Hyūma Hoshi

**Hyūma Hoshi** (星飛雄馬, Hyuuma Hoshi) is the main character of the Kyojin no Hoshi series. He is the son of Ittetsu Hoshi and is the younger brother of Akiko Hoshi. He is a left-handed pitcher.

## Hyūma Hoshi

* M-Kid
* M-Seiun
* M-Giants
* A-Seiun
* Pilot

## Relationships

### Relatives

* Ittetsu Hoshi - Father
* Harue Hoshi - Mother
* Akiko Hoshi - Older sister

### Affiliation

* Mitsuru Hanagata - (Rival)
* Chūta Ban - (Friend)
* Hōsaku Samon - (Rival)
* Jōji Hayami - (Rival)
* Mina Hidaka - (Love interest)
* Makiba Haruhiko - (Friend)

## Baseball Info & Player Records

### Uniform No.

16 - Kyojin no Hoshi 3 - Shin Kyojin no Hoshi

## Appearances

### Manga Debut

Kyojin no Hoshi (Manga) - Volume 1, Chapter 1

## Misc.

### Voice actor

Tōru Furuya (古谷 徹)

**SPOILERS***WARNING! This article contains spoilers!*(*Yuke! Yuke! Hyūma!*)

## Profile

### Background

Hyūma Hoshi is the son of Ittetsu Hoshi. He was trained in baseball by his father, who was said to be a "phantom third baseman." Hyūma can pitch a blinding fastball with such skilled precision and control that he has even amazed the "God of Batting," Tetsuharu Kawakami.

He initially despised baseball because his father, Ittetsu was obsessed with it and he forced Hyūma to train in extremely cruel ways. However, through a confrontation with Mitsuru Hanagata (who became his "fated rival"), and Sadaharu Oh (who was in the early days of high school), Hyūma Hoshi was awakened to the wonders of baseball.

After graduating from junior high school, he entered a bourgeois school, Seiun High School. There he met Chūta Ban, who became his lifelong friend, and together they formed a battery. Hyūma then leads the unnamed Seiun high school baseball club to Koshien, but due to an injury to his left nail, he loses to Kōyō High School led by Mitsuru Hanagata in the finals.

After that, in the "The Dark Attack on Daizō Ban Incident - 伴大造闇討ち事件", he took over the real criminal's scapegoat and dropped out of Seiun in one year. He later on took the Giants' enrollment test and successfully passed it. He then officially joins the Giants team and received his retired uniform number 16 from Director Kawakami.

#### Childhood

His date of birth is not disclosed.

He is the second child and first son born to a mother and father, Ittetsu, a former Giants player who lives in extreme poverty with a job that provides an unstable income. His other immediate family is his older sister, Akiko. His mother died when he was very young. He was forced by his father to wear the "Dai League Ball Training Cast" to strengthen his muscles, and he was forced to use chopsticks and pencils with his left hand, even though he was naturally right-handed. He grew up resenting baseball and his father. The scene in the animation in which Ittetsu overturns the chabudai table is also an example of the Spartan education.

During this period, he spent his days hoping to be released from the spell of his father and baseball, but when he met Sadaharu Oh, Shigeo Nagashima, and Mitsuru Hanagata, his lifelong rival before joining the Yomiuri Giants, he learned the wonders of baseball and made up his mind to join the Yomiuri Giants. His "needle-through-the-hole control," which is often cited as the most important characteristic of his pitches, can already be seen from this time.

Compared to his childhood and high school years, Hyūma's life in middle school is less clear. In an extra chapter, he is depicted as playing an active role in a baseball red-and-white game during physical education, and also showing off his big wheel on the iron bars, but it is unclear whether he was a member of the junior high school baseball club or not.

