Hiyori Sarugaki is a member of the Visored that are capable of Hollowfication, and she was the former lieutenant of the 12th Division in the Gotei 13.
Origin
It was 110 years ago that Hiyori Sarugaki was the lieutenant in the 12th Division in the Gotei 13, under Captain Kirio Hikifune. She looked to Captain Hikifune as a mother, and was not happy after she was promoted to the Central 46. She was replaced as captain by Kisuke Urahara. She despised Kisuke and wasn't shy about letting him know, and her relationship with the 5th Division Captain, Shinji Hirako, wasn't exactly friendly either. These two bickered and taunted each other like siblings. Urahara tried to be friendly with her, but that would only earn him a kick to the crotch. Things only got worse when Captain Urahara began to redesign the former offices of Hikifune. In front of the rest of the 12th Division, she accused him of being just another assassin as part of the 2nd Division.
Urahara later had Hiyori join him to the prison he once tended to as part of the 2nd Division, known as the Maggots' Nest. It was a prison where everyone who tried to leave the Gotei 13 was sent. They were attacked by one of the prisoners, and only then she realized she left her zanpakuto back at the barracks. She watches as Kisuke stopped the giant man with single hand to defend her. They weren't there for a tour, but to meet the only prisoner that had to be kept in a cell, Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Hiyori was shocked to hear Urahara was there to invite this man to join the 12th Division as vice-president of the Research and Development Institute he was going to create.
It was nine years later, and Hiyori was a lab assistant to Urahara and Kutotsuchi. News spread about some disappearances in the Ruko District of the Soul Society, and the 9th Division members were sent to investigate. When they didn't return, Urahara was requested to sent someone to search. Urahara asked Hiyori to join the search, because he was the only one he could trust.
While she was searching the dark woods, she was attacked by what was 9th Division Captain Kensei Muguruma. He had been transformed into a Hollow and was more like a wild beast. She was injured, and Shinji arrived to save her from a fatal blow. He was then joined by a collection of other captains and lieutenants. Lieutenant Mashiro Kuna had also been hollowfied and attacked the search party. After they got Hiyori away, she also transformed into a Hollow. The chaos was halted as everyone was enveloped in absolute darkness by Kaname Tousen. He was one of the villains behind this incident, under the command of Shinji's lieutenant, Sousuke Aizen. All the members of the Soul Reapers who had come to help were infected as Hollows as part of Aizen's experiments. Before Aizen could have them killed, they were saved by the appearance of Captain Urahara and the Kido Corp's Tessai Tsukabishi. Aizen escaped, and Hiyori was taken to the 12th Division with the rest of the infected so Urahara could try to save them with his invention, the Hogyoku.
Before Urahara could cure them, both he and Tessai were arrested as the culprit who attacked them. Hiyori and the hollowfied Soul Reapers were sentenced to be destroyed. They were saved by the 2nd Division Captain Yoruichi Shihoin and put into a safe hiding place while she freed Urahara and Tessai. They were all taken to the Human World so they could hide. It's unknown how long it took Urahara to help Hiyori and the others. They weren't cured, but were able to regain their personalities and control their Hollowfication. At some point, the group separated from Urahara and went into hiding on their own in Karakura Town to form the Visored.
Creation
The character of Hiyori Sarugaki is a supporting character of the BLEACH series that was created by Tite Kubo, It first began serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump in August 2001. She was first introduced during the Arrancar story arc story arc that began in Volume 21.
She first appeared in BLEACH Volume 22, CH. 189 "Resolve", and her first anime appearance was in BLEACH - Episode 122 "The Commencement of War, the Vizards and the Arrancars". Her character in the Japanese series is voiced by Reiko Takagi, and the U.S. dub produced by VIZ Media is done by Lara Cody.
Character Evolution
"I really, really hate humans. I really hate Soul Reapers, too."
Lisa Yadomaru "BLEACH" Vol. 22 Ch. 190
Hiyori Sarugaki is a petite girl with an overly aggressive personality. She has blond hair she wears in twin pigtails, she has brown eyes, freckles on both cheeks, and one pointed tooth. As a Soul Reaper she worse a standard uniform and was very hard to control by anyone other than her former captain Hikifune. She rarely listened to anyone, and was even violent toward Shinji Hirako, despite his position as captain. After coming to the Human World, she wears white t-shirt, a red track suit adored with the kanji from her name on the front, and slip-on sandals. The only change to her hair style is that her pigtails are slightly shorter then before.
Though originally lower in rank that Shinji, she appears to be more in command of the Visored. Though, she goes out later to honor a request made by Hachigen. She is no less aggressive and has a complex about her immature features. She more often tends to lash out at people by calling them "baldy". Her tendencies of being quick to anger nearly got her killed as she fell for Aizen's taunting.
Birthday: August 1
Hair: Blond
Eyes: Brown
Height: 133 cm (4'4")
Weight: 26 kg (57 lbs.)
