Ichigo's Hollow Form in Bleach, Explained (2025)

Protagonist Ichigo Kurosaki spent the first few episodes in the Bleach anime making do with a basic, nameless zanpakuto to slay Hollows with the aid of his reverse-isekai friend Rukia Kuchiki, but that didn't last long. When Rukia got herself arrested and taken away, Ichigo was forced to re-examine his powers and gain a real zanpakuto, which also opened the door to his greatest and most terrifying power of all — his inner Hollow.

Over time, Ichigo Kurosaki learned about and embraced his inner Hollow, and he even gained a few Hollow forms of his own, from putting on a mask to practically being a Hollow, including his Vasto Lorde form and his hybrid final form, as seen in the Thousand-Year Blood War story arc. And while Ichigo's Hollow form may have a few variations, it's all the same power, with the same origins and the same personal meaning for Bleach's hero.

Where Did Ichigo's Hollow Forms and Powers Come From?

Ichigo’s Powers and Hollow Forms Are Part of Who He Is

Ichigo Kurosaki is a human and Soul Reaper at the same time, thanks to Rukia Kuchiki giving him her own Soul Reaper powers to awaken Ichigo's latent Soul Reaper powers that he inherited from his father. Humans and Soul Reapers aren't born with any natural Hollow powers, meaning Ichigo had to get them from somewhere else, and that means he embodies the half-other trope. Not unlike his shonen counterpart, Naruto Uzumaki, Ichigo was seemingly born a perfectly normal human, only to have a supernatural monster inside him, one that would eventually manifest its powers.

In this case, Ichigo was born with a hidden Hollow side, one that awakened when Ichigo was in his mid-teens. That Hollow, and the forms it would give Ichigo, was something he received from his mother, Masaki Kurosaki. As a flashback in the Thousand-Year Blood War arc showed, Ichigo's mother Masaki was a pureblood human Quincy living in Karakura Town, with no trace of Hollow powers. That is, until an artificial Hollow named White attacked, and Masaki and the Soul Reaper Isshin Shiba fought it, defeating it together.

White took refuge in Masaki's body, poisoning her from within and threatening her life. Isshin turned to the brilliant scientist Kisuke Urahara, who used Isshin's Soul Reaper powers to safely contain the Hollow inside Masaki and save her. Having lost his powers, Isshin married Masaki and had a family with her, with their firstborn child, Ichigo, inheriting practically all of his parents' powers, from Isshin's trace Soul Reaper powers to Masaki's Quincy traits to the inner Hollow that resided in his mother. Over time, these powers would awaken and manifest one after another.

What Powers Do Ichigo's Hollow Forms Grant, and at What Cost?

Ichigo's Hollow Allows Him to Use Essential Skills

Ichigo's inner Hollow grants him a few basic but essential powers in its various forms. For example, Ichigo can don his trademark Hollow mask to enhance his speed, strength, and durability as a swordsman, to the point it's almost like a second bankai for him. For that matter, the same is true for the eight Visoreds like Shinji Hirako, who also boost their physical capabilities when using their own Hollow masks. Ichigo can also use a ranged attack called the Getsuga Tensho, something he gained from his inner Hollow, though he doesn't need to be in any Hollow form to use it.

But if Ichigo does use the Getsuga Tensho while using his mask, then the Getsuga Tensho will be much more powerful, and even change color from blue to black. Ichigo's other Hollow forms grant similar powers, such as his terrifying Vasto Lorde form, which enhances his physical abilities to incredible heights, to the point he can tear off an Espada's arm with ease. In that form, Ichigo forgoes the Getsuga Tensho in favor of a vivid red cero blast on par with the dreaded Cero Oscuras, which is charged up and fired from between that form's horns.

Meanwhile, Ichigo also has a final form, granting him immense speed and strength while using his true, final zanpakuto. All that may sound rather straightforward, but then again, Ichigo Kurosaki was never the type to innovate lots of new moves and gain a complicated move set. That sets him apart from the likes of My Hero Academia's Izuku Midoriya, for example, who kept inventing new ways to use One For All and its built-in Quirks, like Blackwhip. As for downsides and risks, Ichigo's Hollow forms come with typical negatives that shonen fans would expect from a monstrous half-other power like this one.

To begin with, Ichigo struggled to even understand or control his inner Hollow at first, and being a conscious being with its own will, Ichigo's inner Hollow was liable to take control of Ichigo and sabotage him if he resisted. Ichigo personally disliked his Hollow's feral nature, so he avoided using it at first, and his Hollow punished him however it could, such as leaving him vulnerable in battle. Ichigo was also liable to go berserk when using his first two Hollow forms, such as when he fought Byakuya Kuchiki or when he attacked and nearly killed Uryu Ishida in his Vasto Lorde form. It also took a great deal of training and introspection for Ichigo to fully understand and use his inner Hollow, which happened to be his true Zangetsu as well.

What is Ichigo's Personal Relationship to His Inner Hollow?

