Summary
During the first cours ofBLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War, Ichigo is forced to reckon with the full truth of his identity and his soul’s mixed heritage, culminating in one of the series' most important episodes,“The Blade is Me”. The culmination of swordmaster Ōetsu Nimaiya’s forging of a brand-new Zanpakutō for Ichigo was a pair of Zanpakutō; each correlating with the major aspects of his composition: Shinigami/Hollow and Quincy.
Naturally, Ichigo ismuch stronger nowafter training with the Zero Squad, but he also gives of a much more mature demeanor than in his earlier days, and as a result, his signature technique has been upgraded to reflect his dual Zanpakutō, with the Getsuga Tenshō becoming a much more destructive technique: Getsuga Jūjishō. How does it improve Ichigo’s signature attack?
What is the Getsuga Tenshō?
Ichigo’s Projectile Attack
The Getsuga Tenshō (“Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer”) is a devastating technique that Ichigo first uses primarily with his first Bankai, Tensa Zangetsu (“Heaven Chain Slaying Moon”) in which a build-up of reiatsu is released from the blade as it is swung, creating a crescent-shaped arc of reiatsu.When emitted from his Bankai, the Getsuga Tenshō is made up of an ominous, black reiatsu with either a red or a white backlight, but when used with his Shikai, the colour of the energy matches Ichigo’s standard blue (original series) and gold (Thousand-Year Blood War).
The black Getsuga Tensho was created by Hollow Ichigo (“Didn’t I tell you already? IamZangetsu!"), and also granted Ichigo the ability to manipulate its path. At some point during the events that unfolded in Hueco Mundo, Ichigo also learned how to coat Tensa Zangetsu in the Getsuga Tensho, augmenting every swing of the blade. The best version of the Getsuga Tensho is that of Ichigo’s True Bankai, which is powerful enough to have killed Yhwach if it weren’t for his ability to undo his death.
Due to the relatedness of the Zanpakutō, Isshin Kurosaki’s Engetsu is also capable of the Getsuga Tenshō. This ability is essentially carved into Ichigo’s instincts, as he uses it a number of times before even knowing its name, and comes to master it during his Bankai training with Yoruichi Shihoin and Kisuke Urahara. The technique has been used in various ways and in both attack and defense, making it one of Ichigo’s most important abilities and proof of his connection to Zangetsu.
After the events of “The Blade is Me”, Ichigo’s Zanpakutō is now two blades; a smaller knife with an enclosed grip that corresponds to “Old Man Zangetsu” – his Quincy powers, and a larger blade similar to the huge khyber knife sword he’d wield throughout the series that is themanifestation of his Inner Hollowand Shinigami powers. This time, the big blade has a small hollowed out section extending from the guard to the middle of the sword. The Getsuga Jūjishō is an update of the Getsuga Tenshōtechnique that makes use of Ichigo’s new dual-Zanpakutō Shikai and creates an even more devastating projectile that is actually the combination of two slashes.
The Cross-Shaped Heaven Piercer
Explaining the Mechanics of Getsuga Jūjishō
Like the Getsuga Tenshō, Getsuga Jūjishō is a projectile attack formed from the unleashing of a build up of reiatsu from the blade of Ichigo’s Zangetsu; however, now that his Zanpakutō’s Shikai state is two blades, both contribute to the attack. Ichigo starts with a small, slow-moving horizontal swipe of his smaller blade in midair before swinging his bigger blade downwards, creating a cross-shaped wave of incredibly destructive energy.
The “Jūjishō” comes from the word “Jūji”, which is a cross shape but also denotes the number 10, which is actually the shape made by the attack when written in kanji, like so 十. This makes “Getsuga Jūjishō” translate to something like “Cross-Shaped Heaven Piercer”, and serves asan upgrade of his signature attackthat brings together both blades – hence signifying a new signature that combines the powers of his Shinigami/Hollow and Quincy aspects. Interestingly, the cross is commonly associated with the Quincy, but theirs is a quincunx, while the four points of the attack create a shape reminiscent of the quartered eyes of the Soul King.
So far, we’ve seen the Getsuga Jūjishō only twice, with Ichigo introducing it in the latter episodes ofBLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 2upon returning from training with the Zero Squad in his anime-only fight against the combined forces of Menias McAllon, Candice Catnipp, Giselle Gewelle, Liltotto Lamperd and the zombiefied Bambietta Basterbine. He used Getsuga Jūjishō to dispell Candice’s powerful Electrocution attack, and she ended up losing an arm to the attack; while in Part 3, Ichigo unleashed the attack against Yhwach shortly after throwing his new and improved Getsuga Tenshō at the Quincy King. The attack was able to protect Ichigo from a hail of arrows fired from Yhwach’s Kirchenlied: Sankt Zwinger, and even managed to knock him down.