#### Seiun High School Era

Ittetsu Hoshi desperately wants Chūta Ban, whom he admires so much, to be able to play in a battery with Hyūma, so he dares Hyūma to enroll in Seiun High School, a "princely high school" where many children of wealthy families go to school. Hyūma and Chūta Ban gradually deepen their friendship through an intense feud, and he manages to lead the previously weak Seiun High School baseball team to the Kōshien National Championships. (His first jersey number on the team was #15.) In the 1967 National High School Baseball Championship Tournament, he pitched a strong game with a (folk-like) cheering song in the background. In the end, Seiun High School defeated Kumamoto Norin High School, where Hōsaku Samon was a student, to advance to the finals, where they faced off against Kōyō High School, led by Hanagata. In the semi-finals, however, he injured his fingernail from Samon's broken bat, and in the finals, he threw the "blood-stained ball" with great effort, but eventually he was unable to even pitch, and was defeated, finishing as the runner-up. Hyūma secretly tries to hide his injury to honor his senior pitcher, Komiya, and makes Hanagata promise not to disclose it. However, once the blood-stained ball entered the spectator's seat, a spectator who picked it up looked at it strangely and said, "This is the ball anyway," and then threw the ball to Hanagata.

After the tournament, the Seiun High School baseball team was ordered to disband due to the fact that the high school team they had lost to in the finals was led by Hanagata, who is a business rival of Daizō Ban's Automobile Company. Because of Hyūma and Mitsuru's tearful embrace at the end of the match, it appeared as if Seiun was receiving charity from the enemy while losing, which caused Daizō Ban to throw a huge tantrum. (Daizō is also the president of the PTA of Seiun High School and a prominent sponsor of the high school). Hyūma Hoshi's friend Makiba Haruhiko, driven by a righteous indignation, decides to beat up Daizō in the dark, but Hyūma, who also happened to be there at the same time of the beating, is suspected as the culprit.

Chūta Ban tried to make up for it at a Yaminabe (a type of hot pot dish) party, which he had set up for utter disappointment. When Ban confronts Hyūma about the incident relating to Daizō, Hyūma insists that he is not the culprit and Ban declares that he would no longer see him ever again. In order to protect him and the baseball team, Hyūma submitted a notice of expulsion in front of the principal and Daizō Ban, who even called him the "most important suspect," and he left Seiun High School, saying, "Even if I am the culprit, my expulsion should settle the matter." Makiba, upon learning of his expulsion, confesses to Ban that he is the real culprit. Ban feels miserable that he could not trust his best friend, he deeply regrets doubting him and ending his relationship with him.

#### Joining the Giant's Team

The story of "Hyūma's resignation" soon swept the world of professional baseball, and his injury became public knowledge when Mitsuru Hanagata sent a personal letter recommending him along with the blood-stained ball to Kawakami. Hyūma took it as a sign that Hanagata had broken his promise, but in fact the reporter had only heard Kawakami's reaction by accident. Scouts from almost all teams except the Giants gathered at Hyūma's house (tenement). Some of them even talked about a "10 million yen contract." However, the Giants did not visit him, partly because of Kawakami's comment that "getting injured in the finals means that there is a flaw somewhere." Note that even before the blood-stained ball was sent, scouts from Hiroshima came to take pity on Hyūma, who had been expelled from the academy.

After dropping out of high school and losing everything, including his partner, Hyūma Hoshi was so lonely that he temporarily made a move to another team, saying, "There is a baseball team that recognizes me." However, Ittetsu rebuked Hyūma's feelings and completely rejected scouts from other teams, saying, "There is only one team that you should join, and that is the Giants." Manager Kawakami also executes the entrance test in the middle of the pennant race, saying that he will be locked out of the Giants for two generations, father and son. The goal is for Hyūma Hoshi to come to take the test. Hyūma puts on his father's old pair of spikes and heads for the Tamagawa field.

Chūta, who finally learned the truth about The Dark Attack on Daizō Ban Incident, also apologized to Hyūma and reconciled. They then took the Giant's enrollment test together. After passing the test in the 100m run, Jōji Hayami appears and creates an overwhelming time difference. However, Hyūma makes a difference in the pitching test. In the final match between Hayami and Hyūma, Hayami's interference was defeated by throwing a magical pitch invented by his father, and he is officially accepted to the team. (Hayami and Ban are also accepted as alternates).

In the fall of 1967, he joined the Giants as a test student, and he eventually became a regular player in recognition of his effort and potential. At this time, he took over Tetsuharu Kawakami's jersey number 16, which was a permanent number. Immediately after Hyūma passed the test, Kawakami went straight to the Hoshi family to apologize to his father, Ittetsu, who compared Hyūma to Hōjō Tokiyori's "Hachi no Ki." When Hyūma returned home too early, he overhears the story behind the scenes and is touched that he has found someone who understands him so well. He also tells the story of taking over the "uniform number 16," which his sister Akiko later tells after Hyūma hits the first Dai League Ball.

