Hyoma Chigiri

* Manga
* Anime

**Hyoma Chigiri** (千 (ち) 切 (ぎり)  豹 (ひょう) 馬 (ま) , *Chigiri Hyōma*?) is a contender of Blue Lock, who currently plays as a left wing for England's Manshine City during the Neo Egoist League.

Chigiri is a forward prodigy who was chained down by a leg injury in his past but he let go of his fears while at Blue Lock so he could continue playing football wholeheartedly. When first arriving at Blue Lock, Chigiri was a member of Team Z. Chigiri spent half of the First Selection avoiding participation or keeping it to a bare minimum but when he was motivated by Isagi in Team Z's third game, he decided to let go of his fear and play football to become the world's best striker like his rivals.

## Appearance

Chigiri is a young man with reddish pink hair and deep pink eyes. Chigiri has always had a very feminine face since he was young, as shown by his long eyelashes and soft facial features. He is often referred to as "Kunoichi" or "Princess" due to his feminine appearance, sometimes mistaken for a girl at first glance; he often rebuts this with the words: "I'm a guy." He has been praised by other players for being attractive, though he seems indifferent to such comments. He looks very similar to his mother and older sister. Chigiri's hair had been only neck length until he tore the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in his right leg, after which he let it grow out. Chigiri's hair currently goes past his shoulders and has one long bang that sweeps to the right side of his face. During games, he braids the left side of his hair so that it doesn't get in his face.

At Blue Lock, Chigiri wears the standard-issued body suit (black with gray stripes) and tracksuit. During the First Selection, he wore Team Z's blue #4 jersey and wears Team Z's gray-capped cleats. During Second Selection, he wore Team Red's #44 jersey and that later switched to white when Chigiri joined Isagi's team. During the Third Selection, he wears Team B's #44 white jersey. It is not until the match against the Japan U-20 does Chigiri don an official blue and black Blue Lock player uniform with the #4 on it.

He wears jersey #44 for Manshine City. When playing for Manshine City, he wears the short-sleeved uniform top, shorts, socks and a pair of black gloves.

Volume Cover 3Young ChigiriTeam Z uniformTeam Red uniformBlue Lock player Icon
## Personality

Chigiri is a confident and driven individual who loves surpassing others on the field. From a very young age, he has always thought himself superior to others due to his naturally strong muscles, amazing skill in football, and his outstanding speed, calling himself a 'chosen one'. He looked down on those who got in his way or annoyed him but was mostly behaved as though stating facts. He is described as a super-egoist, cocky, and the one of the most aggressive players on the pitch. Only when he tore his ACL did his sense of superiority start to crumble and, due to being bullied by the Wanima Brothers, he became afraid of playing football for fear of losing 'who he is'. He was so fearful of this, that he accepted the invitation to Blue Lock to find a reason to give up rather than continue to strive for his dream. But after retaking a hold of his ego and ambition, he has shown himself to be a persistent and stubborn force on the field.

After this point, Chigiri demonstrates an amiable but still self-assured attitude. He often makes sassy remarks towards both opponents and friends alike, and has no qualms about trying to crush people he feels hard done by. Such as Zantetsu when he outruns him on the field and even Isagi when he goes ahead in the Second Selection instead of waiting for him. Off the field, Chigiri is generally easygoing and mellow. During his time on Team Z, he'd casually chat with Kunigami and eventually made a team with him showing that he fully trusts his abilities, and went on to demonstrate great chemistry with him. He even invited Reo to join them, recoginizing that his balanced skill set and experience in navigating a trio would come in handy; apparently willing to put aside any past animosity for the sake of pragmitism. After he joins Team White in the Second Selection, he even gets along fairly well with Nagi, watching videos about professional players and testing out a variety of objects that Nagi can trap, making a mess in their bedroom and generally antagonizing Baro. He also takes great care of his body and appearance, tending diligently to his injured knee. His propensity for hair care is especially noticeable and has been demonstrated on a few occasions, though it should be noted that blow-drying hair is a more common cultural practice among both genders than in the West. Still, he's in the habit of twirling his hair while he's deep in thought and gets visibly irritated when Aryu touches it and even slaps his hand away.

