Shinji Hirako

Blunt, jaw-length blonde hair sits in a straight cut over Shinji's brown eyes, and he grins often enough to bare his upper teeth. A ring pierces his tongue. In the present day he favors trousers with a shirt and tie, usually crowned by a long coat and a newsboy cap, and briefly wore a Karakura school uniform while shadowing Ichigo. A century ago, as a serving captain, his hair fell to the small of his back and he wore the shihakusho beneath a captain's haori; after reclaiming the post he keeps the short cut, tucks his tie under his robes, and later adds a further white robe closed with a broad cravat.

Easygoing, flippant, and something of a joker, Shinji lightens even grim moments and usually speaks in a Kansai lilt. He loves needling Hiyori Sarugaki, which reliably earns him a sandal to the face, and he deadpans that nearly every cute girl he meets is his 'first love.' Beneath the clowning he is sharp and watchful: during his first captaincy he was among the very few to distrust his lieutenant Aizen and could sometimes see through his illusions, and Aizen admitted the man unsettled him. Angered or in a fight, Shinji turns calm and level-headed, and off duty he unwinds to jazz records.

More than a hundred years ago Shinji led the 5th Division with Aizen serving under him, a lieutenant he kept close precisely because he never trusted him. When Kensei Muguruma's squad and a stretch of Rukongai began vanishing, Shinji headed the rescue party that found them Hollowfying; he shielded Hiyori, held off a Hollowfied Mashiro and later Kaname Tosen, and grasped too late that Aizen had used Kyoka Suigetsu to walk beside him behind a double. As the Hollowfication took hold, Kisuke Urahara and Tessai Tsukabishi saved the victims, and Yoruichi Shihoin spirited them to the living world, where the group became the Visored. Years later Shinji resurfaced in Karakura Town to court Ichigo, revealing his Hollow mask and drilling the boy in mastering his inner Hollow. He traded blows with Grimmjow, then joined the fight at the fake Karakura Town, where he at last turned his sword on Aizen, cradled the fatally wounded Hiyori, and was struck down beside the other captains. With Aizen defeated he returned as 5th Division captain, and through the Thousand-Year Blood War he fought Soldat, Bambietta Basterbine, and Gerard Valkyrie, unveiling his Bankai along the way; he survives the war and holds his captaincy years afterward.

As a captain and Visored, Shinji wields immense, dual Shinigami and Hollow spiritual power, master swordsmanship, expert Shunpo, and Kido strong enough to fire high-level Hado without an incantation. His Zanpakuto, Sakanade, is freed with the order 'Collapse' and spins on a ring at his hand while leaking a sweet pink mist; whoever breathes it enters an inverted world where left and right, up and down, and even the path of incoming attacks and the spot a wound lands all flip, so reflexes betray the victim no matter how skilled they are. He can aim or spare specific targets, which makes it deadly in a crowd. His Bankai, Sakashima Yokoshima Happofusagari, sheathes him inside a golden flower and floods a wide field with that mist, so friend and foe alike mistake allies for enemies and turn on one another. His pharaoh-like Hollow mask, good for about three minutes, sharpens his strength and speed and lets him unleash a broad crimson Cero.