#### From a brief period of fastball pitching to the completion of the first Dai League Ball

In 1967, he spent time in the second team (At the end of the season, he recorded his first professional win with a one-hit shutout in an Eastern League game against Toei. However, the score in this match convinced Samon of Hyūma's shortcomings.) However, in 1968, he was selected for the Taiwanese camp, he pitched well in the red-and-white game, and remained in the first team. Hanagata, who had noticed the shortcomings of the lightweight nature of Hyūma's pitch, almost hit a homerun, but was saved by a very fine play by the lightweight Akira Kunimatsu, who put his body on the line. For a while after that, he continued to perform well by utilizing his excellent pitching control and fastball, which he had cultivated since he was a child. In the opening game against Taiyō Whales, he was benched and made his first official appearance as a pitcher for the Giants, which was his long-cherished wish.

However, he was very small in stature for a professional baseball player, and his rivals gradually discovered his fatal flaw: the lightness of his pitches. In the opening game of the 1968 Giants vs. Taiyō Whales season, starting pitcher Shoichi Kaneda was hit countless times and allowed a large lead in the early innings, but the Giants gradually fought back. In the final inning, when the Giants were in the mood to catch up, Hyūma Hoshi is summoned to the mound as a relief pitcher to face off against the left handed pinch-hitter, Aguri Muke. From the Taiyō Whales benches, Hōsaku Samon is sent out as an assassin as a "pinch-hitter for the pinch-hitter." Still wanting to believe in his own pitching ability, Hyūma ignores the Giants' bench's instruction to respectfully withdraw from the game and went head-to-head. As a result, Samon, who had already completely discovered Hyūma's weakness, he scores 3 insurance runs (additional runs scored by the team leading the game) against Hoshi. As the Giants were pushed to the brink of defeat, Hyūma was overcome with remorse and despair that he could no longer make it as a professional, and he disappeared from the stadium while still wearing his uniform. He was in a state of complete despair for a time, but finally, after a period of strange and bizarre training, he developed a "magic ball," the "Dai League Ball No. 1," and made a miraculous comeback.

#### Defeat of the Dai League Ball No. 1

Hyūma eventually won nine straight games that year while using his No. 1 to beat rivals Hanagata, Samon, and others. This was the first peak of his time with the Giants, but his rivals began to bare their fangs again. In the Japan Series that same year, he faced off against Hankyu's Spencer, who had also trained hard, and although he beat him with the No. 1 pitch, which had been enhanced by training with a 50-yen coin, the No. 1 pitch was no longer "the magic ball of invincibility."

In the off-season of the same year, he was tormented by various troubles after a confrontation with Ozuma at the Japan-U.S. Baseball Tournament, and at the same time, he experienced a sad love affair at the autumn camp in Miyazaki. He again fell into a state of emptiness and could not concentrate on baseball, and in the following year, 1969, he would start the year in the second team. He then managed to recover with Hanagata's iron-fisted advice, and was revived by the No. 1, which had managed to avoid being hit by anyone other than his rivals. However, he was completely hammered by Ozuma, who was coached by his father, Ittetsu Hoshi, who suddenly returned to baseball, and here No. 1 was completely cut off from life.

#### Dai League Ball No. 2

After that, he temporarily spends his days in despair, but he gets a hint from the appearance of a girl who was playing with a ball on the roof of his apartment, and invents Dai League Ball No. 2, reaching its second peak. The following year (1970), his long-time friend Chūta Ban, who had served as his "right-hand man" both publicly and privately, was traded to the Chunichi Dragons team. After a period of intense training by Ittetsu, Chūta Ban transforms into an assassin for Hyūma, and confronts him in the opening game of the season. However, No.2 was about to be hit at the end of the match but it ended in a fly ball due to coach Ittetsu's signaling error. No. 2 was eventually hit by Hanagata during the Giants vs. Hanshin match. However, it was not exactly a "complete Dai League Ball No. 2." While pitching against Hanagata, as a response to his rival's peculiar stance who stood in the batter's box on one leg, Hyūma asked himself about his strange tactic. And while thinking about it, Hyūma wasn't able to fully raise his own leg upwards and threw a failed Dai League Ball No.2 that didn't disappear, and his pitch was easily hit. Since then, hitters have devised ways to prevent the ball from disappearing by "dropping their own helmet on the ground," "aggressively swinging their bat in the air," and "sprinkling water on their body" and have hit it. However, there has been no batter who has successfully hit the disappearing Dai League Ball No.2 since then.

