I am hoping that, with the release of chapter 671, people will stop treating Toshiro as if he is an adult stuck in a child's body. I think I always found myself bothered by the fact people kept trying to treat Toshiro as if he were older than he really is, and I like how adamant our young taicho is about how he's not actually an adult in this particular chapter.
One quote which stood out at the beginning of the chapter was, "at last, the child prodigy...," which says what I've been telling people for a long time. Toshiro isn't an adult, nor is he some teenager like Ichigo and company. He's a child and at that a child genius, which means he's going to have the wonderful social quirks that child geniuses tend to have. Another line though which stands out is the following.
"Just between you and me, I'm not a fan of my adult self."
Toshiro's self-persecution complex remains intact. There are going to be people out there getting a laugh due to the fact they didn't like Toshiro's adult self either, but there are going to also be people who really like Toshiro's adult self who wonder why exactly Toshiro doesn't like his adult self.
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One reason I can see Toshiro would not like his adult form lies in the fact his body remains lanky compared to everyone else. When he goes to his adult form, his clothes also end up shredded, and he shows off more skin, something Toshiro's never seemed to be very fond of, having donned a tank during the summer time when the other guys wore their swim trunks.
(Albeit, I do need to admit this is likely only Anime material, but possibly based on material the original creator gave the animators.)
Toshiro's never been fond of the fact he's smaller than everybody else his age. There is though another reason. When I first saw Toshiro's adult form, another character from Bleach came to mind. I also found myself reminded of a very specific picture for the other character, one which was used for the special song releases for the Anime, sung by the canon characters within the series. The character I'm talking about is Gin.
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Now, for those who don't read my fanfiction, one of my favorite fics to write are stories dealing with Toshiro being Gin and Rangiku's son. (Yes, the math does work out, and there is a logical explanation as to why she doesn't know she has a son. As for why Gin doesn't admit Toshiro is his son, or ever reference the fact, well, this is Gin we're talking about.) He's got silver hair like Gin, and both have eyes which are teal in color. Yes, their different shades, but with both of them being child geniuses there is a chance people have drawn connections, or at least Toshiro, whose had the chance to interact with the man, will have noticed similarities.
Let's put aside the fact Gin may be Toshiro's father and the reason why Toshiro has possible abandonment issues depending on how you interpret the young taicho's anxieties.
The thought of possibly being compared to Ichimaru Gin, a man whose reputation even before he turned traitor on Soul Society was far from pleasant, in itself can not be a pleasant thought. Toshiro would, of course, know Gin well, as well as his quirks, due to the fact Gin would have come around to see Rangiku. This would lead Toshiro to make other comparisons, meaning Toshiro would compare his quirks to Gin's quirks, which in turn would lead to more reason to beat himself up, hence, the persecution complex the young taicho has.
I also noticed something which occurred when Toshiro is grabbed by the giant.
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One of the theories I've randomly popped out during this particular arc is that Toshiro is, like Ichigo, a Quincy/Shinigami hybrid. The one difference between Toshiro's ability release and that of the Quincy lies in the fact there is no halo, but in this same regard, Toshiro's halo actually comes in a set of three, the petals that melts away from his Bankai. I've wondered why Toshiro's now in Sternritter clothing, but nobody else really wondered why.
This also said, the act merely touching Toshiro ending in frostbite makes sense. His Bankai has always been about ultimate defense for the young taicho, so it would make sense that when he gets older that this defense will increase.
