I suddenly decided to do this, since I’m not going to really talk about Prince of tennis properly but I thought I might as well talk about Shitenhouji, since they are now my favourite team/school, I even like them better then Fudomine now. I think its cause I really like Shiraishi, and somehow I ended up really liking his school as well now. I guess this is a break from studying, I’m at that really unstable stage, one second I’ll feel I’ll survive, the next second I am so tempted to jump off the cliff (figuratively speaking) so I thought I’ll just do something fun.

Background: Shitenhouji Chuugakkuu (四天宝寺中学校) is one of the rival schools. They are from Osaka, unlike most of the others schools, who are in the Kantou region, if not in Tokyo. According to one site Shitenhouji has been the winner of the Kansai regional for the past two years, since that site is done by a person who really likes Prince of Tennis, and his other stuff are really good, I presume that this information is right. Shitenhouji faced Rikkai in the semi-finals last year, and even though they lost all their three first matches, they were regarded by all as having given Rikkai a much more tough fight then Makinofuji, the school who was runner up last year. (so maybe it was 6-5 or 7-5 instead of 6-0 the whole way.)

Shitenhouji, like Rikkai, ends up being in the top four again this year (unlike the two other schools who were in the top four), where they have to play Seigaku in the semi-final. Unfortunately, they lost in the semi-finals again, although this time it is with a 3-1, instead of a 3-0. I think they had really bad luck last year, because if they managed to meet any of the other two schools then they would definitely have ended up in the finals, but they had to meet Rikkai. I really don’t understand why Konomi-sensei doesn’t let Shitenhouji be the runner up considering that they are actually one of the most distinguished schools in the whole manga. At any rate they are definitely more distinguished then Majinofuji- we only see two of their members for a total of five seconds. Beside, wouldn’t it be more glorious for Seigaku to beat the runner up of last year?

Well, what can I say? I am a fan girl so I really wish that they could have end up in the finals and win, although I know that this is not possible, well, we are all allowed wistful thinking once in a while.
Now, information about the team

Coach/advisor: Watanabe Osamu (渡邊 オサム) [Note- in the Chinese version his name is translated to (渡邊修) since his first name is in hiragana.]

Watanabe is the youngest coach out of all the coaches in the story, he is actually only twenty seven. I was quite shocked the first time I saw him, cause my initial thought: “Oh my gosh, this guy seems really young!” But then I reminded myself that this is Prince of Tennis, where junior high school kids can look as old as university students. So I thought…maybe he’s the opposite, he just looks young. Then I read the manga properly and I was pretty shocked at the fact that’s he really is young, being only twenty seven, I just feel as that he’s at an age where he could still be playing tennis, instead of teaching it.

He seems to be quite laid back, as we often see him joking with the rest of his students. However, he is actually quite a good coach, and in my opinion he might actually be one of the best coaches. I’ve seen sites where people describe Watanabe as being irresponsible, but I don’t agree with this. I think his reasoning is that Shiraishi is doing a really good job as the captain, so he doesn’t really need to interfere most of the time. But the important thing is that he steps in whenever Shiraishi is unable to do something despite being the captain. For example, Chitose actually quits but Watanabe get him back to play for the team by telling Chitose that he have no idea that he quit because he hasn’t accept the resignation form (I got a feeling that he just chucked it into the bin as soon as he saw it. August 19: I was reading a clearer version of the manga, and that is what Watanabe did.). So Watanabe is a rather sly character

What happened in the unofficial singles 1 match between Ryoma and Kintarou also prove that he is a responsible coach. We first see Shiraishi trying to stop them, and then Watanabe actually yells at Kintarou to stop as he realizes that Ryoma is slowing down. I think this shows that Watanabe is actually quite responsible when he needs to be. Judging by the rest of the team’s reaction it seems that whenever their coach interferes, then things are really serious. For me, I think this makes Watanabe a better coach then Ryuzaki-sensei, who just watches Ryoma without doing anything. (That’s one thing I really can’t forgive Ryuzaki-sensei for. Yes, perhaps it will teach Ryoma something but I really think she should have interfered there). Likewise he actually steps onto the court and tells Ishida Gin that he can’t play anymore, instead of letting him continue- and I think Gin might have want to continue. So he’s not a bad coach as he does do his stuff when he needs to.

