Shinji Hirako

Height: 176 cm 59 Shikai: Sakanade Shinji Hirako is the former captain of the 5th Division preceding his lieutenant Ssuke Aizen. He distrusted Aizen from the day they met and thus made him lieutenant so he could keep an eye on him. Because Shinji never socialized with Aizen however he was easily deceived by Aizens actions culminating to his conversion into a hollow. Shinjis character is somewhat comical adding a bit of levity to situations that are otherwise serious. He seems to like annoying his associate Hiyori Sarugaki which usually earns him a slap from one of her sandals. He also appears to have a history of referring to cute girls he meets as his first love complete with a deadpan look on his face despite the obvious lie he apparently never did this with Hiyori further annoying her. An early design of Shinji can be seen in the first chapters cover art making it clear he was planned well before his introduction. During several points in the anime Shinjis outfit is depicted to look like Lupin the III likely as a homage on the part of the animators. Shinjis hollow mask resembles a pharaohs mask. Shinji is quite skilled with his hollow powers using a single cero blast to easily overwhelm Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. The video games also depict him being able to split the cero blasts into a pyramid shaped attack. Shinjis zanpakut Sakanade has the power of creating an inverted world. The power is an optical illusion which is caused by the scent the sword gives off upon its release. It inverts an opponents sense of direction causing the directions of up and down left and right as well as forward and backward becoming the opposite. It is not just the sense of direction that is changed the opponents eyesight and where they get cut is reversed as well. In its sealed form Sakanade resembles a normal katana with red hilt and sheath whereas upon its release its hilt becomes a large ring which Shinji places his hand in the middle of allowing him to freely control its movement without physically holding onto it if he so chooses. The ring is attached to a normal sword hilt with a normal rectangular hand guard. The first few inches of the blade are covered by an extension of the hand guard. Sakanades blade is straight and slim with the tip ending in a slanted razorlike edge instead of being tapered to a point. There are five holes along the swords length He has a tattoo on his tongue seen in episode 142.