Otanjoubi Omedetou, Yagyuu Hiroshi!

Since it's rather difficult to find a solo picture of Yagyuu, I have decided to use the DVD cover for this post. Yagyuu is the personification of a gentleman and takes pride in his refined mannerisms. In fact, the way he speaks makes him stand out from the rest since he usually uses "watashi" instead of "boku" or "ore" for guys. Just like Inui, we can't see his eyes too since the spectacles he wears are opaque. Although it's obvious from the rest of his facial features that he should be a handsome guy, it's a pity that we don't get to see his eyes.

The first time when I saw him should be before the actual Kantou final. That was a rainy day so the match was postponed to the next week. Since Yagyuu didn't appear for a long time and I can't even remember whether he spoke, it did not leave a deep impression on me. Only when he made his first official debut in the Doubles 1 match against Oishi and Eiji, it made me take notice of him for the first time.

During that match, he seemed very calm initially where the attacks were led by his partner, Niou. It was only when the odds were starting to go against them, Yagyuu then finally showed that he can also be passionate and heated up to ensure victory for his side.

Yagyuu's entry into the tennis team was actually due to an invitation from Niou when he was still in Rikkai's golf team. Can you imagine having a junior high golf team?! Anyway, Niou felt that Yagyuu was more suitable for tennis instead of golf and sort of got him into the team by saying that he should be able to use his talent to excel in tennis like what he did in golf. And that's how he became partners with Niou who even feels that Yagyuu is better than him even though Niou started to play tennis earlier than him. The interaction between the two of them is quite unlike those displayed in partnerships like Shishido-Ootori, Oishi-Kikumaru or even Jackal-Marui where they have friendship as a basis and know that their partner can cover up for them and vice versa when they make mistakes. In Yagyuu and Niou, they don't seem to rely on each other and feels more like a combination where individualism is the keyword. However, this can also be explained as they know each other so well that there's no need to look out for each other. That was also what Fuji and Eiji did when they paired up for the semi-final against Rokkaku.

In the manga, Yagyuu and Niou actually exchanged identities so as to fool Oishi and Eiji but this wasn't done in the anime. Subsequently, before the Nationals began, Yagyuu actually did this again with Kaidou when they met some people who were mocking at Rikkai and Seigaku. This was because they didn't see the need to let those people see their real skills and they actually managed to copy each other's skills to fool those idiots. I was surprised to see them together in this side story of the manga since they didn't play together before so it was unexpected to see them pairing up for their teams' interests.