"I can't wait until I'm older. There's nothing great about being young. Being young means that you're still naive."
In a nutshell, Momo is probably one of the most tragic characters in the series. She goes through the most devastating events and has her beliefs and trust shattered time and time again, yet each time she is still able to pick herself up and keep going. Before the series really begins, Momo's life wasn't very easy: growing up in the district of Junrinan in Rukongai (what is considered the slums and poorer district of Soul Society), often meant relying on and taking care of herself, her adoptive grandmother, and the few friends she had. Despite the hardships, Momo was always a very positive being, always friendly and never without a smile on her face. Even when meeting Hitsugaya Tōshirō, she was able to develop a close sibling companionship with him despite his icy and intimidating demeanor.
One of Momo's biggest strengths lies in her ability to trust and believe in the people who are important to her, building bonds and helping further the potential of those individuals when they need it. She is kind, easy going, and approachable, taking the time to help and listen to others; it's how she's on good terms with many of the Captains and Lieutenants in Gotei 13. She believes everyone can succeed and do their best, and most of all has great expectations for everyone including herself. Momo is a big dreamer and always tries her best to get to where she wants to go: starting out in the Shinigami Academy, she immediately knew she wanted to be placed in the 5th Squad under Sōsuke Aizen's command, someone who she admired greatly. She worked extremely hard to achieve that goal and found her true calling in Kido, or Demon Arts, a very difficult set of abilities to master. Despite her aversion to violence and the fact that she is not as strong as most of the other Lieutenants, she is a very skilled tactician and knows how to play to her strengths. Her abilities in Kido reached to such a pinnacle that she was able to devise ways to use multiple spells in conjunction with each other (as well as her Zanpakutō), creating unique way in which to attack and incapacitate her opponents.
Yet, her dreams and aspirations, along with the unwavering trust she places in others also makes her a very easy target to manipulate.
"That's why it feels like you're soaring in the sky or sinking beneath the ocean when someone you admire betrays you. Those emotions control your entire life and can make you lose sight of who you are."
Perhaps the biggest flaw that Momo has is her naivety. She is portrayed to be quite impulsive and has reserves of anger hidden in her personality that she doesn't often show except in dire situations. She has a strong sense of right and wrong and abhors seeing anything undesirable happening to the people she cares about, to the point where she can go into a blind rage. However, at times she finds herself unable to handle situations were her loved ones are involved, leaving her feeling extremely conflicted; reflected in Aizen's betrayal in the Soul Society Arc.
The admiration she had for Aizen caused her to do many things and changed her whole perspective on her life and the relationships she had with her friends. She fought with Tōshirō (who had been framed for Aizen's murder by Aizen himself in a letter he had written for Momo before his death), something that took an immense toll on her because at the heart of it all, Momo hated violence and especially didn't want to fight with someone whom she had come to consider as a younger brother; someone she wanted to protect. It's important to note that at that point Tōshirō's strength surpassed Momo's greatly and he was also the youngest graduate to become Captain in the last 100 years, putting his skill level high above Momo's. Though she had known Tōshirō longer than Aizen, she didn't question his declaration and believe that he did, in fact, murdered Aizen. Throughout the fight she had felt helpless in that she truly did not want to hurt Tōshirō. It can be said that because of this, Momo is emotionally vulnerable, especially when it comes to Aizen. It also goes to show that Momo will go through extreme lengths to protect her loved ones, to the point where she would abandon herself and give up everything to protect that one person. Even when faced with impossible enemies and horrendously outmatched, she would never hesitate to help and defend.
Due to her devotion to Aizen, his betrayal broke her mental state and caused a deep wound in her psyche. It took a very long time for her to accept that Aizen was not the same Aizen she knew so many years ago. His attempt on her life was perhaps the ultimate breaking point, yet she still begged for his life after regaining consciousness. At that point, it was obvious that Momo's mentality was devastated and everything she believed and trusted in was shattered. Her mental state was not entirely unexpected, though, given her idolization of Aizen.
Although in the current chapters she had finally recovered enough to fight the Arrancar with her peers, it was still questionable whether or not she still believed that Aizen is a good person instead of the enemy, due to the fact that she still referred to him as Captain. Despite her weaknesses, Momo is strong when she needs to be and will not hesitate to put her life on the line to protect the people she cares about.
"By growing older, your heart grows more experienced. You grow one step further away from being controlled by your feelings and are able to keep from soaring through the sky or sinking to the depths of the ocean. That's what it means to grow older."
Basically, Momo is a sweet soul with an upbeat personality. It doesn't take much to keep her happy; as long as the people she cares about are safe, she couldn't ask for anything more. She has a warm personality that invites people to get to know her better no matter who they are. Occasionally, she tends to get worried a lot, yet she does her best not to show it as to not cause a burden to those who care about her. With Momo, it's always others before her and it carries into the way she tends to almost fuss around her friends. She has a big heart and has a genuine desire to help and care for others, something that will never change no matter how many times she gets betrayed. It's an inherent part of who she is and ultimately, something she will never give up.
Abilities:
REIRYOKU ("SPIRITUAL POWER/ENERGY") In Bleach, everyone (humans, hollows, and Shinigami) has a certain level of reiryoku or spiritual power stored in them that can allow them to see other souls/shinigami/hollows or perform attacks. Momo, being a Lieutenant, possesses a large amount of spiritual energy.
REIATSU ("SPIRITUAL PRESSURE") Reiatsu is the spiritual pressure one's reiryoku exerts. The higher the reiryoku, the higher the reiatsu. Generally, someone with high reiatsu can actually overcome someone by having greater control and being able to exert it. Momo's reiatsu is a red color; all Lieutenant rank Shinigami have considerable reiatsu and can easily overpower most humans, hollows, and lower-rank shinigami.
KIDO ("DEMON ARTS") A form of combat that utilizes different spells produced by reiryoku. It is stated in canon that kido is very difficult to master; in order to wield it effectively, one must memorize the different incantation for each spell (which is usually very long) while focusing on building up their reiryoku to power it. What Momo lacks in strength, she makes up for in skill: it takes a certain amount of creativity to use kido in combat and Momo is very creative. She has shown to be able to combine different spells on the fly to create her own, which makes her a tricky opponent in battle.
SWORDSMANSHIP All shinigami in Soul Society are trained in zanjutsu, basically sword fighting. Being a Lieutenant means that Momo is well-versed in it (even if she may not be top-tier like Kenpachi), she's able to cross swords with other Lieutenant class shinigami and can hold her own in fights.
SHUNPO ("FLASH STEP"/"STEP METHOD"/"AGILITY") Shunpo is basically a technique that allows the user to move from one destination to another in the least amount of steps. The main focus of this technique is speed; the faster the user, the less amount of steps they need to take. Masters of Shunpo are able to cross long distances in one bound. While Momo may not be a master of shunpo, she is fast enough to keep up with other Lieutenant and Captain rank Shinigami.
TOBIUME ("FLYING PLUM TREE") Momo's zanpakuto is a fire-type. In its sealed state, Tobiume looks like a regular katana but once released (command: "snap, Tobiume") the blade straightens and grows two prongs (jutte) that makes it look kind of like a tree branch. Her zanpakuto's special ability is releasing large fire balls that explode on contact, which fits her very well considering her proficiency in kido. Momo has shown to use Tobiume in conjunction with different kido spells in unique ways to surprise opponents.
Other: Outside of battle, Momo is actually a pretty good artist and enjoys baking.
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momo hinamori | bleach | not reserved (p.3)
Abilities:
Other: Outside of battle, Momo is actually a pretty good artist and enjoys baking.