Bleach: Meet Hiyosu, the 12th Division Member Who Looks Like a Frog!

If you want to find some strange characters in Bleach, then look no further than the 12th Division of the Gotei 13. Although Bleach does have its fair share of strange creatures and characters, Mayuri Kurotsuchi’s Division is full of the strangest characters you’ll find out there, from horned humanoids to… whatever some of them are. In this article, we are going to introduce one of them to you, namely Hiyosu, whose role is not that big but remains remarkable.

Hiyosu is a member of the 12th Division and is a department head at the Shinigami Research and Development Institute. Hiyosu is often at the center of various research in the Department, as he is one of the highest-ranked members alongside Akon. He is loyal to Mayuri and has participated in numerous experiments over the years, including those done on the Quincy. Hiyosu has several corporal modifications of unknown origins, and his design and skin color changed over the years. As far as it is known, he is also a Shinigami, but his skills and abilities are completely unknown. He survived the Quincy Blood War and is currently alive and well.

The rest of this article will be dedicated to Hiyosu and his story as it happened on the pages of Bleach. We are actually going to explain who Hiyosu is, why he is such an intriguing character, and what his overall role in the story of Bleach is. We will answer several important questions about this intriguing figure, so stick with us if you want to know what happened. This article will contain many major spoilers, so be careful if you haven’t actually read the Bleach manga, as this article will reveal a lot.

Hiyosu is actually the closest thing to Mayuri among all the characters who are actually not Mayuri

Hiyosu is a member of the 12th Division, Mayuri Kurotsuchi’s Division, and is a department head at the Shinigami Research and Development Institute. And while we are going to get to his story, we will first analyze his appearance, which has changed over the years. Originally, Hiyosu was portrayed as having green skin, big eyes, and a round head. He can pop out his left eye with a crank on the left side and use it as a magnifying glass. He researched Rukia’s Gigai with Akon.

But, over the years, his head changed and became more round, and his skin seems to have changed as well, as all recent interpretations, including the colored version of the manga, portray him as having fair skin and not green, as was originally seen. Whether this was Kubo’s decision is unknown, but knowing that Hiyosu is a member of Mayuri’s division, it could also be that he can change the color of his skin.

The design change concerning his head is most probably intentional, as it has not been stated anywhere that Hiyosu is not an actual human Soul, like Mayuri, with many body modifications. Although he seems quite creepy and sometimes behaves like that, he is not a bad guy – he is just very loyal and similar to Mayuri, which speaks for itself.

As far as his powers and abilities are concerned, he doesn’t seem to be different than the other Shinigami, so he probably has a Zanpakuto of his own. But, seeing how he is a researcher in Mayuri’s division, he probably isn’t too skilled with it, and he can probably use only his Shikai. He doesn’t seem to be the best swordfighter out there, but he is supposedly skilled with Kido, as seen in the series, although it is unknown if he can fight effectively with it. Now that we have cleared this part up let us see further what happened to Hiyosu.

Hiyosu’s story begins when he is introduced as the one who finds Rukia Kuchiki’s Gigai, which is why he constantly watches over her. Akon, very happy, tells him that he should stop looking, to which Hiyosu, very serious, answers that since he found the Gigai, it now belongs to him. After Rukia was arrested in the World of the Living, Niko Kuna was put in charge of taking Rukia’s Gigai to the Research and Development Institute so that it could be analyzed. Once the Gigai has arrived, Hiyosu is startled with emotion when he sees that the Gigai is in perfect condition.

As Akon begins to analyze the Gigai, he notices that the Gigai possesses unusual properties and seems to realize that it is the creation of “someone who works outside the laws of Soul Society” in his own words, referring to Kisuke Urahara, his old boss. This is everything we found out about him as far as the original canon arcs are concerned.

In the filler Bount arc, Hiyosu is excited to see the Reiatsu substance that Soin Fon sent from the World of the Living, but since it cannot be directly analyzed, he blames Rin for supposedly doing his job wrongly and tells him to do it again. He also assists Captains Kyoraku and Ukitake in their research. Hiyosu reappears when the Research and Development Institute is destroyed by Jin Kariya, which sees him severely injured.

He has only a brief appearance at the beginning of the Arrancar Saga when he is shown scolding Rin for eating snacks on the job (something he will later do as well). When the unusual signatures of the Espada are noticed, Hiyosu seems rather scared.

He appeared more in the Gotei 13 Invading Army fille arc, which was directly connected to the 12th Division. Hiyosu got a message from Rukia while a study was being done to figure out why there was a temporal gap in the Dangai. He is instructed to ignore it by Akon, but he insists that Akon examine it. He speaks with Mayuri in the Dangai, who says that human activity is the cause. Hiyosu goes to the door when there is a knock and asks who it is, but as soon as he opens it, a Kid from Rukia Kuchiki hits him.

When the Quincy Blood War started, Hiyosu can be seen, alongside Akon and Rin Tsubokura, at the Research and Development Institute investigating the Gotei 13 attackers. During the first invasion, he then appears to report that Ichigo Kurosaki is finally coming to Soul Society, as he was fighting in Hueco Mundo.

When the whole chaos reaches the Institute, Hiyosu wants to stop Jidanbō Ikkanzaka, who is under the control of the Sternritter, when he breaks into the Research and Development Institute by sealing it up, telling Akon to leave since he is the only person capable of leading the Research and Development Institute.

He is then surprisedly stabbed by Rin, who is also under enemy control, just like Jidanbō. When the Seireitei was being consumed by the second invasion of the Wandenreich, Hiyosu, who is in the Research and Development Institute, was shocked to see that the entire area had disappeared. He, luckily, survived the events of the war. Ten years later, he discusses Mayuri’s actions with Akon, who has been promoted to Lieutenant.