Shūhei Hisagi

Lore & Background

Kensei saved him as a child, and Hisagi later wears a "69" tattoo on his face that matches the one on Kensei's stomach. A Hollow attack on his class while he was an academy instructor left the scar across his face. Mature and calm, he got on well with Tōsen and admired him. Kubo has said Hisagi's fan popularity surprised him, because it grew long before his backstory was explored.

After Tōsen defects, Hisagi stands in as acting captain. He promises to help Komamura open his old captain's eyes, but in the end he has to strike Tōsen down to keep him from killing Komamura. He is the lead of the light novel Can't Fear Your Own World, set after the Wandenreich's defeat, where he learns more about Tōsen's betrayal and faces the antagonist Tsunayashiro.

Kazeshini

Released with "reap", the sword becomes two kusarigama-like weapons with opposite-curving blades on a long chain, thrown and pulled back or spun as a fan. His fear of death long kept him from its true form.

Bankai

With Kensei's help he reaches Fushi no Kōjyō, first used against Tsunayashiro in the light novel: an orb of black chains loops round both fighters' necks like a noose, draining and healing their energy and wounds together so neither can kill the other.