At Karakura Town, he engages the Espada. Tier Halibel before she is mortally wounded by Aizen. From there, Hitsugaya engages Aizen, and is tricked into stabs Momo in the chest with Aizen taking advantage of the youths rage of being tricked to cut his left limbs off. After Aizens defeat and healed, Hitsugaya resolves to train so that he can more freely use his strongest move as a Soul Reaper, bankai, to protect Hinamori. When Kugo Ginjo steals Ichigo Kurosakis Fullbring powers, Hitsugaya and several other high ranking Soul Reapers appear in the human world. To help Ichigo regain his Soul Reaper powers and combat Kugo, captain commander Genrysai Shigekuni Yamamoto orders the Soul Reapers to give Ichigo some of their spirit energy. Hitsugaya then engages the Fullbringer Yukio Hans Vorarlbena in a cat and mouse game, ending with Hitsugaya encasing Yukio in ice, threatening to end his life if he does not release his Fullbring. During the Wandenreich invasion of Soul Society, Hitsugaya loses his bankai to the organizations member Cang Du. But with the help of Kisuke Urahara, Hitsugaya retrieves his bankai from Cang Du and defeat him. However, Hitsugaya ends up as a zombie under the Sternritter Giselle Gewelle. Images/782009243472_anime-Bleach-Movies-1-2-Double-Feature-DVD-Hyb-Memories-of-Nobody-DiamondDust.jpg?resizeid=3&resizeh=600&resizew=600' alt='Order Bleach: The Diamonddust Rebellion Movie Review' title='Order Bleach: The Diamonddust Rebellion Movie Review' />Hitsugaya appears along with a zomified Rangiku as they, Kensei, and Rose fight Mayuri Kurotsuchis group of revived Arrancars and Squad 1. Ikkaku and Yumichika. Eventually, Mayuri manages to take control of the zombified Soul Reapers with Hitsugaya and Rangiku restored to normal and healed, although their lifespans were shortened. Hitsugaya later joins Byakuya and other Soul Reapers against the sternritter, Gerard. During this battle, the ice petals of Hitsugayas bankai dissolve. But instead of his bankai deactivating, revealing that the time limit was a sign that it was fully developed prior to the fight, Daiguren Hyrinmarus power reaches its full potential while Hitsugaya is transformed into a young adult to better utilize his improved weapon. In other mediaeditHe appears in all of the four featured films in the series. He fights the Dark Ones with other Soul Reaper comrades in Bleach Memories of Nobody. He is the main character in Bleach The Diamond. Dust Rebellion, where he is accused of stealing the Kings Seal, an ancient artifact, and stumbles across a dark secret concerning a long dead Soul Reaper named Sjir Kusaka, who was his close friend and rival when he was younger. A one shot manga chapter focusing on Histugayas past was released to promote the film, revealing how Hitsugaya learned of his powers. Apparently, Kusaka uses the Kings Seal to come back to life for revenge, but in the end is killed by Hitsugaya in a final rematch. He also appears in Bleach Fade to Black, in which he loses his memories of Ichigo and Rukia, along with the other Soul Reapers. In Hell Verse, after losing his memories about Rukias disappearance and Ichigo, Hitsugaya along with other captains try to stop Ichigo from entering the Soul Society. Hitsugaya is featured in the 3. Sealed Sword Frenzy, in which he is part of the group of captains sent to the real world to seal away the escaped and notoriously dangerous shinigami criminal, Baishin. During their first encounter, he successfully fends off the criminal, though Baishin escapes. Hitsugaya is a common playable character in Bleach related video game, including the Blade Battlers series and the Nintendo home consoles series. Special versions of the character such his bankai form is featured in some games such Soul Resurreccin,3. Hitsugaya in a school costume are unlockable in other games such as Bleach Shattered Blade. He is also a playable character in the Nintendo DS game, Jump Ultimate Stars. He also appears in two Bleach Beat Collection albums aside. The first one was a compilation album with Hinamori and Matsumoto. The second one was also a compilation album, this time with Ichigo. A Hitsugaya and Hyrinmarus album was also released as part of Bleach Breathless Collection. He was initially portrayed by Takashi Nagayama in the Bleachrock musicals. Later, in Shinsei Rock Musical Bleach Reprise, Nagayama was replaced by Yya Kido,4. Takuya Kawaharada took the role. ReceptioneditHitsugaya has been highly popular in the Weekly Shnen Jumps Bleach popularity polls ranking most of the times within the top ten. In early 2. 00. 8, Hitsugaya was voted the most popular character in the series, replacing Ichigo, who had previously held the position. Hyrinmaru was voted the most popular zanpakut in the zanpakut popularity poll of the series. In the 2. 00. 7 Japanese Newtype magazine character polls, he was voted the 9th most popular male character in any anime. In the 2. 8th Annual Animage Readers Poll, Anime Grand Prix, Hitsugaya was voted as the eighth most popular male anime character. He has also been featured in similar Animage monthly polls. Hitsugaya ranked eighth in 2. The Character I Want to Be My Groom from the Japanese music distributor Recochoku. 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, received a lot of letters from worried fans, causing Kubo to apologize in response. Various merchandise based on Hitsugayas appearance has been created, including action figures,5. Various publications from manga, anime and other media have commented on Hitsugayas character adding praise and criticism.