Episode 22 of Bleach Thousand Year Blood War just released and caused an uproar among the fan community when one of the fan-favorite characters, team 10 captain Hitsugaya Toshiro, was turned into a zombie.
This leads to speculation as to whether Toshiro is dead or not. If you are also thinking about this question then let me answer it for you in the simplest way possible without hurting your feelings.
Does Toshiro die in Bleach TYBW?
According to the manga, Toshiro is still alive and well, although his lifespan has been shortened quite a bit.
Let me explain, When Toshiro was about to die in the battle against Bazz B, the other Sternritter, Zombie’s Sternritter Z, Giselle, spilled some of her blood on Toshiro and Rangiku was seriously injured.
Thus, turning them into her own zombie puppets.
As we know, Giselle can turn any reaper into a zombie with just a drop of her blood splashed on them. This works on even captain-level shinigami like Toshiro.
However, when she summoned Toshiro to fight against Captain Mayuri, the latter injected an interesting drug into Toshiro’s body, allowing Toshiro to see the future and return to the old world. point when he is injected with medicine in case Toshiro kills Mayuri. *I know it’s a bit confusing but that’s what Kubo said in the manga*
This happened several times until the side effects of the drug kicked in and paralyzed Toshiro for a while, allowing Mayuri to stab and poison him using her Shikai.
The poison causes extreme pain for Toshiro, but Mayuri’s cruel and curious mind makes the latter unable to stop.
Mayuri, after successfully neutralizing Toshiro and the other Captains and vice-captains, wins the battle against Giselle and takes Toshiro and Rangiku to kill the zombies.
This process although saving both of their lives significantly reduces their lifespan.
There is no need to worry because Shinigami live for thousands of years easily.
What happens to Toshiro after his battle with Mayuri?
As I said above, Mayuri is able to save Toshiro and Rangiku with her scientific methods, post that Toshiro once again joins the fight against the sterns and especially the Schutzstaffel.
If you don’t know who or what the sterns and schutzstaffel are, click on the names to learn about them.
This leads Toshiro to participate in the fight against the mighty Gerrard Valkyrie, one of the strongest and rogue characters in Bleach along with Kenpachi and Byakuya.
During the course of his battle with Gerrard Toshiro unleashes his new bankai form and transforms him into an adult.
There will be a detailed explanation of bankai in another article, but it is worth mentioning that this new bankai makes Toshiro the strongest ice-type shinigami of all time. He can freeze anything including extremely large objects with just a movement of his hands.
In a frozen state, the object no longer performs all its functions and capabilities. This includes things he cuts with his sword, and if you touch him in this form, you will also be instantly frozen. With the same effects happening to you.
Even though his Bankai is one of the strongest, Toshiro cannot do much damage to Gerrard, let alone defeat him.
It was only through Gerrard’s attack by Yhwach’s auschwahlen that he was defeated otherwise Gerrard alone could have overthrown the highest echelons of the Shinigami ranks.
Conclude:
Although Toshiro turned into a zombie, he was revived by Mayuri Kurotsuchi using his genius intellect and scientific tools. Furthermore, Toshiro was able to unleash an extremely new and powerful bankai, making him the strongest shinigami with an ice-type zanpakuto in Soul Society history.
Despite this, his contributions in battles during the invasion of Quincy were insignificant. However, he retained the rank of Captain after the war and was said to be stronger than before.
Meanwhile, in the Hell arc of Bleach, Toshiro only appears for a brief moment before all hell breaks loose, quite literally.
