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Seishun Academy (|青春学園|Seishun Gakuen), or Seigaku (|青学) for short, is the school that the main character, Echizen Ryoma, goes to. It is famous for its tennis club, and was the alma mater of Japan's most famous tennis player, Echizen Nanjirō, the father of the protagonist (who chose to enroll his son in the school for this very reason). The school is in Tokyo.

Seigaku is one of the few schools shown to have a high school division.

InformationEdit

Established: 1925
Headmaster: Ishikawa Hiroyuki
Student Body: 1442 (731 boys, 711 girls)
Coach: Sumire Ryūzaki
Captain: Kunimitsu Tezuka
Vice-Captain: Shūichirō Oishi
Treasurer: Nishi Hideto
Goods Manager: Kuwahara Naoya
Tennis Club Membership: 33

HistoryEdit

In the The Prince of Tennis universe, Seigaku's tennis club was not always the feared monster that it is seen in the run of the series, and was average talent-wise when the school opened in 1925. The appearance of a young Echizen Nanjirō, father of Echizen Ryoma, was what had initially transitioned the club's performance from mediocre into one of the strongest teams in the area.

Although Seigaku was well known for their tennis skills in the past, the absence of Echizen Nanjirō threw the team into somewhat of a slump, leaving them unable to make it to Nationals over the next several years until a first year, Tezuka Kunimitsu, joined the Regulars. His outstanding talents played an important role in starting up where Nanjiro had left off. With the help of his then-captain Yamato Yūdai, Tezuka became the team's captain and pillar of support at the beginning of his third year. By this time, a few other extremely talented players began making their way onto the team. Yet, despite the obvious talent and potential that Seigaku's tennis club held, a few of the players lacked the heart that it took to win the game (Fuji Shūsuke), while others were simply unaware of their own inner drive toward perfecting their skills (Inui Sadaharu) and bringing their hidden talents to the surface (Kaidō Kaoru).

Seigaku Current Third Years Two years prior
Cruise
Casual wear
Seishun Gakuen Tennis Club
Chibi Version
Seigaku Tennis Club

The arrival of twelve year old tennis genius Echizen Ryoma is what finally lit Seigaku's motivational fuse, allowing them to advance. Feeling inspired, rather than resentment toward the freshman's skills, the team combines intense training, perseverance, trust, and teamwork in order to secure a spot at the Nationals. Stated during the Yamabuki arc, one of Seigaku's flaws is that they do not have a steady doubles team besides the Kikumaru/ Oishi Pair; their individual talents are so strong that they do not work well together. In the beginning of the series, Doubles 2 is usually played by the Kawamura/Fuji pair, while later in the series, Momoshiro/Kaido pair and Inui/Kaido pair have taken its place, showing that Seigaku is overcoming its lack of skilled doubles teams. The team is really close with rival schools Fudomine and Rokkaku Middle Schools, and share a strong rivalry with Hyotei Academy.

The team's uniform is blue and white shirts, white shorts (started out as gray for the first nine episodes of the anime, but Echizen is the only member of the team to wear his usual black shorts), and blue and white jackets with the Seigaku logo on the back with several red stripes on the cuffs and collar. The regulars also get their name personally stitched into the jacket. They also have blue warm-up pants with "Seigaku" printed on one side, and usually remove them before a match (Kaido and Echizen are the only ones who never wear these).

By the end of the original series, Seigaku manages to pull off its first National victory after defeating the reigning champions Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku 3-2.

After the Nationals, Seigaku becomes one of the first Middle School tennis teams having their regulars invited to the U-17 Training Camp, which was only open to High Schoolers prior to their invitation.

Tennis Team MembersEdit

CoachEdit

Sumire Ryūzaki (竜崎スミレ, Ryūzaki Sumire?)

Position: Coach, Math Teacher
Voiced by: Shizuka Okohira (Japanese), Barbara Goodson (English)
Signature Technique: Continuous Ball Pretense (Hora Hora Attack)

Sumire Ryuzaki (竜崎スミレ, Ryūzaki Sumire?) is the coach of Seigaku's tennis club, as well as one of the school's math teachers. It was thanks to her that Echizen Nanjiro was able to develop his skills. She is the grandmother of Sakuno. She also has a sort-of rivalry with her ex-mentor, Banda Mikiya a.k.a. Banji, who is the coach for Yamabuki. She is always there to yell, but is also considered to be a great and reliable coach. She has a good relationship with her regulars, and participates in their recreational group activities: the bowling reunion and the beach-volley mini-tournament with Rokkaku Middle School.

