Hideki Hinata

Hideki Hinata (日向 秀樹, Hinata Hideki) is the main protagonist of Angel Beats! Heaven's Door. He is the co-founder of SSS along with Yuri Nakamura.

Being one of the strongest and most skilled males of the group he often puts himself in situations where he will protect his companions at any cost, in many occurrences, Yuri herself.

Appearance
Hinata has soft royal blue hair that ends at his neck along with somewhat messy bangs and sharp royal blue eyes (they have been a lavender/purple color in some appearances) that match the shade of his hair.

He wears the same mandatory uniform as the rest of SSS (excluding Ayato Naoi). A sandy/beige long-sleeved collared uniform coat with buttons going down vertically on its right, and a breast pocket on its top left along with horizontal pockets on each lower side. The pockets, outer collar and sleeve-tips are rimmed with a chocolate-brown color. On Hinata's left shoulder the SSS battlefront symbol can be seen. Unlike some of the SSS males He chooses not to wear the red tie originally paired with his uniform. Instead he leaves his coat open which exposes the plain white buttoned down collared shirt, underneath he sports a maroon red T-shirt. He has the same height as Yuzuru Otonashi which is 175.5 cm (5'9") tall. Before his death, Hinata had a shaved head shown in episode 4, "Day Game" in his flashback. His usual neck-length blue hair had been around a mid-buzzcut.

Personality
Hinata is a young man with a bright and dependable personality who becomes the first unofficial member of SSS (he becomes partners with Yuri Nakamura before the founding of the SSS and decides he will follow her no matter what) along with Ooyama (Hinata's human roommate) and he also is the one who started calling Yuri as "Yurippe" because Yuri was his mother's name and he felt strange calling her that. He also becomes Yuzuru Otonashi's friend, and his flirtatious nature causes Otonashi to suspect that he might be homosexual, which he always denies. He sometimes gives nicknames, such as "Yurippe" (Yuri) and 'Shiina-chi" (Eri Shiina). He also once called Ooyama "Yampaii" because he thought it had more personality. He was the first one to use the term "Tenshi(Angel)" when addressing Kanade Tachibana. He is also the most friendly in the SSS and the most happy-go-lucky in the group. He's cheerful and flirtatious. Although he is friendly to anyone, he is only aggressive to Yui, Noda and Ayato Naoi.

Hinata is often used as a source of comedy throughout the series, one example being his conflicts with Yui and Naoi. Many unfortunate incidents befall upon him, such as when he is kicked down a pitfall trap by Yuri for touching her in the wrong spot in the first shown trip to Guild, being subject to cry out his inferiority to a clothespin, and almost to how easily toilet paper is flushed (both by Naoi due to hypnotism).

Background
Hinata, who didn't have any memories of his original family, was taken in by his uncle and his wife who already had two children. While taken in, there was a barrier between him and his new family, to where they leave him alone at the house while they traveled as a family. With an environment like that, he knew that he would only drift further away from them.

He played in little league baseball and enrolled in a boarding school by means of a sports recommendation, all for the reason to stay away from his foster family for as long as possible. He took care of everything by himself, such as handling documentation and paperwork. The one thing he required from his foster parents was to sign his paperwork, which in his eyes was a humiliating act in itself.

Continuing to play baseball, he trained hard to reach his eventual goal of being independent. Somewhere along the way, baseball had eventually consumed him, to where it was his life. One day, a stray dog that had a disability walked onto the baseball field. The team decided to take care of it and he saw what he believed to be the diminishing performance of his team, only viewing his deeds as another good mark on his resume. The team's motivation for practice went down, and they all began to focus on making a prosthesis to help the dog walk.

Unable to stand interference from the dog, he decided to act. Taking the dog far away, he climbed through a mountain and went through woods before leaving the dog behind. His team and manager immediately noticed the dog's disappearance and he was quickly ousted as the culprit, since he wasn't the one reacting as badly to the dog's disappearance. He argued, stating that the dog was distracting the team and his manager slapped him, asking him if he's even human. His emotions spiralled and began to think that life was unfair.

Afterward, Hinata's team played an important baseball match where he missed a pop fly during an important baseball game. He then received drugs from his senior after the game to curb his depression and remembers being involved in a vehicular accident before finding himself in the afterlife. In the visual novel, he says that he was, "running away from life" after the mess-up at the tournament, which could possibly imply that he committed suicide. However, that theory is probably false as in Heaven's Door, beside what was supposed to be his final memory was a blood splatter and a school bag, which means he was either on his way to or from school. It can also be speculated that the drugs weakened his health, to the point where his focus is low and made him late to notice the vehicle. Still, there is no evidence which ties the drugs and his traffic accident and it was never stated if the crash was due to drugs or not.

