Bleach Fantasy II Round 9: Toshiro Hitsugaya vs. Kuja

Welcome back to another installment of Bleach Fantasy II where MechG & I once again collaborate on pitting the world of Bleach & the various installments of the Final Fantasy franchise. On Monday, Bleach managed to win another victory (FF still leads 5-3 against Bleach), but many things can happen. Like MechG said, Bleach Fantasy II posts will be on Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays. My daily schedule of Affinity, Watch-list, WBCR, & Throwback posts will be the same as always (if delayed, posts will be on weekends). Without further ado, let's get started on Bleach Fantasy II Round 8 ~ Toshiro Hitsugaya vs. Kuja. Take into account that Storyline and Powers/Abilities are the deciding factors. MechG & I will switch-off ever 3 rounds in giving the verdict. Let's jam!

Storyline (Hitsugaya)

Toshiro Hitsugaya is a pivotal character in Tite Kubo's Bleach and is one of the main allies of our protagonists, Ichigo Kurosaki. However, way before Hitsugaya was part of the 10th division, he was spending time with childhood friend Momo Hinamori & his grandmother. Sometime after Momo Hinamori left to join the Gotei 13 in pursuit of serving under Aizen Sousuke, Toshiro's powers awakened. He met, in his youth, Rangiku Matsumoto, who noticed that the boy needed to join the Gotei 13 to control & harness his power of Hyorinmaru (Ice Ring) or else his own power will end up ending his grandmother's life. Hoping to learn the truth behind Hyorinmaru, Hitsugaya enlists in the Gotei 13 and becomes part of the 10th division starting off as 3rd Seat and making his way up to Captain. Coincidentally, the very person who told him to enlist in the Gotei 13, Rangiku Matsumoto, is his lieutenant, and his previous superior was Isshin Shiba, Ichigo's father. Often, Hitsugaya & Rangiku would bicker about, much like a older sister and younger brother. Isshin, the father-figure & Captain of the 10th division, sensed that something was amiss with the deaths and disappearances of Shinigami in Naruki City and went forth in pursuit of this tragedy, leaving Hitsugaya & Rangiku behind due to their inexperience and wanting to protect them from harm's way. Sometime after Isshin disappears during that fateful day, Toshiro becomes the next Captain of the 10th division with Rangiku Matsumoto, his former superior, now his Lieutenant. [It is also noted that during his training and taking classes at Shin'o Academy, he befriended a man names Sojiro Kusaka, who, coincidentally, possessed Hyorinmaru. The two had to battle it out since it was unheard of of two of the same Zanpaktou appearing together and wielded by multiple people. Hitsugaya ended up the victor, which led Sojiro Kusaka to be killed right before his eyes ~ his friend now wanting to extract vengeance against the very people who put him to death after his fateful fight against the true wielder of Hyorinmaru, Toshiro Hitsugaya] The last component of Hitsugaya's backstory is based off the 2nd Bleach Movie - Diamond Dust Rebellion 

