Who is Ichigo's father really?

I just started to wonder who Ichigo's dad really is..

I mean, what do we know about him? He seems to be All round vice captain. In the end of Aizen saga we can tell he's insanly strong. He knows about Ichigo (seems like he knew all along), he knows Uruhara and Aizen, and all the other captains as well. They seem to trust him also, so it all seems like he's been into Soul Society and knows the place very well.

I've always assumed that he was originally a substitute shinigami. But the "previous" substitute just claimed that Icihigo was the next one. Now, if you also follow the manga you should know that:


So we basically can conclude from that Ichigo's father was never a substitute shinigami..

So that leaves actually a hole there.. Is he a human? But then he must knew of the original substitute shinigami aswell?

Or was he shinigami to start with, like "born" in Soul Society? But then why isn't he 'punished' when he married with a woman, made children.. Look what Ichigo was capable off.. To think of that Rukia was executed because she gave Ichigo her powers.. Then perhaps he was from that kingdom land or something..

Other than that though there have been no more hints as to whether he is a full-on shinigami or not. If you want to speculate, take captain Hitsugaya. He is the youngest and newest captain, perhaps he replaced Isshin?

Either way, we can make up ideas and have fun with it but nothing's been officially mentioned.

Lmao, I was thinking bout that few days ago. To think, Hitsugaya replace the old man! but It hard to say tho.

Hell, I read alot of theories on this guy based on clues I seen from Uruhara!

Some say that he was exiled after married an women in the living world, but maybe in the process as punishment, = loss of power. or He was an former captain that was suppose to be send to King for energy.

I have an idea that before Uruhara got banished & left Soul Society, Isshin left as well. Also Ashida ' Uyur father know Isshin as well.

Like Vis said, all we can do is come up with random theories unt'l Kubo add an story to back him up.

Im pretty sure Isshin used to be Squad 11's captain. What squad would a guy who bonds with his son by beating and fighting eachother better belong to?

According to Zaraki's story, he challenged the squad 11 captain to a fight, and beat him in a single blow. Don't any of you think thats a bit unrealistic? A captain being beaten in a single blow? In my mind, it was probably staged. During the flashback, it showed Urahara was in squad 2 as leader of a special detention facility for "dangerous individuals". These dangerous individuals were people who tried to quit the gotei 13, and therefore their strength made them too potentially dangerous. Meaning if you try to quit the squads, you get locked up for the rest of your life.

Isshin probably wanted to leave his squad in order to start a family, so he staged the fight with Zaraki, lost on purpose and disappeared from soul society. In zaraki's story, Zaraki's captain haori is the one that belonged to the previous captain. Notice how both sleeves are cut off? Notice how when Isshin transforms into a soul reaper he only has what looks like a single cut off sleeve attached to his shoulder? Coincidence? I think not.

I believe it was explained that he lost his powers as a result of the special Gigai urahara gave him that hid and drained his spiritual powers.

All of your minds = blown.

Mind effectively blown. O_O

he has the same technique as ichigo of getsuga tensho... maybe he lost his powers using final getsuga tensho, he lost his powers 20 years ago... he also knows ishida's dad, what kind of relationship did they have aswel... we will have to wait when kubo adds the side story of him

Funny, just a few minutes ago I was thinking the same thing about Isshin loosing his powers with the final getsuga tensho. I think I'm contemplating too much and not studying enough...

the former 11th squad captain was kenpachi kiganjo, kenpachi zaraki killed him to get the position and not isshin, it is unknown who the former 10th squad captain was tho

@diddles oh yeah.... guess I'm back to the squad 10 theory then.

if he lost his powers how could he go shinigami and obliterate the arrancar early in the arc

Well I was thinking that their powers eventually come back by themselves because

1 A bit of spiritual pressure was still seen/sensed around Ichigo
2 One of the first times they showed Isshin back in soul form he was talking to Urahara about how it felt to be in soul form again after being a/in human/gigai for so long.

So I'm left assuming that perhaps the power comes back on it's own BUT it takes a while - hence Isshin living as a human for so long and having kids and stuff.

Then I could also say that Ichigo getting his power back was just accelerated by everyone giving him power.

As for Isshin being so strong well, it was way early in the story when they showed him back in soul form so he could have been training all that time and also Ichigo is super strong and Isshin is his dad so...

Anyway, that's just me bored and nitpicking stuff apart cuz I was bored. bored.bored.bored.

yes but ichigo still having power that could be sensed could also be because of the hollow side of him stealing some then receding deep into ichigo (but i'm just throwing theories out there)

This could be possible too considering how they never addressed what happened to his hollow. I'll keep an eye out for that.

I'm curious as to how Zangetsu and the hollow might have changed in appearance too. I can't wait to see that.

I think there's more to it really then just being a Captain.

I think his background story will appear sooner or later, but i'm guessing something around the lines of he was also a substitute Shinigami like Ichigo. Perhaps they gave him the chance to be a captain but something went wrong? I don't know - but Shinigami are 'dead' (or atleast not part of the living world), right? So I doubt he could've simply been a captain. It wouldn't make sense.

but if he only had a chance to be a captain then why does he have a captains robe while in shinigami form