New Fuji Shuusuke & Yukimura Seiichi singles!

Fuji Shuusuke and Yukimura Seiichi i.e. Kaida Yuki and Nagai Sachiko will be releasing new character singles on a limited edition basis. Further information as follows:

Title undecided
Artiste: Yukimura Seiichi (Nagai Sachiko)
Catalog Number: NECM10049
Release Date: 30 August 2006
Price: 777 yen

Title undecided
Artiste: Fuji Shuusuke (Kaida Yuki)
Catalog Number: NECM10048
Release Date: 13 September 2006
Price: 777 yen

More details will follow once they are available.

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Tachibana An & Kimura Akiko-san!

It's rare for a seiyuu to share the same birthday with his/her character in an anime and yet we have one instance here! Today's the 36th birthday of Kimura Akiko-san who plays Tachibana An in the anime.

As we know it, An is the younger sister of Tachibana Kippei and the love interest of Kamio Akira and Momoshiro Takeshi. Although it's obvious that Kamio holds a torch for An, Momo doesn't show the same amount of enthusiasm for An in an obvious manner but she seems to like him quite a lot. As such, we get to see a lot of scenes where Kamio and Momo gets into arguments and most of the time, it has something to do with An. Other than that, we also know that she's a tennis player, likes to go to the street tennis courts and got into trouble with Atobe which led to Kamio and Momo playing doubles together for the first time.

Kimura-san comes from Fukui Prefecture and according to her website, her height and blood type is 160cm and O respectively. She has a license for kindergarten and primary school teachers and her hobbies/special talents include illustrations and Aikido.

Other than Tenipuri, Kimura-san's voice can also be heard in animes like Yomigaeru Sora~Rescue Wings, LEGEND OF BASARA, Mai Otohime, NANA, Juousei, Okusama wa Joushikousei, Gokujou Seitoukai, Yu Gi Ou, Initial D, Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo, Saiyuuki, Koi Koi 7, Onegai My Melody and Pocket Monster. Besides work as a seiyuu in animes, she also participates in projects like stage works, radio, CD dramas and narration. If you are interested to view more details about her, you can visit the following site where there's a diary, BBS, fanclub details, related items which you may buy online as well as a report on her work activities.

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Konomi Takeshi-sensei!

Today's the 36th birthday of Konomi Takeshi-sensei, the creator of Tenipuri! His hometown is in Osaka and he graduated from Toukai University. In 1993, Konomi-sensei made his debut as a manga-ka with "Tetsujin~Sekai Ichi Katai Otoko" and Tennis no Oujisama is his 3rd series which began in 1999. His second comic series was "COOL RENTAL BODY GUARD" which started in 1997 via Shuukan Shounen Jump just like Tenipuri. He used to be a tennis instructor and had also taken part in the Tenipuri anime as a seiyuu. Besides these, Konomi-sensei also wrote songs for Fuji Shuusuke's album, "BREATH" and "eyes" and even sang a duet with Minagawa Junko who plays the lead character Echizen Ryoma in the mini-album, "PROGRESS". Last but not least, he has also appeared in Tennis no Oujisama on the Radio (Rajipuri for short) as a special guest.

Profile (according to fanbook 10.5)
Play-style: Right-handed
Height: 180cm
Blood Type: O
Zodiac Sign: Cancer
Favourite Shoes: FILA
Favourite Racket: BRIDGESTONE Dynabeam Grandea
Specialty Technique: Jumping Smash
Favourite Food: Sashimi, sushi, crab, karage (deep-fried chicken) and Japanese wine

Sanada Genichirou to iu na no On The Radio

Here's a review of the 56-minute long "On The Radio" bonus CD included in Sanada Genichirou's solo album, Sho released last month. The guest seiyuu who appears along with Taiten-san is Okiayu Ryoutarou who plays Tezuka Kunimitsu in the anime. Since they are quite close in terms of age and their characters happen to look very mature, they are usually teased as the "ossan" group by fellow seiyuus. First of all, the two begins by talking about Taiten-san's dressing where Okiayu-san mentions that Masayan i.e. Onosaka Masaya who plays Momo always says that Taiten-san copies him in terms of dressing. However, Taiten-san denies this and says that they happen to buy the same clothes at the same place at times thus causing this misunderstanding. Besides, Taiten-san is the type who usually asks people where they buy certain types of clothing but ends up not going there after all (asking for fun?). Anyway, Okiayu-san says that both Taiten-san and Masayan have this chinpira face i.e. gangster look so this may be why they look similar at times in terms of their fashion sense.

