Guide to PoT, Part One: Characterization
I. Characterizations.
A. Ryoma.
B. Seigaku.
C. The Supporting Cast.
D. Final Note on Characterization.
Please Note: There is a further, more detailed character survey and PoT overview here.
The appeal of the characters is the single biggest reason behind Prince of Tennis’ huge popularity. There are well over a hundred major characters in this series, not counting the extras, and Konomi’s particular genius is giving not just 50 or so but all of them definable, memorable personality traits. You seriously fall in love with the minor characters in this series. You can tell that by a quick glance at the fandom, where you honestly wouldn’t know which was the main tennis team in this series because the members of Hyotei and Rikkai get as much love if not more love as Seigaku. And these are all characters with minimal screen time. Seriously, the characterizations in this manga are brilliant, and just about damned impossible not to love.
Meet Ryoma. He’s bratty. He’s short. He’s ballsy. He’s American. He rarely speaks to you first unless he has something smartass to say. His trademark phrase, ‘mada mada dane,’ can mean ‘you’ve still got a long way to go,’ ‘not yet’ or ‘you’ve still got lots to work on.’ What it really means is “I’m about to kick your ass.” And he will. This is because he is the Prince of Tennis. And he’s only 12 years old. He has the weight of the future of tennis riding on his shoulders, and he just wants to hang around drinking Ponta (grape, not orange, because ew) and playing with his cat (otp). But he loves tennis, and he loves competition, and he loves Seigaku, and you will love him.
Just don’t forget that he’s 12.
Note: Wikipedia Entry on Ryoma
Note: Wikipedia entry on Seigaku.
Seigaku (Seishun Gakuen) is the junior high school where Ryoma goes to play tennis after moving back to Japan from America, where he has had a very successful run as junior national champion in tournament after tournament. He joins Seigaku’s tennis club and quickly earns a spot on the team with a group of fabulous people, aka The Seigaku Regulars:
As you can see, Fuji is the hottest thing since Pompeii. Fuji is Seigaku’s child prodigy (“tensai”), and like most prodigies his attitude towards his talent seems to be conflicted. He is kind and warm but scarily, eerily protective of the people he cares about, not the least of which is his younger brother Yuuta, who used to play tennis with him in the same school, but left because he was tired of being in Fuji’s shadow. Fuji’s characterization in Tenipuri fanon is, I think, summed up by his gay serial killer identity, but really he is a warm-hearted and compassionate person with an incredible gift for tennis which he doesn’t quite seem to know what to do with.
One last thing: When Fuji opens his eyes? Run.
Note: Wikipedia Entry on Fuji
Eiji is bouncy, and bendy, and acrobatic, and sweet, and one half of Seigaku’s unstoppable doubles team, the Golden Pair!!!!! Eiji bounces around and says “hoi hoi!” He calls Ryoma “Ochibi” which is “our baby,” and cuddles him despite Ryoma’s best efforts to prevent him from doing it. Eiji is something of a bratty, playful and occasionally obnoxious baby himself, which is one reason it makes so much sense that he is paired with the stalwart and dependable Oishi in doubles. He loves teddybears and Oishi.* Eiji is generally the most adorable person in the whole wide world. One of the most rewarding things about the series, as a footnote, is watching Eiji grow into the amazing, self-aware and supportive player he becomes over the course of the show.
Oishi’s not flashy, but he’s dependable and noble and the guy you want to settle down with. He’s the mother of Seigaku. He helps pregnant women, and worries about Tezuka, and fusses over Ryoma, and is wibbly and wonderful, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, he and Eiji are meant to be. No, seriously. I am not imposing my ship preferences on this post, but the Golden Pair (seen here in one of their more interesting tennis formations *cough*) is the exception to everything. They are in love. This is a fact. It is one of those things that Just Is. See?
Momo becomes Ryoma’s best friend over the series. He is everybody’s big brother–fun and loud and playful and a great guy. He hates Kaidoh (OR DOES HE?), and has an ongoing rivalry with him. He and Kaidoh are the only 2 juniors (second-years) on the team. He loves McDonald’s and hamburgers and bad 90’s hair. He’s, well. He’s MOMO. Along with Eiji he both dotes on and drives Ryoma crazy. And like Eiji he grows more over the series than arguably anyone else. It’s very clear who Seigaku’s next captain will be, and we can’t think of a better guy for the job.
