Hikaru grew up with his father as a talented aerobatic flier, having won seven amateur flying contests by the age of 16 in 2009. When his "senpai" Roy Focker invited him to the launch ceremony of the SDF-1 Macross he found himself pulled into a galactic war against an alien race called the Zentradi. He later joins the UN Spacy after a talk with Focker and Lynn Minmay.
Shortly after joining, he gains a reputation as a skilled pilot and leader, and he is promoted to second lieutenant and later first lieutenant. He pilots the VF-1S Valkyrie "Skull One" after the death of Focker, and is eventually promoted to captain at the end of the series.
Hikaru is an atypical anime sci-fi hero. Despite some early personality clashes with his female superior officer Misa Hayase, Hikaru is a rather humble and jovial type of person, in contrast to the usual hot-headed type of heroes of other mecha series. He displays leadership abilities early on and has a deep sense of responsibility and duty. However, unlike most lead characters, he concedes that his subordinate, Maximilian Jenius, is the best in battle.
His personal feelings tend toward two women: his friend-turned-idol Japanese-Chinese girl Lynn Minmay, and Misa. Being a shy person, he seems incapable of defining what he really feels for each of them, creating a tense love triangle that became as interesting and essential to the Macross story as the mecha battles and action sequences amid the alien-human apocalyptic war.
After the war, Hikaru weds Misa, and they board the SDF-2 Megaroad-01 in 2012 to leave on a stellar exploration mission; they have a daughter in 2013 named Miku Ichijyo. The Megaroad-01 disappears in 2016 without a trace near the center of the galaxy.
If it was physically possible, and we managed to avoid being put in the friend zone, it would be almost every anime fan's dream come true. Let's take a peek at some characters that would make for the best anime girlfriend!
We all enjoy looking up at the night sky, and watching the stars. And quite often we wonder what exactly is going on...out there in deep space. Fortunately, there's a ton of excellent space anime which will clue us in and make our imaginations run wild!