Hitsugaya makes his first appearance when then 1st Division Captain, Genryusai Shigeukuni Yamamoto, summons them about the invading Ryoka (Ichigo, Orihime, Uryu, Chad, & Ganju). It is during this time where Hitsugaya suspects something is amiss with former Captains of the 3rd and 5th divisions ~ Gin Ichimaru & Aizen Sousuke. It wouldn't be long before Aizen Sousuke is "dead" and his lieutenant, Momo Hinamori, is in complete shock and horror at the death of her Captain & admirer. Momo begins to strike down the 3rd Division, Gin & Kira, as she presumes it was Gin's doing. Just as Momo & Kira fight out of a misunderstanding surrounding Aizen's death, Toshiro intervenes and imprisons them. Hitsugaya, like Momo, believes this was Gin's doing since it appears that the two have a history together and it unaffected by a Captain's death. By trying to put the pieces together surrounding Aizen's death, Hitsugaya firmly believes it was Gin's doing and challenges him Captain-to-Captain. However, just as the two were about to fight, Momo Hinamori intervenes and points her blade at Hitsugaya, her childhood friend and "brother." Hitsugaya, not wanting to put Hinamori in harm's way, easily knocks her out only to have his confrontation with Gin, who proves to be quite a handful. Sometime after this fight, Hitsugaya & Rangiku notice the corpses surrounding the Central 46; wanting to help resolve stopping Rukia's execution from taking place and forewarning Gin Ichimaru's possible involvement. However, Kira baits Hitsugaya into giving chase as Momo Hinamori stumbles across the Central 46 where she is met by Gin. She follows Gin and sees a very-much-alive Aizen Sousuke, who murders her coldly before Hitsugaya himself discovers this. Finally seeing that Aizen's death was planned and Gin & Kaname were pawns in his schemes, Hitsugaya personally goes rampant on the 2 Captains not only for betraying the Gotei 13, but for nearly killing Momo Hinamori and using Kira as their pawn, Hitsugaya is brutally defeated by Aizen, but is seen later recovered and awaiting the fate of Momo Hinamori. Sometime later, Hitsugaya, along with Rangiku, Renji, Ikkaku, & Yumichika, go to Karakura Town in their Gigai bodies to forewarn Ichigo of Aizen's growing army of Arrancars and of the 10 Espada who are said to be just as strong/stronger than Captain-class Shinigami. Hoping to preserve Karakura Town, Hitsugaya's team & Ichigo are o the look-out of potential threats and it wouldn't be long before 6th Espada, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, and his fraccion, appear wanting to challenge anyone who has spiritual power. Hitsugaya & Rangiku challenge Shawlong & Nakeem and it seems that these Arrancars prove to be a handful. However, a limiter is put on Hitsugaya's group, which allows Hitsugaya to easily deliver the final blow against Shawlong, who, at first, was doing considerable damage despite being a Fraccion. After debriefing with Captain Yamamoto with the enemy's power and plan, Hitsugaya & Hinamori finally have their talk on how things are and a question comes to boggle Hitsugaya's conscious - Is he going to kill Captain Aizen? This greatly upsets Hitsugaya to no end because his childhood friend's life is at stake and Hitsugaya and Aizen once were acquaintances. Hitsugaya and his group would find trouble once more as Luppi Antenor, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, Yammy Llargo, and Wonderweiss Margera invading Karakura Town in hopes to cause more damage (later revealed as bait to kidnaa Orihime for her powers). Upon hearing of Orihime's "defection" and Aizen's place in this, Captain Yamamoto orders Hitsugaya's group to return to Gotei 13 to prepare for the upcoming war. During the war, Hitsugaya and the Gotei 13 face off against the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Espada with Hitsugaya personally facing the 3rd Espada, Tier Harribel. In a battle of Ice & Water, it seemed as if they were evenly matched up until Hitsugaya used Hyoten Hyakkaso (Frozen Heaven Hundred Flower Funeral) where anything the ice touched froze anything in its path (in this case Harribel). However, Wonderweiss appears and breaks the Ice confining Harribel and Hitsugaya has to now battle alongside the incoming Visored, who bear a grudge against Aizen. As Tier Harribel is betrayed and cut down by her superior, Aizen Sousuke, Hitsugaya challenges him alongside the Shinigami & Visored. With some teamwork, it seemed as if this was it ~ Hitsugaya impaled Aizen from behind. However, it was revealed that Hitsugaya impaled Hinamori, sending him into a furious rage. Soon after, everyone fell one by one and 10 days after Aizen's confinement, Hitsugaya relentlessly trains ~ wanting to become stronger as he was unable to protect Hinamori despite her surviving. During the Fullbringer Arc (time-skip), Hitsugaya appears once more with a new look and helps Ichigo fight the Fullbringers, challenging Yukio. Yukio didn't prove to be much for Hitsugaya as he easily defeats him and forewarns Ichigo of Ginjo Kugo's place as the 1st Substitute Shinigami. He, alongside Byakuya, Kenpachi, Ikkaku, Renji, & Rukia, leave Ichigo to find Ginjo one-on-one. Hitsugaya, just as we first met him, is in a Captain's meeting forewarning them of the Wandenreich's invasion. Just as the Captains were facing this new menace (Thousand Year Blood War Arc), Hitsugaya, along with other Shinigami, had their Bankai stolen from them (Cang Du stole Hitsugaya's Bankai). This puts the Shinigami at a complete disadvantage as Hitsugaya was unable to summon Daiguren Hyorinmaru (Grand Crimson Lotus Ice Ring). Afterwards, he relentlessly trains with a handicap and hopes to still be an asset during the war. Hitsugaya & Rangiku then face-off against Bazz-B, only to be interrupted by Cang Du, the man who originally stole his Bankai. Kisuke Urahara & Mayuri Kurotsuchi initially find a way for the Shinigami to retrieve their Bankai and Hitsugaya ends up freezing Cang Du before any more damage can be done. It is noted that they are currently active and are weak due to Bazz-B's attacks. However, it is soon discovered that Giselle has made Hitsugaya a zombie and he is now forced to fight Mayuri & his Arrancars. 

