Shinji Hirako/Expanded Universe


 * Shinji redirects here. For the anime-exclusive character from episode 133, see Shinji Iijima

is the captain of the 5th Division in the Gotei 13. His lieutenant is Momo Hinamori. He also served as a recruiter and the de facto leader of the Visored. He was also a captain over 100 years ago prior to his exile and was reinstated to his old post sometime after the defeat of Sōsuke Aizen.

Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World
In Soul Society, Shinji Hirako suddenly senses a powerful Hollow Reiatsu in the Rukongai and recognizes it as that of Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. While Momo Hinamori informs him that the Twelfth Division assured them that everything is under control in that area, Shinji is unconvinced. Knowing how dangerous Grimmjow is, Shinji heads out there himself and tells Momo to inform the Captain-Commander about his decision.

As Shinji is hurrying towards the battle happening in the Rukongai, he curses Mayuri for allowing the events to escalate so much. Suddenly, he senses another Reiatsu heading towards the fight as well. Recognizing it as more similar to a Visored's Reiatsu than that of a Shinigami, Shinji heads toward it only to find an unfamiliar childlike Shinigami.

The child recognizes Shinji as a Gotei 13 captain, and gleefully introduces themselves as Hikone Ubuginu. While Shinji is relieved the child is not hostile, he is still on guard because of the strange and massive Reiatsu Hikone is emitting. Suspicious, Shinji subtly asks Hikone who they work for, as they are not wearing a Gotei 13 insignia, and Hikone answers that they are the retainer of Tokinada Tsunayashiro.

Recognizing the name as both that of a Noble and a person associated with Kaname Tōsen's history, Shinji becomes even more suspicious. As Shinji shifts the conversation to the battles happening at their mutual destination, he is shocked to hear Hikone not only knows the Arrancar fighting there, but has even fought them before in Hueco Mundo when trying to become the realm's king. When Shinji asks how a Shinigami could become the king of Hueco Mundo, Hikone nonchalantly replies that they are supposed to become the new Soul King, and because of that Hikone is to be respectful towards the Royal Guard and the Gotei 13, as they will be protecting them in the future.

This alarms Shinji, especially as he realizes Hikone is actually telling the truth. Deciding to shift the conversation, Shinji bluntly inquires about Hikone's gender, to which Hikone replies that they have no gender. According to Hikone, Tokinada explained that, since Hikone will be the beginning and the end, they have no need for reproductive capabilities. Shinji can only decide that Hikone is not malicious by nature, but that it only makes the child even more dangerous.

Eventually Hikone and Shinji arrive in the Rukongai, interrupting a fight between Grimmjow and Luppi Antenor. Surprised by the presence of both Hikone and Shinji present, Grimmjow openly wonders if everybody is here just to be killed by him, and asks if Ichigo is coming as well. Hearing that name, Hikone mentions that Ichigo is currently in the Human World, and is too busy fighting to protect his sisters to come. This alarms Shinji, and he demands to know what happened in the Human World. Losing his remaining patience, Grimmjow just fires Ceros at Hikone, Shinji, and Luppi; only for Shinji and Luppi to dodge it.

As Shinji notices that he Hikone's Zanpakutō swallow up the Cero the Zanpakutō suddenly starts talking to everyone present. When Shinji wonders how the sword is talking, it takes offense and tries to introduce itself but finds itself unable to speak its own name. Before the sword can say more, Hikone apologizes for its behavior, but immediately decides to fight everyone present to prove their worthiness as King and releases their Zanpakutō, Ikomikidomoe".

As Ikomikidomoe takes the form of a colossal Hollow and attacks the Arrancar, Shinji cannot help but express his amazement and terror at the Zanpakutō. Hikone, who is sitting on the head of Ikomikidomoe, is happy at the compliment and assures Shinji that the Zanpakutō is completely under their control. Shinji, however, does wonder if he should intervene in the fight or not, as the Shinigami have orders not to restart hostilities with the remaining Arrancar.

As the Quincy under Mayuri Kurotsuchi's control, Meninas McAllon and Candice Catnipp, proceed to fire a baragge of Heilig Pfeil and lightning bolts at Ikomikidomoe, Shinji is forced to take cover, for which he curses Mayuri. As the Quincy start to get overwhelmed, Shinji realizes that Ikomikidomoe is highly dangerous and wonders why Tokinada gave such a weapon to Hikone.

After Hikone and Ikomikidomoe leave the battle, Nanao Ise appears and summons Shinji and Mayuri, as well as the Arrancar, Quincy, and Fullbringers present to the residence of Kūkaku Shiba on the orders of Shunsui Kyōraku. After Shunsui has explained the situation to everyone present, including the isolation of Karakura Town by a barrier, Shinji orders Kensei Muguruma to contact Hachigen Ushōda to try and break the barrier from the outside, but they are unable to contact him.

Sometime afterwards, Shinji accompanies the group to the Valley of Screams to confront Tokinada and Hikone. Shortly after arriving, the allied group is attack by a massive horde of Hollows spawned by Ikomikidomoe, to which Shinji assures the group he will handle the Hollows himself and releases Sakanade. Shinji proceeds to use Sakanade to confuse the hordes of Hollows by changing the perspective of each of them, in response, the Hollows try to use echolocation and Reiatsu sensing to find him, but Shinji still manages to keep them disorganized, revealing to them that Sakanade can also invert the hearing of its victims.

