Tōshirō Hitsugaya

Tōshirō Hitsugaya
Pre TimeskipPre Timeskip - Post TimeskipPost Timeskip
Race	Shinigami
Birthday	December 20^[1]
Gender	Male
Height	133 cm (4'4")^[1]
Weight	28 kg (62 lbs)^[1]
Professional Status
Affiliation	Gotei 13, Soul Society
Occupation	Captain of the 10th Division
Team	10th Division
Partner	Rangiku Matsumoto
Base of Operations	10th Division HQ, Seireitei, Soul Society
Personal Status
Relatives	Unnamed Grandmother
Education	Shinō Academy
Zanpakutō
Shikai	Hyōrinmaru
Bankai	Daiguren Hyōrinmaru
First Appearance
Manga Debut	Volume 10, Chapter 81
Anime Debut	Episode 24
Video Game Debut	Bleach Advance: Kurenai ni Somaru Soul Society
Voices
Japanese Voice	Romi Paku
English Voice	Steve Staley
Spanish Voice	David Brau (Spain) Luis Fernando Orozco (Latin America)

Tōshirō Hitsugaya (日番谷冬獅郎, Hitsugaya Tōshirō) is the Captain of the 10th Division in the Gotei 13. His lieutenant is Rangiku Matsumoto.

Appearance

Tōshirō Hitsugaya is short, has turquoise eyes and short, spiked, white hair, which tends to draw attention in the Human World.^[2]^[3] He wears a standard sleeveless captain's haori with a green sash around his shoulders, held together by a round star-like clip. The sash holds his Zanpakutō's sheath in place on his back and is tied to it at either end. He sometimes walks around in his tabi. He is relatively young by Shinigami standards and has the appearance of a child. In the Human world, he wears a black, short-sleeved, golf shirt and gray pants. He also wore the uniform of Karakura High School.
A year and a half after Aizen's defeat, shortly after Ichigo regains his Shinigami powers, Tōshirō appears sporting a hairstyle similar to that before he became a Shinigami, and a long turquoise scarf.^[4]^[5] His green sash is also changed to a thin chain, but it still retains the star-like clip.^[6]

Personality

Hitsugaya is generally mature and serious, in contrast to his free-spirited lieutenant, Rangiku Matsumoto. Despite their personality differences, he and Rangiku seem very close. Tōshirō is shown to be easily annoyed by others goofing off or drawing unneeded attention to themselves, as shown when he leads a team of Shinigami into Ichigo Kurosaki's school.^[2] Hitsugaya hates anything that he deems childish as well as being described as something close to a child, such as an elementary school child. He is overly protective of Momo Hinamori, due to the fact that they were old childhood friends. Hitsugaya dislikes summer and warm weather in general.
Tōshirō's favorite foods are watermelon and amanattō. He does not like dried persimmons. Back in his childhood in West Rukongai, he was so skilled with spinning tops that he became the local undefeated champion. He works very hard, but his motive seems to be that if he finishes quickly, he can return to his afternoon nap. He believes in the saying "children who sleep well, grow well," and hopes to grow quickly, a wish shared by his subordinates. Naturally, they do not voice this fact in front of him, for even regularly practicing this adage for so long, he didn't really grow in height .^[7]
Hitsugaya is usually joked about by many of the other Shinigami in Soul Society as well as by his enemies. Despite these jokes, or perhaps because of them, Hitsugaya has developed a cold attitude toward most people; he tolerates these jokes and goes on with his duties. Although he has shown anger towards jokes, he doesn't take action against whomever insulted him unless they are his enemies, but has never overreacted because of them. The only thing he can't tolerate is not being addressed as "Captain Hitsugaya," or an inappropriate use of his name, as he worked very hard for the title so he gets angry when not addressed as such. Coincidentally, though, he does not address any other officer with their title, only their last names. The only person that actually calls him by his given name is Ichigo, who is constantly reminded to address him properly, and Hinamori, who is the only person allowed to get away with it. Hinamori tends to call him "Hitsugaya-kun" and both she and Ukitake occasionally use "Shirō-chan" (シロちゃん) — a nickname meaning "Whitey" (Snowy in the English manga) in reference to his hair — in both cases without any repercussion. In addition, Karin and her friends call him by his first name and they are never given any rebukes for it. In the Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book 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 "Shirō-chan."
During his duel with Gin Ichimaru, Ichimaru remarks that Hitsugaya is the embodiment of a heavenly guardian that would be reincarnated every few centuries.^[8]

History

Tōshirō as a child back in Rukongai.

