@The:
My point was that the whole concept has been totally abandoned; worse so, its almost Naruto-level concept betrayal.
Soul Society: Ichigo, what a douchebag you are! Your sword is a person! Talk to it!
SS to arrancar arc: Ichigo talks to his sword every once in a while, and it is at least Zangetsu exists as a seperate character.
Arrancar arc finale:
Zangetsu: Hey Ichigo, me and Hichigo are commiting suicide so you can win your fight. Just throwing that out there.
Ichigo: I will make sure to have no emotional response whatsoever, and never as much as acknowledge your existence after this point.Fullbring arc: Ichigo gets a sword made from the combined spirit splooge of soul society. Is it his old sword restored? Is it a completely new sword? Idunno. Could be. Ichigo never names it, adresses it or anything, he just swings it around, and whips out the same old bankai instantly, because lol thats what you do with swords!
Quincy Arc: Ichigos sword is broken. Does he react as if a trusted friend has been maimed? No. Does even react like his favourite sword got damaged, and thats a bummer? No. Swords can be repaired, so no biggie.
We've come full circle from Ichigo swinging his sword around without really caring about it, through acknowledging it as a character, and back to swinging it around without really caring about it. Its a damn shame because it was a good concept, and as Gliblord has shown us with his Zampak rebellion analysis, it can be used quite well.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
The problem with the Quincies is that theres a decrease in souls returning to the afterlife. Killing the shinigamis just reduces the amount of Dead souls even further, making the balance against the amount of Living souls even worse.
Plus, with who knows how many shinigami dead: theres NO proper way to reach the afterlife anymore. Soul Reapers are the only tool fit for the job, and with the shinigami suddenly criminally understaffed, the whole planet is suddenly fucked in terms of reaching "heaven".
It's amazing really; even though the Quincy invasion turned out to be rather ineffectual as far as "PURGE THE SHINIGAMI FROM EXISTENCE FOR REVENGE!" went, the quincys did succeed in dooming the human race.
You go guys.
Dont remind me of the zampak rebellion, it sets me off on a why couldnt Muramasa be canon rant You know what Muramasa wouldn't do? Troll Ichigo
s lineage. A IZEN. BACH.