Tōshirō Hitsugaya

, causes ice to flow from Hyōrinmaru onto Hitsugaya, forming into two large wings and a tail. Ice also forms into a dragon's head around his sword hand, encasing it up to the hilt; which is in the shape of an eight-pointed star. Additionally, his wings are capable of folding around him to serve as ice shields. 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. A month later during his fight with Luppi the petals no longer appear, so he seems to have trained past this limitation. Also during that fight in which Hitsugaya disappeared for a time when Hyourinmaru was badly damaged, he reappears with Hyourinmaru completely intact again and states that "even if it's shattered, it will reform as long as there is water present." ["Bleach" manga; chapter 234, page 17 (Ju-Ni)]

Hyōrinmaru's "bankai" has two known special techniques. The first is ] In the lastest poll Hitsugaya was voted the most popular character in the series, replacing Ichigo Kurosaki, who had previously held the position. He received 8278 votes, 383 votes more than Rukia Kuchiki, who finished second. ["Bleach" manga Character Poll; chapter 307, pages 1 and 2.] In the 2007 Japanese Newtype magazine character polls, he was voted the 7th most popular character in any anime.Fact|date=July 2008 Carl Kimlinger from Anime News Network praised Steve Staley, Hitsugaya's English voice actor, for giving and interesting variation of his voice rather than "integrity-destroying abominations".cite web|url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/bleach/dvd-12|title=Bleach DVD 12 - Review|publisher=Anime News Network|author=Kimlinger, Carl|date=2008-10-03|accessdate=2008-10-03] Various merchandise based on Hitsugaya's appearance has been created, including action figures, [cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/Bleach-Characters-Part-Set-4/dp/B0014LZCKM/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1223055032&sr=1-17|title=Bleach Characters Part 5 Set of 4|publisher=Amazon.com|accessdate=2008-10-03] plush toys [cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/Bleach-Captain-Toshirou-Hitsugaya-8-inch/dp/B001EHVEDK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1223055032&sr=1-1|title=Bleach: Captain Toshirou Hitsugaya 8-inch Plush|publisher=Amazon.com|accessdate=2008-10-03] , and key-chains. [cite web|url=http://www.amazon.com/Bleach-Hitsugaya-Division-Captain-Keychain/dp/B001DOQHWM/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1223055032&sr=1-10|title=Bleach: Chibi Hitsugaya 10th Division Captain Keychain|publisher=Amazon.com|accessdate=2008-10-03] In order to promote the second film of "Bleach", the trailer had the line "Execute Hitsugaya!". Kubo admitted that it was his own idea to make everybody be surprised, but he and Masakazu Morita, the voice actor of Ichigo Kurosaki, received a lot of letters from worried fans, causing Kubo to apologize in response. [cite book |last=Kubo|first=Tite|title=BLEACH The DiamondDust Rebellion もう一つの氷輪丸|year=2007 |publisher=Shueisha |isbn=978-4-08-703189-8]

References