Hikaru Himuro is a central character in Dragon Drive, recognized as the world's number one player in the Dragon Drive game and the primary rival to the protagonist, Reiji Ozora. He is a tall young man with silver hair and distinctive yellow-gold eyes. At the start of the series, Himuro is a seemingly cold and detached individual who holds little interest in other people or the conflicts around him, having been recruited as a soldier by the organization RI-ON. His true intentions are often ambiguous, and he is described as a loner who does not understand the concept of friendship. However, he develops a singular, powerful fixation on Reiji, viewing him as the only person worthy of his attention and the one opponent he is driven to defeat.

Himuro's primary motivation throughout the story is his obsession with fighting Reiji to prove his own superiority. This desire is so consuming that he defects from RI-ON specifically to pursue Reiji on his quest for the power of Shinsaber, with the sole intention of challenging him to a showdown. His role in the narrative evolves significantly. Initially positioned as an antagonist, his single-minded rivalry makes him an unpredictable and dangerous figure. As the series progresses, particularly when greater threats like the villain Kohei Toki and Shinryu emerge, Himuro shifts into the role of a deuteragonist. Despite his lack of altruistic motives, he becomes a valuable ally in the final battles, largely because he refuses to allow anyone else to defeat Reiji before he has the chance to do so himself.

Key relationships are central to his development. His connection with Reiji is the most significant, evolving from a cold rivalry to a complex, if begrudging, mutual respect. He is initially allied with a dragon named Kokao, but after the creature is defeated, he replaces it with a new, more powerful dragon named Kanopus. After a major time skip in the manga, Himuro undergoes notable changes. Having chosen to remain in the world of Rikyu for ten years while others returned to Earth, he becomes covered in scars and keeps his eyes perpetually closed, having trained himself to fight using heightened senses beyond sight. During this period, he becomes even more stoic, though he still returns to fulfill key tasks, such as opening a portal and returning the dragon Chibi to Reiji.

As a Dragon Drive player, Hikaru Himuro possesses exceptional natural talent and battle instincts, earning him the title of super champion. He is a fierce combatant, often described as a blood knight who finds his only genuine expression in battle. His notable abilities are closely tied to his dragons; his first partner, Kokao, wields a laser blade attack, while his second dragon, Kanopus, is a significant upgrade that represents a shonen upgrade in power. In the later parts of the manga, his most distinctive ability is his self-imposed visual handicap, keeping his eyes closed to sharpen his other senses to a supernatural degree, making him a more dangerous and perceptive fighter.