Quote Originally Posted by HandofShadows View Post
In many respects Ichigo was set up/prepared to be like he is. By his father, Urahara and even Aizen to some extent. Just look at how he got his Bankai. It was something devised by Urahara. Even his Soul Reaper powers came with a big string attached in that he has to fight to keep his Inner Hollow under control. Also there have been a few cases where Ichigo has screwed up and made matters worse, no better. Not to mention he has gotten badly beaten on more than one occation and only survived throught he efforts of others.
The Marty Sue thing gets complicated, because Ichigo has gradually transitioned into being one from being a typical shonen hero. Getting his bankai way too early through a mentor's machinations, for example, is classic action shonen.

But when was the last time Ichigo's Hollow went out of control? I believe it was during the Ulquorria fight, which was almost two hundred issues ago. At that point, Ichigo had only two power sets, and quite a few other people had those two power sets as well (all of the bad guys, and several of the good guys), and it was when the comic was still in the process of really going off the rails.

What I'm saying is, using old evidence to suggest that a new event hasn't happened isn't really useful. The Montreal Canadians have the most Stanley Cup wins in hockey, but they haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1993 so it's hard to argue that they're the best team in hockey.