Gin Gagamaru

Solid black eyes that sit without any eyelids give Gagamaru a striking stare, and one of his ears carries three scars left by a bear. He is unusually tall and long-limbed, his black hair dyed silver at some point and gathered into a bun bound with a band he wove from ivy. Around the facility he sticks to the issued black-and-gray bodysuit and tracksuit, while on the field his kit has shifted from Team Z's blue number 6 through the number 88 of Team Red and Team C, on to the number 1 shirt of Blue Lock's eleven and Japan's under-20, and the gray, black-trimmed number 99 of Bastard Munchen.

Laid-back yet sure of himself, Gagamaru is the sort of dependable teammate who steps in to help wherever he can. A streak of eccentricity sets him apart from the others; he eats with his fingers and adores the natural world, right down to the ivy he uses to bind his hair. Like everyone who entered Blue Lock he began chasing goals as a forward, only to be flagged after the Third Selection as the ideal candidate for goalkeeper. He took the switch in stride and thrived, content simply to earn minutes yet fully assured in his ability to defend, and he never shrinks from a challenge. His peers trust him to do his job and admire the skill he brings to it.

Gagamaru first made his name in attack, thriving inside the box before eventually setting that style aside. As a goal poacher he lurked around the six-yard area to pounce on crosses and loose balls, his freakish reflexes letting him convert the half-chances that skip past defenses, and his flexibility letting him strike from awkward, improbable angles. In goal, his height and pliancy stretch him to the far corners to smother powerful shots, while reflexes bordering on instant turn his frame into a wall that frustrates strikers.

His toolkit rests on a springlike body, long limbs and precise control that let him fling himself forward or sideways for shots, tackles, and saves alike. That explosive reaction feeds a ladder of techniques, from a super reflex that reads a ball's path and cuts it off, to an ultra reflex that hurls him across the net against close-range blasts, to a bear claw deflection that gets a hand on the ball an instant before the line. His flexibility powers midair scorpion kicks and a handstand-like Shachihoko fish kick used to deny the Japan under-20, and he honed a suitable body by drilling with baseballs to sharpen his eyes and reactions. At his peak he slips into a flow state, the fully absorbed zone of energized focus that Ego prizes.