Storyline (Kuja)

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Kuja was a Genome created by Garland as part of Garland’s master plan to assimilate the planet of Gaia with the planet of Terra by replacing the Gaian souls with Terran souls. His creation was all for the purpose to incite death and war to process the plan faster. Garland saw Kuja as a failure as Kuja was created to never to develop human emotions in order to attain the world’s strongest power of Trance. Eventually, Kuja was scrapped from Garland’s plans and Garland proceeded to create Zidane, who was able to successfully learn complex emotions needed to enter Trance to become the true Angel of Death. Kuja grew jealous of Zidane, kidnapping him and abandoning him on Gaia. Garland grew furious at Kuja’s actions and banished Kuja from returning to Terra so that he won’t get his hands on Garland’s third Genome creation, Mikoto. Nonetheless, Kuja continued to serve Garland in carrying out his plan by destroying the area of Madain Sari, although by learning about the powerful eidolon, Alexander, Kuja sought the eidolon’s crystals on his own in order to overthrow his master and rule both Terra and Gaia.

Free roaming without Garland, Kuja eventually found work by serving as a weapons supplier to Queen Brahne in her campaign against the nations of Burmecia and Lindblum, creating black mages and soulless golems who wield powerful magic through his intellect on the manufacturing of Genomes. It can be safe to assume that Kuja was also an adviser, giving Brahne orders to extract her daughter’s eidolons and use the eidolon, Odin, to destroy all survivors of Burmecia and capture the crystal shard located in Cleyra. After a few events, Brahne turns on Kuja, deeming she no longer needs him. However, Kuja would survive her attack, enslave her eidolon, Bahamut through the use of the airship, Invincible, and annihilate Brahne and her fleet. Kuja then turns his eyes on the Kingdom of Alexandria, ruled by its newly crowned queen, Garnet. Kuja’s plan eventually foiled when Alexander was summoned and destroyed Bahamut. After attempting to enslave Alexander, Kuja retreated, vowing he will find an eidolon stronger than him. Seizing control of the airship, Hilda Garde, Kuja captures Zidane and his companions and blackmails him to retrieve the Galug Stone in Oeilvert in exchange for his friends’ lives. Kuja receives the Stone and escapes with Eiko to extract her eidolons on Mt. Gulug, but the extraction failed since Eiko was still too young. By witnessing Eiko’s moogle entering trance, Kuja would formulate a plan to absorb powerful emotions to enter Trance and from then, he would overthrow his master. Kuja would do just that, returning to Terra and absorbing souls into his being to enter Trance mode. Knocking out Zidane and his party with Ultima, Kuja sends Garland plummeting to his death off the cliff of Castle Pandemonium and declared his intention to rule both Gaia and Terra. Kuja then is driven into madness after finding out that he was a pawn until Zidane reaches maturity to become the Angel of Death and furiously declares that he won’t let the world exist without him. Kuja sends a barrage of Ultima upon Terra, destroying the planet and returning to Gaia. He would encounter Zidane and his party again in the Crystal World. Though he was near defeat, Kuja casted Ultima as last resort and the party would awake on the Hill of Despair, battling the dark deity Necron who was created from Kuja’s essence of anger, despair, and hatred, intent on reverting existence itself into nothingness. After Necron’s defeat, Kuja transports Zidane and his friends outside the Iifa Tree, apologizing to Zidane in the process. As the Iifa Tree collapses from both the outside and the inside, Kuja’s fate, whether he survived or not is unknown.

Powers/Abilities (Hitsugaya)

Toshiro Hitsugaya, being a Captain-class Shinigami, possesses incredible spiritual power, is a master swordsman, can use Bankai, Shunpo (Flash Step), Kido (Demon/Spirit Way), Hakuda (White Hits ~ Hand-to-Hand), and to top it all off - is a child prodigy, being the youngest person to graduate from Shin'o Academy within a year and shortly after becoming 10th Division Captain (Gin Ichimaru is also said to have been a child prodigy). Knowing this, Captain Hitsugaya is highly tactful, perceptive, and strategical in combat. As I said above, Hitsugaya's sword, Hyorinmaru, is a Ice-based Zanpaktou in which he has complete control of water & ice just from slashing his blade in any direction, forming water & ice Dragon. He has a limit, however, which, like a timer, is how long he can fully utilize Hyorinmaru. Some of his Shikai Techniques include Tenso Jurin (Subjugation of the Heavens) which allows Hitsugaya to take control of any surrounding water or weather in the vicinity, Shinku Taso Hyoheki (Multilayer Vacuum Ice Wall) which allows him to form a Ice wall + blades in conjunction with Rangiku's Haineko (Ash Cat), Ryojin Hyoheki (Woven-Ice Wall) which is pretty much a wall of ice as defense, Rokui Hyoketsujin (Six-Clothed Ice Binding-Array) which allows Hitsugaya to form a snowflake-shaped ice crystals in a pentagonal formation and, when stepped on, encases anyone in a large pillar of ice. In his BANKAI form, not only is his Zanpaktou more durable and stronger, but it also has the abilities to: regenerate, use Hyorinmaru's tail as a weapon, Zanhyo Ningyo (Lingering Ice Puppet) which is pretty much a Ice clone, create wings from Ice, Ryusenka (Dragon Hail Flower) which allows Hitsugaya to stab an object and that object is then encased in ice, Sennen Hyoro (Thousand Years' Ice Prison) which envelops anyone in a large LARGE pillar of Ice when forming Ice pillars that crush and come together, Hyoten Hyakkaso (Frozen Heaven Hundred Flower Funeral) which allows snow to come down from the ice and freezing anything it comes in contact with, Guncho Tsurara (Icicle Flock) which allows Hitsugaya to freeze water into ice and use that as a weapon, and finally Hyoryu Senbi (Ice Dragon Swirling Tail) which allows Hitsugaya to swing in a linear direction that creates overflowing ice that represents his blade in the form of a crescent.

