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Gay Guide to Tenipuri - Part 2
Part 2 starts now where I finish off the Seigaku members. Follow the tags if you want to go to Part 1.
Before we start however I need to mention some things I forgot last time.
Tezuka/Fuji - First, at one point in the series, Fuji mentions that he and Tezuka has spent almost every day together for the past three years, which makes me go "aww..."
Also during the 'Prince of Bowling' ep, Fuji (for the first time ever) passes out from the Inui Juice he's forced to drink after he gets a gutter ball. As soon as Fuji hits the ground, the scene jumps to Germany where Tezuka wakes up during the middle of the night because he had a bad feeling, tee! ^^
But more importantly I found something in one of the Tenipuri fanbooks where the characters get asked various questions. One of Tezuka's questions was 'what type of girl he liked'; his reply? "One who is cheerful and serious." Ha! That perfectly describes Fuji. The fangirl in me squealed delightfully when I read that, hehe.
Golden Pair - This I can't believe I forgot! At the beginning of the National arc (aka, the most important arc of the series) Oishi re-injuries his wrist (in the anime it's so Ryoma can be a Regular again, in the manga it's Tezuka) and Eiji throws a fit declaring he was no longer going to be a doubles player if he couldn't play with Oishi. Despite winning his singles match in Seigaku's first game at the Nationals and declaring throughout the game that his doubles days were behind him, Eiji decided afterwards it was too lonely playing singles and demanded that Oishi heal for the next round so they could play together again (aww...).
Okay, now onto the real Part 2. :P
This is Echizen Ryoma:
Echizen is the protagonist of the series. He's a cocky kid, who at the beginning of the series had just moved to Japan from the US; he's a 1st year student at Seigaku and he's the first freshman to become a Regular in the school's history. Ryoma also happens to be one of the best tennis players of his age having won various Jr Tournaments in the US; but since that wasn't in Japan, no one heard of his achievements and are taken by surprise by how well he plays. Often he plays in the Singles #3 position in tournaments, meanings he's the 3rd best player behind Fuji and Tezuka.
Although it pains me to say it, Tezuka/Ryoma is one of the more popular pairings in the fandom. Frankly though, I don't see it (and it's not just because I'm a Tezuka/Fuji fan). I can see it as a one-sided thing on Ryoma's behalf since he does seem to have a crush on the Seigaku captain as he looks up to Tezuka, but that's it. Tezuka does take an interest in Ryoma but I always saw it as nothing romantic. The way I saw it, Tezuka sees a lot of himself in Ryoma and sees his potential to be a great tennis player one day, nothing more.
Whom I do like pairing Ryoma with is his best friend Momoshiro Takeshi:
Momo is adorable; so loveable; he's also the first of the Regulars we meet and mid series when Momo gets dropped from the Regulars, practice falls apart when he fails to show up for 3 days.
Like I said Momo and Ryoma are best friends and are almost always together; doing things on their days off and walking to and from school together. In one ep when Momo gets invited on a "date" by a girl, he demands that Ryoma go with him, which in turn led to an extremely funny moment when Inui (who was stalking them) called up Taka and told him that Ryoma and Momo were on a date together, hehe.
Momo also has agood bad habit of touching and glomping Ryoma:
And often Momo and Eiji like to double glomp Ryoma. ^__^
Momo's rival is Kaidoh Kaoru:
Like Momo, Kaidoh is in his 2nd year and ever since they joined the tennis club the year before they have been competing to find out who is better. One of Momo's favourite nicknames for Kaidoh is "Mamushi" which means "Viper" since Kaidoh has a tendency to resemble a snake (two of his favourite shots are called the Snake and the Boomerang Snake) and he often hisses at people if they try talking to him. Kaidoh, however hates the name and it's one of the many reasons why he dislikes and often gets into fights with him...
...even when they are naked and suppose to be bathing:
*snickers*
Despite the fighting however, Momo and Kaidoh know each other very well, which is shown whenever they team up in doubles. And you gotta admit they make a cute pairing. (Note: You can get a lot of pairings out of Tenipuri and Momo/Kaidoh is one of them since there is subtext for the pair but I'm really only going over ones I like the best or are the most popular).
Kaidoh is more often paired with Inui Sadaharu:
Inui is the creator of a vile drink called 'Inui Juice', which is often used as a form of punishment for the loser/losers during practices. Vomiting and passing out are the most common reactions from drinking Inui Juice and Inui himself can only sometimes handle the drink; Fuji however likes the drink (except during the Prince of Bowling ep) and it has no effect on Tezuka even though he hates the taste of it.
