Character Discussion - Ichigo (Possible Spoilers)

[Whewt22]

First topic of intrest. As we all may of noticed in the most recent chapter, his mask.

A possible indicator of Ichigos growth? Or possible indicator of control over his hollow increasing? Both, his hollow gives a bit of advice before being completely suppressed.

Bleach 221 page 17 | One Manga

As stated he's allowing Ichigo to use his power at will, and over time his ability to use it more efficiently is increased over time. Or it coul also be intrepreted as him lending his power on a gradual rate, until he masters it with one final battle. It seems his hollow spelled it out for us awhile ago and below is the evidence.

Here is the birth of Ichigos hollow, and Shinigami abilities. While his power is still new and unrefinded, two lines are visable at the top, and unconnected.
Bleach 63 page 17 | One Manga
Bleach 64 page 12-13 | One Manga

Now here we see our first noticable change. After his fight with Renji, his mask developed another stripe, still no connection.
Bleach 100 page 04 | One Manga

The next change is noticable after his battle with Ziraki. His mask takes on another stripe under the eye. Lines on the top are closer to being connected.
Bleach 116 page 18 | One Manga

The most dramatic change was after he won his inner struggle against his hollow. Resulting in another stripe under the eye, and three more under the bottom row of teeth, all connected.
Bleach 222 page 10 | One Manga
Bleach 222 page 14 | One Manga

After leaving his training to protect his friends he shows up and finds Grimmjow looking for him. Not much time to increase his power, no changes.
Bleach 231 page 13 | One Manga

Same goes for his first encounter in HM, no change.
Bleach 253 page 14 | One Manga

His third encounter against Grimmjow following being beat by Ulquiorra. He gains one more under his eye, and his lines are much more thick, and undefined. Maybe hinting at a molting state before a exponential boost in power?
Bleach 281 page 19 | One Manga
Bleach 283 page 03 | One Manga

The last and most current mask. The mouth seperates becoming two seperate parts, unlike any before. The lines are more defined when compared to their thickness in the Grimmjow battle.
Bleach 344 page 10-11 | One Manga
Bleach 344 page 13 | One Manga

To conclude they indicate both control over his hollow, and growth in power.

Spoiler

Thanks to Samnas from NC for chapters in which mask was seen.

[Karyuudan]

I noticed the change in this latest chapter but I never noticed all the extra lines on the mask! This definitely shows Ichigo's growth with regards to his hollow power level. I wasn't so sure about the control but after seeing the advice from his hollow it shows that he can fully master the hollow powers after the inner appears again. I think all this development of the mask is building up to that moment. Overall I agree it indicates both control over his hollow, and growth in power. Good stuff man!

[Chicken993]

Also they only appear on the left side of his face as everyone clearly sees. That seems pretty interesting aswell. What could that mean?

[Karyuudan]

^ Yeah thats true, do you think it could be; the white is the hollow power and each black marking signifies Ichigo's control and/or harnessing over it to the point of 1/2 its power maybe? That seems to come up in my head since Ichigo's inner hollow was wearing all white and he was wearing black.

[Whewt22]

Wow that's an amazing theory Kary, I agree sounds possible. And do you mean right side of his face Chicken, of course their on the left.

[Pad Frank]

Wow u are right Whewt
I never noticed that the mask was changing bit by bit
I only noticed that the mask seperate in his mouth (last chapter)
So i think u are right
He is getting stronger and stronger and so does his mask change forms

[Urary]

Yeah I've been noticing some slight changes in the mask's appeareance every once in a while, but the last one to me shows just how connected he is to his hollow

[Supbe]

Wow seriosuly Whewt you have the best and most sensible theories as they are backed up with amazing amounts of evidence...

Well I usually just watch the anime, but in the manga they have they have the lines more profound... I'm guessing because anime has to be behind the manga... cuz we are only at the beginning of the U.S. fight

But I personally think that the richness and additional lines indicate how close ichigo is close to having a final battle over his hollow self for the control of his body...

Yes, I probably have skeptics about this theory but if you notice, his hollow self tells him to stay alive until he appears again, so I think everytime he adds more lines it shows how close he is in unlocking all his inner hollow powers and possibly melting the line between his shinigami and hollow selves

Once he unlocks his mask fully the last and final battle would occur with his hollow self...

Maybe this makes sense... maybe it doesn't but meh that's what I think...

[naitsirk0]

Yeah I've seen the extra lines pop up since they
and for it being on half of his face, possibly him using half of his power, or the fact that he's half the personality - half of him fights to protect his friends yet the other half strives to fight for the sake of fighting and getting strong and as we've seen recently, he likes fighting more and the more he wants to fight the more lines he gets, probably due to him delving deeper into the hollowy goodness and getting stronger
but as everyone's seen - the opening of his mouth (that pic gave me goosebumps I love it) and the fact that he's said 'maybe I'm becoming more hollow' means he's on the path the powahhh!

[Balling like a fool]

Also, another interesting tid-bit (god I want some tim-bits =O) is that none of the Vizard have a seperation in their mask, that we've seen so for. I'm curious as to what that means. Based on the theories above, it would suggest that he is in more control of his hollow powers than the Vizards. That doesn't sound plausible to me, I think it's more likely that without realizing it, he's losing control of his hollow, and we'll see another internal struggle during this fight. The fact that Ichigo is using his mask WAY more often than he's ever been able to seems to me to be an indication of him losing control. Also, Orihime's reaction to masked Ichigo, It didn't seem like she was surprised that he had a mask, but more along the lines of him not seeming like Ichigo anymore. There was also a big change in his mask at the time of his fight with Grimmjow, coinciding with Orihime's reaction.