Chigiri is shown to have great focus being a player who is constantly running through tight spaces, between players, and even switching from dribbling to passing. Chigiri admits that he feels a great joy surpassing other players with his speed, and when is inspired by Isagi and retakes his will to play and win he finally leaves behind his fear and begins to once again be that player he used to be in middle school and states he will become the best striker in the world. A clear example of his ego is when in the match against Japan U-20, he runs out of stamina due to not having played soccer for nearly a year before going to Blue Lock and is substituted out; Chigiri is so frustrated that he cries once he sits in the bench.

## Abilities

### Archetype

* **Counterattacker**: Counterattackers are any attacking player that uses their pace to beat defenders and cause unexpected scoring opportunities at any time. They also need some degree of shooting skill. Counterattacking opportunities occur when the opposition are themselves attacking a team with most of their players forward. A counterattack happens when the ball is won back and is quickly played into space for a counterattacking player to run onto or where a player takes the ball themselves and runs with pace into a sparsely defended opposition half.

Chigiri's natural physical disposition allows him to run at incredible speeds compared to most players and along with his great focus he is able to keep control of the ball and his speed while moving through tight spaces, between players, and switching between dribbling and passing seamlessly. After training with Manshine City, Chigiri more carefully decides where he is going to cut and run as Chigiri now aims for his ideal shooting zone using his refined speed and dribbling instead of blindly into the penalty area as fast as possible.

### Skills

* **Immense Speed**: Chigiri has naturally strong leg muscles and expert footwork, which enables him to run down the field at incredible speeds. Chigiri is generally considered to be the fastest player in Blue Lock and only players with immense speed, like Ryusei Shido, Eita Otoya and Zantetsu Tsurugi, can compete with him. While his speed is rivaled by a handful of players, as of yet, nobody has been able to beat him in a direct contest of maximum speed (Zantetsu has beaten him in contests of acceleration over 10m). Chigiri has even sped past Oliver Aiku, the #1 defender of the Japan U-20. This speed, combined with his perception and awareness of positioning enables him to choose the appropriate breakthrough point in an opponent's defense and to speed through. In addition to this, Chigiri has demonstrated the ability to directly kick the ball and follow it, resulting in a wide dribble that can break apart an enemy's formation. It is for these reasons Chigiri has one of the best breakthrough abilities in Blue Lock.
	+ **Long-Distance Sprinting**: While Chigiri may not have explosive acceleration like Zantetsu or Ryusei, he is by far faster over long distance, stated to cover 50m in 5.77 seconds. Chigiri makes use of this weapon by "passing" to himself, sending the ball a long distance ahead of him (around 50 meters) and running to pick it up. As a result, he is able to break through even the tightest and strongest of defenses with relative ease.
	+ **No-Break Dribble**: Instead of trapping a pass, Chigiri bounces the ball forward without stopping his run. He then runs at breakneck speeds with the ball in tow and during the sprint accelerates even faster without losing momentum from adjustment, being unable to be stopped by anybody trying to stop him or defend the goal.
	+ **High-Speed Pressure**: Chigiri is able to utilize his speed in a defensive manner by quickly moving across the field to hound whoever is in possession of the ball. This pressure can force errors in opponents and easily allows Chigiri's team to set up traps. However, this tactic is incredibly draining on Chigiri's stamina as he cannot run for a long period of time.

* **44° Panther Snipe**: A style Chigiri developed under the mentorship of Chris Prince, which combines the different skills and techniques he has learnt in Blue Lock, as well as enhancing them with the training in the Neo-Egoist League, enabling him to score goals in a way that is unique to him. First, Chigiri locates his ideal shooting zone, which is approximately 44 degrees left, 19 meters from the goal. Second, he uses his cut-in to penetrate the opponent's formation, reaching the ideal point. Third, he uses his centering technique to quickly fire a controlled shot towards the corner of the goal.
	+ **Mach Cut-In**: Chigiri baits his opponent by remaining still, then from no motion he bursts into a cut-in, going either outside or inside the opposing defender. He can perform this move multiple times, to speed past multiple defenders and eventually reach his shooting zone.
	+ **Controlled Shot**: Centering his body quickly, Chigiri is able to unleash a highly controlled and accurate shot into the top left corner of the goal.

