TV-Series
Description
Eiji Kiriyama directs Kiriyama Heavy Industries and created the Thunderclap Armas. He shares a childhood past with Reiji Moritsugu, initially admiring Moritsugu's ideals of justice. These ideals later warp, molding Kiriyama into a greedy, arrogant, and overconfident figure.
In the manga continuity, he uses the Katou Organization as test subjects to showcase the Thunderclap Armas. In the anime, he first allies with the Katou Organization before launching a coup d'état to seize control of Japan, fueled by escalating ambition. After consolidating power, he confronts JUDA publicly as a self-proclaimed dictator but suffers defeat and public unmasking.
Following his defeat, Hisataka Katou's faction recovers him. Masaki Sugiwara revives Kiriyama as a Machina-human hybrid, merging human biology with Machina technology. This transformation induces severe mental instability and insanity. During a subsequent battle against JUDA, he nearly completes fusion with his Machina unit, Pretender, only to be destroyed. In his final moments, he recalls his past admiration for Reiji Moritsugu's original ideals and voices a desire to have been a hero.
His personal Machina, Pretender, is an artificial unit capable of shifting between a fighter jet and a humanoid mecha configuration. It boasts high mobility and firepower, armed with missile launchers, wireless Nerve-Crackers akin to those used by Deceive Machina, and a large combat knife for close combat. Pretender is sometimes classified "Deceive 4" due to its design basis. After Kiriyama's transformation, Pretender gains new capabilities, such as morphing its right hand into a drill.
As a Factor, Kiriyama pilots Pretender directly. He employs coercive tactics, threatening hostages like Kouichi Hayase's family and friends to force compliance. His public declaration as a "Champion of Justice" serves as justification for seizing JUDA and suppressing perceived threats like the UX forces.
In the manga continuity, he uses the Katou Organization as test subjects to showcase the Thunderclap Armas. In the anime, he first allies with the Katou Organization before launching a coup d'état to seize control of Japan, fueled by escalating ambition. After consolidating power, he confronts JUDA publicly as a self-proclaimed dictator but suffers defeat and public unmasking.
Following his defeat, Hisataka Katou's faction recovers him. Masaki Sugiwara revives Kiriyama as a Machina-human hybrid, merging human biology with Machina technology. This transformation induces severe mental instability and insanity. During a subsequent battle against JUDA, he nearly completes fusion with his Machina unit, Pretender, only to be destroyed. In his final moments, he recalls his past admiration for Reiji Moritsugu's original ideals and voices a desire to have been a hero.
His personal Machina, Pretender, is an artificial unit capable of shifting between a fighter jet and a humanoid mecha configuration. It boasts high mobility and firepower, armed with missile launchers, wireless Nerve-Crackers akin to those used by Deceive Machina, and a large combat knife for close combat. Pretender is sometimes classified "Deceive 4" due to its design basis. After Kiriyama's transformation, Pretender gains new capabilities, such as morphing its right hand into a drill.
As a Factor, Kiriyama pilots Pretender directly. He employs coercive tactics, threatening hostages like Kouichi Hayase's family and friends to force compliance. His public declaration as a "Champion of Justice" serves as justification for seizing JUDA and suppressing perceived threats like the UX forces.