Ichigo's Relationship With His Inner Hollow is Related to His Mother's Death

Some shonen heroes don't just use their powers as tools — they build a personal relationship with their powers and abilities, especially if the latter can think and talk like a person. Examples are many, from Naruto Uzumaki speaking to Kurama to Deku, talking to the vestiges of One For All's previous users or Yuji Itadori speaking to Ryomen Sukuna, the king of curses. Bleach's Ichigo Kurosaki is like that too, and a major part of his arc is his relationship to his Hollow forms and what they mean to him as a person.

Even if Ichigo feels pretty straightforward as a swordsman, his personal arc actually has meaningful nuance where his Hollow forms are concerned. For one thing, Ichigo and his inner Hollow have totally different personalities, which was made clear in several training sequences in Ichigo's inner world. His inner Hollow was a bloodthirsty, aggressive being in tune with its instincts, while Ichigo thought himself a rational person with proper restraint. However, Ichigo was forced to play by his inner Hollow's rules if he had any chance of taming it.

His Hollow described them as a king who controls a horse, and their duels would decide who was who. Thus, Ichigo learned to listen to his instincts, enjoy battle, and trust the immense power that he wielded. Put another way, Ichigo overcame his fear of battle and violence, ready and willing to hurt and get hurt during his adventures. Ichigo's Hollow forms represented his newfound courage and readiness to do whatever it took to defend his friends, such as Orihime, who was abducted and taken to the desert realm of Hueco Mundo.

Of all things, Ichigo Kurosaki's Hollow forms also represent his struggle to overcome his grief about his mother's death. That's because Masaki Kurosaki was the source of Ichigo's inner Hollow, and by embracing what he received from his mother, Ichigo could view the past more positively and not stay weighed down by Masaki's loss. Also, Ichigo inherited some Quincy power from Masaki in the form of "old man Zangetsu," hence the first Zangetsu's physical resemblance to Yhwach.

Ichigo clung to that Zangetsu at first as one of the last remains of his mother's legacy, but that wasn't the right call. Eventually, after Ichigo listened to his father Isshin and learned the truth about his family tree, Ichigo bade old man Zangetsu farewell and fully accepted his inner Hollow as his true zanpakuto. In so doing, Ichigo gained full power and let go of his grief, clearing his mind for the challenge ahead.

How Did Ichigo Use His Three Main Hollow Forms?

Ichigo's Journey is Deeply Connected to the Evolution of his Hollow

The story of Bleach showed three major phases where Ichigo used his different Hollow forms in meaningful ways. Those scenes didn't just show Ichigo powering up to defeat his foes — those scenes showed the evolution of his Hollow form and his relationship to that power. The first major example arrived in the Soul Society story arc, when Ichigo's Hollow mask was fairly basic but still deadly, and it invited itself into a few of Ichigo's fights. When Ichigo was about to lose to Byakuya Kuchiki, his inner Hollow took over and went berserk, something Ichigo hotly objected to.

Ichigo didn't understand his power but deeply feared it, and his mask made him pay for that attitude when he faced Espadas like Yammy and Grimmjow. Fortunately, Ichigo tamed that first form and used it to defeat Grimmjow, his shonen-style rival, at last. The second and shortest phase of Ichigo's Hollow evolution arrived during his final fight against Ulquiorra Cifer. Ichigo tried and failed to win with his regular Hollow mask form and bankai, and got himself killed fighting his Espada opponent.

Then, to everyone's shock, Ichigo's inner Hollow revived him as a Vasto Lorde of sorts, including a more animalistic form that featured a devastating cero blast. Ichigo was completely out of control and didn't fully know what was happening, and he actually regretted defeating Ulquiorra with such an apparently unfair power. Once again, Ichigo had great power from his mother but lacked the knowlege and conviction to use it, his grief still holding him back. Ichigo's final Hollow form was the key to his victory over King Yhwach in the endgame of the Thousand-Year Blood War story arc.

By then, Ichigo had fully mastered his powers and overcame his grief, allowing him to use all of his abilities with perfect control, including his final Hollow form. Thus, he became a hybrid of sorts, the best of both worlds, and that kept him in the game in the face of Yhwach's immense power. Ever since Yhwach's final defeat, though, there has been no sign of Ichigo using his Hollow forms again, since he's savoring an era of peace with his new family. He may be comfortable with his Hollow forms and Masaki's legacy, but his Hollow forms are a relic from a violent and adventuruous phase of his life, a phase he's totally done with.

Bleach

TV-14

Action

Adventure

Fantasy

Bleachrevolves around Kurosaki Ichigo, a regular always-grouchy high-schooler who for some strange reason is able to see the souls of the dead around him.

Release Date

October 5, 2004

Cast

Masakazu Morita , Fumiko Orikasa , Hiroki Yasumoto , Yuki Matsuoka , Noriaki Sugiyama , Kentarô Itô , Shinichirô Miki , Hisayoshi Suganuma

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

17 Seasons

Creator

Tite Kubo

Production Company

TV Tokyo, Dentsu, Pierrot

Number of Episodes

366 Episodes

Streaming Service(s)

Hulu , Prime Video

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