If you have watched all of Bleach, then you may think you know everything there is to about Ichigo Kurosaki and his Bankai. The Soul Reaper debuted the power against Byakuya Kuchiki way back when, but the power Ichigo wielded then was not his actual Bankai. No, the hero possess a power greater than what fans imagined, but it is a little confusing to suss out.
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So, ComicBook is here to help sort through all the confusion.
When Ichigo first tapped into his Soul Reaper status, fans were shown the hero’s enormous power. The boy had to face off with his Zanpakuto spirit, and grumpy man Zangetsu was none too forthcoming. However, the spirit did listen to Ichigo’s call and help the hero tap into his Bankai when Rukia’s life was in danger. When Ichigo used his Bankai against Byakuya, the hero’s massive sword condensed into a solid black blade that concentrated all of Ichigo’s spiritual powers.
However, that Bankai is not the one Ichigo wields anymore.
Anime fans never learned about Ichigo’s final Bankai as the show never got to adapt that piece of Tite Kubo’s manga. In the ‘Thousand-Year Blood War’ arc, Ichigo learned a startling truth about himself and his powers when a sect of Quincy rose up against the Gotei 13 and the entire Soul Society.
As Ichigo learned, he is the rare offspring of a Soul Reaper and a Quincy with a dash of Hollow thrown in on his mom’s side. Zangetsu – the person who Ichigo thought was his actual Zapakuto – was actually the manifestation of his Quincy powers. The blade which Ichigo wielded was not fully connected to his Soul Reaper side, and the hero’s actual Zanpakuto turned out to be the Hollowfied mirror who Ichigo thought was just a Hollow.
Nope, the crazed character also contains Ichigo’s Soul Reaper powers. When the hero finally embraced that side of him and pushed away Zangetsu, Ichigo was given a brand-new Zanpakuto with a Shikai and Bankai to match.
After sifting through his newly discovered heritage, Ichigo was left with a two-sworded Zanpakuto release. When the hero finally unleashed his new Bankai against the villain Yhwach, the two blades merged into a black-and-white khyber knife blade which promptly got wrecked.
Sadly, fans never did get to find out just how powerful Ichigo’s new Bankai is. The hero never got to let it loose as Yhwach believed it to be too dangerous and immediately broke it after being activated. The godly villain seemed concerned about the move which is telling enough about the Bankai’s true power, so fans can only imagine what kind of damage Ichigo could wreak with it.
