Tōshirō Hitsugaya
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| Bleach character | |
|---|---|
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| Tōshirō Hitsugaya | |
| Occupation | Shinigami captain of the 10th Division |
| Birthday | December 20th |
| Height | 133 cm (4' 4") |
| Weight | 28 kg (61.6 lbs) |
| Blood type | AB Positive |
| Zanpakutō | Hyōrinmaru |
| Seiyū | Romi Paku |
| Voice actor | Steve Staley |
Tōshirō Hitsugaya (日番谷 冬獅郎 Hitsugaya Tōshirō?) is a character in the manga and anime series Bleach. He is the captain of the 10th Division in the Gotei 13. His lieutenant is Rangiku Matsumoto. He has recently become the second most popular Bleach character after Ichigo Kurosaki in Shonen Jump's polls, replacing Rukia, who had previously held the position. He missed first place by less than 100 votes.[1]
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[edit] Character outline
Tōshirō Hitsugaya is very young by Soul Society standards. He is the youngest in generations to have become captain and is thus 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 without any accessories. 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 stature in relation to his blade's length is probably a factor in its unique wear. His sheath dissolves whenever he draws his sword.
He 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 hates anything that he deems "kiddie" or childish, 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. He is overly protective of Momo Hinamori, due to fact that they were old childhood friends.
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 despite Hitsugaya's 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. He didn't suspect Sōsuke Aizen of the same, but since Aizen has the ability to hypnotize others at will and faked his death well before his conspiracy began to unfold, this is understandable.
During his duel with Gin Ichimaru in the anime, Ichimaru remarks that Hitsugaya is the embodiment of the heavenly guardian that is born into Soul Society every few centuries. This may explain his rapid growth and why he is a respected captain despite his age. Alternatively, Gin may have been speaking sarcastically, saying that Hitsugaya did not seem to live up to his title. His given name is also 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.
Hitsugaya dislikes summer and warm weather in general.
[edit] History
Hitsugaya comes from Junrinan, District 1 of Rukongai. There, he lived with an old woman and Momo Hinamori, and possibly other people. Little else is known about his past, but it is known that he became a shinigami shortly after Hinamori. He is also a friend of Jidanbō, the West Gate Keeper, and was the one who taught him the "city rules."[2]
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"and he would counter 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 initial release and was recognized as a shinigami. Highly capable and knowledgeable, he quickly became the youngest of the captains within the Gotei 13.
[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Soul Society arc
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 due to her friendship with Izuru Kira, Ichimaru's lieutenant.
When Sōsuke Aizen is murdered and Hinamori tries to kill Ichimaru in a grief-induced rage, partially inspired by Hitsugaya's earlier warning, she is stopped by Kira. When she tries to fight Kira to get him out of the way, Hitsugaya stops both of them and has them arrested. Hitsugaya confronts Ichimaru, claiming that he was about to kill Hinamori. He merely warns Gin that he will kill him should Hinamori spill even a drop of blood.
After Ichimaru breaks Kira out of jail, Hitsugaya confronts him, only to be attacked by Hinamori, who now believes Hitsugaya is Aizen's murderer because of a note he left for her saying as much. She grips her sword so tightly that her hands bleed, so he knocks her out and acts upon his earlier threat. Though he succeeds in freezing Ichimaru's arm, their fight is cut short when Ichimaru aims his zanpakutō at Hinamori and is stopped by Rangiku. Ichimaru departs, advising Hitsugaya to take care of Hinamori. Hitsugaya then takes Hinamori to the 4th Division for healing and places a shield around her, which is nearly impenetrable from the outside but simple to break from the inside.
Hitsugaya ends up trying to stop the execution by appealing to the Chamber of 46, the shinigami governing body. Upon finding all 46 members dead, he is led away by Izuru Kira. When Kira warns Hitsugaya that Hinamori is likely following him, Hitsugaya rushes back to discover that Hinamori has been gravely wounded. Hitsugaya realizes that Aizen is the true mastermind behind the conspiracy of Rukia's execution; however, when he tries to kill Aizen for his crime and for hurting Hinamori, Aizen seriously wounds him instead. Fortunately, the 4th Division captain, Retsu Unohana, and her lieutenant, Isane Kotetsu, discover Aizen's role in the conspiracy. They arrive in time to expose him and Unohana immediately proceeds to save Hitsugaya and Hinamori.
[edit] Bount arc
Hitsugaya's first reappearance is when he is seen researching the Bount. Later, when it is established that the Bount are a danger to normal humans, Hitsugaya sends Izuru Kira, Shūhei Hisagi, Rangiku Matsumoto, and Yumichika Ayasegawa to help Ichigo Kurosaki and the rest of the group deal with the Bount situation.
