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Hikaru Zaizen

Name	Hikaru Zaizen
Kanji	財前光
Romanji	Zaizen Hikaru
Nicknames	Tensai
School	Shitenhōji (2nd year)
Class	2-7 #14
Birthday	July 20
Notable Relatives	Unnamed (Parents) Unnamed (Older Brother) Unnamed (Sister-in-law) Unnamed (Nephew)
Style	Left-Handed
Voiced by	Hirofumi Araki (Japanese)

BackgroundEdit

Hikaru Zaizen (財前光, Zaizen Hikaru) plays as a regular for Shitenhōji, joining in his 1st year after being recruited by the tennis regulars. In the OVA, he tells the Shitenhoji tennis team members that he applied for the school because it was nearby, and that if he had known that it was a school where comedy and laughing was encouraged, he would not have enrolled.

Zaizen is the only 2nd year regular on the Shitenhoji tennis team. Just as Kaidoh Kaoru and Hiyoshi Wakashi have been cited to be the next captains of Seigaku and Hyoutei (both confirmed in the New Prince of Tennis), respectively, many believe Zaizen to be the next Shitenhoji captain after the 3rd year regulars graduate similarily to how Kirihara Akaya is expected to lead Rikkaidai.

AppearanceEdit

Zaizen has several ear piercings- so far it has been confirmed that he has three on his left ear and two on his right ear. He has fair skin and dark, fine, and spiked hair. His eyes are dark green, sharp and intense.

PersonalityEdit

Zaizen is rather disrespectful, calling Kawamura Takashi as Seigaku 's extra baggage and insulting Chitose Senri after his loss to Kunimitsu Tezuka. He did shown a little concern when Tezuka and Senri were playing singles as he tried to intervene in fear of the extreme stamina-centric games draining Chitose but was ignored, thus he selflessly sits out for the remainder of the match. He is quite calm and serious when unrelated to tennis. When Zaizen's introduced in Another Story II as a freshman, his unhumorous, emotionless responses irked his seniors. However through the Shitenhoji arcs his remarks are shown to have grown into mocking sarcasm while Zaizen himself opts to engage more frequently with his team. He's more open to sharing his emotions not only through blunt criticism but with laughs when a Shitenhoji member provides a humorous routine (e.g. Kenya's stumble in Another Story I).

He shows little tolerance for his teammates Konjiki Koharu and Hitoji Yuji. Despite this, Zaizen remains to call each of his members (apart from Tooyama) 'senpai', acknowledging their seniority. Kenya and Zaizen are frequently seen beside each other in during matches and the New Prince of Tennis' Mountain Arc. Whether this is noted as a coincidence or not, Zaizen's self-sufficient, arrogant mentality accepts his teammates into his protective self-conscious (one of the few peoples he can tolerate).

HistoryEdit

One Year Prior To The StorylineEdit

Shown in the 1st episode of the Prince of Tennis OVA: Another Story II ~The Times We Shared~, Shiraishi notices Zaizen as the first year during the opening ceremony that did not laugh at the principal of Shitenhoji's joke. While the rest of the classmates in his year were dying of laughter, Zaizen just stood staring that principal.

The Shitenhoji tennis club members (everyone in the main series except for Kintaro, who had not entered middle school yet) are told that they must recruit at least one new member or else their club cannot participate in activities (in other words, they can't compete, practice, etc.).

The members start panicking because they had zero new recruits this year. However, Osamu informs Shiraishi, who was recently promoted to captain as well, that there is only one student that hasn't join the club yet and it was Zaizen Hikaru. They decide that the best way to get Zaizen to join was to make him laugh. All of the members fail, though, until the vice captain Koishikawa directly asks Zaizen directly to join the club. Zaizen agrees, much to everyone's surprise.

When he arrives, he plays a doubles game against Shiraishi and Kenya, while paired with Koishikawa. However, Zaizen dominates his side of the court, returning all of Shiraishi and Kenya's shots though he claimed he had only played tennis a few times. Zaizen tells Shiraishi that his "Bible Tennis" was actually "Textbook Tennis"- thus it was really predictable, and that for Kenya: there was no point in speed if he could not control his accuracy. This shocks everyone, but Shiraishi and Kenya do not get angry. Shiraishi hits a Entaku Shot against Zaizen, realizing that his teammates can grow even more without limits.

At the end of the game, Shiraishi says his saying for the first time: Ahhh...Ecstasy. The whole team laughs at Shiraishi, but surprisingly, Zaizen laughs as well though he claims he did not when his teammates asked him if he had just laughed with them.

Zaizen officially joins the tennis team the next day, where Osamu presents him with a gift.

During the 2007 National Semifinals, Zaizen paired up with Koshikawa to play against Yanagi Renji and another unknown regular of Rikkai Dai. They lose the match 6-0.

NationalsEdit

As the Kansai Regional Tournament winners, Shitenhōji received a bye in the First round, advancing directly to the second round. In the Second round, because it was their first official match-up, they were required to play all 5 matches. They easily defeat Okakura as 5-0, as shown in the databooks, advancing to the quaterfinals.

Tensai Zaizen was originally scheduled to play Doubles 1 with Oshitari Kenya against Seigaku. Right before the match, Watanabe Osamu "dragged" Chitose back onto the team and replaced Kenya with Chitose. Because Chitose's Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami does not work in doubles, Zaizen agreed to sit this one out. Although he tried to intervene early on, Zaizen immediately realized that the match was out of his reach.

Zaizen and the rest of the Shitenhouji tennis club were part of the audience to the Nationals Final between Seigaku and Rikkai Dai and is shown accepting his 3rd place medal along with his teammates.

