Otanjoubi Omedetou, Akutagawa Jirou!

Today's the birthday of the sleeping prince from Hyotei Gakuen, Akutagawa Jirou! Well, he deserves this title because he's usually asleep whenever he appears in the manga or anime with the exception when he's playing a match or watching one. My first impression of Jirou was formed when Atobe asked Sakaki to get Jirou to take part in the Tokyo 5th placing match against St.Rudolph. From the way Atobe spoke, it appeared as if Jirou was some menacing creature who could tear St.Rudolph apart. However, when Jirou was formally introduced during the Kantou Tournament 1st round against Seigaku, I'm sure many people are surprised just like me because he's too adorable to be scared of. He seems like a livewire to have on the team and it takes a bit of effort to keep him awake. Jirou relishes the excitement of playing tennis with a strong opponent thus it is not easy for him to get hyped up over most matches. So far, he's only behaved like this before Atobe, Fuji Shuusuke and Marui Bunta who is his idol. With someone like Jirou around, I don't think anyone would feel bored. One of his lines which got me quite amused was when he playfully chided Kaidou for being "disrespectful" since Jirou is one year older. At that time, Seigaku was having a training camp at Karuizawa and Tezuka asked Atobe to arrange a practice match. Kaidou didn't like Jirou's lack of seriousness since the latter was still feeling sleepy. I guess this made Kaidou flare up because he thought Jirou didn't put in effort and belittled him. The ending of that match was really funny as Kaidou accidentally knocked Jirou out with the tennis ball.

To date, Jirou has only released one character single and it's long overdue for him to do a second one. However, given that Jirou was a reserve for the Hyotei arc in the Nationals just like Fuji and Hyotei had already lost to Seigaku, this would probably mean that there is very little chance of seeing Jirou again in the manga. Hopefully, we can catch a glimpse of him in the OVA series although he's not playing. An album from Jirou may seem rather unlikely at the present stage but given that surprise characters like Kuki Kiichi can also release a single, anything may be possible. If there is a second single on the way, the only thing I ask for is a longer chat session since the first single's clip featured Jirou snoring most of the time.

Name: Akutagawa Jirou
School: Seishun Gakuen Chuutoubu Year 3
Date of birth: 5 May (Children's Day)
Zodiac Sign: Taurus
Height: 160 cm
Weight: 49 kg
Blood Group: AB
Play Style: Serve & Volley (Right-handed)
Favourite Shoes: Wilson SURGE DST 02 Mid (S1234W)
Favourite Racket: Wilson Hyper Pro Staff 7.6 with ROLLERS
Special Technique: Magic Volley
Favourite Food: Mutton, Moose Pocky
Hobbies: sleeping and comic magazine
Family Members: Parents, elder brother and younger sister
Father's occupation: operating a laundry shop
Favourite subjects: technical studies and physical education
Favourite colour: orange
Favourite traits in a girl: Cheerfulness