[Intranetusa]

Originally Posted by WONDERMIKE

Spoiler for manga:

back then Ichigo definitely wasn't superior to Kenpachi he was just lucky Kenpachi didn't want to use his other hand(=full power) + the mask protected him.. I don't get why this causes so much confusion in fact Ichigo needs a bankai and his mask to level up to Kenpachi's current/real level and the reason Ichigo managed to pull a draw is thanks to Kenpachi's miscalculation/principles/his unawareness of magically appearing hollow masks

Ichigo clearly defeated Grimmjaw, not barely.. he didn't struggle like he did against Kenpachi or Byakuya, there was no near-death-moment at all, basically he just took a beating and it was nowhere near as serious/lethal as Kenpachi's experience with Noitorra. Imagine Orihime gave her speech a little earlier.. it would have been even more disastrous for Grim and a even more painful kick in the nuts to all the Grim fans(the huge dissapointment in the bleach community is proof enough that Ichigo did win clearly, maybe too clearly considering the hype and all the drama beforehand but ok)

Spoiler for Kenpachi:

What do you mean Kenpachi didn't want to use his full power? Kenpachi took off his eyepatch - that clearly meant he was going all out. Are you saying that Kenpachi purposely lost? I doubt that was the case. As for one hand - he probably just fights with one hand.

Remember, at this point, Ichigo didn't even have bankai, and didn't have hollow powers. Having a hollow mask in his shirt only gives him 1 lucky break. But the fact that Kenpachi still lost in the end after taking off his eyepatch means Kenpachi was weaker than Ichigo.

Ichigo did not 'clearly' defeat Grim - he was worn out after his victory and could barely defend himself. Also, even in his bankai, Ichigo was flat out losing against Grim. Ichigo may have been hesitant to use bankai, but there were points in his fights with Grim when he did not hesitate. Grim blocked his getsuga tensho bankai with his bare hands. That clearly shows he is superior to Ichigo's bankai.