Tōshirō Hitsugaya

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Tōshirō Hitsugaya is the captain of the 10th Division in the Gotei 13. His lieutenant is Rangiku Matsumoto. He was recently voted the 2nd most popular Bleach character in Shonen Jump's polls, replacing Rukia Kuchiki, who had previously held the position. He missed first place by less than 100 votes with a total of 8,321, more than 2,000 votes succeeding Rukia. Recently (26th January 2008), Toshiro ranked first place in the popular Bleach character poll. He won with 8278 votes, exceeding Kuchiki Rukia by 383 votes. In the Bleach-based film The Diamond Dust Rebellion, he is the lead character.

Character outline

Tōshirō Hitsugaya is very young by Soul Society standards. Born in Rukongai, he became the youngest ever to reach captain rank. Thus, he is called a "boy genius" by many. He is short (because of his age) and has white hair, which tends to draw attention in the human world. He wears standard captain's clothing, save for a green sash around his shoulders, and sometimes walks around in his tabi; however, he is the only shinigami that carries his zanpakutō on his back aside from Ichigo Kurosaki, whose zanpakutō necessitates such a style. Hitsugaya's short stature and the blade's length may explain the similar style. His sheath dissolves whenever he draws his sword.

Hitsugaya is generally mature and serious, in contrast to his free-spirited lieutenant, Rangiku Matsumoto. Despite their philosophical differences, he and Rangiku seem to be very close. Hitsugaya is shown to also be easily annoyed by others goofing off or drawing unneeded attention to themselves, as shown when he led a team of shinigami into Ichigo Kurosaki's school. Hitsugaya hates anything that he deems childish and hates being described as something close to a child, an elementary school child for example, a further contrast to his appearance. This is more shown in the omake chapters of Bleach, such as the short comics in VJump and the sand castle contest chapter released along with chapter 238. He is also mistaken for a kid in several of the omake chapters, much to his annoyance. During the ending credits of Sealed Sword Frenzy, he was in the human world and dressed in a young boy's school uniform, and Hinamori had to practically drag him out of hiding. He is overly protective of Momo Hinamori, due to fact that they were old childhood friends. Hitsugaya dislikes summer and warm weather in general.

Hitsugaya is easily annoyed when anyone (especially Momo Hinamori) refers to him by anything other than his title, Captain Hitsugaya. Hinamori has called him by "Hitsugaya-kun," and both she and Ukitake have occasionally used "Shiro-chan" (シロちゃん) — a nickname meaning "Whitey" (Snowy in the English manga) in reference to his hair — in both cases without repercussion, however. In the Shinigami Golden Cup sketches (omakes found at the end of episodes of Bleach), Jūshirō Ukitake comically gives Hitsugaya candy and other food because "Jūshirō" and "Tōshirō" sound similar and because they both have white hair, making them both "Shiro-chan." The first character in Hitsugaya's given name, Tōshirō, means "winter," which is appropriate given his white hair and ice type zanpakutō. Ichigo also calls Hitsugaya by his given name, much to Hitsugaya's annoyance despite his protests, making him one of three captains Ichigo refers to in this manner (the others being Byakuya Kuchiki and Kenpachi Zaraki).

Hitsugaya's intuition is extremely sharp, and he is one of few captains to correctly suspect Gin Ichimaru of foul play, though he understandably didn't suspect Sōsuke Aizen of the same.

During his duel with Gin Ichimaru in the anime, Ichimaru remarks that Hitsugaya is the embodiment of a heavenly guardian that would be reincarnated once in a while. This is attributed to his given name, which is a homonym for a casual Japanese term meaning "amateur" (藤四郎), possibly referring to Hitsugaya's young age and inexperience relative to the other captains of the Gotei 13.

History

Hitsugaya comes from Junrinan, District 1 of Rukongai. There, he lived with his grandmother and Momo Hinamori. He also met Rangiku for the first time there.