For the Prince of Tennis live action movie, Ryuzaki's whole personality and back story was changed. Instead of being a middle-aged teacher and ex-coach to Nanjiro Echizen, she is a young, and more cheerful woman as well as Nanjiro's former classmate, who was her reason for playing tennis and becoming coach. She was played by the popular singer Hitomi Shimatani. The Chinese drama also makes her a young woman, and in this version she is portrayed by Jiang Hong Bo.

OB'sEdit

Nanjirō Echizen (越前南次郎, Echizen Nanjirō)

Former Position: Regular, Captain (?)
Years since Graduation: 25 years ago from the start of the series

Nanjiro is Ryoma's father, and was known as Samurai Nanjiro due to his invincible tennis skills during his professional career. His specialties included the "Nanjiro Zone," which is the completed version of the current captain Tezuka's Tezuka Zone, as well as discovering ambidextry that he calls "Nitoryu" by himself.

Yūdai Yamato (大和祐大, Yamato Yūdai)
November 14

Former Position: Captain Seigaku
Years since Graduation: 2 years ago from the start of the series
Voiced by: Masanori Ikeda

Yūdai Yamato is the captain during Tezuka's freshman year. He talks Tezuka into staying in the tennis club as Seigaku's pillar of support, calming him down when he was on the verge of quitting after being injured. Eccentric, insightful and gentle, Yamato has a unique "way" of explaining things that even Sumire Ryuzaki has trouble understanding him. He continued to help the tennis club after he graduated; in the anime, coach Ryuzaki asks him for his guidance when they go to a training camp to prepare for the Kantō conference final against Rikkai Daigaku. In the anime, he comes back, and he's a member at the U-17 camp, and he play's Tezuka, and eventually lose's as Tezuka heads to leave the camp, and go back to Germany.

Takesue

Former Position: Team Member

(Former Tennis Team Member)

Sugiyama

Former Position: Team Member

(Former Tennis Team Member)

3rd YearsEdit

Kunimitsu Tezuka
October 7

Position: Regular (Captain)

The current captain of the Seigaku tennis team. He is a stern but highly-respected leader. As a player, Tezuka is widely recognised as one of the best singles players and a "National level" player. Tezuka mostly plays singles though he once he played doubles with Inui against Shintenhoji during Nationals.

Shūichirō Oishi
April 30

Position: Regular (Vice-Captain)

Vice-captain of Seigaku and close friend of Tezuka. Oishi specialises in doubles, pairing with Kikumaru to form the "Golden Pair", being the only middle schoolers to achieve Synchro in the original Prince of Tennis. He plays singles at school against other teammates during ranking matches, but never in actual tournaments. During the Senbatsu Training Camp (anime only), he played a doubles game with Shishido from Hyotei against Kikumaru and Shishido's doubles partner, Ōtori . In New Prince of Tennis, at the beginning of the U-17 Camp, Oishi was forced to play a singles game against partner Eiji. He has also played doubles with Rikkai's Niō.

Shūsuke Fuji
February 29

Position: Regular

A calm and cheerful player, known widely as a tennis prodigy and Seigaku's No.2. Fuji usually plays singles, though he will sometimes play doubles with Kawamura or Kikumaru (with the latter they form the "Dream Pair"). Apart from his tennis skills, Fuji also possesses unique tastebuds: he enjoys wasabi sushi and Inui's juice. Fuji is also considered sadistic by some fans because he sometimes likes to play tricks on people (and because he once stated that although he likes Inui's juice, he prefers to see other people suffering drinking it). He ususally has his eyes closed and wears a smile unless he becomes serious about something. Never angered on his own behalf, Fuji is highly protective of his friends and younger brother Yuta, and the times he opens his eyes are usually associated with such incidents. Fuji has numerous amazing "counters", which are also useable in other sports, as shown for example in the Prince of Volleyball episode( It's an OVA).

