Tōshirō Hitsugaya

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. Hitsugaya is the lead character of theBleach-based film The DiamondDust Rebellion. 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" or a "child prodigy" by many. Hitsugaya is generally mature and serious, in contrast to his free-spirited lieutenant, Rangiku Matsumoto, although he can sometimes be short-tempered and irritable. Despite their personality differences, he and Matsumoto seem to be very close. Hitsugaya is shown to also be easily irked by others goofing off or drawing unneeded attention to themselves, as shown when he led a team of Soul Reapers into Ichigo Kurosaki's school. He hates anything that he deems childish and hates being described as something close to a child, evident in a filler episode when he meets Ichigo's sister, Karin, who pats him over the head further angering him. This is also shown more in the omake chapters, where he is repeatedly mistaken for a child, much to his annoyance.

Hitsugaya's zanpakutō is Hyōrinmaru (氷輪丸^?, literally "ice ring", idiomatically "full moon"). Hyōrinmaru's shikai command is translated in the English anime as "sit upon the frosted heavens" or "reign over the frozen heavens" (霜天に坐せ sōten ni zase^?). Hyōrinmaru is the strongest of all ice element zanpakutō in Soul Society. Hyōrinmaru's spirit is a large, winged, Chinese dragon. Hyōrinmaru allows Hitsugaya to control water and ice. The slashes created by Hyōrinmaru gives off an immense amount of spirit power which overflows from the tip of the blade, creating a flow of ice vaguely shaped like Hyōrinmaru's dragon spirit. The dragon flies at opponents and instantly freezes anything it touches. The chain-blade also freezes anything Hitsugaya traps with it. Hyōrinmaru's bankai, named Daiguren Hyōrinmaru (大紅蓮氷輪丸^?, literally "great crimson lotus ice ring"), causes ice to flow from Hyōrinmaru onto Hitsugaya, forming into two large wings, a tail, guards over his feet in the shape of dragon claws, and twelve large flower petals. During one of Hitsugaya's earlier battles, the arrancar Shawlong speculates that Hitsugaya's bankai will fade when all twelve petals disappear and that Hitsugaya's bankai is incomplete due to his young age. Later during his fight with Luppi, Hitsugaya states that "even if [Hyōrinmaru is] shattered, it will reform as long as there is water present.

Hyōrinmaru's bankai has four known special techniques. The first is Ryūsenka (竜霰花^?, literally "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. The second is Sennen Hyōrō (千年氷牢^?, literally "thousand-year ice prison"), which forms a multitude of ice pillars using the moisture in the atmosphere. These pillars hold the enemy prisoner for a thousand years, also freezing them. His third technique, Guncho Tsurara (literally "icicle flock"), he launches a multitude of ice shards in an attempt to impale his opponent. His fourth, and implied most powerful move is called Hyoten Hyakkaso (literally "frozen sky-hundred flowers funeral"). This attack causes 100 snow flakes to fall from the sky, freezing anything they touch in a flower like shape. When all 100 flakes fall, the life of the one trapped by the attack is over.