My source is that I made the f*ck up, Ichigo is the protagonist he can manifest whatever he wants. (And drawing one sword is easier than 2)"

[@Wezt334]

I viewed it as since the forging for his true Zanpakuto Zangetsu no longer has a permanent Shikai and the sword we see is just the sealed form of Zangestu now. This then allows Kubo to have a bit of excitement for future Ichigo battles as he can then call on the twin blades as a Shikai and then the white covered Bankai giving his sword 3 forms like all other shinigami

[@shunkun8668]

Great video. I just want to note that Ichigos bankai wasn't really about the blade itself, but his shinigami clothes. So that's the main difference when performing bankai

[@feyrback7795]

As a reminder, Yhwach stole all of his powers from Ichigo, which is why he waited for them to merge before taking them from him. Tsukishima cancels the destruction of the bankai by preventing its realease in the past, which means that in this timeline, only the powers of quincy have been stolen so the zanpakuto has returned to its previous form of zangetsu shikai (reason why Orihime can restore it ) hidden in the old new bankaï x). Yhwach tries to destroy it in the future afterwards but does not succeed because he tries to destroy tensa zangetsu which at this moment does not exist. What he takes for "an insolent chance" is actually only him who is mistaken, and he only realizes this Trojan horse at the time of the final attack. Bonus: Yhwach can't be defeated by a power he knows the nature of (seeing in the future helps with knowledge requirements x)) or in their final battle Yhwach wrongly assumes that ichigo has the exact same powers and Aizen disrupts those senses all the more easily by impersonating this supposed version of Ichigo.

[@NintennoCollector]

I love this explanation because many people may have not realized that without sword being broken, he wouldnt have had all of these powers stolen. So in this case in sequence of events, Sword is broken then power is stolen. but if sword was "never broken" due to tsukishima's power, then the power was never stolen. Then creates a series od events that align really well with your theory and makes the most sense.

[@marcellXcatalyst]

I've always appreciated that although you're a fan of Bleach, you're not a blind fanboy and call out it's faults and idiosyncrasies.

[@frankadrian6380]

Yeah and thats what makes him a bad fan since he doesnt get informed well since many of those faults and idiosyncracies are wrong

[@christrinh7228]

I always assumed his powers had somewhat reverted to their previous state when Yhwach stole his power. By the time of of the last blow, Ichigo is exhausted and whatever is left of his quincy power is dissipating so his zanpakuto naturally reverts into his original shikai. I still think he is fighting in shikai during the hell chapter since there is no reason for him to go all out against random hollows. I guess Kubo could be hyping a new bankai for the next arc so Ichigo can have a new transformation.

[@crazyfreak6341]

Maybe its too simple or too crazy but what about this. What if the moment Ichigo goes to slash Yhwach ,because his bankai was so worn out (at its limit because he tried to completely destroy it) he unconsciously (or not) "undo it" reverting it back to "sheathed" shinkai form to prevent it from destroyed. That would explain why he still has it like that at the hell arc

[@greyworld6242]

I think it’s honestly his sealed form. It’s interesting how he’s always fought with the actual form of his sword and not the actual form of his sword at the same time. Also interesting that the true shikai form of his bigger blade has a sheath technically in the form of it being black but it’s true strength lies underneath it when it becomes white.

[@TheDonovanMcCormick]

Was just about to send you this article, I was so confused when I read the article 😂 I understand Zangetsu even less than I did before which was basically none by the end. Now I understand it less than none.

[@WeirdFaden]

I always viewed it as Book of The End physically repaired Tensa Zangetsu, but the Spirit Energy wasn't there so it broke when it hit Yhwah. Then as he cut Ywah, he reassured the Spirit Energy and fragments. I really dislike Kubo's answer here because while it answers some questions it really doesn't answer why he currently has that sword, is he permanently in bankai? Is it the sealed state? Like aaaagggghhh the answers we got were interesting but he still over looks a massive part of it. Oh well hopefully the anime gets room enough to properly explain these things.

[@TsukyTheDark]

You theory on the cicle of Ichigos zanpakutou sounds solid. Base for is what was his old shikai, the new shikai is the dual wielding, having both of his powers at had but separate and the new bankai is the shiething of zangetsu, like the base form, but coated and powered up with the quincy powers, essentially blending his 2 separate owers into one bigger power.

[@ladymorwendaebrethil-feani4031]

I always thought this was due to Orihime's powers, who, by fixing Ichigo's bankai in the final fight, had returned Zangetsu to its original state. I hope that in the new hell arc, Ichigo regains his original tense zangetsu or something close to it.