#### Dai League Ball No. 3

Amidst his disappointment, he held off Masatsugu Hiramatsu in the All-Star fan balloting and came in third place behind Tsuneo Horiuchi and Yutaka Enatsu. This time, he did not disappear and made it to the All-Star game, but he could not deny that his spirits were low. On a traveling day around that time, Hyūma received an enlightening hint from a delinquent girl he met on the train, Kyōko (later Hōsaku Samon's wife), who threw an apple, and created the Dai League Ball No. 3. No. 3 was absolutely powerful as a magic ball that even his rivals who had hit No. 1 and No. 2 had trouble hitting, and he enjoyed the most brilliant period of his professional baseball career, at least in terms of records.

#### Catastrophic Retirement

However, around this time, his personality known as an extremely passionate person changed completely. As if he had realized something, his attitude of caring for his fans and surroundings gradually began to fade away. This was because he knew that No. 3 was literally a "magic pitch" that would surely end his career (as a left-handed pitcher). When he appeared on a talkshow, "「スター千一夜」 - A Thousand and One Nights in the Stars" to talk with (then) famous people from various fields (Keiko Fuji, Tadashi Sawamura, etc.), he made a series of comments that completely destroyed the atmosphere of the event, and he once embarrassed the host, Kōji Ishizaka. His rivals were sensitive to his change and gradually began to notice his tragic resolve. He achieved a perfect game against Chunichi and left his name in the history of baseball, but in return, his left arm was completely broken and he lost his professional baseball career. (The following year (1971), after secretly witnessing the wedding of Samon and Kyōko, he disappeared into thin air and was never heard from again for the next several years.

#### Between Retirement and Return

After Hyūma broke his left arm and disappeared, he hid his identity around 1973 and coached several people who were planning to join the 三高野球部/Third High School Baseball Club in Miyazaki for a short period of time.

The beginning of "The New Giant Star," which began serialization in 1976, according to dialogue between Ittetsu and Akiko in "「泥濘（でいねい）の章」," on the day of the wedding of Mitsuru Hanagata and Akiko Hoshi, Hyūma, who had been missing for some time, only sent a congratulatory telegram to the wedding hall and did not show up. However, in the final episode of "Kyojin no Hoshi - Special Edition: Fierce Tiger Mitsuru Hanagata," which was re-edited from the 1968-1971 animated version and broadcast on WOWOW in 2002, After the original last scene, in which Hyūma leaves the ballpark with a broken left arm, they even added an "after" scene between Hanagata and Akiko, with Hyūma rushing to the church where Hanagata and Akiko's wedding took place and gifting Hanagata the ball from their Dai League Ball No. 3, 3-ball showdown.

#### Afterwards (Shin Kyojin no Hoshi - Kyojin no Samurai Honō - and beyond)

A few years after his disappearance, he made a phoenix-like comeback in "Shin Kyojin no Hoshi" as a right-handed pitcher, first as a substitute batter and then as a substitute runner, for the then-struggling "Nagashima Giants" (he took over the No. 3 uniform number from Shigeo Nagashima's days).

In the final episode of the anime version, he leaves to study baseball in the American Major Leagues after witnessing the death of his father, Ittetsu Hoshi. Later in the baseball manga "Kyojin no Samurai Honō" (art by Kagemaru Joya), which shares the same worldview as this work, it is confirmed that he retired from active baseball and became the second team coach for the Nagashima Giants, and in this manga Ittetsu Hoshi is still alive. Ittetsu was asked by Kawakami to take over as coach of the Giants' second team during the time of the first Dai League Ball in "Kyojin no Hoshi," but he refused. As a result, Hyūma replaced his father and answered the old man's wishes. Kyojin no Samurai Honō was out of print for a long time, but was reprinted by Kaiensha in September 2004. However, the final volume has not been released.

