, commonly referred to just as , is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Eyeshield 21, created by Riichiro Inagaki and Yusuke Murata. In the series, he is the captain of the Deimon Devil Bats, a high school American football club founded by him and two other students. Due to the lack of interest in the sport, Hiruma uses blackmail and threats to recruit players to Devil Bats. Hiruma witnesses Sena Kobayakawa's running abilities and forces the boy to join the team as the running back as soon as he can. Hiruma has appeared in other media from the series, including video games, original video animations (OVAs), and light novels.
According to Inagaki, Hiruma was created to be a "devil-hero", or a kind of anti-hero. Due to this, Murata, the manga's illustrator, tried to give Hiruma a demonic appearance. In the OVA, released before the anime's start, he is voiced by Shin-ichiro Miki. However, in the 2005 Japanese anime television series, he was replaced by Atsushi Tamura, who was chosen by the manga series creators due to his voice, which they believed was perfect for the role. His voice actor in the English adaptation is Derek Stephen Prince. Hiruma has been well received by publications for manga and anime. Numerous pieces of merchandise in Hiruma's likeness have also been released, including decals and statues of ceramic and resin.
Development and voice portrayal Riichiro Inagaki, the writer of Eyeshield 21, has said that he developed Hiruma as a character that does not follow the Japanese concepts of emphasis on sportsmanship and effort in the game; instead, Hiruma is "only concerned with winning". Inagaki intended to make an "anti-hero" or, as he refers to the concept, a "devil-hero". Yusuke Murata, the artist, chose to portray Hiruma as looking "close to being a demon", since he heard from Inagaki that Hiruma had "the personality of a demon." Murata has noted that the Devil Bats logo "bears a strong resemblance to Hiruma". Inagaki also stated that Hiruma's name is a homage to the British former Formula One driver Damon Hill. He also visited a real military base to get inspiration for the one he draw when Hiruma's background is revealed.
He was voiced by Shin-ichiro Miki in the first anime adaptation of the Eyeshield 21 manga, a 2003 Jump Festa OVA titled The Phantom Golden Bowl. The subsequent television adaptation, however, did not use Miki; rather, Atsushi Tamura was chosen. Though the animation studio administrated casting, the studio asked Inagaki and Murata for their opinions. The two both felt that Tamura was a "perfect fit" due to "his voice and his style". In the English dubbing, the role was voiced by Derek Stephen Prince.
Appearances In Eyeshield 21 Seven years prior to the start of the series, a ten-year-old Hiruma snuck into an American military base, where he witnessed a group of soldiers playing American football. He soon learned the sport's rules and managed to successfully gamble on the winning teams, accumulating a large amount of money over the years. He entered Mao Junior High, where he met another football fan Ryokan Kurita, who encouraged Hiruma to create his own team. In order to establish an American football club, Hiruma created an information network to acquire blackmail material and various firearms, allowing him to threaten the vice principal of Mao into allowing the establishment of the club; Hiruma was also able to force the vice principal into rehiring former custodian Doburoku Sakaki as their club advisor and their training coach and equipment manager. Hiruma enlisted Agon Kongo to act as an enforcer for his blackmailing schemes; it's unclear if their alliance was based on genuine friendship between the two or forced coercion on Hiruma's part but Agon slowly grew to resent Hiruma. Hiruma and Kurita befriended their classmate Gen "Musashi" Takekura, who also decided to joined their club and the three friends made a pact to win the Christmas Bowl—the high school football league championship.
The three decided to enroll at the prestigious Shinryuji High School to join the Shinryuji Naga, the best team in the Kantō region, to increase their changes of going to the Christmas Bowl. Hiruma and Musashi passed the entrance exam while Kurita failed; Kurita attempted to gain Shinryuji's sole remaining athletic scholarship to enroll but the spot is taken by Agon—despite already passing the entrance exam Agon took the scholarship due to his disdain for Kurita for being obese and to spite Hiruma. Shinryuji sided with Agon and rejected Kurita, which prompted Hiruma and Musashi to leave Shinryuji out of loyalty to Kurita and left Hiruma with a deep-seated grudge against Shinryuji and Agon. The three then enrolled at Deimon High School and together they established the Deimon Devil Bats.
Hiruma's dreams in his first year of high school were dashed when during their first game, Musashi quit the team and dropped out of school when his father was injured in a work related accident. Since then, Hiruma refused to allow anyone else to take over Musashi's vacant kicker position except for himself, despite his lack of kicking ability, which hampered the Devil Bats' special teams. Due to Deimon's remaining roster being filled with uninterested students that Hiruma blackmailed into joining, the Devil Bats had an abysmal first season and were eliminated early in both the spring and fall Tokyo tournaments. One of these losses included a 0-99 blowout to the Ojo White Knights, one of the best high school football teams in Tokyo; this left Hiruma with a burning desire defeat Ojo, along with Shinryuji, in the future.