As Shinji mentions that he likes to increase Sakanade's potential even more, such as inverting the sense of temperature, the Hollows keep accidentally attacking each other. Eventually the horde adapts their strategy and begins to multiply even more. When Shinji realizes that this is something that Sakanade cannot help with, he seemingly grows nervous and tries to flee, causing the Hollows to pursue him en masse. Eventually, Shinji stops as he senses he has put enough distance between himself and the others and proceeds to drop his terrified act. Ridiculing the approaching Hollows for their stupidity, Shinji reminisces about his encounter with Gerard Valkyrie and philosophically muses about the nature of miracles, such as how they can reverse even despair itself. Declaring he will perform a miracle of his own, Shinji activates his Bankai, Sakashima Yokoshima Happōfusagari.

Shortly after the Hollows are all dealt with, Shinji thanks Sakanade for its hard work, though he complains about how his Zanpakutō forced him to surround himself with his enemies. Looking at the mountains of Hollow corpses around him, all killed by each other, Shinji notes that Sakashima Yokoshima Happōfusagari does not recognize the difference between friends and foes because it extends that illusion towards everyone, causing enemies to become allies and allies to become enemies, and is nigh-useless in one-on-one fights. Disappointed that Tokinada and Hikone were not present because he could have made them attack each other, Shinji prepares to leave and chastises Sakanade for being a very uncooperative Zanpakutō, as the Shikai is useful against stronger opponents while the Bankai is only useful against weaker ones.

Eventually, Shinji manages to rejoin others, and finds Shunsui in battle with Tokinada. Shunsui quickly explains to Shinji and everyone else how the Tsunayashiro Clan's ancestral Zanpakutō, Enrakyōten, can mimic other Zanpakutō powers; asks Shinji if he can use his Sakanade to counter any attempts by Tokinada to use Sakanade himself. Stating that he can try, Shinji admits that they are guaranteed to lose if Tokinada can mimic his Bankai. However, Tokinada takes advantage of the distraction and casts '''Bakudō #21. Sekienton''' to create a smokescreen across the courtyard. As both Shinji and Shunsui quickly deduce Tokinada's plan, their battle reflexes prevent them from looking away in time during combat, and they, alongside their allies, have already fallen under the spell of Kyōka Suigetsu.

Zanpakutō

 * In its sealed form, it resembles a normal katana. The hilt and sheath are red, and its guard is shaped like an hourglass.


 * Shikai: The release command is . In its Shikai state, the pommel becomes a large ring that allows Sakanade to rotate around Shinji's hand without him actually gripping any part of the Zanpakutō. This movement relates to his sword's special ability. The first few inches of the blade are covered by an extension of the cross-guard. Sakanade's blade is straight and slim, with the tip ending in a slanted razor-like edge instead of being tapered to a point. There are five holes along the sword's length.


 * Shikai Special Ability: Sakanade's Shikai ability creates a . When spun, the sword creates a pink mist. Those who smell its pleasant aroma fall subject to an optical illusion. Shinji describes the release technique as something like a trump card. Up and down, left and right as well as forward and backward are reversed. However, it is not just the sense of direction that is changed; the opponent's eyesight, direction of incoming attacks, and injury locations are also inverted. Shinji claims that countering the damage from the inverted directions simply by processing it all within the mind is not possible. No matter how powerful the opponent, especially if one is accustomed to fighting, their body will not be able to adapt due to their reflexes preventing proper reaction, which causes them to continuously succumb to the power's effect. The effect of the Inverted World can be targeted at or neglected from specific opponents, making it ideal for use in group fighting. It also severely affects the equilibrium of those its power is used on, giving them vertigo, causing confusion, disorientation and/or nausea. Shinji has further trained with his Shikai to allow it to invert the words that he says as well. Shinji has voiced a desire to further train himself in order to reverse "hot" and "cold".


 * Bankai: : Sakashima Yokoshima Happōfusagari turns Shinji's sword into a staff with a large ring on the front end, while Shinji himself stands on a large flower construct. The flower petals close themselves for the duration of the Bankai, shielding Shinji inside of them.


 * Bankai Special Ability: Sakashima Yokoshima Happōfusagari is a wide-area Bankai that targets opponents and allies alike without discrimination and without exception. It inverts the perception of friend-and-foe across anyone within the vicinity of his Bankai, with Shinji himself being the sole person unaffected. As a result, all allies become enemies while all enemies become allies for the duration of the Bankai.

Zanpakutō
Indiscriminate Effect (Bankai): Sakashima Yokoshima Happōfusagari has a large area-of-effect that targets friend and foe alike without exception.

Overspecialization (Bankai): As Shinji himself notes, Sakashima Yokoshima Happōfusagari is nigh-useless at best in any situation where he is not surrounded by hostiles, and outright dangerous if he has multiple allies with him. Even in a one-on-one fight the Bankai can be dangerous to Shinji if his opponent is an individual who has no scrupules against attacking an ally.

Quotes

 * "I really was just beat when it came to the war with the Quincies. Since they sprang up in the Seireitei all of a sudden and sent everything into chaos... If they had just created a defined battle formation outside of the walls, I would have been able to clean up most of them by myself. It's not all that useful when I've got allies around. There isn't even much point to using it when facing someone directly. It only really means something when I'm isolated and standing right in the middle of a gigantic crowd of enemies alone. What a pain."