Inui is Kaidoh's mentor of sorts, taking time to train the younger student (in fact if it wasn't for Inui, Kaidoh would have never learned how to do the Boomerang Snake) and really is the only person who ends up growing close to Kaidoh.
In a later ep when Kaidoh loses his memory, Inui becomes distraught and starts sulking when Kaidoh runs off. But no worries since in the end the pair gets reunited with plenty of tears of joy coming from Inui.
Also one of the most hilarious moments in Tenipuri is subtext for the Inui/Kaidoh pairing. During the date episode (briefly mentioned in the Momo/Ryoma section) Inui also ends up calling Kaidoh but while Inui is trying to tell him what's going on (a "love triangle" involving Momo, Ryoma and the girl), a noise goes off and Kaidoh only hears the word "date"; Kaidoh then starts thinking that Inui just asked him out on a date! Despite angsting over "going on a date with Inui" Kaidoh shows up at the meeting point anyway (alas the other Seigaku members had already left since he tormented himself too long trying to decided whether he would show up or not).
Last on the Seigaku team is Kawamura Takashi:
Poor Taka gets ignored by the fandom so he gets no Seigaku member to love. I don't get it though since he injuries his arm twice for the team and they invade his father's sushi shop after every victory.
Actually the anime hates him too since he's the only Seigaku member not to be a part of the Tenipuri famaily (Tezuka is the grandfather, Fuji the grandmather, Oishi the mother, Inui the father, Ryoma the eldest son, Momo is the daugther, Kaidoh is the baby and Eiji is the cat); instead he owns a sushi shop called 'Burning'.
Speaking of "Burning"; that's the mode Taka goes into when he's holding a tennis racket. Normally he's a quiet, peaceful guy until he gets his hand on a racket when he starts yelling at everyone in broken English (Engrish). Alas I tried finding a good pic of him when he's in his "Burning" mode but since he's ignored by the fandom (seriously, I found more pics of characters that are barely in it) I couldn't find one.
Taka does have someone that he can easily be paired with but no one does it. Akutsu Jin...
...is his childhood friend and Taka is one of the few people that Akutsu can stand (everyone else gets beaten up by him). Akutsu isn't around much (since he goes to another school) but when he is around you can tell that Taka cares a lot about him.
And here ends Part 2. In the beginning I was going to do the schools in the order they're introduced but decided to screw it and skip over to do Hyoutei since not only does one of my favourite characters goes to that school but it's also the home of one of my favourite pairings and they actually have the most subtext going on when compared to the amount of scene time both characters get.
Before we start however I need to mention some things I forgot last time.
Tezuka/Fuji - First, at one point in the series, Fuji mentions that he and Tezuka has spent almost every day together for the past three years, which makes me go "aww..."
Also during the 'Prince of Bowling' ep, Fuji (for the first time ever) passes out from the Inui Juice he's forced to drink after he gets a gutter ball. As soon as Fuji hits the ground, the scene jumps to Germany where Tezuka wakes up during the middle of the night because he had a bad feeling, tee! ^^
But more importantly I found something in one of the Tenipuri fanbooks where the characters get asked various questions. One of Tezuka's questions was 'what type of girl he liked'; his reply? "One who is cheerful and serious." Ha! That perfectly describes Fuji. The fangirl in me squealed delightfully when I read that, hehe.
Golden Pair - This I can't believe I forgot! At the beginning of the National arc (aka, the most important arc of the series) Oishi re-injuries his wrist (in the anime it's so Ryoma can be a Regular again, in the manga it's Tezuka) and Eiji throws a fit declaring he was no longer going to be a doubles player if he couldn't play with Oishi. Despite winning his singles match in Seigaku's first game at the Nationals and declaring throughout the game that his doubles days were behind him, Eiji decided afterwards it was too lonely playing singles and demanded that Oishi heal for the next round so they could play together again (aww...).
Okay, now onto the real Part 2. :P
This is Echizen Ryoma:
Echizen is the protagonist of the series. He's a cocky kid, who at the beginning of the series had just moved to Japan from the US; he's a 1st year student at Seigaku and he's the first freshman to become a Regular in the school's history. Ryoma also happens to be one of the best tennis players of his age having won various Jr Tournaments in the US; but since that wasn't in Japan, no one heard of his achievements and are taken by surprise by how well he plays. Often he plays in the Singles #3 position in tournaments, meanings he's the 3rd best player behind Fuji and Tezuka.
Although it pains me to say it, Tezuka/Ryoma is one of the more popular pairings in the fandom. Frankly though, I don't see it (and it's not just because I'm a Tezuka/Fuji fan). I can see it as a one-sided thing on Ryoma's behalf since he does seem to have a crush on the Seigaku captain as he looks up to Tezuka, but that's it. Tezuka does take an interest in Ryoma but I always saw it as nothing romantic. The way I saw it, Tezuka sees a lot of himself in Ryoma and sees his potential to be a great tennis player one day, nothing more.