Powers/Abilities (Kuja)

Kuja can be described as an exceptional mage and without a doubt, one of the most powerful and most proficient magic practitioners in FFIX with or without gaining the ultimate power of Trance.  As briefly mentioned, he is able to create as well as control monsters such as creating the black mages, able to summon Mistodon, possessing an army of Silver Dragons lead by the Nova Dragon, and having the powerful monster, Deathguise as his bodyguard when engaging Zidane and his party in the Crystal World. Being a powerful magic practitioner as mentioned, he is able to conjure magic in his normal form and in Trance form. In his normal form, Kuja is able to cast Thundaga (highest-tier level of Thunder) and Demi. In Trance form, Kuja’s magic powers grow increasingly stronger able to cast Holy, Flare, and Curaga (for healing purposes). His notable abilities include Flare Star and Ultima. Kuja’s Flare Star can deal major non-elemental damage regardless if the party has the Reflect stat buffer and Ultima as mentioned, is so powerful that it can manage to lay destruction on a planet’s surface such as Terra. Kuja is immune to major injuries in battle, even before achieving his Trance form. This was evident during his battle against the Eidolon, Bahamut as its attacks could not draw blood from Kuja’s physical body. Some status ailments that Kuja is immune to in both his normal and Trance form includes poison, sleep, silence, petrification, zombie, confuse, berserk, and freeze.

Verdict (By MechG)
And the winner is...

I will admit this, Hitsugaya, for a supporting character, is a bad@$$ possessing an incredibly detailed story and there is no tough SOB among the Gotei 13 squad who has never worked harder in honing his skills as a water/ice manipulator than him. I respect that.  But Kuja as a villain is a rare breed since he’s one of the few FF villains not to succumb to his own drive to madness and eventually found some redeeming qualities at the last minute by saving Zidane and his friends after the final battle with Necron. Now, you talk about Hitsugaya having a tremendous work ethic for training to get stronger after losing a battle, Kuja in the FFIX storyline did events that he did in order to prove his master, Garland wrong. I mean, Garland set him up to be the “fall guy” in his experiments to achieve Trance and create the perfect Angel of Death. Kuja did not accept that and he was proving that he can thrive without his master and that he belongs in the same breath with Zidane and the other Genomes created that intended to be better than Kuja was in terms of developing the necessary human emotions to achieve Trance and Kuja did that even though he wasn’t expected to do so. In terms of powers/abilities, Hitsugaya is second to none when it comes to ice and water. Kuja, however, is all of the above since he knows a handful of magic spells and he can create or enslave monsters and powerful eidolons to do his bidding. In addition, Kuja’s immunity to ice/freezing grants him the ability to cancel out any of Hitsugaya’s abilities affiliated with ice and that isolates Hitsugaya from his specialty even if Hitsugaya intends to engage in his Bankai/Shikai form. Like I said, Hitsugaya is a bad@$$; I wanted to give it to him to redeem myself from my debacle in Bleach Kombat when I chose Quan Chi over him, but I’ll give Kuja a slight edge here when it comes to the battle of two young prodigies in both respective franchises. Sorry Bleach fans…again.

So who do you think won this matchup? Toshiro Hitsugaya from Bleach or Kuja from Final Fantasy IX? Comment below and let us know. Reiterating again, Bleach Fantasy Round II posts will be on Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays w/MechG & I interchanging every 3rd matchups on giving the verdict. Bleach Fantasy Round II standings (6-3):

1) Yoruichi Shihoin vs. Prishe ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
2) Uryu Ishida vs. Hope Estheim ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
3) As Nodt vs. Vincent Valentine ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
4) Kenpachi Zaraki vs. Jecht ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
5) Shunsui Kyoraku vs. Auron ~ Bleach (Verdict by Stillmattic)
6) Sui-Feng vs. Tifa Lockhart ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by Stillmattic) 
7) Mayuri Kurotsuchi vs. Barthandelus ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)
8) Sajin Komamura vs. Sin ~ Bleach (Verdict by MechG)

9) Toshiro Hitsugaya vs. Kuja ~ Final Fantasy (Verdict by MechG)