Kaidoh scares the shit out of you at first. He looks scary and scowls and hisses like a snake and has this funky-ass weird tennis stance and works out twice as much as the rest of the team and hits weird cobra-like tennis moves. Then you realize he is the BIGGEST SOFTIE IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. Everyone falls in love with Kaidoh. Everyone. No, seriously, trust me. Also? Kaidoh is hot.
Inui is the sometime-manager of Seigaku, and he is scarily brilliant at it. He is the Scientist, strategist, mathematician, all-around Evil Mastermind of tennis. When he’s not taking copious notes on everyone around him, he’s torturing his teammates** with Inui Juice*. Inui also has a soft spot for Kaidoh, and takes him under his wing and trains him in the art of becoming the gay Machiavelli playing doubles.
Taka is the most mild-mannered member of Seigaku, timid and soft spoken and shy. That is, until you hand him a tennis racket. He’s training to be a sushi chef (let’s hope nobody ever brings a tennis racket into the kitchen) and has a penchant for utterly hysterical Engrish which only Taka-san could pull off. He makes the most unlikely friends and seems to pour out love and energy wherever he goes. Taka is Seigaku’s all-around nicest guy.
When Tezuka was still a kid he climbed the Matterhorn. Big deal, right, except that Tezuka has been achieving the impossible and setting his sights still higher and higher, ever since. You get the sense that he is almost a fully-formed adult even at age 14, and this is one of the things that makes him the most magnetic character of the series, at least in the opinion of the other characters. This is also one of the things that make him arguably the most controversial character: is he noble or obsessive? selfless or self-destructive? His character is wide open to interpretation, primarily because he reveals virtually nothing about himself outside of his tennis. But through his tennis, he opens up the world to Ryoma, who has never known anyone with the kind of intensity and passion that Tezuka displays for the game. Defeating Tezuka is the ultimate goal of the best players in the country: Atobe, Sanada, Kirihara, Fuji–all of them and many, many more, dream of playing him evenly. To them he is the most complete tennis player they will ever face on the junior high level.Tezuka challenges Ryoma early on, once he has comprehended the scope of Ryoma’s unrealized potential, to evolve his game–to move past his father and “become Seigaku’s pillar of support.”
Tezuka’s ongoing quest to show Ryoma how to evolve and mature both on and off the court, and the ways Ryoma answers Tezuka’s challenges, is the main ongoing plot of Prince of Tennis. So even in unrelated matches, we are constantly reminded that the Ryoma-Tezuka dynamic is the focal point of the series. And this plays itself out through the end of the anime and, so far, through the manga. This doesn’t mean, however, that Ryoma is destined to become a copy of Tezuka. As you can see, Tezuka is all about tennis as life metaphor. Ryoma just wants to have fun. ♥
Note: Wikipedia Entry on Tezuka, written by someone who seems to love Tezuka as much as I do. I find this concept staggering. Be warned, contains spoilers. Also, reflections has tackled the question of Tezuka’s stoicism (http://community.livejournal.com/reflections_2/22160.html) — her take on his relationship to Ryoma is a bit different from mine, and it is an interesting post.
It would take more time than I have to spare even for Tenipuri to give all the minor characters their due in this post. Instead I’m going to talk briefly about each of the rest of the schools. has a great listing of all the schools and their members in the form of icons, which may be found here.
Fudomine is an un-seeded school, a total underdog team with powerful, smart players, and a formidable captain in Tachibana, whom they follow with avid devotion due to spoilery things dealing with the club’s formation. They aren’t as strong as some of the other schools but they have twice as much heart, and the characters of Kamio Akira and Ibu Shinji in particular are among the most endearing and brilliant characterizations of the series. Especially Shinji but I need to shut up now or else (like Shinji) I will never stop talking.