Whom I do like pairing Ryoma with is his best friend Momoshiro Takeshi:
Momo is adorable; so loveable; he's also the first of the Regulars we meet and mid series when Momo gets dropped from the Regulars, practice falls apart when he fails to show up for 3 days.
Like I said Momo and Ryoma are best friends and are almost always together; doing things on their days off and walking to and from school together. In one ep when Momo gets invited on a "date" by a girl, he demands that Ryoma go with him, which in turn led to an extremely funny moment when Inui (who was stalking them) called up Taka and told him that Ryoma and Momo were on a date together, hehe.
Momo also has a
And often Momo and Eiji like to double glomp Ryoma. ^__^
Momo's rival is Kaidoh Kaoru:
Like Momo, Kaidoh is in his 2nd year and ever since they joined the tennis club the year before they have been competing to find out who is better. One of Momo's favourite nicknames for Kaidoh is "Mamushi" which means "Viper" since Kaidoh has a tendency to resemble a snake (two of his favourite shots are called the Snake and the Boomerang Snake) and he often hisses at people if they try talking to him. Kaidoh, however hates the name and it's one of the many reasons why he dislikes and often gets into fights with him...
...even when they are naked and suppose to be bathing:
*snickers*
Despite the fighting however, Momo and Kaidoh know each other very well, which is shown whenever they team up in doubles. And you gotta admit they make a cute pairing. (Note: You can get a lot of pairings out of Tenipuri and Momo/Kaidoh is one of them since there is subtext for the pair but I'm really only going over ones I like the best or are the most popular).
Kaidoh is more often paired with Inui Sadaharu:
Inui is the creator of a vile drink called 'Inui Juice', which is often used as a form of punishment for the loser/losers during practices. Vomiting and passing out are the most common reactions from drinking Inui Juice and Inui himself can only sometimes handle the drink; Fuji however likes the drink (except during the Prince of Bowling ep) and it has no effect on Tezuka even though he hates the taste of it.
Inui is Kaidoh's mentor of sorts, taking time to train the younger student (in fact if it wasn't for Inui, Kaidoh would have never learned how to do the Boomerang Snake) and really is the only person who ends up growing close to Kaidoh.
In a later ep when Kaidoh loses his memory, Inui becomes distraught and starts sulking when Kaidoh runs off. But no worries since in the end the pair gets reunited with plenty of tears of joy coming from Inui.
Also one of the most hilarious moments in Tenipuri is subtext for the Inui/Kaidoh pairing. During the date episode (briefly mentioned in the Momo/Ryoma section) Inui also ends up calling Kaidoh but while Inui is trying to tell him what's going on (a "love triangle" involving Momo, Ryoma and the girl), a noise goes off and Kaidoh only hears the word "date"; Kaidoh then starts thinking that Inui just asked him out on a date! Despite angsting over "going on a date with Inui" Kaidoh shows up at the meeting point anyway (alas the other Seigaku members had already left since he tormented himself too long trying to decided whether he would show up or not).
Last on the Seigaku team is Kawamura Takashi:
Poor Taka gets ignored by the fandom so he gets no Seigaku member to love. I don't get it though since he injuries his arm twice for the team and they invade his father's sushi shop after every victory.
Actually the anime hates him too since he's the only Seigaku member not to be a part of the Tenipuri famaily (Tezuka is the grandfather, Fuji the grandmather, Oishi the mother, Inui the father, Ryoma the eldest son, Momo is the daugther, Kaidoh is the baby and Eiji is the cat); instead he owns a sushi shop called 'Burning'.
Speaking of "Burning"; that's the mode Taka goes into when he's holding a tennis racket. Normally he's a quiet, peaceful guy until he gets his hand on a racket when he starts yelling at everyone in broken English (Engrish). Alas I tried finding a good pic of him when he's in his "Burning" mode but since he's ignored by the fandom (seriously, I found more pics of characters that are barely in it) I couldn't find one.
Taka does have someone that he can easily be paired with but no one does it. Akutsu Jin...
...is his childhood friend and Taka is one of the few people that Akutsu can stand (everyone else gets beaten up by him). Akutsu isn't around much (since he goes to another school) but when he is around you can tell that Taka cares a lot about him.
And here ends Part 2. In the beginning I was going to do the schools in the order they're introduced but decided to screw it and skip over to do Hyoutei since not only does one of my favourite characters goes to that school but it's also the home of one of my favourite pairings and they actually have the most subtext going on when compared to the amount of scene time both characters get.
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