In the Bleach 15 Special, a promotion of the movie, it is revealed that when Momo left to become a soul reaper he stayed behind knowing his power. Her friends from next door were scared of him and didn't visit or talk to him at all. "Granny" and Momo were the only ones that weren't afraid of him. He was supposedly "cold as ice" or at least thought to be. After Momo had been in the academy for 5 years he began to notice how he hadn't grown an inch while her hair was longer and Granny was getting skinnier.

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It was there that he met Rangiku. Of course he met her large beasts first but she yelled at a shop keeper who was being rude to him. During the night he'd have dreams of his sword's soul that was calling out to him. Later that day Rangiku was able to track him down and tell him that his reiatsu was leaking so it was causing Granny to freeze and get sicker. It was possible that if he stayed then it might kill her and so Rangiku told him to become a shinigami in order to learn how to control his reiatsu.

He is also a friend of Jidanbō, the West Gate Keeper, and was the one who taught him the "city rules."

As a child, Hitsugaya was a bit of a brat who liked to eat watermelons and poke fun at Hinamori. She would call him "Shiro-chan" (Lil' Shiro in the English dub) and he would retort by calling her "Bed-wetter Momo." The two were close friends and Hitsugaya, despite being younger and much shorter than his friend, always felt that he needed to protect her.

With Hitsugaya's natural talent, he quickly entered the shinigami institute shortly after Hinamori, despite his age. She continued to call him "Shiro-chan" out of habit and felt she needed to protect him. Because of a promise she had made, she only began to call him "Hitsugaya-kun" after he had achieved his zanpakutō's shikai and was recognized as a shinigami. Highly capable and knowledgeable, he quickly became the youngest of the captains within the Gotei 13.

Synopsis

Introduced along with the rest of the Gotei 13, Hitsugaya's sharp sense of intuition and keen sense of observation leads him to suspect 3rd Division captain Gin Ichimaru of foul play as the circumstances surrounding the coming execution of Rukia Kuchiki become more complicated. He warns Hinamori of these suspicions, which inspires her to attack Gin following Aizen's murder, leading him to lock both her and Izuru Kira in prison. Hitsugaya also warns Gin that if he causes Hinamori to drop even a single drop of blood he will kill him, culminating in a short battle between the two. Hitsugaya manages to freeze Gin's arm before Matsumoto interrupts and breaks it up. Seeing how destructive Rukia's execution is becoming, Hitsugaya tries to stop the execution by appealing to the 46 Chambers, only to discover all 46 members are dead and Aizen is responsible for murdering them, having faked his death. When Hitsugaya discovers Hinamori injured and asks Aizen why he did it, Aizen replies that he was being compassionate and states that admiration is the furthest thing from understanding. Hitsugaya tries to kill him, but ends up just as wounded as Hinamori.

During the anime filler arc, Hitsugaya later sends several shinigami to fend off the Bount in Karakura Town. When the Bount infiltrate Soul Society, he, along with Renji and Matsumoto, investigate reports of Bount activity in a forest in Rukongai. The Bount, however, are gone by the time they reach the forest. Hitsugaya later has a battle with the Bount Koga Gō, whom he easily defeats thanks to the advantages his style of combat holds over Koga's. Though he assumes the Bount to be dead, Koga survives.

Hitsugaya later leads a group of shinigami assigned to defend Karakura Town against the arrancar threat. During the first attack, he battles Shawlong Qufang. Though heavily injured, he wins after being allowed to remove his power limit. Hitsugaya then has a conversation with Hinamori through video-conference. Hinamori apologizes to Hitsugaya about pointing her sword at him, Hitsugaya tells not to worry about it. After bickering, they start talking about Aizen. Hinamori, who still cares for her former captain, begs Hitsugaya to save Aizen, thinking that Gin is manipulating him somehow. Angered by the fact that Hinamori is still devoted to Aizen, despite what he did to her, Hitsugaya hopes for revenge. During the second attack, he fends off Luppi. Though initially unable to defend against Luppi's attacks, being knocked to the ground in a single hit, Luppi's inattentiveness gives him ample time to build up a finishing move. Luppi escapes death and promises to kill Hitsugaya in turn; however, he is later murdered by Grimmjow. Upon learning that Orihime has followed the arrancar back to Hueco Mundo, Hitsugaya and his team return to Soul Society to help in the preparation for war against Aizen.