[@jackcook9005]

Personally im a fan of the idea that the meat cleaver we see in the hell chapter is the sealed state the shikai is the dual blades and the bankai is the fused blade. A state which the white shell is destructible and safely designed for such. Which is quite fitting given that the core of quincy power is absorbion and concentration of power

[@Michael_mki233]

This was something that always confused me, but when Yhwach broke the outer part of Ichigo's Bankai, why did the wrapping on the hilt also disappear? That has to be significant. The only was I could justify it was that it was Zangetsu reverting back to his old Shikai, since at that point he didn't have his Quincy powers. Those would have returned after some time had passed. But that begs the question, where is the cloth then?

[@leonkennidy6171]

As I remember Tsukishima's ability dabbled about the past where his blade had cut. He can edit it to his choosing just like how he dabbled the memory of Orihime and Chad in the fullbringer arc. It also shows during his battle with Byakuya where he edited the whole landscape to put out traps for Byakuya in the middle of the battle.

[@darstei5136]

After reading a few comments and thinking somewhat I've concluded on this idea about Ichigo's Zanpakuto A short version Original Zangetsu is sealed Zanpakuto, his original "Bankai" is an incomplete version of his true Shikai, his true Zanpakuto with dual blades is actual Shikai and the "sheathed" blade used against Yhwach is his true Bankai, of the 2 swords the big blade is the sheath, the quincy power which is why it turns white and the small blade is shinigami and hollow power which disappears or fuses with the big blade The true Shikai and Bankai forms are visualization of Ichigo's story throughout Bleach and his understanding of his power Ichigo's original Zangetsu wasn't a constant release Shikai but actually his sealed Zanpakuto By releasing "Bankai" he would actually release an incomplete Shikai form akin to how Yumichika would call out the name of his Zanpakuto wrong (saying Fuji Kujako instead of Ruri'iro Kujako) to hide its true power, since he never learned the actual true nature of his power so could never actually achieve Bankai, could reference Byakuya's initial reaction to seeing Ichigo's "Bankai" and saying that it isn't a Bankai and looks just like a regular Zanpakuto The black katana that he wielded for most of bleach was just in fact a different form of the small black blade he wields in his true Shikai form which represents his Shinigami and Hollow powers while his shikahusho changing form was some form of a representation of his Quincy powers holding back his Shinigami and Hollow powers by literally covering him, I guess you could say weighing him down as in making him weaker and looking akin to Old Man Zangetsu's attire Now after reforging Zangetsu he obtains his true Shikai form being the two blades, the short one representing his shinigami and hollow powers (which is a different form of his old "Bankai") and the big one(which turns white) representing his quincy powers In regards to mention of a sheathe and the sword, the big Quincy blade is the sheathe and small one the blade, this represents how Old Man Zangetsu kept his power in check and only allowing him to use a portion of his true power And then his true Bankai is him "sheathing" the sword to form the Tensa Zangetsu we saw in the fight against Yhwach which represents the true nature of his power which is the combination of all his powers which are symbolized by his Quincy side containing his Shinigami and Hollow side by being the sheath and encasing the inner blade which are his Shinigami and Hollow powers I guess you could also say that the small blade "disappears" when going into Bankai like when an Arrancar enters Resurrection, his Zanpakuto is gone Another small thing being the chain on his true Tensa Zangetsu symbolizing the link connecting his human body (Quincy) and his soul as in the Chain of Fate connecting a human soul (him being a Shinigami) to the living world which when erodes makes a soul turn into a Hollow Another short take on the current situation of his power which would be in line with what we know about other Zanpakuto The Zanpakuto we see in Hell's arc chapter is just how he likes his sealed Zanpakuto to take form His true Shikai represents the surface view of his power from the outside, his intial understanding of his powers, that he's both shinigami and a hollow, being made up of 2 beings or it could be simply symbolizing Old Man Zangetsu and his Hollow symbolizing his shinigami and hollow powers And then his Bankai represents the hidden side of his powers, meaning the conflict of his powers within like Old Man Zangetsu suppressing his Shinigami powers or Ichigo trying to contain and control the Hollow within him and then maybe potentially the chain symbolizing Isshin linking his soul with Masaki to suppress her Hollowfication caused by White entering her soul Now regards to fight against Yhwach and the changing form of Tensa Zangetsu Since the sheath part, the outer shell symbolizes his Quincy powers and another fact that the large blade turns white when it absorbs energy like how Quincy do we could say that it's made of energy like how Quincy form things out of energy like swords or bows or arrows And then comes Yhwach trying to stop Ichigo's attack he could presumably be taking Ichigo's power as in energy from him to stop the attack cause he's a Quincy which causes the outer shell to fall apart and just have the inner blade exposed and then Ichigo absorbing the broken parts of it because well he's also a Quincy so he can absorb energy Maybe I have thought of some things wrong or misremember certain things and adding things as I think of them but I hope it makes sense and there's good ideas here

[@TheAmerican102]

Interesting theorys. My question is what did the bankai do thou? Is Ichigo supposed to absorb the sheath for a power boost?