Plot
Before the events in the anime, Hinata is the protagonist of the Angel Beats ~Heaven's Door!~ manga. After his death, he arrives in the Afterlife to meet Yuri Nakamura and join her in the battle against Angel. He rooms with Ooyama who joins both him and Yuri in their quest to find God. The manga contains their adventures prior to meeting Yuzuru Otonashi. At one point, an operation that the Battlefront conducted results in him noticing a girl who had a similar voice to his team manager, bringing back memories of his aforementioned past.

Before the ball game tournament, he receives same flashbacks on the important baseball tournament when he was still alive. When the ball game tournament started, his team (consists of Otonashi, Noda, Eri Shiina, Yui and 3 other ordinary students) won match after match and the only team that made it to the finals, fighting against the student council team (consists of Angel, Ayato Naoi and other ordinary students). In the last part of the final match (there was another pop fly to second), he had a second chance to fulfill his dream making him nearly vanished, but Yui had stopped him thinking she was doing revenge not noticing she crushed his happiness, making their team lose the baseball match. After that, Hinata became furious to Yui.

In Episode 10, Hinata helped fulfill Yui's last regret by proposing to her. Then showing her what would have happened if they had met in the real world, before they died. He said he would break her window with a baseball, and they'll meet when he comes to retrieve it. After that, they'll get along and before he knew it he'll be visiting her everyday. Then he'll relieve Yui's mother of her duty to take care of the bedridden Yui, and they'll marry sometime after that. After Yui's disappearance, he told Otonashi that he'll be helping him fulfill his plans. After some conflict with Naoi, he and Otonashi encountered the Shadows.

After the rest of the SSS disappeared, he was one of the members to fight the Shadows where he was reunited along with the other members. They fought the Shadows and defeated a horde of them. He, along with Otonashi, Kanade and Naoi, went to Yuri's aid (she was being consumed by the Shadows in the Guild) and rescued her in time. He was left by Yuri along with the others to combat the Shadows in the Guild. Three days later, they held a graduation and all of them receive a diploma. After the graduation, he bid farewell to Otonashi and he believes he saved up enough luck and he will use it all in the next life (to meet Yui again). This is in reference to his conversation with Yui when he states that if he and Yui met in that 1 out of 6 billion chance (a reference to the world's population), he would still marry her and that he would beat the odds for her. Then, he was the third one to disappear after the graduation.

Abilities

 * He uses a Smith & Wesson 645as his favoured side arm but packs a RPK-74light machine gun when prepared for a combat operation such as in episodes 1 and 8. In cases where his role is sniping, such as in episode 5, he uses a M14 DMR sniper rifle. In the manga, he uses a spear.

Relationships
|-|Friends =
 * His baseball team


 * -|Afterlife =
 * Yuri Nakamura

Yuri is Hinata’s leader and fellow co-founder of the SSS. The two first met when Hinata entered the afterlife, and Yuri kicked him off a building to identify him as a human. Although irked by her impetuous tendencies, he soon found her differences from the NPCs endearing. As such, he was unwilling to leave her alone and became her closest companion. Hinata quickly came to terms with Yuri’s vendetta against God, and decided to fight for her not only in support of her ideals, but so that she would not feel lonely. He coined the nickname, “Yurippe”, for her, due to Yuri sharing her name with his mother. This nickname was later used by the other SSS members.

The two have a raccous relationship due to Yuri’s violent and imposing nature, although Hinata remains tolerant of her out of loyalty. He is often abused by her, portrayed in a comical sense, such as her kicking him off high grounds, pummeling him repeatedly, or poking his eyes out. These habits seem to have become more infrequent over time, although Yuri constantly calls him a “moron.” Hinata often finds himself being ordered around by Yuri, to which he usually complies, though not without complaint at her antics. However, though sometimes hesitant, he informs her when she has gone too far and helps in keeping her cool-headed.

When the two first began to develop the battlefront, Hinata became increasingly protective of Yuri, and was fiercely devoted to her well-being. He consistently threw himself in harm’s way to protect her, having stated he would give his life for her despite the fact they already dead. Due to Yuri’s extreme expectations, Hinata constantly felt pressured to be of use to her. He was initially jealous of Chaa’s reliability and worried that Yuri no longer needed him. Despite this, he was annoyed with Yuri’s habit of pushing more time-consuming jobs to him.

