Fair point Ichigo isn't the fastest I can even acknowledge that but it's not useless. There where plenty of Shinigami who used Bankai and where still matched by Arrancar it's just Ichigo's opponents where difficult Grimmjow and Ulquiorra are opponents any Shinigami would of struggled against.
But if you say Ichigo's Bankai is the most useless...well that's just your opinion and I can respect that but I just think it's a little unfair when there are far more useless Bankai like Ikkaku's which takes time to get started or Renji's who's Bankai was defeated the moment it made an appearance and not to be technical but Renji was beaten almost always when he used Bankai.
Just saying...
Fair enough. I guess it's not
useless, but the thing I was getting at is that he doesn't know how to fight without his Bankai - this is a huge drawback. A Bankai is suppose to be a Shinigami's
last resort, no? Yet, Ichigo blasts off every single battle with it. He doesn't even fight using his Shikai which is why he hasn't even mastered Zangetsu yet. He has what, one attack? His precious Getsuga Tensho? Unlike Hollow Ichigo, Ichigo doesn't know how to use Zangetsu to it's fullest. His Bankai is supposed to give him a huge burst in speed but ever since the Hueco Mundo arc everyone he's fought is easily able to match him.
Kubo has filled Bleach with contradictions and I think Ichigo's Bankai is one of the bigger ones. When he first fought Byakuya he was overwhelming him with speed. But look at Ichigo vs Grimmjow and then Byakuya vs Zommari. Grimmjow had no problem keeping up with Ichigo even in his
base form. Then, Zommari, who is supposed to be the fastest Espada (faster than Grimmjow), was barely able to top Byakuya.
For Renji, his Bankai isn't a compressed blade like Ichigo's. On the contrary, it's a gigantic...thing. Because of this it can be argued that Renji requires more training to be able to use his huge Bankai efficiently. The larger a Bankai is the harder it is to control, and in order to fight at 100% you need to be able to control it as if it were an extension of your own body. Basically, Renji just hasn't trained enough with his Bankai. Ichigo's fortunate that his Bankai is a normal-sized katana because you don't need much training to use that.
So, going so fast that he looked like making clones of himself isn't the fastest? Being faster than Byakuya, isnt trully fast? Reacting properly, and not being damaged by the fastest zanpakuto (Gin) isnt really fast? Only 2 faster characters i can see are Kunoichi, (which we can not really compare) and 2nd resurection Ulquiorra, all of the rest, was just plot to not be "easy" for ichigo the hueco mundo arc.
-Ichigo never made
clones. After-images aren't the same as full fledged clones like Zommari was able to make. Huge difference.
-Ichigo is not faster than Byakuya.
-Gin wasn't even trying to kill him. In case you haven't noticed Gin was a good guy. He knew Ichigo would be the one to defeat Aizen in the end. Gin was, for all intents and purposes, helping Ichigo. He was pushing Ichigo and putting him down so that he would pick himself back up and find his resolve again. Something Ichigo desperately needed.
You're going to blame it on plot? Is that the best you got?
Whether it's because of the plot or not it doesn't change the fact that his Bankai is rendered null and is
far from making Ichigo the fastest in the Bleach world...
And who the heck is Kunoichi? There are no ninjas in Bleach. I assume you mean Yoruichi?