The only thing I have to complain about Watanabe is that I think he would have done something about Shiraishi’s attitude of ‘I’ll play perfect tennis even if I think it is really boring for the sole reason that it’ll help my team to win.’ I really wish he could have let Shiraishi understand that he shouldn’t be making that big and personal a sacrifice for the team, as to sacrifice his love for tennis. Especially when I feel that Watanabe seem to be a guy that likes to have fun, but I think in this case he didn’t really understand how bad it is, until it is too late, and I do believe he feel bad about what happens to Shiraishi. My own feeling is that he actually feels guilty for letting Shiraishi be the captain in his second year, as he might have guess that this will have negative consequences, as the coach Watanabe probably played a part in that. Unlike many of the other schools, eg.Seigaku, Shiraishi is allowed to be the captain in his second year even though this is not usually done. (Tezuka is probably way better then his captain last year but he was only the vice-captain due to being a second year.) So that suggests that Watanabe does think of the team’s interest, because even though I think Shiraishi shouldn’t have become the captain in his second year (as I believe that caused him to do what he did), it is definitely a good thing for Shitenhouji’s tennis team.

Watanabe’s sense of fashion is…interesting. He wears this long coat and a rose patterned bucket hat with a matching shirt (I’ll put a picture up…), although the OVA alters this- but he still have his hat! His hair in the manga seems to be blond (judging from the character cards), but it becomes red in the OVA. The OVA also differs from the manga by letting us see his face the whole time, in the manga his face is covered by his hat for probably more then half the time. And as someone pointed out, he is initially smoking in the quarter finals, but is chewing onto a toothpick instead in the semi-final. He also has a habit of pressing his hat. (Personally I don’t get why he does that, since it’s not as if his hat is the type that will easily blow away.)

Captain: Shiraishi Kuranosuke (白石 蔵ノ介) [For anyone who is interested, his name is (白石 藏之介) in Chinese, same characters but the kanji characters are written differently in Chinese.]

Since I have already written a +3000 word essay/description on him, I will make this very short and basic (which is pretty challenging!)

Shiraishi is the captain and unlike most other captains the story, he has been the captain since his second year, this indicates that his skills must be really good. In my opinion, he is one of the best captains in the whole story, as he is really playing tennis for his team, not for himself. He plays his perfect tennis even though he says it is the most boring thing in the world- but he believes that his duty as the captain is to bring his team to victory, so he must overrule his own interest. He is also very calm in a match, being able to remain composed and analyze everything. That is why he is able to actually beat Fuji- the first person to ever do so in an official game.

I actually realized something the other day, it seems that Shiraishi only starts to play perfect tennis when he become the captain, due to his sense of responsibility. So this suggests that he must be really good even without his perfect tennis because he become the captain by his normal way of playing. I think this is really sad, because he is doing it not because it would raise his skills drastically, only because it will make him slightly better, and for the sake of his team, he have to make that sacrifice, even if it is just a slight improvement.

Shiraishi is almost always drawn with bandages around his left arm (almost always, as I’ve seen one picture when his hand is not bandaged, although his hand is not really visible in that picture).

Other Team members
Oshitari Kenya (忍足 謙也)
Kenya is the cousin of Oshitar Yuushi, and I think the reason he is always referred to by his first name is to prevent confusion. He first appears at the train station, talking to his cousin about his team. He and Yuushi seem to be quite friendly and close with one another, as they exchange quite a lot of information about what has been happening in Kansai/Kantou. During the semi-finals, Kenya actually says that Yuushi has told him to be careful of Momoshiro from Seigaku. I think he and Yuushi are quite close, although they probably do have some sort of competition with each other.

I really believe that if Shitenhouji has a vice captain, then it will be Kenya. During the Shiraishi/Fuji match, many members of the tennis club were actually treating Kenya as the leader, sine their captain is the one competing. He also yells at them for suggesting that Shiraishi might lose. But for some reason, which I don’t really know why myself, I really think that despite the strong and obvious loyalty he now have towards Shiraishi, the two of them had some past rivalries/clashes that was really bad and serious, which prevents them from being closer friends.