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St. Rudolph is the private religious school that Yuuta decided to attend after realizing how unhappy he was in his brother’s shadow. Their team manager Mizuki is the evil mastermind responsible for leering, I mean luring him away, for which Fuji is likely to forgive him, oh, never. Mizuki laughs maniacally and plots evil and plays with his hair and seems to have a knack for seducing appealing to malcontent siblings: one half of the Kisarazu twins attends St. Rudolph as well. The team captain Akazawa appears to be totally Mizuki-whipped but really, can you blame him? Who wouldn’t fear this?
Yamabuki. All you really need to know about Yamabuki is that it houses two of the best players, Sengoku and Akutsu. Sengoku is girl-crazy, which makes it all the more pertinent later when you realize that, yes, even Sengoku is gay, gay, gay. You think Akutsu is a monster until he is seen through the eyes of the 12-year-old tennis manager Dan, who is the cutest fanboy in the whole world*. Also, Taka loves him, and if Taka loves him, he must have a soft chewy cookie-dough inside. I think the other half of the Kisarazu twins might go here. Or does he go to that one school with the obnoxious freshman captain? I hate that school, this is a long post, cut me some slack.
Oh, man. Hyotei. Trying to briefly sum up Hyotei is like trying to “briefly” describe Tezuka, whose character description I’m leaving til the very last because I keep starting to type and then I just start flailing crazily. Where was I? Oh, right. Hyotei is a huge school with a huge tennis club which means they have the most competitive ranking system of any of the teams, which makes them as a whole very confident, very smug, and very good. They take their huge tennis team with them as their built-in fan club; specifically as Atobe’s built-in fan club.
I could never in a million years do justice to Atobe, Hyotei’s captain. So I will just say this: you will be awed by his prowess. And his gayness. Right, Kabaji?
Every member of Hyotei is fabulous and really good, which may be why they attract such a devoted tenipuri fan following. Though I think it has to do primarily with Atobe (you will be awed), and the Silver Pair, aka doubles team Ohtori and Shishido*, which, if possible, is the only couple more canonically gay than the gay gay gay Golden Pair, although frankly it’s a tough tossup.(note: There’s also a great, more detailed intro to Hyotei at this Hyotei shrine.)
I asked Assyrian to step in and write this section for me, because she can do Rikkai far more justice than I ever could:The three-time defending National champions, generally touted as Seigaku’s main (and most psychotic) rival in the tournament. All eight team members are allegedly Tezuka-level players, but mostly they’re just certifiable. Rikkai’s ‘zero-loss policy’ team is ruled by a trio of A-blood type perfectionists: the stoic, sword-wielding Sanada; data specialist Yanagi, who shares Fuji’s closed eyes and has a mysterious past with Inui; and the very pretty Yukimura, who commands Rikkai with a gentle smile and an iron fist.A substantial proportion of Rikkai fandom is devoted to Niou and Yagyuu, the doubles players with a single identity crisis. Nearly as popular is baby-demon-elf Kirihara Akaya – the most prominent Rikkai player in the series, the most violent, the most extroverted, and by far the most adorable.Finally, there’s the half-Brazilian Jackal Kuwahara – aka Kirihara’s de facto babysitter and the most put-upon player in Tenipuri – and his doubles partner Marui Bunta, a chewing gum addict whose tennis moves rival Fuji’s for physical improbability. Marui and Hyoutei’s Akutagawa Jirou comprise the series’ cutest stalker relationship.
Final Note on Characterization:
Because the cast is so big and the length of the series is HUGE (178 eps!), you don’t really get characterization in one fell swoop, which is in part what makes it so interesting and fascinating as you watch. You get bits and pieces of characterization here and there, but there are big big moments of clarification about various characters that don’t arrive til you’re in the 30’s or the 60’s or the 80’s. You won’t, for example, have any clue why Inui/Kaidoh is shipped by the vast majority of fandom until you’re about 50 eps in. Same with the Golden Pair to some extent. But this is also one of the things that makes Tenipuri so fascinating to watch. The characters, as many of them as there are, never, ever feel static.
Part Two: The Love of the Game.
* art by Snowbunnyluv
** art by Weem
i really love prince of tennis so much.. i am a big fan of them… but of course my one and only love ryoma echizen..
Hoorah for TezuRyo!