Hotaru Atsu

Hotaru Atsu is captain of the 3rd squad.

Appearance
Hotaru has flaming red, wavy hair that sticks up in every direction. Despite being centuries old he looks quite young, about early twenties.

History
Hotaru grew up in what is now Indonesia. One day his village suffered a flood, in which he got tragically caught in and died. After having the soul burial peformed on him, Hotaru enrolled in the shinigami academy the moment learning about it, desiring to learn kido and how to fight, as well as to 'kill' hollows. He gained his position by killing the previous captain.

Personality
The hot-headed Hotaru is often brash and reckless, and is easy to anger. In fact he generally appears angry and hostile. He also resent authority of any kind and given orders. Despite his violent personality, however, Hotaru values his friends and squad greatly. He also despises evil of any kind, and when he sees it he will become very vengeful towards the wrong-doer. The only people known to have a cooling effect on him are captains Kasumi Zenubi and Rin Retsu.

Paradoxically, Hotaru desires to be good and kind, but he finds himself to be to angry and rebellious to be so. As such he hates how violent and cruel he can be, and is somewhat on a path of self-destruction.

Beliefs
Although an agent of Soul Society, Hotaru is secretly an Anarchist. He detests authority and desires to have it torn down.

Relationships
Although coming across as hostile and unfriendly, Hotaru does have a number of friends. His closest friend is fellow captains Hikaru Kesshi. Other good friends are Sarutahiko Kyan and Daniel Newton. He's also somewhat fond of his lieutenant, Aporraion Seriada. Other friends are Shigera Shikyo, Mitsuko Yuuyou and Osamu Jaken.

He is in a love affair with the captain-commander, Waizu Wan.

Hotaru is openly hostile towards captains Okami Jou and Myako Mei.

Powers and Abilities
Although his hand-to-hand, kendo and shunpo skills are around average, Hotaru is an accomplished kido master, certainly with destructive spells.

Zanpakuto
Hotaru's zanpakuto is called Hoharinezumi. Its release command is "roar", after which it becomes a gigantic fiery sword. It is quite a formidable weapon in this form.

Its Bankai form is that of a giant red, fiery porcupine, which Hotaru tends to ride on. In this form, not only does Hoharinezumi have the power to produce fire, but to control all fire and heat as well.

Sexuality
Hotaru is openly bisexual.