It is heavily implied that Hinata harbored romantic feelings towards Yuri due to his dedication to her. He often reacted in exasperation when he inadvertently thought of being affectionate or even sexual with her. Despite this, Hinata did openly flirt with her at times, to Yuri’s amusement or irritation. These feelings seem to have mostly dissipated by the time Hinata meets Yui, although he still cares for her deeply, even voicing his refusal to leave the afterlife without her.


 * Yuzuru Otonashi
 * Yui
 * Ayato Naoi
 * Ooyama
 * Matsushita

Quotes

 * "Yes, but she's a valuable asset." (Talking about Eri Shiina)
 * "C... clothespins... pin things... they keep clothes from falling and GETTING DIRTY!" (Under Ayato Naoi's hypnosis)
 * "Hey, hey! Wait a damn minute! Why did you send me flying?!" (Talking to Yuri)
 * "I'll marry you! No matter what kind of handicap you have! Even if you can't walk or stand, or even if you can't have kids, I'll still marry you. I'll always be with you. The Yui I met here isn't fake. It's you. No matter where or how I meet you, I'll fall in love with you. If I can meet you again, against the 6 billion to 1 odds, and even if your body can't move, I'll marry you." (Proposing to Yui)

Trivia

 * Hinata was the one who gave a nickname to most of the characters. For example, he calls
 * Yuri Nakamura - "Yurippe" (because his mother has the same name)
 * Eri Shiina - "Shiinacchi"
 * In the English dubbed of Angel Beats!, he has never called Shiina by her nickname.
 * He comes up with Kanade Tachibana's "Angel" nickname
 * His reference to NPCs when talking about the 'normal' students in the afterlife school.
 * In the Angel Beats! Track Zero Chapter 1, Hinata once asked Yuri to call him "Hinacchi".
 * Hinata is shown to be enjoying his immortality and he is often excited when he gets badly injured (Manga).
 * In the manga, Hinata is shown to have a large knowledge of RPG games as he compares the afterlife world to a game, calls Ooyama as "Villager A", and refers to NPCs and the protagonist's point of view with multiple choice.
 * In the manga, Hinata is shown to have proposed to Angel upon his first legitimate encounter with her as an attempt to distract her and impress Yuri, which ends badly when Yuri kicks him off of the roof of the school before Angel can reply.
 * In the manga, Hinata is shown to have a desire to protect Yuri no matter what, which is not truly seen in the anime. He also has some romantic feelings for her, as shown in his desire to stay by her side.
 * In the manga, Hinata and Yuri are often mistaken as a couple.
 * In the manga, he constantly takes risks in order to protect Yuri, despite the many times he has called her violent and annoying.
 * In the manga, Ooyama claims that the After Life is a game and Hinata as the Protagonist.
 * In the manga, Hinata sometimes has an imaginative view of his move (for what he is supposed to do) which looks like a multiple choice for a main protagonist like in Persona series. And one of the choices is to flirt/tease, Yuri.
 * In the OVA (Stairway to Heaven), he cooperates the most in Operation High Tension Syndrome. He was always seen throughout the episode in high-tension.
 * Hinata is a source of comedy throughout the series and is the most skilled in baseball.
 * Shown from Yuzuru Otonashi's POV, it is a running gag that Hinata will compliment/flirt with Otonashi, giving space for him to wonder if Hinata is actually gay.
 * At the end of the 3rd Drama CD, it is revealed that Hinata is actually gay and he has feelings for Otonashi and he changed his mind about marrying Yui in the next life.
 * Although Yuri insists the Drama CD is a second season (breaking the 4th wall) and the story supposedly takes place after the end of the first season, the Drama CDs themselves can be just considered a compilation of gags.
 * Hinata always succumbs to Ayato Naoi's hypnotism.
 * Hinata, along with Otonashi and Masami Iwasawa, are the only ones that have a revealed death.
 * Hinata shares his voice actors to two people:
 * Same Japanese voice actor (Ryōhei Kimura) as Ryōta Kise from Kuroko no Basket and Hinata even slightly resembles him.
 * Same English voice actor (David Matranga) as Tomoya Okazaki in Clannad.
 * Hinata was the first and last of the characters to be "chair rocketed" to the ceiling in episode 5.
 * Hinata's best friend is Ooyama, but he seems to be around Otonashi a lot more in the anime.
 * Hinata likes to read manga in his spare time.

Gallery
Hideki Hinata Hideki Hinata