Eiji Kikumaru
November 28

Position: Regular

A highly agile and flexible player. Specialises in doubles, forming Seigaku's "Golden Pair" with Oishi as well as playing with other team members like Momoshiro and Fuji on occasion. He played doubles once with Ryoma, when he got in a fight with Oishi. He is also shown to be fairly skillful at singles, playing against Higa Chuu's Kai in the Nationals arc for example, and successfully playing against partner Oishi at the U-17 Camp. Nonetheless, Eiji has mentioned that he prefers playing Doubles, finding Singles "too lonely", and remains primarily a Doubles Player. He has also played doubles with Hyotei's Ōtori and Oshitari (Senbatsu Arc). With Oishi, he is among the few middle schoolers to have achieved Synchro .

Takashi Kawamura
November 18

Position: Regular

A skilled singles player who plays with pure power, he occasionally plays doubles with Fuji or Momoshiro. Aiming to be Japan's No. 1 "Power Player". Normally meek and shy, his personality changes dramatically when he holds a racket, going into burning mode. The son of a sushi chef, he usually treats his team members to unlimited sushi at his family restaurant as a reward for winning (if they lose they have to eat wasabi sushi, which they all hate, except Fuji).

Sadaharu Inui
June 3

Position: Regular

A highly intelligent player, Inui is known for gathering data about the team and their opponents, and takes charge of the team's training. He is skilled at both doubles and singles. A doubles champion in elementary school with close friend Yanagi , he focuses on singles in his first two years of Middle School, and was Seigaku's No.3 before Echizen's arrival. Inui now primarily plays doubles with Kaido, though he played Singles 3 against his old partner Yanagi during the Kanto tournament and with Tezuka during the Nationals semi-finals. Apart from collecting data on everyone, Inui also enjoys creating a series of supposedly beneficial (but increasingly vile-looking) health drinks and using them to motivate the team to train harder. These drinks strike fear in all characters in the Prince of Tennis universe (other teams have also experienced them, as seen for example in the Prince of Barbecue episode).

Kuwahara Naoya

Position: Team Member & Goods Manager

Mikami Koji

Position: Team Member

Nishi Hideto

Position: Team Member & Treasurer

2nd YearsEdit

Takeshi Momoshiro
July 23

Position: Regular (Vice-Captain in the epilogue)

The first 2nd year to be briefly shown and the third 2nd year to be fully introduced, he is known as the Seigaku's number one rascal. His specialties include the Dunk Smash and power moves, as well as faking out the opponents in doubles. He plays doubles with Eiji,Taka, Kaido, and on a rare occasion, Ryoma (though both swore never to repeat that experience). He's good at both doubles and singles. He,Eiji, and Oishi form the "Golden Trio", referring to the occasion he substituted for the injured Oishi to play a successful doubles game with Eiji.

Kaoru Kaidō
May 11

Position: Regular (Captain in the epilogue)

Another 2nd year, he is originally known as playing singles, but on occasion, he plays doubles with Momoshiro or Inui. Notable moves include the Snake Shot and the Boomerang Snake. He has a devil mode, which has only been shown once when he, and Inui were going against Yanagi and Kirihara in the Nationals. Despite his scary appearance, he has a large soft-spot for animals, showing his kind nature.

Masashi Arai (荒井将史, Arai Masashi?)

Position: Team Member, Backup Regular (anime only)
Seiyū: Norihisa Mori (Japanese)
Voice Actor: Liam O'Brien (English)

Masashi Arai is a second year student, and the best reserve player on the team, who is the closest to becoming a regular, almost getting a shot to play in Kantō Tournament finals in the anime when Momoshiro and Kaido were nowhere to be seen. He is known for his hotheadedness and hazing of weaker players. He is as hard on himself as he is on the others during training. In the anime, he also tried to con the Freshmen Trio out of their money. He is also later attacked in another episode by Yamabuki's Jin Akutsu. Although he had a very bitter relationship with Ryoma at first, he cheered him on during his match with Akutsu. He often hangs around with Ikeda and Hayashi.

Daisuke Hayashi

Position: Team Member

The first 2nd year to be introduced in the series, he tried to con the Freshmen Trio out of their money by disguising the price of a game, but Ryoma was able to see through the scheme.