## Quotes

* (To Isagi) *I don't know how long my leg will last, but I want to believe in this new me. I will keep on running until my leg can't keep up anymore.*
* (To himself) *I don't care anymore. If it tears again, so be it. The best striker in the world... is me!*
* (To himself) *Outrun them! Let this rush carry you! I haven't felt this in so long. Outrunning someone is what soccer's all about for me! It's a joy only I get to experience!*
* (To himself) *If it's here, I won't lose! My speed.... will roar through the world!! The moment that I dreamed of is right here.*
* (To Kunigami) *I know that the way you see it, you're all changed and all that edgelord shit... but as far as I care, I'll fight as if I'm still facing the same old you I knew.*
* (To Kaiser) *It's (Kaiser's 'script') progressing so slowly that it's making me sleepy, Kaiser. Rejected.*

## Etymology

* His given name, **Hyoma** (豹 (ひょう) 馬 (ま) , *****Hyoma*****?), means "leopard horse," referring to his great speed.
* His surname, **Chigiri** (千 (ち) 切 (ぎり) , *****Chigiri*****?), means "julienning" or, literally, "a thousand cuts."
* His name can thus be interpreted as "leopard horse with a thousand cuts."

## Trivia

* Majority of this information is from the official Egoist Bible.
	+ He damaged his ACL in middle school (vs in the animanga, where he injures his ACL as a first year in high school).
	+ He has an older sister.
	+ His zodiac sign is Capricorn.
	+ His hometown is Kagoshima, Japan.
	+ His foot size is 26.5cm.
	+ His blood type is A.
	+ His dominant leg is his right leg.
	+ His favorite football player is Eden Hazard.
	+ He started playing football at the age of 4.
	+ He got the nickname 'Red Panther' after a local newspaper called him that once.
	+ He thinks his strong point is that he's proactive when it comes to things he likes or wants to do. As for his weak point, he is often told that he's moody, though he doesn't intend to come off as such.
	+ His favorite food is *karinto manjuu*. His disliked food is ginger due to its taste.
	+ He thinks the best thing to have with rice is pollack roe.
	+ His hobby is reading novels.
	+ His favorite season is winter because he enjoys drinking tea and eating sweets while sitting under a *kotatsu*.
	+ His favorite song is 'Blue Bird' by Ikimono-gakari.
	+ His favorite movie is The Butterfly Effect.
	+ His favorite manga is Attack on Titan.
	+ His character color is vivid pink.
	+ His favorite color is purple-red.
	+ Black cats are his favorite animals.
	+ His favorite subjects are English, Physical Education and History. He doesn't like having to do school safety drills since they're a hassle.
	+ He likes when he is praised for his talent or admired for how fast he can run. He dislikes when he is envied for his talent.
	+ His ideal type is someone who is calm and understanding since he himself can be quite intense.
	+ The first time he got confessed to was in his first-year of elementary school. The girl sitting at the desk behind him suddenly confessed to him, which made others in the class join in, also confessing to Chigiri. He says he probably turned down about half the class in one go that day.
	+ He received a total of zero Valentine's chocolates in the previous year. He had no time for such things due to his injury.
	+ He gets 7 hours of sleep each night.
	+ The first thing he washes when in the bath is his forehead to avoid getting pimples there.
	+ He always finds himself buying *wagashi* whenever he's at the convenience store.
	+ He says he doesn't remember the reason for the last time he cried (but actually just doesn't want to say why).
	+ He received Christmas presents from Santa until he was 11 years old, his older sister enjoyed pretending to be Santa and would give him a gift each year. The last thing that he asked for from Santa were spiked running shoes.
	+ If it were his last day on Earth, he would sit at a *kotatsu* drinking tea and eating *karinto manjuu* all whilst petting a black cat.
	+ If he received 100 million yen (~USD $735,000), he would buy an oxygen therapy capsule.
	+ He spends his days off reading, taking long bathes and caring for his body.
* Chigiri ranked 4th in the first popularity poll with 1,148 votes.
* While he was thought to be based on Gareth Bale due to their pace and coordination, Muneyuki Kaneshiro clarified that he was based on Ryo Miyaichi. While Ryo also had great pace and coordination, he also suffered 3 ACL tears.

## References

*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 177.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Character profile from *Egoist Bible*
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 246.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 240.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 204.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 58.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 24.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 15.
*Blue Lock* Anime: Episode 2.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 173.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 108.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 97.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 68.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 58.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 2.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 19.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 31.
*Blue Lock* Manga: Chapter 22.
19. ↑ https://jisho.org/search/豹
20. ↑ https://jisho.org/search/千切