Unlike Ichigo, he battles like a berserker, ignoring injuries and overpowering his enemies with brute strength and force. Though he taunts Ichigo as being a weak and unsuitable counterpart of himself, he relishes the idea of Ichigo growing stronger as he also grows stronger as a result. He is brutal, arrogant, disrespectful, murderous, and sadistic. Zangetsu's most distinguishing features are his maniacal laughter and psychotic smiling. He retains Ichigo's physical build and hair, however, his face appears almost skull-like, similar to the Hollow mask that Ichigo wears when he draws on his Hollow powers. When manifested outside Ichigo's inner world from one of Ōetsu Nimaiya's Asauchi, Zangetsu's appearance is marginally the same.

When he is later pulled out of Ichigo by the manifestation of Ichigo's Quincy powers, he wears a mask greatly resembling Ichigo's Hollowfied form from his battle against Ulquiorra Cifer, and has white, waist-length hair along with a white version of Ichigo's shihakushō in Bankai form. While Ichigo wears a standard black Shinigami shihakushō, his Zanpakutō spirit wears a white shihakushō with a black cloth belt. His eyes consist of black pupils, white irises, and black sclera.

He is a fairly tall and lean-built being possessing white skin, a blue tongue, black nails and white hair. Zangetsu appears to be virtually identical to Ichigo, except inverted in color. 3.8 Gotei 13 Invading Army arc (anime only).3.6 Zanpakutō Unknown Tales arc (anime only).

3.5 New Captain Shūsuke Amagai arc (anime only).

White ichigo bleach brave souls