Next comes the segment of Taiten-san and Genichirou where he has to state information he knows about his character. Okiayu-san tries to make fun of Taiten-san by asking about the latter's particulars like his birthday and blood group although that is not required in this section. Anyway, Taiten-san manages to say all the information he knows about Genichirou correctly which makes Okiayu-san quite amazed. The interesting thing is, Taiten-san actually went for three auditions before he landed a role in Tenipuri which means he had auditioned for other characters previously. Coincidentally, the roles are Tezuka and Tachibana Kippei from Fudoumine where both of them are also captains like Genichirou and they all happen to look very mature and serious. Given Taiten-san's deep voice, that's not surprising though. As we already know it, Tezuka and Tachibana are played by other seiyuus so it was only until Taiten-san got the role of Genichirou before he actually joined the Tenipuri family.

Frankly speaking, I didn't know about it until I heard this CD so this leads me to wonder what would have happened if Taiten-san got the other two roles. Well, it's quite hard to imagine since I'm so used to the voices of the original seiyuus that I can't visualize how it's like to hear Taiten-san and Okiayu-san switching roles.

Next, they talk about relations between the seiyuus of the various teams. Taiten-san reveals that he hopes for more airtime especially for Rikkai since that will mean that the seiyuus can have a chance to get together again. According to him, the Rikkai seiyuus do not have the opportunity to meet up since he remembered having to be in the studio alone during the Kantou match when his members had gone to the hospital to see Yukimura.

The two then discuss as to which seiyuu team gets along very ell where we get titbits of relationships among the seiyuus. It seems like the Rokkaku team and American Senbatsu team are very close and the members would even meet up outside of work. They also mentioned that the Hyotei team isn't close at all. Does that mean that relations in the anime reflect what it is in real life? I know the Rokkaku team is well-known for its harmonious atmosphere while Hyotei members aren't that chummy on the surface but not to the extent of being unfriendly though...I would have thought that Hyotei members may be closer since they appeared more than once against Seigaku and have relatively more airtime than the other rival teams.

They also talked about the manga which had developed to the stage of Atobe losing the match to Echizen and having his hair shaved off at the time they were recording this CD. According to them, Konomi-sensei mentioned during the Jump Fest that in his mind, the Top 3 strongest players would be Tezuka, Sanada and Yukimura which led the two to comment that the inclusion of Yukimura may be questionable since he never played before and they didn't know how good he was supposed to be.

Taiten-san mentioned that when he first saw Genichirou, he was reminded of the pro-tennis player Matsuoka Shuzo since they were both passionate about tennis. He also said that when doing the scene of Genichirou practising swordplay at home, he couldn't recognise the character at first since Genichirou wasn't wearing his cap at that time. In addition, he feels that there's nothing similar between him and Genichirou in terms of appearance or character.

Taiten-san reveals his schooldays titbits where he can be said to be a relatively high-profile sportsman. He was the vice-chairman of his junior high school's student council and sang during the cultural festival. He was also in the badminton and tennis team at the same time. According to Taiten-san, he joined the badminton team because the coach saw him playing for leisure during physical education class and invited him to be a player. He was able to do smash shots of over 300km/h in badminton which was much faster than the over 200km/h serves which Inui and Ootori could do in the manga and anime. I do believe him because I was in the badminton team before and the shuttlecock being much lighter than the tennis ball, the pace of the game is definitely different.

