Underdogs: The Boys of Fudomine
by: Mirabella Nevlómë

[Warning: This page is graphics heavy]

Oh boy, just when you thought it couldn’t get worse…

That’s right kidlets, ‘tis I, the fantastical Mira and I am back to continue your education and eventual conversion to the world of the Prince of Tennis! The last time we met, I introduced you to the wonderful members of Seigaku Tennis Club. If you missed the “first lesson” for some unexplained reason, it can be found here. I highly recommend you read it if you have not done so already.

In this issue, we are going to learn about the Fudomine Tennis Club members. Fudomine is one of the first major teams we see Seigaku interact with. After the unknown and unseeded Fudomine beat the second seeded school Kakinoki during the semi-finals in a straight set win, Fudomine and Seigaku met in the finals of the Tokyo District Finals.[1]* Even though Fudomine eventually lost to Seigaku in the finals, they were still one of the top four teams to advance to the Tokyo Prefectural Tournament, where they defeated the heavily favored Hyotei Gakuen, who was the runner up in last year’s Kantou Tournament.

Did I confuse you yet? Good! So let’s move on and get to know the members of Fudomine!

Tachibana Kippei:

Tachibana is the captain of the Fudomine Tennis Club. Tachibana’s personality is kind of like that of Tezuka Kunimitsu’s, with the exception that Tachibana actually smiles and interacts more with his team members, instead of trying to act like toast. Because Tezuka = toast! Tachibana transferred to Fudomine in his second year. During this time, the freshmen were often picked on and bullied, especially when they were told they could play tennis if they beat the no talent seniors. It was a lie, of course, and the coach even sided with the seniors and turned a blind eye to their actions against the freshmen. This continued until Tachibana stepped in and confronted and retaliated against the coach.

Of course, this was considered to be such a scandal, especially when Fudomine had to withdraw from the district tournament that year. The next year however, Tachibana and the freshmen formed a brand new tennis club for Fudomine and the coach resigned. Through his actions, Tachibana had won the respect of the freshmen and their victories are attributed to his leadership skills, many of which include not being a pillar or acting like toast. Tachibana is also a Nationally ranked player, but many people do not recognize him since he cut off his long blonde mane of hair. However his eyebrows are a dead give away, but this is a tennis anime we are talking about. Moving on…

Kamio Akira:

Kamio is the vice-captain and self-proclaimed speed demon of Fudomine. Kamio uses music to help warm up and play tennis, and his incredible speed is his greatest weapon on the tennis courts. Often, Kamio can be heard saying, “rhythm ni noru ze” which basically means, “I’ve got the rhythm” or some variation of that. It is his catch-phrase, and while corny, it is not as bad as the others that are used. Kamio can be a bit of a hothead, and often gives in to the slightest provocation, like derogatory comments made about his teammates and captain or the presence of Momoshiro Takeshi. Kamio developed his high speed return, the Sonic Bullet, during a match against Sengoku Kiyosumi of Yamabuki and often plays singles matches. He can play doubles, and when he does, his partner is often his friend, Ibu Shinji.

Ibu Shinji:

Ibu Shinji is a player whose tennis sense rivals that of Fuji Syuusuke, however his personality is the complete opposite. Where Fuji is all smiles and laughter, whether kind or sadistic, Shinji often mutters to himself and has facial expressions like Tezuka, except less toasty. Shinji, like Kamio, can play doubles, but mostly sticks to singles. Shinji’s most brutal move is a maneuver called Spot. This technique causes temporary paralysis in his opponents’ arms by continuously alternating between topspins and slice shots. Echizen Ryoma fell victim to Shinji’s Spot resulting in a sore arm, a broken racket, a sliced eyelid, copious amounts of BLOOD, a really cool pirate eye patch, and an eventual win for Ryoma. Because Ryoma is the Gary Stu of this anime! Shinji also utilizes the Kick Serve, which is similar to Ryoma’s Twist Serve, but with added freshness more power and spin. Shinji pwns, remember that!

Ishida Tetsu:

Ishida wears a white towel on his head. That is all you need to know…Okay, not really, but dude, a TOWEL on his HEAD! How crazy is that?

Anyways, Ishida is a doubles player, often paired with Sakurai Masaya. Ishida uses a special move Hadoukyuu, which is a powerful flat shot that uses 120% of his arm strength. While Hadoukyuu greatly increases the power of his return, it also damages his arm at the same time. For this reason, Tachibana had forbidden Ishida to use this move unless it is absolutely necessary. Hadoukyuu became necessary in Ishida and Masaya’s doubles match against Fuji and Kawamura Takashi (Taka-san), which forced Seigaku to forfeit the match when Taka-san injured his wrist returning Ishida’s Hadoukyuu. It is from Ishida that Taka-san gets his version of Hadoukyuu![2]*

Sakurai Masaya:

Sakurai is Ishida’s main double partner. Sakurai’s playing style can be compared similarly to that of Oishi Syuuichirou’s in that both have keen eyesight and make judgment decisions during the course of the game. Also, like Oishi, Sakurai has HEADFANGS, although they are a much smaller version and Oishi’s are much better! Sadly, Sakurai does not have any fancily named moves, but he is known to have a good topspin, as noted by Toast Tezuka at the district tournament.

Uchimura Kyousuke: and Mori Tatsunori:

and

Sadly, this doubles pairing has little information given about them. It is known that Uchimura is called a “front killer” because he aims his shots at his opponents’ faces, often right between the eyes. Scary little bugger he is, but you can always spot him as he wears a baseball cap, so you can avoid getting hit in the face with a tennis ball. As for his partner Mori, even less is known. He is loud on the courts, so this can be either a good or bad thing, depending on the situation at hand. Regardless, they were the only team in the tournament that took two games from Oishi and Kikumaru, so this should give some inclination to their skills.

So there’s some background information about the regulars of the Fudomine Tennis Club. They are a group of guys who overcame obstacles of abusive upperclassmen and a horrible coach to reach their goal of playing tennis and being the best they can be. So I think it would be safe to say that they are the most angst ridden group in the series, but they are the better for it. Because nothing motivates one more than angst. Except for cheese; cheese motivates everyone. That aside, we’ve gotten to know two teams out of eight. Yes, that means I will be back with six other tennis teams! You won’t know when and you won’t know why, but rest assured, as long as the wind blows, the sun rises, and the sky is blue, I will be back with more Prince of Tennis information in order to drive you insane make you cry convert you to a fan girl/fan boy raving lunatic teach you more about this wonderful characters of this wonderful series. Be awed at my prowess! *snaps fingers*

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[1]* The Tokyo District Finals decides which teams advance to the Tokyo Prefectural Tournament. Winners of the Tokyo Prefectural Tournament then move on to the Kantou Regional Tournament, and the winners from Kantou then move on to the Nationals.

[2]* Ishida’s Hadoukyuu return uses only one arm, greatly increasing the strain and causes damage to the arm. Taka-san’s Hadoukyuu is a safer form in that he uses both arms to ease the pressure and strain caused by Hadoukyuu.