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Tōshirō Hitsugaya is very young by Soul Society standards. He is the youngest in generations to have become a 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 short stature and the blade's length may explain the similar style. His sheath dissolves whenever he draws his sword.
Hitsugaya 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 childish and hates being described as something close to a child, an elementary school child for example, 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 dislikes summer and warm weather in general.
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, though he understandably didn't suspect Sōsuke Aizen of the same.
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.
 vailendeathmage · Mon Aug 20, 2007 @ 02:43am · 0 Comments |
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