For trying to eliminate them, Hiyori holds a grudge against the Soul Reapers, but it's unknown if her feelings toward Urahara have changed. They mostly likely kept hidden before to avoid being tracked down and killed. It's unknown where Hiyori and the rest of the Visored are after the events of the war.
Major Story Arcs
Arrancar Arc
The Visored became aware of a human Soul Reaper with hollow powers, such as themselves; and Shinji Hirako was sent to recruit Ichigo Kurosaki. When Hiyori heard he was failing, she followed after him. She's interrupted smacking him around with her sandal by two of Ichigo's friends, Orihime Inoue and Sado Yasutora. Not only was Hiyori impressed by their names, but looking Orihime's mature figure irritated her. Shinji quickly grabbed Hiyori and dragged her away before she could cause trouble. After she calmed down, she complained to him how she hated both humans and Soul Reapers.
Ichigo eventually came to them after he was beaten by an Espada hollow from Sousuke Aizen's forces. He rejected their offer to join them, and he thought he could force them to teach him to control his inner hollow. After Hiyori lost her patients with Shinji going easy on Ichigo because he was afraid to use his hollow, she knocked Shinji out to take his place. Hiyori plainly laid down the law to Ichigo. He had to prove to them he could join, and they were willing to let him die if he wasn't strong enough. She summoned her mask and was fast enough to get under his guard without even seeing her. Hiyori fought Ichigo to push him into using his hollow mask. When his mask appeared, Ichigo went back and tried to strangle her. the other Visored appeared and pinned him to the ground in an instant.
Ichigo lost patients with his training, and they took him into the underground training area to push his limits. He was put into one of Hachigen Ushoda's barriers and the Visored took turns fighting his hollow raged physical form while Ichigo had his internal battle with his inner hollow. After Ichigo succeeded, Hiyori and the others trained Ichigo to try and lengthen the time he could use the mask. After Orihime found them, Hachigen asked Hiyori to bring her back because her powers were similar to his. Ichigo trained with them for over a month before he left Hueco Mundo, because Aizen's forces had abducted Orihime.
Hueco Mundo Arc
The Visored managed to escape being transported to the Soul Society with the rest of the real Karakura Town. The Gotei 13 realized Aizen's goal was to destroy Karakura Town and it's people to create a copy of the King's Key. A fake copy of the city was put in it's place. They sat in hiding and waited for their chance to strike while Aizen and his Espada fought the Soul Reapers from the Soul Society.
Fake Karakura Town Arc
Just as things were looking their worst for the Gotei 13, Lisa and the Visored made their appearance into the battle. Not to help them as much as it was to fight Aizen and help Ichigo. Aizen had a creature summon numerous Gillian-class Menos, and Hiyori was among the Visored that attacked them. Hiyori sliced the head and mask of one, then fired a Cero blast to take out several more.
Hiyori joins Lisa Yadomaru to help 10th Division Captain Toshiro Hitsugaya as he fights the Tres Espada, Tier Halibel; but Hiyori and Hitsugaya's childish bickering leaves Lisa to fight alone for a short while. Hiyori releases the Shikai of her Zanpakuto and summons her hollow mask when the two finally join Lisa. The three on one battle against Tier is suddenly cut short when Aizen appears and strikes Tier down from behind.
Hiyori's hollow mask dissipates before she can attack Aizen, and Shinji tries holding her back. Her anger gets the better of herself after Aizen taunts that they all died 100 years ago, and Gin Ichimaru attacks from behind to cut her torso in half with his Shikai. Shinji panics and catches her upper half. Shinji carries her to the ground to be healed by Hachigen, but he lost one of his arms in his fight, and Orihime is still in Hueco Mundo with Ichigo. Shinji puts her in a sustaining field with the rest of the injured.
Hiyori is only saved by the healing skills of the 4th Division Captain Retsu Unohana, who returned with Ichigo. She repairs the physical damage, but says the rest of her recovery is now up to Hiyori's will to live. Ichigo managed to win against Aizen, but lost all of his Soul Reaper powers in the process. Hiyori and the rest of the Visored have not been seen since.
Powers & Abilities
Despite her immature stature and personality, Hiyori possesses exceptional skill and power as a lieutenant in the Gotei 13. The advantage of hollowfication gives her an incredible boost in power that ho other Soul Reapers can.
- Expert Swordsmanship: All Soul Reapers are trained in sword combat, but her ability to focus her own personal rage into the fighting style makes for a dangerous combination. Her skill with the blade is strong enough to compete against the likes of Ichigo Kurosaki, who has been trained by Urahara and won against Byakuya Kuchiki.
- Hakuda: Hakuda is a form of hand-to-hand combat taught to all Soul Reapers at the academy. Hiroyi's attach are kick focused and her small size gives her an advantage to strike under guard. Her personality comes through in her fighting, as seen as her frequent tactic of using her slipper to slap others.
- Flash Step: Flash Step (Shunpo) is a technique that allows the Soul Reaper to moves at incredible speed that is hard to see.
