Highlights
- Hitsugaya's youthful appearance belies his immense strength and intelligence, making him a standout character in Bleach and a formidable Shinigami Captain.
- Hitsugaya's progression through the ranks of the Gotei 13 has been extraordinary, with his skill set and genius surpassing even older Captains.
- Hitsugaya's Zanpakuto, Hyorinmaru, grants him powerful ice-based abilities, and his strategic thinking and resilience make him a formidable opponent for anyone in the series.
The definition of a prodigy, Toshiro Hitsugaya's youthful appearance can be quite deceiving, as few would expect him to be the Shinigami Captain of the 10th Division in the Gotei 13. His meteoric rise through the ranks of Soul Society's finest is justified when considering his immense strength, enough to rival Captains hundreds of years older than him. Moreover, his calculating, stoic demeanor, keen intellect, and eye-catching abilities with his Zanpakuto made him a standout character from the main cast of Bleach — one that most fans would have no trouble rooting for.
From the time of his introduction in the Soul Society Arc to his contributions during the Thousand Year Blood War in Bleach, Hitsugaya has shown tremendous growth both in terms of strength and the depth of his character. That being said, ascertaining the extent of Hitsugaya's true power would be quite complicated, but nevertheless, Bleach fans will be dying to know where he stands in the grand scheme of the series' power scaling.
The Youngest Captain In History
Hitsugaya's progression through the Shin'o Academy was entirely unprecedented for someone of his age. After being accepted on his first try, the white-haired wunderkind graduated in only a year, with the highest scores in his class. The is no doubt that Hitsugaya has excelled at every skill set he has been taught. If not for the massive age difference between him and other Gotei 13 Captains, he might have even eclipsed their abilities and left them in the dust.
Shunsui Kyoraku, one of the oldest Shinigami Captains who was trained by Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto has himself stated that Hitsugaya will likely surpass his power in another century or so, purely based on his innate genius. The word "genius" has been regularly used to explain Hitsugaya's meteoric rise through the ranks of the Gotei 13, becoming the youngest Gotei 13 Captain ever and one of the youngest Shinigami to have learned Bankai.
Possessing exceptionally potent Reiatsu from an early age, Hitsugaya struggled to control his power when he was younger. In fact, his Reiatsu was so powerful and uncontrollable that it would randomly leak out from his body and freeze people or things in his surroundings, reflecting the power of his Zanpakuto. Unlike most other Shinigami who had to train to hear the voice of their Zanpakuto, Histugaya saw Hyorinmaru's spirit even before he attended the Shin'o Academy, which reflects how he was destined for the role he is now in.
A Keen Strategist
One of Hitsugaya's greatest strengths is his superb intellect. He can read situations with ease and devise accurate conclusions with very limited amounts of information. Possessing sharpened instincts and intuition that far exceed his years Hitsugaya, is an expert at deconstructing the mechanics of an opponent's ability to formulate countermeasures on the fly. His eye for battle has been honed to a supreme level in a very short time, on par with some of the most astute tacticians in the Gotei 13.
Even when backed into a corner after losing his Bankai during the Quincy Blood War, Hitsugaya immediately proceeded to hone his skills with his Shikai and developed creative measures to fight without his Zanpakuto's ultimate release. Although he seldom betrays little of his tender age — being more pragmatic and level-headed that most adult Captains — Hitsugaya lacks some of the decades or centuries' worth of experience possessed by his peers, although this has never gotten in the way of him fulfilling his duties.
Besides this, Hitsugaya is very proficient in Kido, Shunpo, and Hakuda, as is required of Shinigami Captains. While there is still a ways to go for him in each of these departments considering his immense potential, he is no slouch among his peers when it comes to any of them. A masterful swordsman, Hitsugaya is well versed in using his small and relatively lean frame to quickly maneuver around his opponents and take them down. He is also far more resilient than it may initially appear, as his body can tolerate substantial damage despite how frail it may seem at first glance.
Pushing Beyond His Limits
The Zanpakuto wielded by Hitsugaya, Hyorinmaru, is said to be the most powerful ice-element blade in all of Soul Society, such that he does not even need a source of water nearby to use its techniques. His control over its Shikai is so refined that he can even use some of its Bankai techniques without fully releasing it. This is primarily because Hyorinmaru initially had one of the smallest gaps in power between its Shikai and Bankai among the Zanpakuto in the Gotei 13.
As such, the only difference between the two states was the amount of ice he could create and the area it could affect. With Hyorinmaru's Shikai, Hitsugaya can create constructs from ice, the most prominent among them being a Chinese dragon. He can freeze anything that the dragon or his blade comes into contact with, create walls of ice, manipulate the weather in his vicinity, or lay down traps to freeze opponents.
On activating his incomplete Bankai, Daiguren Hyorinmaru, Hitsugaya gained wings of ice along with a tail, enabling him to fly or use them for offensive and defensive purposes. In this state, he could create ice clones, freeze things over even larger areas, or create massive pillars and constructs out of ice. Lastly, if his Bankai was damaged, it could easily reform as long as there was water in the surrounding atmosphere.
Further down the line, Hitsugaya honed his Bankai after Aizen's defeat and achieved its completed form, which physically ages him whenever it is active. This is because his young body could not initially handle the strain of its power. Hitsugaya becomes tall and lanky in this state, and his freezing powers become even more formidable and grander in scale. Having been able to match the likes of Aizen, Gerard Valkyrie, and Tier Harribel in battle, he would undoubtedly be a formidable opponent for anyone. There is no question that he will become one of, if not the strongest Captains in Soul Society in time, and perhaps even one of the most powerful in history.
BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 2 – The Separation is available to stream on Hulu and Disney+.