Let´s recall who is the good guy of the movie, shall we? Ichigo could see spirits even when he was a “normal” human. He is used to fights, as his unorthodox father greets him every morning trying to kick his butt. How about the thugs who pick on Ichigo because of his orange hair, or that try to molest other people in front of him? Ichigo has had plenty of opportunities to train his muscles of justice.

We have to admit that the first time Ichigo confronted a Hollow, he was efficient as hell. Even our dear commander Rukia, who is the usual adventure´s companion for Ichigo, acknowledges the guy has a natural talent for the Shinigami job from the very first episode. Ichigo is also analytical and perceptive in battle. That combination of analytical skills, short-temper, spiritual power and will to do what is right suits the Shinigami´s duties.

After several successful missions on the human world, Rukia is forced to go back to the Soul Society (the realm of the good spirits), as she committed a taboo by giving her Shinigami powers to our hero. Naturally, Ichigo went to rescue her and ended up being acknowledged as a special case of Shinigami. He slayed Kariya and defeated the Bounts as well, so, by the time of his first encounter with Grimmjow, Ichigo was a hot Shinigami star on his own accounts. This means he is confident enough to take on whoever challenges him, and that, of course, includes Grimmjow.

If a Hollow is usually a powerful and merciless rival, we can just imagine that the Arrancar are worse. Arrancar means “To tear off” in Spanish. These individuals are Hollows that have removed their masks. While Hollows are often feral creatures left with a desire of destruction or attraction towards a specific individual, the Arrancar win on intelligence, developing a unique personality. They also tend to have more human physical features, although they can be pretty ruthless and brutal in battle.

If all of these were not enough, the most powerful Arrancar under the command of the power hungry Commander Aizen are named Espadas (Swords in Spanish). Grimmjow is one of such Espadas. Since his pre-Arrancar times when he had a handsome panther shape, Grimmjow is seen as a strong leader by his pack, who invited him to join them on their purpose to evolve.

Thus, Grimmjow succeeded in becoming a handsome and skillful Arrancar with blue hair and white uniform. Notice he doesn’t only look the opposite of Ichigo, his personality is also inverted. While he apparently is a smiling laid-back guy, he is extremely violent and short-tempered in battle, where he is as cunning as a fox. Also, Grimmjow´s psychotic smiles and crazy laughs can send chills down your spine.

It is unsurprising that, on his first encounter with our Shinigamis in episode 118, he easily impales Rukia, enraging Ichigo. Then, Grimmjow plays with him for most of the battle. A little bored because Ichigo is unable to touch him at first, the Arrancar keeps belittling him… until Ichigo assures that he can win over him and surprisingly gives him a strong blow that scares his torso. So, we can see that was a first encounter to remember.

There is a dark side dwelling in all of us. Only in the case of Ichigo, that side can be brutally destructive. It all started with Ichigo’s problem of becoming a Shinigami without relying on Rukia’s powers. In order to keep his duties within the underworlds, he underwent a painful process called Encroachment, where the chain that binds his body and soul was destroyed. As result, Ichigo’s Shinigami and Hollow powers were awakened at the same time, winning him a Hollow mask that usually reappears when he is going to fight. But, we only could wish it was a mere mask, because a Hollow Ichigo with the will to kill dwelled deep inside of him from that point on.

Ichigo noticed that, while confronting the Arrancar, his dark side tries to come to the surface (on his battle against Byakuya, for example). This is especially true for his showdowns with Grimmjow, who is as ruthless a fighter as Hollow Ichigo. So, these two are brutal and berserk when they fight against each other, with Ichigo being spared due to external interventions and interruptions. Even after training to control his inner Hollow, Ichigo ends technically defeated by Grimmjow, which doesn’t help much in keeping his dark side at bay. So, taking into account that Hollow Ichigo is a representation of Ichigo’s purest instincts, we can conclude that Grimmjow brings his feral side out.

Calling both Ichigo and Grimmjow honorable might sound as a stretch, but they can not be considered as the pure good guy and the pure evil guy either. We already mentioned the existence of Hollow Ichigo, right? Anyway, Ichigo gets disgusted when Yammy calls Grimmjow trash. He also spares the life of his rival on episode 167, where Ichigo is finally able to surpass Grimmjow but refuses to give the fatal blow.

We should also mention that Grimmjow stops an assault on Orihime by other Arrancar in Las Noches (the Espadas headquarters). He also takes Orihime to heal Ichigo on episode 165 and makes sure the healing process is not interrupted by sending Ulquiorra (Ichigo’s rival at the moment) to another dimension. Although Grimmjow assures this is because he wants to be the one to defeat Ichigo in the end… well, that was too much hard work for the sake of his enemy, right? So, these two have their honorable moments 🙂

Let’s go back to that first fight between Ichigo and Grimmjow, shall we? Ichigo’s cooky attitude was annoying but intriguing at the same time for Grimmjow. How did a mere human dare to say that he could defeat the great Arrancar whenever he liked, despite that he was evidently loosing? Besides that, Ichigo’s surprise blow left Grimmjow with a large scar on his chest. Did the powerful warrior heal it with magic, as he usually does? Not in this case. Grimmjow wanted to remember Ichigo and return the favor later.

Unfortunately, the pair are interrupted whenever they are having their rematch. Probably the last time this happened was in episode 190, where their fight was interrupted by Nnoitra. So, we can see that since their first encounter, Ichigo and Grimmjow have kept their great fight pending. Plus, Grimmjow survives the Hueco Mundo Arcs. These two still could cross their paths in the future, so… we fans are expecting more of them!