After Hyūma Hoshi's first Dai League Ball Right No.1 (mirage magic ball), Hyūma envisioned an unknown "second magic ball." During the 1979 season after Suguru Egawa joined the team, Manager Nagashima told Hyūma that he could not sign a contract for the next season and asked Hyūma to become a coach. To train Mizuki before he joins the team, Hyūma requests on the spot to be appointed as the coach of the second team. If Hyūma had continued to play baseball, the endless cycle of "developing a new magical ball, getting hit by Hanagata and Samon, and then creating another new magic ball," there was a possibillity that Hyūma's right arm might have been destroyed. When Hyūma returned in 1976, Nagashima expressed his desire to avoid the Dai League Ball by saying, "No matter how big the Giants are, we can't take away both arms of a single man." It is believed that Nagashima decided to have Hyūma contribute to the baseball team as a mentor while his right arm was still intact. Mizuki Honō then passed the Giants' entrance test. Mizuki received a Dai League Ball Training Cast from Hyūma, thus ending Hyūma's second baseball career. He has not appeared in the work since then.

The animated version, "Shin Kyojin no Hoshi Ⅱ," takes a completely different turn, in the real life historical fact, the Nagashima Giants lost to Tatsuro Hirooka from the Yakult Swallows, but in the story, the Giants win the championship and also win the Japan Series. Hyūma mixes up his Dai League Ball left #1, #2, #3, and right #1 to complete a perfect game and win the series MVP. At the same time, Akiko gives birth to a child, and Ittetsu dies with his companion, Chūta Ban. The following year, Hyūma bade farewell to Nagashima at the Nagashima residence and left the Giants team. He then vowed on Ittetsu's gravestone that he would continue to live a life devoted to baseball, and left on a ship for the United States to study baseball as his friends saw him off.

In the final episode of "Kyojin no Hoshi - Special Edition: Father Ittetsu," the story takes place 12 years after his retirement, and Ittetsu tells us that he has studied as a coach in the United States since his retirement, he taught baseball to children in South America, the Middle East, and now Africa, and is unmarried.

A radio drama version of "Kyojin no Hoshi '95" was broadcast during NHK Radio's special program "「あざやかにスポーツシーン」Azayaka ni Sports Scene." It featured Hyūma, who is still active, playing against Ichiro Suzuki in an All-Star Game. Tōru Furuya and Seizō Katō provided the voice acting. The child of Hyūma, whom Ittetsu Hoshi calls "Kohyūma," appears in the series, but Hanagata and Samon do not appear.

An anime titled "Star of the Giants vs. Astro Boy" was aired on September 6, 1969 as part of a variety show called "Takehiko Maeda's Tenka no Rivalry," which pitted celebrities against each other (coincidentally, Astro Boy's name was "Tobio" when he was born by Dr. Tenma), on the Nippon Television network. This was a collaboration project in which Hyūma and his friends went to the future (21st century) where Atom lives and played a baseball game with him. The animation was produced by Mushi Productions, and the voice actor for Atom was different from that in the animated version of the same work.