Added by DarkBankai101

Hitsugaya comes from the province of Junrinan in the 1st District of West Rukongai.^[9] There, he lived with his grandmother and Momo Hinamori. As a young child, Hitsugaya was a bit of a brat who likes to eat watermelons and poke fun at Hinamori. She calls him "Shiro-chan" (Little Shiro in the English dub) and he retorts by calling her "Bed-wetter Momo." The two are close friends and Hitsugaya, despite being younger and much shorter than his friend, always feels that he needs to protect her.^[10]
Even at a young untrained age, Hitsugaya could hear the calling of his Zanpakutō spirit, Hyōrinmaru. Despite this he never told anyone and couldn't accurately determine what was happening other than to assume it was an ever recurring dream.^[11]
When Hinamori left to become a Shinigami, he portrayed himself as happy to see her go, though it was more of an act than his true feelings. Her next door friends were scared of him, even though he had never done anything to them. His grandmother, "Granny", and Hinamori were the only ones in the district that weren't afraid of him. His personality was supposedly "cold as ice" or at least thought to be, and he often wondered if it was due to his appearance or attitude.^[12] When Momo had been in the Shinigami Academy for 5 years, he began to notice how he hadn't grown an inch. He noticed that Hinamori's hair grew longer and she visited less often, seemingly having a goal in her life now. He also noticed that "Granny" was getting skinnier.^[13]

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto first meet arguing.

Added by Steveo920

While out at the market one day a shopkeeper, whom he was buying items from, was treating him disdainfully. He then meets Rangiku Matsumoto, who yells at the shop keeper for being rude to Hitsugaya and reproached him for his poor customer skills. When Hitsugaya turns around, he is knocked down by bumping into Rangiku's bosom. She then yells at him for "lying there and crying about it and not standing up like a man", although it was she who had knocked him down in the first place. He then shakes her off and runs away.^[14]
Later that night, he has a vivid dream of a gigantic, icy blue, serpentine dragon with large wings and an echoing voice. This dream is markedly different from the previous ones, where he had only experienced sensations but nothing substantial to what the meaning might be. This time, however, the reason behind the dreams not only materializes, but tries to tell him its name. Hitsugaya cannot hear him, however, as his voice is muffled by strong winds. He then wakes up in a cold sweat.^[15] Upon waking up, he sees Rangiku and is surprised to see her in his home. She immediately tells him to stop leaking his reiatsu everywhere and to get some sleep. She further explains that his grandmother looks pretty cold, which causes Hitsugaya to notice for the first time that the room is exceedingly cold and affecting his grandmother. Rangiku then tells him he should become a Shinigami, stating that kids with power as strong as his need to learn how to bring their power under control. She explains that if he stays the way he is, his power will end up killing his grandmother. At first, Hitsugaya isn't sure what she is talking about but she calmly places her hand on his chest and asks him if he hears a voice calling out to him. She explains to him that once he has found that voice, he'll understand how to control his power. She then notes that for that to happen he must become a Shinigami.^[16]
Soon after, he tells his grandmother of his intentions of becoming a Shinigami. Much to Hitsugaya's surprise, she is happy for him. She tells him that she had always felt that he holds everything in because he didn't want to leave her, but doing so was only hurting him and in turn seeing him that way, hurt her. Hitsugaya then leaves to follow his own path with his grandmother's blessing.^[17]
With Hitsugaya's natural talent, he quickly entered the Shinigami Academy and graduated early despite his age. Hinamori continued to call him "Shirō-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 in the entire history of Soul Society.^[1]
He is also a friend of Jidanbō Ikkanzaka, the West Gate Keeper, who taught him the "city rules."^[1]