Toshiro Hitsugaya

Lore & Background

Hitsugaya grew up with his grandmother and with Momo Hinamori, whom he regards as a very close friend. He did outstandingly at the Soul Reaper academy and became the youngest captain Soul Society has ever had. His zanpakutō, Hyōrinmaru, takes the form of an ice dragon, and it had tried to reach him even before he became a Soul Reaper.

Reader's Guide

Hitsugaya fights with ice through Hyōrinmaru; its bankai is Daiguren Hyōrinmaru. After Aizen's defeat he resolves to train so he can use his bankai more freely to protect Hinamori. The ice petals of his bankai were long read as a time limit, but in the fight with Gerard they turn out to mark a bankai that had not yet fully matured.

During Rukia Kuchiki's planned execution, Hitsugaya suspects Gin Ichimaru, appeals to Chamber 46 and finds its members killed by Aizen, who had faked his own death; he then fights Aizen and loses. Later he leads the Soul Reapers sent to defend Karakura Town from the Arrancar, defeats Shawlong Qufang and Luppi Antenor, and faces the Espada Tier Halibel before Aizen tricks him into wounding Hinamori. In the Wandenreich invasion he loses his bankai to Cang Du, wins it back with Kisuke Urahara's help, is turned into a zombie by Giselle Gewelle and is later restored by Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Fighting Gerard alongside Byakuya, his bankai reaches its full power and he takes the form of a young adult.