Kazuya Hiramaru (Born June 18, 1984, in Kanagawa-ken, Japan), is a different kind of genius than Eiji Niizuma. He picked up an issue of Jump on the metro, thought it was something easy he could do, and then quit his job to draw manga. He had a manga
getting serialized in Jump called Otters 11 which was later canceled. Later on, he serialized the one-shot he entered into the Super Leaders' Love Fest, You Can't Reach Me.
Appearance[]
Hiramaru has long black hair cut into layers and tired eyes. He is normally seen wearing a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, with suspenders and pants that are also slightly rolled up. Striped socks peek out, and he always wears loafers. Later, his black hair gets cut shorter and his eyes become less tired. At parties and dates, he wears a white suit. As his Otters 11 series becomes more popular, he starts wearing his own merchandise such as Otter socks and neckties. According to Ending 4, as a child, his hair had the same style but shorter.
Personality & Character[]
Hiramaru was a salaryman that hated working. In the anime, upon hearing Takagi and Mashiro talking about drawing manga on the subway and finding an abandoned copy of Jump, he quit his job to be a mangaka because he thought it would be less work for him. After teaching himself to draw manga in a very short amount of time, his manga, Otters 11 is serialized. He is hailed as a genius by Yoshida who pushed for his serialization saying that Hiramaru had no real motivation to continue as a mangaka and failure would just make him quit.
Hiramaru is extremely lazy and immediately regrets getting serialized due to the amount of work to keep up a weekly series. He has said that he doesn't know why people have to work for a living and that he wants to sleep when he's tired and to eat when he's hungry. Due to his laziness, his editor, Koji Yoshida, often schemes to manipulate Hiramaru into working. Hiramaru often tries to escape Yoshida to avoid working. His attempts to escape Yoshida is a long-running gag in the manga.
He's also a chronic hypochondriac and often makes incredible claims of illness. However, he is always proven healthy by the doctors. It's mostly believed that his "illnesses" are not only a product of his own fears, but also serves as an excuse to avoid work.
Hiramaru is very easily stressed, and can’t handle the extreme pressures of being a mangaka the way the others can. He is prone to emotional outbursts and brief bouts of depression. As the series progresses, he becomes more cheerful and sociable, but no less neurotic.
He is also obsessed with women, especially young girls. One of Yoshida's schemes to get him to work is to introduce him to young pretty girls. He also has a huge crush on Aoki Yuriko. Yoshida bribes him into doing work by giving him weekly facts about Aoki. Yoshida also often depicts dramatic scenarios of Aoki rejecting him due to his laziness or inability to produce names to energize him to work hard. Because he cannot stand the idea of losing Aoki in his life, a combination of his own anxiety and Hiramaru's end-game scenarios, he works feverishly in hopes his work will earn Aoki's heart and eventually gets engaged to her in Chapter 160.
History[]
Hiramaru worked as a salaryman for an unspecified amount of years. One day on the subway, he overheard Muto Ashirogi talking about fame and fortune of being a mangaka. After the duo left the train, he found an abandoned copy of Shonen Jump over the rails and started his interest in manga. Tired of his existence, he quit his job and immediately dived into creating his own manga. With no history in being a mangaka, he managed to get Otters 11 published. However, even with his creativity, he often carries a poor attitude to his worth ethics. However, his work gave him success and he was invited to Jump's annual new year party.
Bakuman Series[]
The New Years Party[]
During the New Years Party, Hiramaru hangs out with Niizuma. When Takagi and Mashiro show up, he mistakes them for high school students, due to his ignorance of other mangaka. He tells them how he shouldn't be a mangaka because he doesn't know how he will keep up a weekly series. He stops talking to them when Yoshida comes and gets him. He asks Yoshida, "Do you enjoy life?". Yoshida ignores the question, saying that it will be the tagline for chapter three. A similar tagline is used in Shell (Chapter) 75, in which Otter 11 asks the employee Yoshida, "Do you enjoy your job?"
Otters 11 serialization[]
Hiramaru is overworked with working on Otters 11. He sneaks out to go to other mangaka's studios, but Yoshida always finds him. Hiramaru claims that he has started urinating blood, but when he went to the doctor nothing happened, so his editors are continuing to make him work.
Creator Strike[]
Mashiro is admitted into the hospital and the mangaka of Team Fukuda go on a strike until Mashiro can start working again. Hiramaru Kazuya joins the strike, though it was mostly so he can avoid his duties as a mangaka and take a break.