When this fails and the Bount infiltrate the Soul Society, Hitsugaya takes responsibility for the lieutenants' failure. He then wastes no time in reacting. After gaining information on the Bount from Renji Abarai, he, Renji, and Rangiku Matsumoto go to investigate reports of Bount activity in a forest in Rukongai. By the time the three of them arrive in the forest the Bount are gone. Hitsugaya then challenges Maki Ichinose who had been waiting for them. Ichigo, Uryū Ishida, Orihime Inoue and Yasutora Sado then all turn up in quick succession. Ichinose uses his initial release in an attempt to kill them all, but Kenpachi Zaraki arrives to take over the fight.
After they return to Seireitei, Hitsugaya attends a meeting with the other captains. Afterwards, during a search for the Bount, he faces the Bount Koga Gō. Hitsugaya is forced to use his final release to defeat Koga. Seeing Koga's hesitation in battle, he tells his subordinates to find what little of Koga remains (since Bount dissolve into ash upon death) to give him a proper burial, unaware of the fact that Koga had survived their encounter.
[edit] Arrancar arc
After the Soul Society events, Hitsugaya is one of the six shinigami who appear in the living world to assist Ichigo with the recent arrancar invasion. He and Rangiku stay with Orihime Inoue for their duration in the living world (although Hitsugaya stays out on the roof).
He attempts to teach Rangiku Matsumoto and Yumichika Ayasegawa how to perform the final release during this time, but their training is interrupted by the appearance of Yammy, Luppi, Grimmjow Jaggerjack, and Wonderwice Margera in the human world. Hitsugaya's opponent is originally Yammy, but he switches to Luppi, the 6th Espada. After apparently being beaten down by Luppi, Hitsugaya gains enough time to recover due to Kisuke Urahara's interruption. He then catches him in an ice cage but is still unable to defeat him in time. Ulquiorra finishes their mission of capturing Orihime and all the arrancar retreat.
After reporting the incident to Yamamoto, and discussing Aizen's true goal while speaking through a video-type device, Yamamoto tells him that someone wanted to speak with him. Although he wasn't supposed to, Yamamoto allowed Hitsugaya to speak with the other person, who turned out to be Hinamori. Hinamori apologized to Hitsugaya for pointing her sword at him, but Hitsugaya let it go, things seeming to get better between them. They bicker for awhile, until they start to talk about Aizen and his betrayal with Hinamori begging to him to save Aizen, claiming that Aizen was only being controlled by Gin. The conversation is cut short soon after - Yamamoto told Hitsugaya that although he wanted to respect her wishes, it was too soon to speak about that matter. This angers Hitsugaya, wanting revenge on Aizen.
After Hitsugaya and his task force learn that Orihime has followed the arrancar back to Hueco Mundo, they return to Soul Society to help in the preparation for war against Aizen.
[edit] Hyōrinmaru
Hitsugaya's zanpakutō is Hyōrinmaru (氷輪丸, lit. 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 is also light-blue, which matches Hyōrinmaru's abilities. Hyōrinmaru's initial release command is "set upon the frozen heavens" (霜天に坐せ sōten ni zase?). Hyōrinmaru is considered the strongest of all water-ice element zanpakutō in Soul Society.
In its initial release, Hyōrinmaru itself remains the same, but gains a crescent-shaped blade attached to the hilt by a chain. Hyōrinmaru allows Hitsugaya to control the weather, specifically 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.
Hyōrinmaru's final release, named Daiguren Hyōrinmaru (大紅蓮氷輪丸, lit. Great Crimson 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. His left is covered fully until the wrist where it then it spans into claws, leaving his hand and fingers free. Three "flowers" of ice, shaped similarly to the tsuba of his zanpakutō, are also created behind Hitsugaya with four petals each, which melt away as Hitsugaya attacks.
Hyōrinmaru's final release has two known special techniques. The first is "dragon hail flower" (竜霰花 ryūsenka?), 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. The second is "thousand years ice prison" (千年氷牢 sennen hyōrō?),[3] which forms a multitude of ice pillars using the moisture in the atmosphere. These pillars then envelop the enemy.
During a battle with Hitsugaya, the arrancar Shawlong speculates that Hitsugaya's final release will end when all twelve petals disappear, claiming that Hitsugaya's final release is "incomplete" due to his young age. However, the ability of an arrancar to fully understand a shinigami's weapon is questionable at best, so this theory is only provisional. Also, Hitsugaya was operating under a power limit at the time, which could have affected Shawlong's perception of his strength. After Shawlong is defeated Hitsugaya does comment with a look of relief that he has one petal left. During his battle with the arrancar Luppi, Hitsugaya mentions that as long as there is water in his immediate surrounding area, his final release form is able to regenerate itself indefinitely.