One thing I don’t like about Kenya is that I think his mouth is a bit too big, ie. He talks a bit too much. Although this is not really his fault. The thing is, after I read Prince of Tennis properly, when I read all that is available, I was naturally celebrating this by officially declaring out that Shiraishi is my favourite character, and that I think he’s the best, etc etc. (People does this for their favourite characters). Albatross (alias) then told me that Shiraishi is not that great a guy because she says he actually trash talks really badly, by saying that Fuji is only a genius at Kantou level. Since this was shortly after I read the manga, I couldn’t be sure whether Shiraishi said such a thing, although I was sure that he wouldn’t. For those who know the story quite well, it is Kenya who said this. So I guess for this reason alone, I don’t like Kenya that much. Although I don’t think he is that bad when you consider the situation at that time.

Kenya is probably the fastest player in the story, he is much faster then Kamio, even after Kamio’s sudden improvement. Kenya also calls himself the Speed star of Naniwa (which is another name for Osaka). As a site pointed out, Kenya seems to specialize in doubles, as he plays double for both the two matches he was in. (Well…he was meant to play doubles in the semi final but he steps down to let Chitose play instead. So I think that shows him to be quite selfless.)

Chitose Senri (千歳 千里)
To be honest, I don’t really like Chitose as I really can’t forgive him for quitting the team in the middle of the nationals. Although I feel much better when he ends up as the first person from Shitenhouji to drink Inui juice (well…he is forced to drink it as it is literally shoved down his throat. My guess is that Kenya and Hitouji are the ones responsible.)

I think the difference between Chitose and the rest of the team is that Chitose only joined Shitenhouji some time during the middle of his second year. This is why I feel that he lacks a certain loyalty to the school, and to Shiraishi- as for the others, Shiraishi has been their captain since last year. Chitose use to be in Shishigaku, a school in Kyuushu. He and Tachibana Kippei are probably good friends, but he was accidentally injured by Tachibana in a school match, which cause him to quit the tennis club, then change school, due to the injury of his eye. He recovered enough to be able to play again, but he says that he still can’t see that well with the eye that got injured by Tachibana, still can’t see that well.

Chitose is also one of the few in the story who can go into a state of Muga no Kyoichi. As I said before, Chitose quits after the quarter finals, but he does turn up to watch the semi-finals. Another thing that made me annoyed is that he isn’t actually emotionally involved in the game despite the fact that he used to be in the team at Shtenhouji, and that Shiraishi is probably his friend.

I think the little girl who Tezuka meets in Kyuushi is his sister, not just because she address him as her brother- because you often address any elder with that, although you usually don’t add their name in front if they are literally your brother/sister (well, the version that I have just have her calling him ‘elder brother’ although I think some people say she adds his name in front.) However, the main thing is this: Chitose describes her as his younger sister, you don’t do such a thing unless they really are you sister. So that’s why I think she really is his younger sister.

Chitose is another example of Shitenhouji’s…interesting fashion sense. He tends to wear geta whenever he is off court, even if he is wearing his school uniform.

Tooyama Kintarou (遠山 金太郎)
Initially, Kintarou was going to be the protagonist of the story instead of Ryoma. Because I really like Shiraishi and Shitenhouji, I think this is a big pity, I would love to see them in a position where they are as important as Seigaku.

Kintarou is the rising star of Kansai, just as Ryoma is the rising star of Kantou. However, I find him much more likeable then Ryoma, because he is not so cocky. He is in a way, quite innocent, and I feel he really is like a kid his age- a rarity in Prince of Tennis where you usually have to remind your self that they are only kids.

Kintarou is said to be the strongest player in Shitenhouji (perhaps a bit like Ryoma to a degree?) even though he is only a first year. He is also very strong, despite being as short as Ryoma. He has bent a golf club with his bare hands, as well as beating up a bunch of delinquents after he throws a motorcycle at them. But he only does these acts after these people has wrong him, although his attitude of getting even can be scary since he have the means to do so. In truth, Kintarou is actually quite a friendly person, and he seems to make friends quiet easily. He ate the rice balls that Sakurano made even after it fell to the ground, as well as wishing Ryoma good luck when he first found out that he is competing too.

On the other hand, he tends to address many of his team mates (all older then him) without any suffix, This is regarded as quite rude in Japanese culture. Ie.Instead of addressing Shiraishi as buchou, or senpai, he just calls him ‘Shiraishi’, and he does the same thing with Chitose. Although this shouldn’t be that a surprise as he even calls their coach ‘Osamu-chan’.

