Hikaru Ichijou

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.