## Quotes

> 「とうちゃん…おれ、はじめて野球というものがわかったよ。野球には男が命をかけるねうちがあるんだね…」("*Dad... I learned about baseball for the first time. In baseball, there is a place where a man risks his life...*")
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> 「そうだ父ちゃんはいった…チームワークとはさまざまな人間が集まり長所と短所で戦い磨き合って血みどろになって築くものだ…と。その意味がほんとうにわかったような気がする」("*That's right, my father said... Teamwork is something that various people gather and fight with their strengths and weaknesses to polish each other and become bloody and built... I feel like I really understand what that means.*")
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> 「俺は今、猛烈に感動している 」("*I am so intensely moved right now.*")
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> 「今おれが踏み締めている甲子園の土…過ぎし日川上監督も踏み、王さんも踏み、この土から巨人の星座へ駆け登った！おれも…おれもやるぞ！」("*I'm stepping on the soil of Koshien now... In the past days, Director Kawakami stepped on it, Mr. Oh also stepped on it, and from this soil they both ran up to the constellation of the Giants! I... I'll do it too!*")
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> 「その時その時にすべてを燃やし尽くしてこそいつの日にか夢も果たせるのだっ。今のおれには巨人よりも青雲高だ！父ちゃん…おれ天下の甲子園で大恥をかくかもしれない…でもやれるだけはやるよ。父ちゃんはきっとわかってくれるね…」("By burning everything down at that moment, one day you will be able to fulfill your dreams. Right now, I am taller than a giant! Dad... I might be embarrassed at the world's Koshien... but I'll do what I can. I'm sure father will understand..."
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> 「伴よ…おれは…雑念を去るっ。おれたちの過去のすべてはないっ。十八・四四メートルのバッテリー間にあるのは、ただ勝負の二文字！」 ("Ban...I'm...getting rid of distractions. All of our past is gone. Between the batteries of 18.44 meters, there are only two characters of victory!
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> 「この打者を…オズマとその後ろに控える父ちゃん…いや星一徹中日コーチと思え…その時…そのコンビを…倒すには…ただ無念無想…大リーグボールで勝負あるのみ！！」("*This hitter... Ozuma and my father behind him...No, I thought it was Chunichi's coach, Ittetsu Hoshi...at that time...that combination...In order to defeat it... there's no regret...There is only a match with the Dai League Ball!*")
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> 「マウンド！どんなに世間でもてはやされても、ここに立てばいやおうなくおれひとり。たよれるのは…自分の左腕だけ…もてはやされる栄光もこのマウンドからはじまわるかわり、あっというまに栄光の座から落ちる墓場も、このマウンドだ！」("*Mound! No matter how much the world praises me, I can't help but stand here on my own. The only thing I can rely on is my left arm... The much-lauded glory starts from this mound, but it quickly rises from the throne of glory. The falling graveyard is also this mound!*")
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> 「おめでとう　左門　京子さん！巨人の星を俺の新しい人生において、今度はどんな夢の星にするかな？」("*Congratulations, Samon and Kyōko-san! In my new life, the Giants "star", What kind of dream star should I make this time?*")
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## Trivia

* Hyūma's surname, Hoshi (星) is the Japanese word for "star."
* According to 「Ikki Kajiwara's Biography / 梶原一騎伝」, the book states that the name Hyūma is a play on the English word "Human." It is said that the name derives from the late Ikki Kajiwara's attempt to depict "human" and "humanism" through his works.
* He has a natural competitive dislike to losing, and when things are going well, he absolutely destroys his opponents, but once he gets frustrated, he drives himself into a bottomless corner. Perhaps because he has lived a turbulent life, his emotions are extremely intense, and he tends to shed tears without hesitation in front of others.
* He was originally born right-handed but due to the demands of his father Ittetsu and intensive training imposed by him, Hyūma becomes left-handed and wears the Dai League Ball Training Cast to improve his pitches.
* He has little to no memories of his mother Harue, since she passed away when he was very young.
* He is very well known for sitting at an empty table and crying on the floor, alone during his own Christmas party. - (*Kyojin no Hoshi: Episode 92*)
* Some iconic things that Hyūma Hoshi does in this series include his legendary Dai League Ball pitch and the way his eyes ignite with little flames when he seriously gets heated up!

#### Appears in:

* Kyojin no Hoshi (Manga)
* Kyojin no Hoshi
* Kyojin no Hoshi: Chizome no Kesshousen
* Kyojin no Hoshi: Ike Ike Hyuuma
* Kyojin no Hoshi: Dai League Ball
* Kyojin no Hoshi: Shukumei no Taiketsu
* Kyojin no Hoshi (1982)
* Shin Kyojin no Hoshi (Manga)
* Shin Kyojin no Hoshi
* Shin Kyojin no Hoshi (Movie)
* Shin Kyojin no Hoshi Ⅱ
* Kyojin no Samurai Honō
* Shinyaku "Kyojin no Hoshi" Hanagata

#### Baseball Teams:

* Highschool years: Seiun Highschool (青雲高校)
* Professional era: Yomiuri Giants (読売ジャイアンツ)

## References

1. ↑ https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXBZO47360000X11C12A0000000/
2. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20050226181221/http://www.whv.jp/title/kyojin/chara/001.html
3. ↑ Iconic Kyojin no Hoshi scenes that are mostly parodied#Hyūma Hoshi's Burning Eyes (星飛雄馬の燃える瞳)

## External Links

* https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/星飛雄馬
* JPN Warner Bros. Kyojin no Hoshi DVD release 2002 (Archive)