Anime[]
Otters 11 had received anime offers but the Editor-in-Chief and Yoshida didn't tell Hiramaru because they wanted to see if they could get a better offer (the original offer had been for a midnight slot), but they couldn't so they finally accepted the offer. The ratings eventually allow it to begin a second season.
Super Leaders Love Fest[]
Eventually, Otters 11 gets canceled at Shell 200, its plot development decreased. Hiramaru believes that he could stop working, but due to an opportunity to continue seeing Aoki, is convinced to start You Can't Fool Me, based on Kimi ni Todoke. The one-shot places third overall and second of the Super Leaders, prompting Yoshida to convince Hiramaru to try for serialization.
Relationship[]
Koji Yoshida[]
He is his editor and is usually pressuring Hiramaru into doing more work, and manipulating him. They are usually seen together throughout the series, but it is clear they both don't have a large interest in friendship or love.
Yuriko Aoki[]
Hiramaru sees her and instantly falls in love, leading to Yoshida to tell him things about her, being that he finishes a new chapter. Hiramaru eventually asks her out, and they date. Near the end of the series, he runs away from Yoshida to go on a date with Aoki. Yoshida tracks him down, and they run off together. At that point, it is declared that they both are in love. Later on, he proposes at a Ferris wheel and she accepts. It is announced to the editorial office, where there is a big fuss. They are later seen disagreeing on wedding plans but both appear smiling and happy.
Muto Ashirogi[]
They are both on Team Fukada and meet up with the rest of the group on several occasions. They first met at the New Years Party, where Hiramaru was drunk and talking to Eiji Nuzima. They have conversations together, but not many, and while they know each other, they are not bonded in any way.
Shinta Fukuda[]
Hiramaru is on Team Fukada and helps Fukada with the strike that happens when Mashiro got admitted into the hospital and wasn't allowed to continue the art for his story. They don't appear together that much, as they are an unlikely couple.
Eiji Niizuma[]
Hiramaru talks to Eiji Nuzima at the party and is clearly annoyed at him being near him. Later on he runs away from Yoshida and goes to Eiji's job, where one of Eiji's assistants gets mad at him, and tells Yoshida where he is, forcing them to not continue their chat.
Takuro Nakai[]
While not knowing each other on a personal level, Hiramaru feels a mutual bonding with him during Aoki's incident. After fighting Nakai (and easily lost) and arguing, he admitted that he understands Nakai's fears and depression, comparing it similar to his own. Hiramaru commented that given a different circumstance, he might have ended up following the same dark path as Nakai or worse. He asked Nakai to be his assistant over this 'bonding', which touched Nakai enough to agree and try to redeem himself. Later on, they work together as mangaka and assistant, becoming good enough friends till the end of Bakuman.
Manga[]
Otters 11
Otters 11 is about otter people trying to fix the world. Their hands supposedly turn into giant rocks.
Boku to Tsujinai (You Can't Fool Me) is Hiramaru's current running manga. Hiramaru's willingness to work has reached a new low, with the art significantly more comical than Otters 11. This is seen where Hiramaru still stays in the single-digits range, to which Yoshida explains was due to his art, making the readers take Hiramaru's "serious romance" manga as a gag manga. Hiramaru has subsequently improved his art with Nakai's assistance.
Notes & Trivia[]
- Hiramaru gets married to Aoki Yuriko at the end of the anime series.
- Hiramaru wishes he was born a pampered panda at the zoo.
- His editor, Yoshida, believes Hiramaru as a manga-creating genius seen only every 3 years; Hiramaru is talented at taking the negative feelings of his life and pouring it into his manga, creating masterpieces.
Hiramaru dressed as the otter from Otters 11
- Hiramaru's comic tendencies with animals, exasperation at his editor, and laziness draw a parallel to Sorachi Hideaki, mangaka of Gintama. In more recent years, the poor quality of his art due to laziness and induced hiatus draw more of a parallel to Yoshihiro Togashi, mangaka of Hunter X Hunter.
- Amusingly, in Hiramaru's parallels with the latter author, Koji Yoshida served as editor for both authors.
- He ranked 3rd on the Bakuman character popularity poll.
- He likes collecting stuff animals, and he proclaimed that his talent was, "to be able to get away from Yoshida-shi."
- In chapter 129 of the manga, Hiramaru comes to rescue Yuriko Aoki wearing Bruce Lee's famous yellow tracksuit from the movie Game of Death, complete with matching Onitsuka Tiger shoes. The one difference is that Hiramaru's has the number 11 printed on the front, probably because Hiramaru always wears at least one clothing article related to Otters 11.
Articles & References[]
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