Bleach: ‘Ichigo… do you know how I hate rain?’ Quote Explained

Bleach is a shonen manga series, and as such, the focus has mostly been on the action-adventure segment of the story. But, Tite Kubo has also tried and succeeded in creating a work with a lot of depth and philosophy, which is also why we found some amazing quires in the series. One of them is Zangetsu’s famous “Do you know how I hate rain?” quote, and we are going to use this article to explain its meaning to you.

Rain has an important symbolic meaning for Ichigo and his story and is usually associated with major tragedies or sadness, which is why Zangetsu, as a manifestation of Ichigo’s mother’s powers, hates it. Rain means Ichigo is sad, and since Zangetsu lives alone in his inner world, the rain is a symbol of Ichigo’s own pain, which Zangetsu feels, which is why he hates it so much. Rain has been associated with White’s attack on Masaki, Ichigo’s mother, as well as her death. It has been associated with the death of Kaien Shiba, Ichigo’s cousin, and it has also been associated with Ichigo losing his Zanpakuto and powers. So, Zangetsu hates rain because it means that Ichigo is in pain.

The rest of this article will focus on Zangetsu’s quote and its meaning within Bleach, as well as the relationship between Ichigo and Zangetsu. The role of rain in Bleach is quite important, and the symbolic value of what rain represents for Ichigo and his story is truly important and cannot be denied. This is why we are going to provide you with a detailed explanation of everything related to this quote. This article is not going to be spoiler-heavy, but we have to warn you that some spoilers might be present.

Zangetsu hates the rain because it symbolizes that Ichigo is in pain

Going back to Chapter 112 of Bleach, which was later collected in Volume 13, we can hear Zangetsu saying the following:

“I hate rain. It rains in here, too. When you are moody, it becomes cloudy. When you are sad, the rain comes down… I can’t stand it. Can you understand? How horrible it is to get rained on when you are all alone in an empty world? In order to prevent that from happening… I’ll lend you whatever power you need! If you can trust me… I won’t let one drop of rain fall from that sky! Trust me… you are not alone in battle… Ichigo!“

– Bleach, Chapter 112, “The Undead 2[Rise & Craze]”

Now, this was one of Zangetsu’s most important quotes in the series, and the meaning of it is so important, so layered, and so deep that we simply had to analyze it separately and explain why this particular quote is so important for Bleach and why it is so important for understanding the relationship between Zangetsu and Ichigo, which is one of the most important relationships in the whole series. And now, let us explain everything to you.

The Zangetsu we are talking about here is “Old Man Zangetsu,” i.e., the manifestation of Ichigo’s Quincy powers, not Hollow Ichigo, who is actually the true Zangetsu. The “Old Man Zangetsu” is a spirit who resides in Zangetsu. He is actually the image of Yhwach from 1,000 years ago and, as part of Ichigo’s soul, represents the Quincy portion of his powers. He originally pushed back Hollow Ichigo and posed as the only Zanpakuto spirit to become Ichigo’s central power and prevent him from becoming a Shinigami, which was part of Yhwach’s original plan.

However, over time, he began to appreciate Ichigo more and helped him in his projects; in the end, he no longer objected to Ichigo becoming a Shinigami and voluntarily stepped down as its central power so that Ichigo could obtain his true Zanpakuto (Hollow Ichigo).

However, Ichigo did not want to lose his old companion, which resulted in the Old Man Zangetsu being included in Zangetsu’s new form as well. Zangetsu is always portrayed as calm and wise and seems to enjoy testing Ichigo, even if the purpose of these tests sometimes seems contradictory to the goal.

As you can see, Zangetsu and Ichigo had a very complex relationship that evolved over time, but since “Old Man Zangetsu” was, for a long time, Ichigo’s primary source of power, he also spent the most time with the young Shinigami. This is why he knew Ichigo so well and why Ichigo’s emotions impacted him. And this is where the rain comes in.

Namely, Zangetsu lived alone in Ichigo’s inner world, and because of his original mission, he was isolated and was constantly torn between helping Ichigo and fulfilling Yhwach’s mission. Of course, when Ichigo was happy, Zangetsu felt fine, but when Ichigo was in pain, he would also feel pain.

The sadness and pain that Ichigo went through in his life were symbolically materialized through rainfall, with Ichigo’s inner world being flooded by heavy rain that made Zangetsu feel even sadder, even more isolated, and even more pain. No one really likes pain, and it makes perfect sense that Zangetsu, knowing what the rain represented, started hating it, as it meant more pain for him but, also, that Ichigo is in pain and despite everything, Zangetsu undoubtedly cared a lot about Ichigo, and that is why he took his pain and his sadness so hard, that is why he actually despised it so much.

Rain truly did have a very symbolic role in the life of Ichigo and his family. In Soul Society, it rained heavily when Kaien Shiba, Ichigo’s cousin, died. In the world of the living, the whole episode with the Hollow White, which resulted in Masaki Kurosaki being infected with Hollow Reiatsu and Captain Isshin Shiba giving up all of his powers to save her life, was heavily associated with rain; in fact, even a lot of the episode and chapter titles contained rain in them.

Also, it rained when Grand Fisher killed Masaki, and when Ichigo later failed to pass Nimaiya’s test in the Soul King’s Palace, it rained heavily when he returned home to find out the truth about his past. Also, it rained when he lost his Zanpakuto to Jugram during the first invasion.

As you can see, rain plays an important role in Ichigo Kurosaki’s life, and whenever something bad happens to him, it rains. This was symbolically translated to his inner world, and Zangetsu felt that pain very intimately, and that is why he hated the rain so much, and that is why he was willing to give Ichigo all of his powers to make him safe, to make him not feel pain, to not see the rain in his inner world ever again.

And that is, as we have said, why this quote is so important and why we decided to provide you with a thorough individual analysis of that aspect of his story.