Otanjoubi Omedetou, Niou-kun!

Today's the birthday of Niou Masaharu, the betenshi from Rikkai who is famous for his trickery on court. In the manga, he actually switched identities with Yagyuu during the Kantou final but this wasn't shown in the anime. I guess it must be quite difficult to project this in the anime series since that might create unnecessary confusion. As such, the focus was on Niou's ability to spot Eiji's weakness instantly and Yagyuu's laser-beam shot. He's the only character with long hair among the characters where his hair colour is ash grey. Considering that Rikkai is a famous school which should emphasize on rules, I just find it amusing that he can keep long hair in that fashion. Of course, colours in the anime may be quite different from what Konomi-sensei had meant to convey in the manga. Although he seems like someone who is unlikely to tell the truth most of the time, he's quite nice to Akaya when he actually spent time with the latter to practice the Phantom Shot at night. He's probably someone who hides his true self and will show his concern for others through subtle gestures unlike characters like Oishi and Taka-san who are very straightforward when it comes to caring for others. I guess he will appear soon in the manga since I can't imagine the thought of Rikkai losing before the finals. As such, I think that there might be a chance Niou will be up to more antics if Rikkai gets to play with Seigaku which should get into the finals, barring unforseen circumstances.