While Hiruma never talks about his family and has outright lied or given contradictory details about his parents, it's revealed that Hiruma is estranged from his father, Yuya Hiruma, a former champion shogi and chess player who switched from his signature aggressive offensive playing style to safer defensive one after suffering too many losses and was eventually forced to retire. This possibly explains the younger Hiruma's keen insight and strategic mind, his focus on offense over defense, and his refusal accept failure and willingness to win at all costs.
At the beginning of the series, Hiruma and Kurita, now in their second year of high school, attempt to recruit new members to the Deimon Devil Bats. Due to a rule at several high schools, including Deimon, that prohibits students from participating in club activities in their third and final school year, this is the last chance for Hiruma and Kurita to participate in the Christmas Bowl. At first, their only successful recruit is Sena Kobayakawa, as Hiruma witnesses his incredible running speed and agility and forces him to be the team's running back. To prevent Sena from being recruited by other teams and to help build Deimon's reputation, Hiruma hides Sena's identity by making him wear an eyeshield and adopt the moniker "Eyeshield 21", a famous high school football player from Notre Dame High School in America. Despite winning their first game, the Devil Bats are eliminated early in the spring tournament by Ojo. Hiruma is undeterred, as the spring tournament is only secondary to the fall tournament, where the winning Tokyo area teams will then partake in the post-season Kantō tournament where the winner will then represent the region for the Christmas Bowl.
Hiruma, Sena, Kurita and the Devil Bats' team manager Mamori Anezaki use the downtime to regroup and rebuild the team. Hiruma, through intimidation, blackmail, cyber terrorism, and other similar methods, plays a crucial role in the redevelopment of the fledgling Devil Bats by using his methods to arrange several exhibition games that boost the team's popularity, garnering more public interest in the sport which allows more recruits to willingly try out the team. Hiruma's insight and strategic mind, especially his knack for devising trick plays and his psychological games, are critical in the Devil Bats' various matches. His demonic façade is also seen through Mamori, whom he shares a deep understanding with despite their constant bickering. Despite leaving Deimon, Musashi has his family's construction company build new accommodations for the Devil Bats and maintains a cordial relationship with Hiruma. When Sena and Tarō "Monta" Raimon discover Musashi's identity and past with Hiruma and Kurita, they plead for him to return to the Devil Bats but he refuses; Musashi informs Hiruma of the exchange and while amused, Hiruma respects Musashi's decision to not return.
Hiruma arranges a game with the visiting NASA Aliens from the United States after spreading a viral video mocking NASA's coach Leonard Apollo. Deimon ultimately loses and the team travels to NASA's hometown of Houston for summer vacation. While in Houston, Hiruma and Kurita are reunited with Doburoku and the Devil Bats briefly engage in a joint training session with the Seibu Wild Gunmen, who are also in America for their summer training. Hiruma begins a friendly rivalry with Sebiu's quarterback Shien "Kid" Mushanokoji with both quarterbacks acknowledging the other as the superior athlete. For the Devil Bats' summer training, Hiruma has Doburoku put the team through a dangerous training regimen known as the "Death March"—which involves traveling on foot from Houston to Las Vegas through the Mojave Desert. The Devil Bats are able to complete the Death March, which heavily improves their strength and stamina, and Hiruma uses his winnings from playing blackjack in Las Vegas to fund Deimon's traveling expenses back to Japan.
Thanks to the results of the Death March, the Devil Bats are able advance far into the Fall tournament under Hiruma's leadership. During the semifinal game against Seibu, Musashi rejoins the team midgame, which boosts the Devil Bats' morale, but Deimon loses to Seibu. However, Deimon can still qualify for the Kantō tournament if they can win the fall tournament's consolation game; Hiruma intentionally withheld this fact from the team as he didn't want them to slack off against Seibu. Deimon goes on to defeat the Bando Spiders, allowing them to participate in the Kantō tournament.
In the Kantō tournament, Deimon defeats Shinryuji in their game opener—fulfilling Hiruma's desire for revenge against the school and Agon, who is humbled by Sena and Kurita in separate matchups against them— and go on to win their rematch against Ojo in the semifinals. Unfortunately, the team's momentum almost comes to halt in the final against the Hakushu Dinosaurs when Hiruma's throwing arm is broken by Rikiya Gao, forcing Hiruma to be taken out of the game and leaving the team without a quarterback and play caller. Sena ends up filling in as quarterback and is able to hold his own until Hiruma returns to help lead the team to victory, winning the Kantō tournament and allowing the Devil Bats to advance to the Christmas Bowl against the undefeated reigning champions Teikoku Alexanders.
To prepare for the Christmas Bowl, Hiruma arranges for best players from the Tokyo and Kantō tournaments to individually train each of the Devil Bats in one-on-one sessions and uses a hyperbaric oxygen chamber (which he attaches to a segway for transportation) to heal his broken arm. Through the chamber and sheer willpower, Hiruma is able to fully heal in time for the Christmas Bowl. Unbeknownst to Hiruma, his father attends the game as a spectator. During the hard-fought and grueling championship match, Hiruma stops using numbers and facts and instead relies on his own faith in his teammates, which his father takes note of. Deimon is able to defeat Teikoku and win the Christmas Bowl, fulfilling Hiruma's lifelong dream.