Masaya Ikeda

Position: Team Member

The second 2nd year to be introduced in the series, along with Hayashi, he tried to con the Freshmen Trio out of their money by disguising the price of a game, but Ryoma was able to see through the scheme. Possibly because of this, Ryoma holds a slight grudge against Ikeda, completely crushing him during the Second Intraschool Ranking Match, even using his Twist Serve.

Yoshimura Shun

Position: Team Member

Yoshimura Yuu

Position: Team Member

Fushimi Ayata

Position: Team Member

Hiratsuka Kazuya

Position: Team Member

Nagayama Michio

Position: Team Member

Nakahama Yuuya

Position: Team Member

Ninose Manabu

Position: Team Member

Saeki Norifumi

Position: Team Member

Tsuda Shuushi

Position: Team Member

Yamazaki

Position: Team Member

Sakai

Position: Team Member

Nagayama

Position: Team Member

Sawada

Position: Team Member

Izumi

Position: Team Member

Osada

Position: Team Member

Ishikawa

Position: Team Member

Kuwahara

Position: Team Member

Kaneko

Position: Team Member

Kishino

Position: Team Member

1st YearsEdit

Ryoma Echizen
December 24: Position: Regular; The main character in the story, he is the only freshman regular on the Seigaku Tennis team. His specialties include the Twist Serve and several drive volleys. He can also copy other moves from others that he's played. He also knows how to use all 3 of the Pinnacles., though he only activated Pinnacle of Perfection by accident and has yet to master it.

Horiō Satoshi
September 20

Position: Team Member (freshman)

He is one of the freshmen trio and is famous for boasting about his 2 years of experience in tennis. He's usually clumsy, but is smart when it comes to describings things from tennis. He and Tomoka don't like each other and usually argue in school.

Katō Kachirō
March 2

Position: Team Member (freshman)

He is one of the freshman trio. He knows how to cook. Like Katsuo he's usually calm.

Katsuo Mizuno (freshman)
April 7

Position: Team Member (freshman)

He is one of the freshman trio. He is the closest to look like Oishi, however most would assume that he looks more like Kentaro from Rokkaku. He's usually calm.

Other Characters Edit

Sakuno Ryūzaki: Coach Ryuzaki's grandaughter and a member of the Girls' Tennis Team, she cheers Ryoma & the others with Tomoka.

Tomoka Osakada: She is a student at the school and as she calls herself the head of Ryoma's fan club.

Principal Ishikawa: He is the principal of the School and is shown once before the Kantō region finals.

TriviaEdit

Seishun academy seems to have many common points with rival schools Hyotei Academy and Rikkai dai. All three schools have the following in common:

