Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Quilge Opie: Who Would Win in a Fight?

If you’re an excited Bleach fan who’s watching the Thousand-Year Blood War, you’ll know that what awaits us in Episode 3 is a fight between Ichigo and Quilge Opie, the Sternritter “J”, who was put in charge of Hueco Mundo by Yhwach, after the latter’s invasion of the realm. Now, we could simply give you an analysis of the battle, but we won’t be spoiling everything for you so we’re going to analyze Quilge and Ichigo to determine who would win in a fight; you’ll be able to confirm whether we’re right next week!

In his current state, Ichigo wouldn’t be able to defeat Quilge Opie alone. His powers aren’t simply on that level yet to face a Sternritter completely by himself, even though his Bankai cannot be stolen by the Sternritter. Opie is currently faster and more powerful than Ichigo, but the Ichigo that defeated Yhwach would deal with Opie easily.

Now that you have the short version of the answer, the rest of the article is going to be divided into three sections. The first two introducing the characters, their powers, and their abilities. In the end, we’re going to give our final verdict and explanation of why Ichigo would be able to defeat Quilge Opie with relative ease.

Ichigo Kurosaki and his powers

Ichigo Kurosaki is a fictional character and the protagonist of the manga Bleach, as well as the anime adaptation of the same name. He was created by Tite Kubo and is a 17-year-old high-school student who can see ghosts. After an unfortunate incident, a Soul Reaper named Rukia Kuchiki transfers her powers to him so he can save his family, after which he becomes a Soul Reaper himself.

Ichigo does not rank like Shinigami but his strength is great enough to fight on par with captain-level Shinigami. When in his Shinigami form, he already has great speed and his strength is much greater. Because Ichigo has more spiritual power than his body can handle, he is constantly leaking power. This prevents him from suppressing his spiritual power.

Ichigo’s Zanpakutō is called Zangetsu. Unlike other Shinigami, Ichigo’s Zanpakutō is always in the Shikai form. The Zanpakutō is so big because Ichigo cannot control his spiritual power. Zangetsu’s soul is a middle-aged man with sunglasses and a long cloak. He is portrayed as a wise and calm man who likes to test Ichigo in unusual ways.

Zangetsu’s Bankai is called Tensa Zangetsu. Ichigo’s Bankai causes his Zanpakutō to shrink and his uniform changes. He can also move faster and his reflex has improved. Zangetsu’s special attack is the Getsuga Tenshō, which launches an energy attack from the top of Ichigo’s sword. The soul of Tensa Zangetsu is a younger version of Zangetsu, about Ichigo’s age. He is also aggressive.

In addition to his Shinigami powers, Ichigo also has Hollow powers. After losing his first fight with Byakuya Kuchiki and losing his Shinigami powers with it, he went to train with Kisuke Urahara to regain the Shinigami powers. During that training, Ichigo also partially became a Hollow. The Hollow’s strength grows throughout the series.

Unlike Ichigo, the Hollow fights like a berserker. The Hollow disregards Ichigo’s injuries and surpasses Ichigo’s speed and strength. Ichigo has been taught to control the Hollow by the Vizards, who let him summon his Hollow powers without the Hollow taking control. After controlling the Hollow, Ichigo trains to extend the time he has to use the power. His limit is 11 seconds, but during his fight with Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, it is considerably longer.

After his fight with Aizen in Karakura city, all Ichigo’s powers have disappeared and he has become an ordinary person. But after training with Xcution, Soul Society has given him back his powers.

Quilge Opie and his powers

Quilge Opie is a Quincy and member of the Wandenreich and its Sternritter; his designation is Sternritter “J” – “The Jail”. He is also the captain of the 1st Hunting Army of the Wandenreich and is tasked with hunting strong Arrancar in Hueco Mundo in order to forcibly recruit them for the Wandenreich. His nickname is Quilge Opie, the Jail.

Quilge is a capable fighter, even able to take on three Fracciónes, the Tres Bestias, at once without taking a scratch. In battle, he summons a sword from his Qunicy Cross, which he can also use to fire Holy Arrow. He also masters the form Qunincy: Vollständig, which he activates by discarding his (enhanced) Sanrei Gauntlet. This greatly increases his Quincy abilities and changes his appearance, boots, gloves, angel wings, and a reishi halo are formed.

Through the “Slavery” technique, he is able to absorb the spirit bodies of defeated hollows in order to become even stronger, but this technique does not work in the long term. Its font is “J” – The Jail. Among the abilities he gained from Yhwach is the creation of a Heilig Pfeil, which imprisons the enemy it hits in a reishi prison. This is extremely resilient and was able to withstand multiple Getsuga Tenshō from Ichigo in Bankai state.

Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Quilge Opie: Who would win?

As we have said, Quilge and Ichigo have, indeed, fought in the manga but with there being so much hype surrounding the anime, we are not going to spoil the fight for you. Rather let us just analyze their powers and abilities from the facts we know. Now, we have to add a disclaimer that our analysis is going to be based solely on their powers, i.e., it is going to be as objective as possible. We won’t be taking into account the possible plot-related reasons that might influence the final fight because they do not necessarily have to be founded on objective facts. Having said that, we can continue.

Based on the state Ichigo was in when facing Opie, the latter would be stronger in a one-on-one fight. Sure, Ichigo did end up beating Yhwach later on, but he wasn’t on that level when he faced Quilge Opie. On the other hand, the Sternritter were portrayed as being enormously powerful, even without Qunincy: Vollständig. Opie is not an exception there and just observing his speed and power shows that he is an immensely dangerous foe.

At his current level and alone, Ichigo wouldn’t stand a chance against Quilge. Sure, he would injure him, but it would end up like his fight against Ulquiorra – he was close, but not close enough. On the other hand, the Ichigo that fought Yhwach, i.e., the Ichigo whose trainer later on and discovered even more powers, that Ichigo would slap Quilge Opie like a child, and the Sternritter wouldn’t even know what hit him.