[@gundamcollector77]

The way it should have always been is, Ywatch absorbs Ichigos Quincy powers and takes them away for good. Thus taking away the finale element that was holding back Ichigos true powers, his hollow powers. Thus turning his true bankai into the Vasto lorde form, with probably some extra elements in the design. That should have away's been his true bankai sense that is his true power only this time he would have been in control sense he now understands him, the hollow and his zanpakto are all one in the same thus making him no longer afraid of his power.

[@moonlesssky505]

When Ichigos sword was forged, he took it out of the fire before it was finished. So my thought is: even if he had two swords his powers were not balanced in the first place. When he fuses his two swords during the battle, the black and white part are still kind of zoned from each other. Also he needed yhwachs power to waken up the hollow. So it does not seem like his powers are so balanced that he has complete control over it too. When yhwach took his Quincie powers he took the Hollow Part that was Fused with the Quincie powers. But maybe the powers didn't fuse compleately, which is represented by the inner black and white outer zone of the sword. Also it is mentioned before, that these two powers don't really get allong with each other and hate each other. I kinda imagine it like two circles overlapping each other. So maybe he was left with a little bit of his shinigami/hollow power that was not fused with the stolen quincie power. This is the same state he was in, when his inner quincie powers supressed his real powers in the beginning of the series when he could just use a little bit of his real power. So maybe that's why the sword scattered and looks like his "old" shikai. When he was with Uruhara during his first training, Urahara could just scatter his sword too because it did not held any power. Before Yhwach scattered his sword it just looked like his bankai after it got "repaired". But I don't think that Thukishimas and Inoues power are capable to bring back his powers compleately again when it was already taken from him. Even when Tsukishima made it possible, that this sword was not broken. But his sword being broken and his spiritual pressure being taken from him are two different things. And Tsukishima did not mention, that he was able to return his lost powers. Also Inoue can just heal the physical body but can't return the spiritual pressure as mentioned in the story before too. When he than slashed Yhwach, the body of the former bankai scattered because it did not hold and power but he still was left with a little bis of his shinigami/hollow powers. He than reabsorbed his powers after defeating Yhwach. So now the Shikai you see in the Hell chapter might be indeed his sealed Zanpakutou?

[@keithdenzelroque2072]

Ichigo poured reiatsu into his sword at the perfect time when Nimaiya was forging it, he even states it himself in the next few panels.

[@moonlesssky505]

@@keithdenzelroque2072 Jeah but just because he poured his reiatsu at the perfect time, it does not mean that his powers are fused with each other. Also in one panel you could see his hollow representing his bigger sword and the smaller one representing his Quincie powers. So they still are not one sword.

[@zack01598]

Great video!! I want to share a few words. I'm conflicted by your sheathing theory, due to 1 reason: *On one hand* , you refer to the Bankai's outer casing as his Quincy powers. However, Ichigo activating Bankai lets you "obviously" see that the White Shinigami sword acts as the exterior and the empty space is being filled by the smaller Quincy sword, I assume representing the union between Shinigami/Hollow and Quincy. I'm really intruiged, whether the casing would've been black, if Ichigo went Bankai without HoS (thus the bigger blade staying black) *On the other hand* , when the outer case breaks, it doesn't just reveal the smol Quincy sword, but instead the old Shikai, so the Bankai Blade as a whole transforms into something different when Ichigo enters Bankai. Basically: I have no clue...lol.

[@nuadai]

Another detail I like about these twin blades is how they're hollow. :) Get it? :D Additionally, I feel like the 2 swords also symbolized how he identified the different sources of his powers, thus dividing them. And then he tried to merge them as he attempted to accept his multiple natures. Unsuccessfully.

[@Bozidar94]

10/10 video Tommo🔝

[@Catalyst375]

So, would that have made Ichigo's old Bankai robe a 'sheath' (RIP to the Bankai Shihakusho)? Personally, I would have found it more dramatic if it was revealed that the base Zanpakuto is all he had left after Yhwach stole both Old Man and White, hence back to bandages. As for his dual wielding, I noticed that Ichigo mostly stopped using the Quincy blade after Yhwach made him kill the Soul King, and mainly depended on the White Zangetsu in his fights afterwards.

[@gszags]

Good catch, I think you're on to something. This might be the reason why the true bankai didn't change his attire.