The captains are all All-Rounder players at national level and dominantly play in singles;
The captains have lost to Echizen once, although in Tezuka's case it was an unofficial match; anime-only*
There is at least one other All-Rounder player along with the captains: Echizen, Oshitari, and Sanada and Niou;
The future captains of each school are not All-Rounders: Kaidoh (Counter-puncher), Hiyoshi (Aggressive Baseliner), and Kirihara (Aggressive Baseliner);
Have Doubles Specialists as a coloured pair: Oishi/Kikumaru (Golden), Ootori/Shishido (Silver), and Yagyuu/Niou (Platinum);
Each have Doubles specialitsts that consist of a Serve & Volley/Counterpuncher pairing: Oishi/Kikumaru (Golden), Inui/Kaido (Emerald), Ootori/Shishido (Silver), and Marui/Jackal;
An All-Rounder-Serve & Volley pairing has been introduced: Tezuka/Inui (Doubles 1 in National's semi-finals but have not played), Oshitari/Gakuto, and Nio/Yagyuu;
There is a junior-senior doubles pairing that has been introduced in each school: Kaidou-Inui, Otori-Shishido, and Kirihara-Yanagi;
All have a Serve and Volley specialist with red-hair who enjoy showing off: Kikumaru, Mukahi, and Marui;
There are three users of one playing style in each school: 3 Counter-Punchers from Seigaku (Fuji, Kaidoh, Oishi), 3 Serve & Volley players from Hyotei (Gakuto, Jiro, Ootori), and 3 All-Rounders from Rikkai (Yukimura, Sanada, Niou);
There is a left-handed player in each school: Echizen and Tezuka, Gakuto, and Niou;
All have an expressionless teammate: Tezuka, Kabaji, Yagyuu and Sanada (capable of smiling though);
All three have a tensai: Fuji, Oshitari, and Marui (self-proclaimed but stated in a databook to be one);
A team member who wears a cap: Echizen, Shishido, and Sanada;
All have someone who wears glasses: Tezuka and Inui, Oshitari (un-prescribed), and Yagyuu;
Cocky and arrogant players: Echizen, Atobe, Mukahi, Kirihara, Marui, and Niou;
All had another non-parental family member introduced: Echizen (brother Ryoga, cousin Nanako), Oshitari (cousin Kenya), and Sanada (nephew Sasuke);
There are regulars that have been regulars since first year: Echizen of Seigaku, Atobe, Gakuto, Jiro, Oshitari, and Shishido of Hyotei, and Yukimura, Sanada, Yanagi, and Kirihara of Rikkaidai;
One teammate who has a royal title/nickname: Prince (Echizen), King (Atobe), and Emperor (Sanada);
A senior is relatively close to a younger teammate: Tezuka and Ryoma, Shishido and Otori, and Rikkai seniors and Kirihara;
There is a member who looks older than their actual age: Tezuka (was mistaken as a teacher), Kabaji (appearance in general), and Sanada (his nephew calls him old);
There is a member with a feminine appearance: Fuji, Gakuto (when smiling), and Yukimura;
There is a member who is known for having a favourite quote: Echizen (Mada Mada Dane), Tezuka (Don't let your guard down), Atobe (Be awed at the sight of my prowess), Mukahi (Motto tonde miso), Nio (Puri/Pupina/Piyo) and Sanada (Tarundoru);
The two strongest of each school are close friends: Tezuka-Fuji, Atobe-Oshitari, and Yukimura-Sanada;
Each school has a member who has their habit constantly shown: Echizen (drinking Ponta), Jiroh (sleeping), and Marui (chewing gum);
A member who can speak English: Echizen, Atobe (it can be assumed he can speak English being raised in England), Yagyuu and Yanagi;
All had a former tennis player from their school shown: Yudai Yamato (Seigaku), Tsukimitsu Ochi (Hyotei), and Juzaburo Muri (Rikkaidai);
All had someone from the past or present who wears their jerseys over their shoulders: Yamato Yudai, Atobe, and Yukimura;
According to the polls on each school on the wikia, all the captains have the most votes;
Someone from each school has sang their own version of "Valentine's Kiss": Oishi (Seigaku), Atobe, Oshitari, Shishido, Chotarou, Hiyoshi (Hyotei), and Sanada, Nio (Rikkaidai);
The voice actors from each school have gotten together to perform a song: Echizen and Tezuka's voice actor, Atobe's voice actor, and Sanada's voice actor (Flower - Saki Midareshi Hana [By GIGS]);
There is a character song about a character from each school: Burning Heart (Kawamura - personality), Oresama no Bigi ni Yoina, Insight, Hametsu e no Rondo (Atobe - favourite saying and techniques), and Black Aura (Sanada - technique);
There is one person from each school who has 10 letters in their name: Kaoru Kaido, Atobe Keigo, Bunta Marui;
In New Prince of Tennis, all the Serve & Volley/Counterpuncher pairings partnered up with their respective partners. Interestingly, all three Serve & Volley players won their tie-breaker style matches (Kikumaru, Ootori, and Marui);

If Shitenhoji was included in the list of common factors, points 1 (Shiraishi), 3 (Kintaro), 8 (Oshitari-Zaizen), 11 (5 left-handed players), 12 (Zaizen), 13 (Koharu), 15 (Koharu), 18 (Kintaro and Zaizen), 21 (Ishida Gin), 23 (Shiraishi's Ah Ecstacy and Kenya's No speed, no life), 27 (Yoshiyuki Taira and Tetsuya Hara), 29 (Shiraishi), 30 (Shiraishi), 32 (Shiraishi - Bible [what he is described as]), 33 (Yuji Hitoji) apply.

Wikia

Prince of Tennis Wikia

Seishun Academy

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