In the course of his journey as the protagonist of Bleach, Ichigo Kurosaki has undergone many different changes in his physical and emotional state that fans have witnessed along with him. Most of these changes have helped him become powerful and deal with the many different antagonists and villains that have challenged him throughout the story.
Ichigo’s changes are also reflected in the fact that he is a hybrid of the four distinct races of Bleach: Human, Hollow, Quincy, and Shinigami. Most of his transformations and changes include Ichigo turning into a hollow and taking on the true process of Hollowfication. Among those Hollowfication transformations, the most unique is definitely the Hollow Mask evolution.
The Hollow Mask transformation was believed to be the strongest Ichigo form for a long time, but it eventually lost its significance and Kubo removed it completely and never gave a reason for it. But he hinted at it through Ichigo’s character development in Bleach and it feels like the Bleach creator knew exactly what he was doing.
The unprecedented power of Ichigo’s hollow mask transformation
Ichigo has never shied away from a battle and has trained hard to reach a level where he can rival his opponents as an equal. Throughout his journey, his hollow transformations have helped him a lot, and while not all of them were controllable, they had the power that Ichigo needed at the time to take down a villain with much more strength than the Bleach protagonist.
Among the many hollow transformations, the one that had very little screentime was the full hollow mask transformation that Ichigo unlocked while battling it out with Grimmjow. When Ichigo was at the limit of his power against Grimmjow, he unlocked the full potential of his power, which was never seen before in Bleach.
Not only that, but this power also helped Ichigo take full control of his Bankai and its abilities as they were already out of his reach in his normal form. It was one of the best Ichigo transformations, and it changed Ichigo into a completely different character making him even more popular among the fans.
Tite Kubo had a reason behind removing the full hollow mask
The full hollow mask transformation was great in many ways and thus deserved a lot more screen time than it originally received. However, Tite Kubo had a valid reason for not removing the hollow mask transformation completely and its effects were also witnessed within the Bleach storyline that changed drastically.
As fans might remember, Ichigo used the same transformation in his battle with Ulquiorra, but as he moved deeper into the battle, his mask’s characteristics changed a little, and his power became even more unstable.
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Plus, his actions were not intentional and were controlled by the Hollowfication that enhanced his abilities in Bleach.
At the time, Ichigo was mentally incapable of dealing with such a big power change that could possibly change his destiny within the narrative. Thus, Kubo had no choice but to remove the transformation completely and replace it with another power-up that helped him even more in Bleach.
Bleach is available to watch on Hulu.
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