Shinji Hirako

is a recruiter and the semi-leader of the Vizard and the previous captain of the 5th Division in the Gotei 13.

Personality
Shinji is somewhat comical, adding a bit of levity to situations that are otherwise serious. He has a flippant attitude under normal circumstances and seems to like annoying his associate, Hiyori Sarugaki, which usually earns him a slap from one of her sandals. She in turn shows him absolutely no respect and frequently insults and attacks him; although he is no better, frequently making faces or glib insults at her expense. 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).

Underneath this though he is quite perceptive regarding people and during his time as a captain was one of the few people who appeared suspicious of his lieutenant Sōsuke Aizen and could apparently sense or see through some of his illusionary capabilities. Aizen even admitted to being somewhat intimidated by him. He is very serious in combat or when angry. He also appears to be one of the older captains since his captain's haori had overlong sleeves (a trend shared by Jūshirō Ukitake, Shunsui Kyōraku, Retsu Unohana and Yamamoto) and during a conversation with Ukitake it was implied that he had been a captain for a long time.

Appearance
Shinji has jaw length blond hair with a straight cut and many of his facial expressions reveal his upper teeth, a trait also seen in Nnoitra Jiruga. In the past Shinji wore normal captain robes and had considerably longer hair. As a Vizard Shinji has been seen in standard Karakura school uniform though he usually wears a long brown coat, shirt and tie, and some form of hat.

History
Shinji was the captain of the 5th division approximately 100 years before the main storyline. He appears to have a knowledge of Aizen's zanpakutō and possibly his intentions. He had Sōsuke Aizen as his lieutenant but for his own reasons. The night Kensei Muguruma and some members of his division went to go to investigate the disappearance of the souls, they were ambushed by an unknown enemy. The Gotei 13 Captains decided to send Captains Love Aigawa, Shinji Hirako, Rose, and Lieutenant Lisa Yadōmaru to the site with Hiyori Sarugaki already heading there.

There Shinji and the others were ambushed and unwillingly subjected to hollowification by Aizen, who used some sort of infectious agent to trigger the change. Kisuke Urahara rescues them and attempts to use the Orb of Distortion to reverse the damage, but it fails. After they are sentenced to be executed as hollows, Urahara gives them untraceable gigais for their escape to the human world.

Synopsis
One hundred years after Shinji was captain of the 5th division, Shinji appears before Ichigo Kurosaki in an attempt to recruit him to become a Vizard. While his initial attempts fail, he promises that no matter what his decision, Ichigo would eventually need to contain his inner-hollow to prevent it from devouring his own soul. Shinji then departs for the time being, receiving some physical abuse from Hiyori when he tells her that Ichigo refused to join them. Hoping to learn how to contain his inner-hollow, Ichigo eventually comes to Shinji and the other Vizards. While he initially attempts to get the information out of them by force, Shinji halfheartedly battles Ichigo. The other Vizards watch the display, noting that Shinji wasn't even taking him seriously. After Ichigo leaves to go fight Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, Shinji follows behind him and saves both Rukia and Ichigo from Grimmjow's cero attack. He engages Grimmjow and nearly defeats him with his cero, but Ulquiorra comes and retrieves Grimmjow before he can be killed. Shinji's current standing with the winter war is unknown as is the standing of the rest of the Vizards. He seems quite angry as he realizes Ichigo has left to Hueco Mundo leaving to them only a word : "thanks". Ichigo calls him "Hirako".

Abilities


Masterful Combatant: Shinji is implied to be a powerful combatant, being the unofficial leader among the group and a former shinigami captain. At one point, when Shinji begins to fight with Ichigo Kurosaki, the other vizard mention that Ichigo is foolish to battle Shinji and that Shinji is not taking the battle seriously.

Zanpakuto
Not much has been revealed about Shinji's zanpakutō, as he rarely uses or even visibly wears it. The hilt and sheath are red. None of his release states have been shown, and the times that he does seriously fight he seems to rely more on his hollow mask.

Hollowfication
Shinji's hollow mask strongly resembles a pharoh's mask with a short flowing hood down the back of his neck. Shinji is quite skilled with his hollow powers, using the increased speed and strength to overwhelm Grimmjow Jeagerjaques in short order before almost catching him in a powerful cero blast. The video games also depict him being able to split the cero blast into multiple smaller beams.

Trivia

 * One of Shinji's previous acclaimed crushes was Lisa Yadōmaru, a fellow vizard, and his current is Orihime Inoue.
 * During several points in the anime, Shinji's outfit is depicted to look like Lupin the III, likely as a homage on the part of the animators.
 * In the 'Turn back the pendulum' mini series, Shinji tells Aizen about a (then) new thing called Jazz that Aizen wouldn't understand because he's 'not hip'. This implies that even as a captain, Shinji was just as youth-orientated as he is now.