Ichigo's zanpakutō is Zangetsu, a weapon whose spirit takes the form of a man in his thirties or forties—old enough that Ichigo just calls him "old man." The spirit is wise and measured, known for testing Ichigo through unconventional means that often work toward goals completely opposite to what they're supposed to. He's shown the ability to seal fatal wounds mid-combat, though it's unclear if this is unique to him.
Unlike most zanpakutō, Zangetsu has no release command. His shikai form is an oversized cleaver—elegant but massive, standing 1.74 meters tall with a black blade and silver edge. A cloth wraps around it when he's not fighting, falling away as needed and sometimes used as a flail or thrown at opponents, though that's rare.
The bankai, Tensa Zangetsu, is genuinely strange by zanpakutō standards. Where most bankai create something massive and imposing, Ichigo's actually shrinks down to a compact daitō with a black blade and a manji-shaped handguard. The cloth hilt wrapping becomes a short chain with a broken link—a detail that mirrors plus spirits. Beyond just the sword, Ichigo's entire outfit changes: he gets a long black coat with red lining and long sleeves, buttoned at the chest like the spirit himself wears.
Both forms share the same signature ability: getsuga tenshō, a crescent-moon-shaped energy blast fired from the blade's tip. It's straightforward and devastating—exactly what you'd expect from Ichigo's main weapon.
Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.
