Hikaru Matsuyama

Template:Infobox player Hikaru Matsuyama (松山光, matsuyama hikari) is a major character in Captain Tsubasa, one of Tsubasa's rivals in grade school and Misugi in the J-League, can be considered even a better captain than Tsubasa himself, since despite not being a genius in soccer, his hardwork, efforts and understanding of teamwork makes him a key player for the Japanese national team. Usually he is the captain while Tsubasa is playing for his Spanish Club or Wakabayashi for his Germany club, so he takes charge of the Japanese National Team on their behalf.

Profile

He is one of Japan's best players. Though Matsuyama isn't a genius, he is persistent and hard-working. Thanks to his hard work, he has many good skills.

Etymology

Hikaru means "light" (光) or "radiance" (輝) and the dictionary form of the word "Hikari" (光, light). Is a Japanese unisex given name, representing the light within the character (with him, the Furano team is able to "shine" between difficult and powerful opponents. Matsuyama (松山), on the other hand, is a commont Japanese surname. Nonetheless, the yama "山" particle may represent the Highland mountains where Matsuyama and his teammates train and come from (Hokkaido).

History

Kids' Dream Arc

Matsuyama and the Furano team played with Misaki when he was in Hokkaido with his father. Furano's qualification to the national tournament was the occasion for them to meet again. He was first seen against Sapporo FC, the tournament favourites in the Hokkaido Qualifiers, where he played keep away from the team by himself while defending a 1-0 lead. At the canteen of the national tournament, an incident occured between Matsuyama and Hyuga, resulting in their rivalry in the semi-finals between them. With Hyuga being tired, and Matsuyama injured during the game, the outcome was uncertain, until karate goalkeeper Wakashimazu came in to stop a penalty kick from Matsuyama, allowing Hyuga to then score the victorious goal. Though Hyuga won the game, he learned the importance of teamwork, and Matsuyama respected Hyuga as he fought with all of his strength.

Boys' Fight Arc

Like many Japanese teams, Matsuyama's objective was to defeat Tsubasa and Nankatsu in the 16th middle school national tournament. Furano encountered some problems in the quarter-final against Minamiuwa, because of various circumstances. However, with Matsuyama's fighting spirit and his utmost trust in his teammates, Furano managed to win and ended up encountering Nankatsu in the semi-finals.

During the semi-finals, both Matsuyama and Tsubasa were very equal rivals in what means dribble, ball possession, sense of strategy, confidence in a good team-work and both having a long distance power shot. During the game, Matsuyama put up a good fight and was extremely fair play, even aiding Tsubasa to not hurt himself after scoring Furano with a “Do-Or-Die” diving overhead^[1].

With his abilities, he developed indeed a long distance ground shot as he hardly train in the snow to develop strong legs and loins, scoring against Morisaki with the Eagle Shot ^[2], and make an assistance to forward Oda to score and tie Nankatsu 2:2. When the match was about to end, Tsubasa did a Miracle Drive Shoot, scoring Nankatsu's victory goal. This shot untied the hachimaki Matsuyama was wearing, made by Furano's manager Yoshiko Fujisawa, allowing Hikaru to read the words that were written on it with a whitish transparent thread: "I LOVE YOU - YOSHIKO". As Yoshiko was forced to go to America as soon as Furano lost because of her father's work, Matsuyama tried to catch up with her, despite the tiring match he just made, and injured himself in the process. He made it on time to the airport however, and the two of them shared their feelings.

J Boys' Challenge Arc

Matsuyama was selected in the All Japan Jr. team. With his leadership skills, he became the vice captain of the team, then the captain after Japan's defeat against Hamburger SV. He, together with Kojiro opposed Tsubasa to play for the Tournament yet, since he was not in the training camp nor in the training matches so as to speak for all the members who were not selected to be part of All Japan Jr. but had to return to their respective school clubs. However, he eventually gave the captain mark to Tsubasa, feeling that it's the right choice after Tsubasa single-handle defeated and dribbled all Italy Jr. Youth and score against Gino Hernandez with his Drive Shoot.

Later on, during the critical PK shootout against France Jr., he wore Yoshiko's #10 hachimaki that he had been keeping again. After the International Jr. Youth Tournament, Matsuyama took the exam for Furano high school. At that time, Yoshiko returned to Japan. The two of them met again and started their relationship.

Sekai Daikessen!! Jr. World Cup (film)

In the Jr. World Cup that occured in USA, Matsuyama and Yoshiko were reunited once again. He saw her first on the distance in the crowd in the game against Sylvester Luke from All USA Jr. She cheered him up to the final against All South America Jr.

Battle of World Youth Arc

In the World Youth series, Matsuyama was selected to be a member of All Japan Youth. Unlike Hyuga, Misaki, Nitta, Soda, Jito and the Tachibana twins, he wasn't cast aside by Gamo. Being the only one finding the truth about the R.J.7, he even forced Hyuga to leave the team in order to progress. Matsuyama tried his best to tell a depressed All Japan Youth not to count on the R.J.7 for the preliminaries.

Gamo considered that Matsuyama was the one who contributed the most to the team, by using his captainship so that the team wouldn't crumble during Gamo's harsh training while Tsubasa and Hyuga weren't here, and acquired their trust as well. He also considered Matsuyama the indispensable captain of the team during the training camp, which is why he revealed the true purpose of the R.J.7 to him. Even Tsubasa thought that Matsuyama should wear the captain mark. Matsuyama was absent for most of the time in the quarter-finals against Stefan Levin's Sweden Youth, since Yoshiko was involved in a traffic accident, and Matsuyama had put his love for Yoshiko above everything else. He came back for extra time however, giving Japan the key to victory.

Road to 2002 Arc

In Road to 2002, Matsuyama became a pro by joining Consadole Sapporo. In a match against Jun Misugi's FC Tokyo, Matsuyama admitted that Misugi is indeed a genius. The match ended up being a tie, 1:1.

Golden-23 Arc

In Golden 23, Matsuyama was selected in the Japanese Olympics team as the captain. Coach Kira put a lot of trust in him, Misaki and Misugi, called the "3M" (3 Shooting Stars) of U-22 Japan, allowing them to handle the team's balance. He believed that Matsuyama's leadership would be important during the Asian preliminaries tournament.

Rising Sun Arc

To be added as series progresses

Techniques

Main article: Hikaru Matsuyama/Techniques

Gallery

Trivia

His name is Armand Callahan in the Latin American dub and Phillip Callahan in most European countries.
In real life, Consadole Sapporo has been using Matsuyama as a fictional spokesperson for their homegrown athlete project, appropriately named "Hikaru Matsuyama Project", since 2013.[1]

Notes

↑ for said reason Matsuyama was even considered to be a greater captain than Tsubasa to lead All Japan Jr. Youth, in direct words of Munemasa Katagiri.
↑ aka Northern Country Shot when used exclusively from Matsuyama, since Tsubasa used it later on the International Jr. Youth Tournament against Deuter Müller and Santana is also capable of using said power shot.

[1] r said reason Matsuyama was even considered to be a greater captain than Tsubasa to lead All Japan Jr. Youth, in direct words of Munemasa Katagiri.

[2] Northern Country Shot when used exclusively from Matsuyama, since Tsubasa used it later on the International Jr. Youth Tournament against Deuter Müller and Santana is also capable of using said power shot.

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