Tōshirō Hitsugaya (Seireitou)

"In regards to what you told Kurosaki... You don't seem to understand, so I'll explain it you to you. Swinging your blade out of a sense of duty is what a Captain does. Swinging your blade out of hate is nothing more than base violence. Captains don't refer to that as fighting. Aizen... you truly were never worthy of holding the title "Captain". However... it is as you said. My blade is full of hate. If my blade is filled with hatred, then I'm also unworthy of being a Captain. Is that what you wanted to say? That's right. As long as I can kill you in this battle, I don't care if I lose my position as a Captain. I didn't come here to fight you, I came here to violently hack you to pieces!"

- Hitsugaya speaking to Sōsuke Aizen.


 * "Frozen passion." - Tite Kubo

Tōshirō Hitsugaya (日番谷 冬獅郎, Hitsugaya Tōshirō) is the current Captain of the Tenth Division in Gotei 13, having been the direct successor to Raian Getsueikirite. His lieutenant is Rangiku Matsumoto.

Appearance
Tōshirō is short, with turquoise eyes and short, spiked, white hair, which tends to draw attention in the Human World. 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.

Seventeen months following Sōsuke Aizen's defeat, shortly after Ichigo Kurosaki regains his Shinigami powers, Tōshirō appears sporting a hairstyle similar to that before he became a Shinigami, and a long turquoise scarf. His green sash has also changed to a thin chain, but still retains the star-like clip.

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. 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. It is a known fact that he dislikes summer and warm weather in general.

Tōshirō's favorite foods are watermelon and amanattō. He does not like dried persimmons. During 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 did not really grow in height.

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, and has never overreacted because of them. The only thing he cannot 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, however, 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. Jūshirō Ukitake often 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.

Quotes

 * "There we go again, old men and their stupid arguments. What a pain."
 * (To Gin Ichimaru) "If you make Hinamori shed even one drop of blood... I'll kill you."
 * (To Momo Hinamori) "Hinamori! How many times do I have to tell you? It's not "Hitsugaya-kun". It's "Captain Hitsugaya"."
 * (To Luppi Antenor) "You're being too lenient with an opponent you've only hit once. Haven't you ever heard of following through?"
 * (To Tier Harribel) "I didn't think the speed and range of your attacks would suddenly jump up so much after you released. Good thing I took precautions, though I didn't want to use that deception so early on since I can only use it once. Do not misjudge a Shinigami's power."
 * (To Harribel) "As a thank you for your lecture, I'll teach you something. The time you implement your greatest technique is the time of greatest crisis. This too is an inviolable law of battle."