Kintarou’s school mark is probably not the best either, as he keeps on mispronouncing Echizen Ryoma’s last name as “Koshimae”, and likewise he misinterprets Kenya’s description of Ryoma. Kenya says Ryoma “has nerves of steel and is very cocky; he'll stare you down with the whites of his eyes", but he interprets this as Ryoma "has a body of steel, his fingers release deadly toxins, and he'll stare you down with his three eyes." Likewise he got off at Shizuoka instead of Tokyo, since he thinks that Mount Fuji is actually in Tokyo- this then cause him to run all the way to Tokyo. He actually gets to Tokyo on time, so I have a feeling that he was probably told to leave earlier then everyone else just in case. (Note- the OVA differs from the manga by making Kintarou arrive in the middle of the nationals, instead of before the nationals.)

To some extent, he is also rather childish. He seriously believes that Shiraishi’s left hand is poisoned, and that if Shiraishi’s left hand touches him when it is unbound- he will die, as he does get really scared.

Kintarou is probably another person in Shitenhouji with a distinguished sense of fashion, he can probably compete with Watanabe. He wears a leopard print top, although he often wears the jacket of Shitenhouji tennis team over it. The only time we see him wearing the proper uniform, the actual shirt, is in the opening ceremony of the nationals. Personally, I think he only did that due to a mixture of threats and possibly bribes from Shiraishi.

Zaizen Hikaru (財前 光)
Zaizen is a second year, the only non-third year other then Kintarou in the school team, so this obviously says something about his skills, Watanabe also describes him as a genius. Not much is known about Zaizen because unlike the rest of the Shitenhouji team, with the exception of their nameless player, we never get to see him play. Zaizen is meant to play doubles 1 in the semi-finals with Kenya, but that match turns into a singles match. To do him credit though, he actually tries to participate, only to be embarrassed since he is unable to do anything. For that incident alone, I feel quite sorry for him. He was probably really eager to play since he must have been the reserve in the quarter finals and not only did he not get to play, he is even embarrassed for trying to.

On the other hand, Zaizen’s character is not really the best. To an extent he is quite rude, but it’s a different sort of rudeness from Kintarou- his comments are deliberately cutting and rather hurtful. He calls Kawamura Seigaku’s burden, and as a result, get told off by Shiraishi (to be honest, that is how I initially remembered him. ‘Oh, that second year in Shitenhouji, the one that got scolded by Shiraishi for being too rude’. But now I feel sorry for him due to the doubles incident.) Likewise he is also quite rude to Chitose, saying that he hopes Chitose will really quite the tennis club, and when Watanabe tells Kenya to not get in Zaizen’s way in the doubles, Zaizen sort of says it wouldn’t matter, because he could still handle it himself.

I think it is quite a pity that his character doesn’t really get to develop, as he seems to be quite an interesting character. One last information about him- Zaizen has a total of five ear piercing, and I think he might be one of the few characters who actually have piercing (but I’m not fully sure about this).

Since he is the only second year in the team, I think he may very well be the captain of Shitenhouji next year. Granted that Kintarou is better then him in tennis, but he probably have more responsibility then Kintarou. If anything, Watanabe will probably want him to be the captain next year, as he will have to do a heck lot more work it Kintarou becomes the captain. But even without that, it is still more likely that Zaizen will be captain instead of Kintarou. Although I think it will not be easy for him, because for the second years this year, Shiraishi has been their captain ever since they got in.

Ishida Gin (石田 銀)
He is the elder brother of Ishida Tetsu, who is at Fudoumine. He is one of the strongest players in regard to strength. Now, about his match with Kawamura… I am in a bit of a dilemma. On one hand I really like Kawamura and I was actually crying in the middle of the match. For me, this is probably the most touching game, even better then the whole Tezuka/Atobe/Sanada ones. I think what also made his match so sad is Shitenhouji’s reaction, I think they are all really touched as well. We first see Shiraishi closing his eyes and turning his head away (I believe this is another moment when he starts to ask ‘why do we do all these things for the sake of winning?’ once more, cause I think that is what he begins to ponder after his match with Fuji), then we see the non-regulars of the team realizing that Kawamura intends to keep on trying, and then we see Shiraishi and Kintarou (along with most other people who we only see in the back ground) standing up to clap for Kawamura as he walks back to the court. The fact that everyone in the court (including all of Shitenhouji’s team and club) stands up to clap for him when he wins makes it even tear wrenching.