[@Valken097]

I think this look of zangetsu is now the sealed state, the dual zangetsu is shikai and then the bankai is the one with white touches as we see him fight at the end of TYBW and then dangai form could be what i call the Sankai which is total fusion with zampakuto and Shinigami as we see now on the new forms of urahara and shunsui on bleach brave souls that say a power greater than bankai where they look like they got fused with their zampakutos which explains ichigo dangai having the zampakuto fused to him with the design of the normal bankai we see throughout the entire series explaining the normal jet black katana being always a reference to the Sankai till ichigo truly gained the true zangetsu so dangai ichigo is Sankai and then mugetsu is just the final getsuga tensho technique which leads to that evolution where he turns into the technique itself so ichigo could now just use base true zangetsu, shikai (dual zangetsu), bankai (combined white and black zangetsu), full hollow vasto lorde form, Sankai (Dangai form) and then as last resort to surpass any god limits and surpass even soul king he uses mugetsu the final getsuga tensho at the cost of losing his powers which he probably will never ever use anymore since his true bankai should be enough or at least sankai as long as he doesn’t use mugetsu, only saitama could make ichigo use mugetsu xD

[@TheDanTheDan15]

Ichigo kurosaki deserve justice and respect! BECAUSE HE IS MY PERSONAL FAVORITE MALE CHARACTER OF BLEACH AND SHONEN!! ✊✊🗡🗡

[@uchuzuihamaki]

Haven't finished the vid yet but was happy to hear someone mention some of what I thought to be more obvious theories. Had figured this may be his new sealed state the hollowfication dual blades may be his shikai and bankai could be fusing the powers back together while creating some other yet to be shown/explained abilities like the theorized fate altering power. Alternatively he may have further mastered his powers and now his hallow, shinigami and quincy powers are truly fused and that's represented by the single blade form, however that still leaves some explanation needed for bankai and why it seems to be the same blade form as shikai. Main thought on that is how long it usually takes to really achieve and master bankai vs how long ichigo has even been a shinigami, it would make a lot of sense if he only achieved bankai but hardly used it's abilities. Even looking at Yama presumably, tho a lot younger, was still a seasoned shinigami & still wasn't able to use bankai to it's fullest the 1st time he beat yhwach(based on yhwach's reaction/statements)

[@CaptainKotetsu]

Any bets on whether or not we’ll actually get more of this arc?

[@sunnyd4038]

Most likely

[@CaptainKotetsu]

@@sunnyd4038 I’m gonna remain cautiously optimistic. I’ll be happy if we get more but I won’t be surprised if we don’t.

[@ludasrayjin1158]

I'll say when the anime come back there will be a chance to get more chapters since it will be a great marketing way

[@thesilvershroud2134]

Hopefully

[@janosd4nuke]

@@ludasrayjin1158 I second this! Kubo is now hard at assisting the anime preproduction. And does stuff with Burn the Witch if I'm not mistaken. Going into Hell Arc now would be suicidal. And I hope he takes great care of his health. But just general story outline... in a sense manga pre-roducrion may as well be part of his current activities. I expect Hell Arc info dropping in Jump Festa 2023...so in 2022 December, exactly at the anime return trailer's 1st anniversary. And hopefully chapters starting to flow in Q1 2023. But that's just pure speculation on my end.

[@Swanlord1]

Mannnnnn he just forgot while drawing, then remembered only partway through and now HAS to bullshit out an answer.

[@Netherwolf6100]

Honestly, at this point I don't think Kubo has a real honest answer on this subject matter. I get the impression that, he thought of an idea that seemed "cool" in his mind, and just went with it, without thinking about any real consequences and just kinda makes up answers as he goes along, letting fans fill in the gaps he didn't think about when coming up with this idea, playing it off as "Yes, that was the real reason this whole time...."

[@jcthesavior2585]

As far as what is different from his Shikai and his New Bankai, it might just be his clothes. One of the big points mentioned during the Fullbring ark, is how Ichigo "wears" his powers. As far as him having Quincy powers while finishing off Ywache, that is probably because when Tsukishma and Orihime fixed ichigo's bankai, it also restored some or all of his powers that were stolen.

[@iXSIKOBOIXi]

I've really loved the Dual blades, never really liked the True Bankai. Especially as his old Bankai made so much sense. His overwhelming power condensed down into a small form for greater destructive power, the same as Yamamoto's first form of his Bankai with the flames being concentrated on the tip of the blade. Even if that's a false version of his power, it was just so much cooler than the one he got in the end I think. I mean this is definitely because I think that Fullbring Shinigami Ichigo is the DRIPPIEST form in the whole series and losing that so soon after getting it is so sad

[@maplecolor1]

Great video