Ichigo’s Reflection on Zangetsu

Ichigo Kurosaki is the main character of Bleach. He is a teenage boy who becomes a Substitute Shinigami. From there, an onslaught of events happens. Ichigo uses his Bankai and learns Hollowfication. Then, the Arracncar War, until the latest Thousand-Year Blood War.

Throughout Ichigo’s journey, his form as a shinigami changes. He unleashes his greatest weapon while battling himself. This is a great metaphor for "you are your own worst enemy." In this blog, we’re looking at some amazing designs. They are inspired by our favorite over-powered shinigami-in-training.

Artist - Hades Cabera

For our first design, we see one of the many forms of weapons, Ichigo uses. His Zangetsu usually resembles a huge santoku knife, a common item in Japanese and professional kitchens.

This design is interesting. It shows both Zangetsu and Ichigo’s hollow forms. They are seen on the flat surface of the weapon with the extra bandage often seen wrapped around it. It’s subtle, yet a badass design.

Hollowfication

Artist - Andy Chan

Next, we have the first manga panel on our list. We see Ichigo screeching while in Hollow form. The red streaks around him make the tattoo dynamic like he’s actually about to attack whoever is in front of him.

This form that Ichigo takes is a breaking of the boundary between shinigami (good souls) and hollow (souls consumed by negative emotion). We’d get into the semantics of these things, but basically, this tattoo design shows Ichigo breaking his strength limit for those he loves.

Kon and Ichigo

Artist - Christian Marchant

In this design, we see Ichigo slightly turning into his hollowfication, with his buddy, Kon, below him. Kon is a replacement soul for Ichigo. Kurosaki isn’t dead, but he has to get out of his body to perform his substitute shinigami duties early in the story.

Kon is a vital character who helps Ichigo whenever he’s in Soul Society. He’s tasked to protect the Kurosakis (Ichigo’s sister and father). Seeing them alongside each other makes a powerhouse of a tattoo design. Plus, Kon is also turning into a hollow which is a nice touch.

Ulquiorra and Kurosaki

Artist - Kolebee Toad

Speaking of Arrancars, second to last on the blog is a beautiful contrast of red and green. It's from the battle between Ichigo and Ulquiorra, the Number 4 Espada. They both put up a good fight.

But with Ichigo going over his soul’s limits and reaching hollowfication, he won against Ulquiorra even just by a hair. The design above is Ichigo’s final form. He almost lost control (not gonna lie) but it makes for a cool tattoo design.

Rukia and Ichigo Panel Tattoo

Artist - Isashah Pereira

Lastly, we have another manga panel design. This one features Rukia, Ichigo’s “mentor.” Emphasis on the mentor cause she was the reason he had to go through being a substitute shinigami in the first place. This particular design is based on the Soul Society arc where Rukia was set to be executed.

Ichigo came to the rescue and said, “I'm going to save you, Rukia,” hence the design. If Ichigo wasn’t canonical paired with Orihime, I would definitely say that Rukia would work well as his partner.