heart to heart

wanna take my two cents?

"Is HitsuHina a pair for you?" The best answer is of course, to read the series and find out yourself. However, if you're too lazy to read 12 volumes without them, below is a little advice-of-love for you; it might help a Bleach beginner in terms of whether to read on or not, or help an old follower with some fandom analysis - out of extreme subjectiveness.

"looks" factor

Many anime/manga followers are picky about the appearance of characters. Really, who doesn't want his/her favorite character handsome? However, we all have different tastes in the "looks" department. Hitsugaya might be the coolest guy for me in history, but such might not be the case for you, vice versa.

Judging from the two profiles earlier, you can easily tell that both Hitsugaya and Hinamori look very young. They might be in their 200s or even 300s, but their physical traits certainly don't convince you so. "Oh noes, why am I making such a big deal out of two kids?" If that's a question you'd like to avoid, they might not be a pair for you. (Though really, it shouldn't bother you that much if you like shonen manga in general - most characters are in their high school days, anyway)

"maturity" factor

Say you won't mind how young a pair looks as long as there is good content to their story. I don't know what other fans might think, but HitsuHina is by far the most potentialistic relationship I've seen in any series.

Allow me to explain. To start off, time is a large contribution factor to my conclusion above. It's true that Hitsugaya and Hinamori are younger than most Gotei 13-Tai members we've been introduced to; nevertheless, they have already spent many long years together - assumably since their Soul Society birth - before coming into contact with their current teammates. Shouldn't that be enough advantage for any relationship - by this I don't necessarily mean anything romantic - to develop well against the common expectation? Angst and delight, trust and betrayal... there are simply so many layers of emotions hidden behind the story of HitsuHina, which I believe should be enjoyable for most if not all.

"canon" factor

In a fictional world, love interest between characters is often the most popular genre of discussion among fans. As a result, the term canon was developed in recent years as a description for romantic relationships, accompanied by the condition that they must be "officially approved": either the author/scriptwriter has confirmed the love, or there are clear signs of affection i.e. physical contacts between a pair. However, "canon" would be a forbidden word to mention in HitsuHina universe, I'm afraid.

As a manga genre, Shonen is well-known for its ambiguity towards romantic relationships. In an adventure-themed series like Bleach, pairs with an extremely light conscience of love are practically eveywhere, and HitsuHina happens to be a victim of such. I've been a hardcore Shojo fan for years before I started reading Bleach, which might be why HitsuHina pulled off as nothing but platonic for me at first. Even if we allow ourselves to include the "love factor" in Hitsugaya and Hinamori's story, it'd still be a frustrating one because the affection is apparently one-sided (Hitsugaya-wise) and almost too shy to be displayed in a "true love" scenario. On top of all, the two characters are given very little screen time as a pair.

On the other hand, you could say that the HitsuHina fandom emerged from its ambiguous nature: vagueness can provide a better scope of imagination at times. Nevertheless, no matter how popular the pair has become/will eventually become in our fandom world, nobody dares to call them "canon" yet because nobody is "canon" in Bleach at this point - excluding the Married.

And so...

If you're not scared away by my long talk, feel free to explore the rest of Fleur de Glace for some more rantage fun. HitsuHina might be my favorite pair of all time, but they don't have to be yours as well. Different personalities and opinions are what make our world an interesting place, right?