Apr 26, 2022
Interestingly, the tsuba we see on Rukia’s zanpakuto here is the same design we see on the one Ichigo uses at the very beginning of the story, before Zangetsu is revealed as a raw blade design. We’ve seen in flashbacks that Rukia has already achieved Sode no Shirayuki’s shikai by this time (training with Kaien), so I suppose that means that Ichigo really was borrowing her sword, because it certainly isn’t a blank asauchi that he’s swinging around, even if it is sealed!
#rukia#rukia kuchiki#kuchiki rukia#I just noticed this as i was putting together a big post for rukia the same way i've done a couple of the other characters thus far#and went ..'huh!'#maybe i'm dumb but it never actually occurred to me that rukia's sword and the one ichigo uses as a substitue#are the same friggen blade#it's just that one has been bloated by ichigo's spiritual power#and his relative inability to compress/contain/suppress it#Neat!#anyway you'll see this particular picture again in a set so#\o/