Hi Everyone! For my version of the bleach prediction special, I would like to ask some questions that are now still unanswered by the manga.
bleach36 Bleach Prediction Special!!! Mr H's Views How is Ichigo's father Isshin related to all this? He seems to go way back with Urahara Kisuke from the tone that they speak to each other.
In my opinion, Isshin is once a member of the Goutei 13, possibly of Captain level due to his abilities.
What happened is that a long time ago, Isshin broke some Shinigami rules and was sentenced to be banished to the "Maggot's Nest", a holding area for undesirables.
Recall that Kisuke used to be in charge of the "Maggot Nest".
To further research on hollowfication issue to boost Shinigami power, Kisuke let Isshin go, just like he did for Mayuri, the current squad 12 captain.
The result of the research is that he found out that although hollowfication boosts Shinigami power, it is far from perfect.
In the midst of the research, Hougyoku is created.
With the ability to break down boundaries between Shinigami and Hollow instanteously, Kisuke no doubt had found out the limits of the Hollow/Shinigami Combination before Aizen did.
Of course Aizen knew of the fact also, which is why he did not "hollow" himself.
Indeed, I had always wondered why Aizen is so damn powerful when he is still in Shinigami form, without a mask.
Recall that none of the captains are able to stop him in front of Rukia's execution ground.
The thing is that he somehow broke through the Shingami/Hollow boundary and became a new form of existence upon himself.
So where do Ichigo fit in all this? What happened is that Kisuke, after finding out about Aizen's plot a lot earlier than the rest of the Goutei 13(around a century earlier in fact) and realising the limits of the Shinigami/Hollow Combination, had sought to "create" an ulitmate being to stop Aizen, since no Shinigami can ever defeat him.
Isshin, under the orders of Kisuke, used his own son Ichigo as a "container" for Kisuke's plans.
Kisuke found out that a Shinigami/Hollow/Human combination contains the greatest power, with Shinigami spell powers and bankai, Hollow's battle hunger and destructive abilites and Human's emotional strength, love, friendship and willpower.
Thus, he manipulated things to create the ultimate being, Ichigo.
For a Human to have Shinigami powers, Rukia is "used".
Recall that the first episode had Ichigo turning into a Shinigami using Rukia's powers.
I believe that Kisuke sent the hollow so as to create an opening for Ichigo to have Shinigami powers.
Ichigo's father is so insanely strong that it is deliberate that he did nothing to save his family.
Then, for Ichigo to acquire Hollow powers, recall that it is Kisuke who cut Ichigo's chains.
That caused him to have hollow like-powers.
Lastly, recall that it is Kisuke is the one who trained Orihime, Ishida and Chad to be able to fight.
Why does he do that? It is to boost Ichigo's "Human" powers, which are his ties of friendship, his desire to protect his friends and the responsibility to safeguard them all.
In a tight situation, this desire to protect others creates a new fountain of strength for Ichigo, making him the ultimate fighter to destroy Aizen.
It may be even possible that Ichigo's mother is sacrificed to create this strong sense of protecting others for Ichigo at a very young age.
It seems lame to think about it that Isshin is unable to defeat the Grand Fisher given how strong he is.
Therefore, my conclusion is that Ichigo, after being "bred" and "manipulated" by Kisuke to be the ultimate being, will destroy Aizen once and for all.
After that, everyone lives happily ever after! THE END OF BLEACH