As for studies, Taiten-san says that he was the type who always asked questions in class and was particularly good at social studies. He's also the type not to waste food and would finish up the school lunches even though he was full. The two then mentioned their bad eating habit of eating quickly which is something they picked up ever since they became seiyuus.

With regards to relationships with other seiyuus, Taiten-san seems rather envious of Okiayu-san going out with drinks with Suwabe Junichi (Atobe Keigo) and Kiuchi Hidenobu (Oshitari Yuushi) and asks him to call him along in future. It is also revealed that Taiten-san and Kiuchi-san has known each other ever since their theatre group days but only got closer after working on Tenipuri. At the time when Taiten-san was in a theatre group, he was still studying in the university.

Talking about the album itself, Taiten-san laments that it was tough to sing all the songs and remember the lyrics. Besides, due to his tight schedule, they actually took 5 months to produce the whole album. In particular, Taiten-san was asked to write a song's lyrics in Nov last year and he only managed to come up with it in Feb this year! Okiayu-san then said that he also wrote one song for his album and they said that it is very tough to write lyrics. They mentioned about Kiuchi-san who is a multi-talented guy to write complete songs on his own and wonders if he's a weirdo. ^__^

At the end of the session, they played a Tenipuri shiritori game where it was over in no time. Although Okiayu-san was supposed to sing a song, "Ningen 50-yen" as punishment, he got Taiten-san to sing along with him. They also played the acchi-muite-hoi game (finger-guessing) when Taiten-san lost but both of them sang a song. When Taiten-san was rounding up the programme, he fumbled again which made Okiayu-san tease him.

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Ueda Yuuji-san!

Today is the 39th birthday of Ueda Yuuji-san who plays Akutagawa Jirou in Tenipuri! Ueda-san comes from Fukuoka Prefecture and graduated from Tamagawa University. Previously, he was in Arts Vision and left it on 1 July 2004 to manage his career personally. As a result of this change, he started to use his name in the hiragana form instead of the original kanji characters. Subsequently, he joined Osawa Jimusho on 1 Apr 2005 where fellow Tenipuri seiyuu Kosugi Juurouta (Sakaki) is also from the same agency. Sakaki and Jirou in the same agency? Isn't this such a coincidence? ^__^ Ueda-san's blood group is A and he is rumoured to be married to seiyuu Minami Omi although both of them have never confirmed this. According to the information from Animedia's 2006 Voice Actor and Actresses Perfect Guide which I have scanned here, his hobbies/special talents include playing the violin, photography and music.

Besides Tenipuri, Ueda-san's voice can be heard in animes like Hachimitsu to Clover (Morita Shinobu), Jigoku Shoujo (Shibata Hajime), Mushishi (Adashino-sensei), Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi (Kimbly), Ouran Koukou Host Club (Nekozawa Umehito), Love Hina (Urashima Keitarou) and Emma (Hakim) which I have watched or still watching. Other animes where he can be heard include ARIA THE ANIMATION, Inuyasha, Ichigo 100%, Juunikokuki, Tantei Gakuen Q, BLEACH, ONE PIECE, Meitantei Conan and Rurounin Kenshin.

Review of Sanada Genichirou's album - "Sho"

I've not had time to post this review even though this album was released at the end of last month. For now, I will go through the main CD itself and will post a review of the bonus CD which features Sanada's seiyuu, Kusunoki Taiten and Tezuka Kunimitsu's seiyuu, Okiayu Ryoutarou at a later date. Note that the tracks which I recommend will be marked with an asterisk.

1) Fuurin Kaazan - Instrumental*
Strong blend of Asian-style and Kitaro-type of music. Majestic feel which brings out the aura of the Emperor i.e. Sanada.

2) Fly To Tomorrow
A fast rock number where the lyrics are mainly about embarking on a journey now to achieve the dream, do not be fearful and prepare to face obstacles along the way.

