Hollowfication



Hollowfication is the process to describe when a shinigami gains hollow powers. In doing so, the shinigami's strength greatly increases as well as their agility, speed, strength, and stamina. The particular group of shinigamis who have gone through hollowification are the Vizards. There are eight members of the Vizard, whom were all either captain-class or lieutenant-class (excluding Ichigo Kurosaki). As Aizen stated, "a normal soul can't contain the prototype" when undergoing hollowification, therefore, shinigamis have to be the ones who encounter hollowification.

After a Shinigami obtains hollow powers, they have to don their hollow mask in order to have access to it. The mask eventually wears off for a certain period of time. The time interval is different for each Vizard. For example, on her first try, Mashiro Kuna could hold her mask for at least 15 hours without tiring. On the other hand, Ichigo could only maintain his mask for 4 seconds at first (though he managed to train enough with the Vizards to maintain it for a confirmed 11 seconds just a bit prior to his second battle with Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez). This is the reason they go under special training to build up their stamina so they could hold their masks for a longer period of time. The appearance of each hollow mask is different to every individual.

The Vizards fell victim to hollowification as a result of Sōsuke Aizen's experiments, to create a Shinigami/Hollow hybrid. It is unknown how Aizen achieved this process but it was considered a failure because they weren't perfect hybrids.