Zanpakutō

Hyōrinmaru (Ice Ring): When sealed, Hyōrinmaru looks almost exactly like a normal zanpakutō with the exception of the guard, which is in the shape of a four-pointed star. The hilt and the sheath are also light-blue, which matches Hyōrinmaru's abilities.

• Shikai: Its release command is "set upon the frosted heavens". Hyōrinmaru is the strongest of all water-ice element zanpakutō in Soul Society. In its shikai, Hyōrinmaru itself remains the same, but gains a crescent-shaped blade attached to the hilt by a chain.

Shikai Special Ability: Hyōrinmaru allows Hitsugaya to control water and ice. His slashes create an immense amount of spirit power which overflows from the tip of the blade, creating a flow of ice shaped like a Chinese dragon. The dragon flies at opponents and instantly freezes anything it touches. The chain-blade also freezes anything Hitsugaya traps with it. The power it expels is so overwhelming that in Soul Society (where Hitsugaya is not placed under a limiter), its mere release actually effects the weather within the immediate vicinity

• Bankai: Daiguren Hyōrinmaru (Great Crimson Lotus Ice Ring): causes ice to flow from Hyōrinmaru onto Hitsugaya, forming into two large wings and a tail. Ice also forms into a dragon's head around his sword hand, encasing it up to the hilt; which is in the shape of an eight-pointed star. His left arm is covered fully until the wrist where it then spans into claws, leaving his hand and fingers free. Hitsugaya's feet are encased in ice in a similar manner to his left hand. Additionally, his wings are capable of folding around him to serve as ice shields. Three "flowers" of ice, shaped similarly to the guard of his zanpakutō, are also created behind Hitsugaya with four petals each, which melt away as Hitsugaya attacks.

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Daiguren Hyorinmaru, Tōshirō Hitsugaya's Bankai

Bankai Special Ability: Hyōrinmaru's bankai has two known special techniques.

• Dragon Hail Flower: which freezes any enemy Hitsugaya stabs, locking them into a cocoon of ice and freezing them to the core. Once frozen, Hitsugaya can shatter his opponent.

• Thousand Years Ice Prison: which forms a multitude of ice pillars using the moisture in the atmosphere. These pillars then envelop the enemy.

During a battle with Hitsugaya, where Hitsugaya was fighting under a power limit, the Arrancar Shawlong speculates that Hitsugaya's bankai will fade when all twelve petals disappear, assuming that Hitsugaya's bankai is incomplete due to his young age. During his fight with Luppi, Hitsugaya states that as long as there is water in the surrounding area, his bankai can regenerate itself indefinitely, during which time the flowers are not visible.

In other media

Hitsugaya appears in the second Bleach movie, Bleach: The DiamondDust Rebellion, as one of the two main characters. When the "King's Seal," an ancient artifact, is stolen, Hitsugaya goes out in search of the thieves. After crossing paths with and fighting them, he goes missing, leading Seireitei to suspect him of treachery. As Ichigo Kurosaki and others go out in search of Hitsugaya, Hitsugaya himself stumbles across a dark secret concerning a long-dead shinigami.

Hitsugaya has been a playable character in every Bleach-related video game released so far, the only exceptions being Bleach: Heat the Soul. Often times, he's playable in several different forms, such as his shikai and bankai and even in a gigai. In Bleach: Heat the Soul 4, Hitsugaya is also playable in his school uniform.

He is the only Bleach character to appear in two Bleach Beat Collection albums (aside from Ichigo himself). The first one was a compilation album with Momo Hinamori and his lieutenant, Rangiku Matsumoto. The second one was also a compilation album, this time with the protagonist, Ichigo Kurosaki.

References

(Bleach special chapter 15)