But, as I said, there is a but, I can’t help but to think that it is kind of unfair that Gin was winning and would have win, but had to default due to this one shot.

Anyway, during his match with Kawamura, Gin was hitting counters which gave him an advantage, but he stops and hits Hadokyuu again, even though this gives him more of a disadvantage. He does this because he is really touched by Kawamura’s determination, and says that competing with their strength is the best way to show Kawamura his respect for him. I think it is because of this, Gin does not appear as the bad guy in the match, despite what is happening to Kawamura. I think it is interesting to notice that Shiraishi doesn’t do anything about this, even though he would know that this would have disadvantaged Gin. I think that is because of his whole questioning about whether one should just do everything to win; whether it is good to win even if you feel that the win is rather empty; and that the process was really boring.

Konjiki Koharu (金色 小春)
One half of Shitenhouji’s infamous doubles, also known as Naniwa’s Baka couple (that’s according to a site, although I’m not fully sure about this, as I heard that it is a really big insult to call someone ‘baka’ in Kansai, but ok to call them aho. Apparently aho can even be an endearment term.) He and his partners Hitouji Yuuji always have their arms around each other’s shoulder as they were apparently told by Watanabe to not separate unless they are playing on court. I use apparently because Watanabe seems to have no idea that he said this. But regardless of everything, he and his partners are very in sync- knows each other’s movement very well. They would do really stupid things (and I really mean stupid), to distract their opponents.

However, as Shiraishi said, they are not just good at making people laugh. We soon see proofs of this when Koharu is revealed to be a genius, when he analyzes Kaidou’s boomerang snake. He actually has an IQ of over 200, and unlike Inui, everything is recorded in his brain and he remembers them.

Koharu tends to comment on how cute a lot of the others players are, so far there’s Kamio and Kenya, this always result in his double partner threatening him.

Now, the question many people ask is whether they really are gay. My own believe is no, they are just very good friends who enjoys acting this way and playing tennis by doing stupid things. I think they really like joking around in such an extreme fashion for the mere sake that they cam get away with it. Somehow I believe that Shiraishi is actually quite close friends with them, and that he, along with Watanabe, are the only ones in the team other then Koharu and Hitouji, who knows about the true nature of their relationship.

Hitouji Yuuji (一氏 ユウジ) [Hitouji’s first name is in hiragana, like Watanabe. So this is the Chinese version of his name. 一氏裕次]

I wouldn’t be talking about him much because I’ve already talked about him quite a lot in regard to Koharu. Hee is the other half of Shitenhouji’s infamous doubles. Watanabe says that he is the one who studies about his opponent when Koharu is attracting all the attention. This allows him to imitate his opponent’s voice, manners, and even techniques. However, the yakiniku competition shows that there are some things that even he can’t imitate, such as Fuji’s immunity to Inui juice…

Koharu wears a bandana the same colour as the green of Shitenhouji’s uniform.

It is interesting to note that Zaizen, who is quite arrogant, actually admits that he doesn’t want to play against them either.

Mysterious player number nine
When I re-read the Shitenhouji arcs I start to notice that there’s this random as guy who remains anonymous throughout the whole story. He actually accompanies Shiraishi to draw the order for the nationals, but I think the only reason is because of this: in volume 29 Kintarou and Ryoma meets for the first time, and then the rest of the team (excludes Shiraishi) comes out, this does cause a lot of impact. As for Shiraishi, it doesn’t matter if he is not here because he gets to have a dramatic enough introduction by what he said about Tezuka. On the other hand, making him go to draw the order alone is really bad, yet the guy who accompany him wouldn’t be able to come out with everyone else, so Konomi-sensei drew this random as guy- player number nine.

That’s my theory! You do feel a bit sorry for him because unlike Hyotei’s number nine, he doesn’t even have a name. I don’t think he is the vice-captain though, since he doesn’t play at all, it is obvious that his tennis is probably not that good. On the other hand Shiraishi is a really responsible captain so I doubt that they just made a random guy into the vice-captain in order to shove the paper work onto him. (I can see that happening to Seigaku next year, If Echizen becomes the captain, although I personally think it should be Momoshiro=captain, Kaidou=vice-captain. But if Echizen becomes the captain then they’ll probably just randomly select someone and shove the paper work onto him.)
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