Prior To U-17 CampEdit

Shown during the Another Story OVA, Zaizen and the rest of the Shitehoji tennis club welcome Seigaku to their school for a joint training session between the two schools after the nationals while the Seigaku tennis club stay in Osaka.

Zaizen along with Hitouji and Konjiki help Kaido Kaoru realize what is needed to become a good captain for Seigaku through making him cook takoyaki for them. Despite the unusual method, this works, and the training camp is a success. Afterwards, everyone gets involved in long rallies and has fun playing tennis.

U-17 CampEdit

Despite being invited to the U-17 Camp, Zaizen actually rejected his invitation at first. However his friend Hitouji Yuuji requested he quickly follow him to the Camp as he wanted to speak with Konjiki Koharu. Eventually they ended up with the Losers climbing the mountain.

In the manga, they join the losers before they get on the bus. While climbing the mountain, Zaizen asks why they were taking part in their tasks such as mountain climbing where Hitouji simply replies Just go with the flow.

In the anime, Hitouji and Zaizen meet the 25 other losers after they fall off a bridge when Hitouji's wolf instincts cause him to attack Ryo Shishido for Shishido's hat. Zaizen shows up with mushrooms and explains how Hitouji relied on his animal instincts after they wandered around for too long with his ultimate goal to be reunited with Konjiki. They then tell the group that the only way to make it to the top of the mountain was to climb a steeper cliff.

Zaizen and the 26 other middle schoolers complete this mountain climbing and end up meeting the High Schoolers who were unable to attain a ball from the helicopter. When they reach the top, they see the eliminated high schoolers training under the Drunken Coach. On the top, Zaizen and the rest of the middle school losers train with the Drunken Coach. Zaizen and the 26 other middle schoolers take part in the drunken coach's weird tasks such as digging an enormous hole just for the Coach to urinate in, a jog through the forest, the 25 middle schoolers against the High Schoolers on the mountain cliff and Survive being chased by eagles within a time limit.

Later on, the 25 middle schoolers steal the Coach's sake, angering him to the point he decides they should all go back to the camp and start a revolution. Upon returning to the camp, it is unknown which of the 25 middle schoolers, but some of them defeat the 2nd Court which angers other High Schoolers seeing them return.

They quickly handle the High Schoolers who have a problem with their return and the Coaches announce they are the new 2nd Court. All of the middle schoolers engage in a pillowfight and then it is announced that the 1st Stringers return to the camp soon.

Eventually Zaizen ends up being a member of the 2nd Court as the Middle schoolers return and the 2nd Court at that time were defeated by them and replaced.

Tennis RecordEdit

Tournament	Round	School	Position	Partner	Opponent(s)	Score
2007 Nationals	Semifinals	Rikkai Dai	Doubles 1	Koishikawa Kenjirō	Yanagi Renji/Unknown	Lost (6-0)
2008 Nationals	Semifinals	Seigaku	Doubles 1	Chitose Senri	Sadaharu Inui/Kunimitsu Tezuka	Lost (6-1)*

Zaizen and Inui were asked to sit out during this match to allow Chitose to use Muga no Kyōchi against Tezuka.

U-17 ResultsEdit

No official matches have been seen as of Chapter 90.

Playing and Style and TechniquesEdit

Though Zaizen has not yet been seen playing in an official match (excluding his brief cameo in the Chitose/Zaizen and Tezuka/Inui match), Another Story II suggests that Zaizen plays by analyzing a player's style and characteristics.

In contrast to Inui and Yanagi's mathematical approach to tennis, Zaizen quickly interprets the logical aspects of someone's tennis. The brief match between Zaizen/Koishikawa and Kenya/Shiraishi shows Zaizen breaking apart Kenya's accuracy blunders and Shiraishi's inevitably obvious shots due to his Bible Tennis (the basic shots don't camouflage the direction of the ball). With his efficient thinking-skills and hypotheses accumulated, he predicts not only the direction of the ball but techniques to counter his opponents' play.

Zaizen, like Ryoma and Yuuta, is a southpaw.

Personal InformationEdit

Blood Type: A
Height: 167 cm
Weight: 57 kg
Favourite food: Shiratama zenzai
Favourite colour: Carmine red
Favourite music: British Indie groups
Favourite movies: Amelie
Favourite books: Music magazines
Favourite date spot: Fashionable cafe
Preferred type: A home-oriented girl
Best subject: English
Worst subject: Classic literature
Hobbies: Music Appreciation (western music)
Family: parents, married older brother, sister-in-law, nephew
Father’s Job: salaryman (commerce)
Committee: Library
Most Visited Spot on Campus: AV room
Spends His Allowance On: CDs and MP3s
Favorite Color: carmine red
Most Wanted Item: audioset
Dislikes the bitter parts on fish
Special Skill: can write songs on his computer
Motto: 能ある鷹は爪を隠す (a wise man keeps some of his talents in reserve; one shouldn't show off; the person who knows most often says least)

TriviaEdit

His seiyū is in the Musical as Sadaharu Inui in the second generation cast.
In Tenimyu, he is played by Hisanori Satō (first generation) and by Bishin Kawasumi (second generation).
He and Oshitari Kenya sang a character song together titled, "Winning Shot".
Zaizen dedicates a part of each day to maintain his online blog. Accordingly, Kenya set an alarm on his cell to notify him of the updates.
Kenjiro and Zaizen are the only two Shitenhoji members that aren't notably seen playing official tennis matches.
Zaizen's the second shortest Shitenhoji tennis player; the shortest being Kintarou.
Zaizen is one of the few middle school players who have been a regular since first year.