Specialty Attacks:
- Gatling Mad-Stomping (ガトリング地団駄): With this technique, Hiyori deliver multiple attacks to the head with devastating effect. While fighting with Ichigo for his training, she was able to blow him back with this attack and shatter his Hollow mask.
- Super Harisen Slipper (スーパーハリセンスリッパ): This technique is a specialty of Hiyori that she seems to enjoy using on both Shinji and Ichigo. She removes one of her slippers and uses it to smack the person across the face or on the head. Though seemingly a light attack, it had enough force to send Shinji through a glass pain and one of Hachigen's barriers.
- Suikawari (西瓜割): Suikawari literally means "watermellon splitting". This is a named skill that Hiyori uses with her zanpakuto. With this technique, she produced enough force to cut through the head and mask of a Gillian hollow
Hollowfication
The process of Hollowfication is a unique ability that was a side effect of one of Aizen's experiments on Soul Reapers. It gives the user the ability to summon a Hollow mask that greatly increases all their attributes. Their spiritual pressure, strength, and speed are all augmented. The training to control hollowfication is not easy, as it requires a person to tame their inner hollow before it can be controlled; then the use of the mask is limited by time.
The shape of the mask is unique to each person. Hiyori's mask is in a form of a skull with a pointed chin and spiked horn at the forehead. There is a red-diamond pattern across the brow. While wearing this mask, the whites of her eyes turn black and her brown eyes change to yellow. To counter the time limit they have with the mask, Hiyori only uses it in short bursts while fighting.
- Cero: The Cero is an attack normally exclusive to Hollows. Energy gathered and fired in an extremely powerful energy blast. Hiyori can fire a Cero blast from her hollow masked mouth to create a powerful enough wave to disintegrate the head of several Menos Hollows.
Zanpakutō
The Zanpakuto of Hiyori Sarugaki is named the Kubikiri Orochi (馘大蛇), which translates to, "Beheading Serpent". The zanpakuto is capable of two transformations that display a swords unique skills and transform in shape. They can become larger or smaller and have a unique skill. Hiyori's sword changed into a giant blade. She normally wears he zanpakuto across her back using a strap. She almost never goes anywhere outside without it.
Kubikiri Orochi Forms
Sealed Form
The sealed form is the first stage of the zanpakuto. In this form it merely appears as an elegantly crafted katana with a long-straight blade. The guard is oval-shaped and decorated with small hearts. The long handle is wrapped in red cloth. This is the form that Hiyori primarily uses in combat.
Shikai
The Shikai is the first released stage of the zanpakuto. It's in this form that the zanpakuto takes on a unique form and all have some form of special ability. The release command for Hiyori's zanpakuto is "Chop Cleanly" (ぶっ手切れ, buttegire). The blade transforms into a huge clever that is nearly as long as she is tall. There are several serrations in the blade to create a giant saw. Despite it's size, she has no problem swinging it. The shikai special ability has yet to be seen.
Other Media
Hiyori Sarugaki is a popular character in BLEACH and has made numerous appearances in the different products based on Tite Kubo's original manga. These include the anime, animated movies, and video games.
Anime
In the original anime that aired in Japan of Tite Kubo's BLEACH series, alterations were made to the scene in the war against Aizen where Hiyori is seriously injured. In the manga version, Hiyori falls for Aizen's taunting and is suddenly cut from behind by Gin Ichimaru. She was suddenly completely bifurcated across her torso. Shinji caught her upper portion and she was saved by the intervention of Captain Retsu Unohana. In the anime, this was change to Gin merely stabbing her from behind and Shinji caught her whole body.
Movies
Games
As a series based mainly on fighting and battles, Hiyori Sarugaki has made several playable appearances in the BLEACH series of games. Hiyori''s game debut was in BLEACH: Heat of the Soul 4 (2007) for the Sony PSP. She appears frequently in the Heat of the Soul series, but mostly using her sealed form zanpakuto. It was in BLEACH: Heat of the Soul 7 (2010) that Hiyori's Kubikiri Orochi's shikai form is used, but the shaft is color brown.
In the tactical RPG BLEACH: The 3rd Phantom (2008) for the Nintendo DS, Hiyori can heal one of her allies and use Kido, such as Haien and Kurohitsugi.
(For a full list of games that feature Hiyori Sarugaki, see her profile on Giant Bomb. HERE)
| Name | Movies | TV Shows | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Reiko Takagi | 0 |
7 |
|
Mela Lee | 0 |
1 |
| Lara Cody | 0 |
5 |
 Name: |
Hiyori Sarugaki |
 Name: |
猿柿 ひよ里 |
| Romanji: |
Sarugaki Hiyori |
| Gender: | Female |
| Birthday: | |
| 1st manga book: | Bleach #22 |
| 1st anime episode: | Bleach #112 |
| 1st anime movie: | |
| Aliases |
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FoxxFireArt
1,994 points
- Shadowstep 147 points
- CorkscrewKid 46 points
- Obsidian609 15 points
- Catastro 15 points