3) Ginmaku no Bogey*
Retro-style, mid-tempo, an 80s feel. Description of a stormy night in the city is meant to bring out the theme of loneliness felt by a man and what lies ahead after the skies clear up. Somehow, I get the idea that this seems to be talking about the solitude Sanada experiences as he's at the top but he can't really find someone to share his success. And Taiten-san's voice is really suitable for such a song, partly due to his low vocal range and the image of Sanada where he doesn't really look like a 15-year-old after all. ^__^

4) Kirisame*
Sentimental number with lyrics depicting a rainy afternoon. "Others seem happy to me. Even though I'm pleased about the pursuit of my passions, I feel lonely when I stop to take stock of my life. I can't lie to myself about this. I didn't know how gentleness was until I saw your smile. The present will become nostalgic memories in time to come." This is one of the few songs which suggests a tinge of romance as most songs have lyrics talking about Sanada's passion for trying to make it to the top be it for tennis or any other thing else. And if he's that lonely, I'm glad to keep him company. :-)

5) No Surrender
This is the only song which Taiten-san wrote the lyrics for and he said that it was tough to do it during the Rajipuri clip in the bonus CD. This is a fast, techno-style number which is in tune with the central theme of striving towards your goal without giving up. Personally, I do like the lyrics which Taiten-san wrote but the melody doesn't suit my tastes.

6) ROLLING STARS
Rock style number, same theme as what I mentioned above.

7) Totsugeki! Gekkan Pro Tennis [Sanada Genichirou Hen]*
Retro-style song with lyrics in the form of the interview thus most of the lines are sung by Inoue & Shiba from Gekkan Pro Tennis. What struck me most was how they managed to turn this into a rather catchy and groovy song and it turned out to be better than I expected.

8) Seishun no Kage tachi*
Guest star for this track is Hanamura Aoi and this is yet another rare number in this album because it's a sentimental duet. Well, there's nothing to suggest that Sanada and Hanamura are put together as a couple (I would be the first to object since Hanamura is already paired with Shinjou). In addition, the song is of the enka-genre which makes it even more interesting. The main message is about the helplessness and uncertainties experienced during youthful days and the things you can't achieve during this period. Hm...I know Sanada looks too "mature" for a junior high kid but this just seems way-off for him to sing in the prime of his "youth".

9) One Way Dream
Fast tempo-band style number. I like the lyrics but not the music. "A wolf breaks free of the pack to seek challenges and thrills while being oblivious to the solitude it will face. Even if I try to hide my outstanding performance, I still stand out from the crowd. No matter how many rivals come my way, I will not hesitate to crush them". Don't you think the lyrics just seem so fitting of Sanada's confidence in his abilities?

10) SQUALL*
Fast number, lyrics in line with central theme but I like it mainly for the melody.

11) Miraizu ~way to go~
Guest star is Yukimura Seiichi but I was quite disappointed with this song. It's a slow and groovy number where the lyrics are nice too. The biggest issue would be Yukimura sounding more like he's reading his lines instead of singing and there's not much changes in the melody whenever he sings. That's why I think it spoils the entire song.

12) Shinkiro*
Slow number which is soothing to the ears. "Achievements are but a fleeting sight. However, I want to leave a proof of my existence thus I will build a bright future with the hard work of today."

13) Pride
Slow number, same message as the central theme.

Conclusion
Although I am recommending about half of the songs in this album, the other half bores me primarily because of the fact that the central theme is repeated too often. I would have wanted more variation to that because there's more to explore in Sanada other than his passion for achievements. I thought that the ingenious way of an enka in a duet manner with Hanamura Aoi was a brilliant idea. It would have been better to show off a more varied perspective of Sanada Genichirou as a person.

As for the guest lineup, I was initially apprehensive of the Gekkan Pro Tennis duo and Hanamura foiling the songs but they turned out to be very good at singing with Sanada. The issue lies with Yukimura where the seiyuu, Nagai Sachiko cannot do anything about the problem at all because the melody forces her to sing with almost the same tone throughout the song. I expected more from the Top 2 of Rikkai but was disappointed because of the melody.

On the whole, I will not say that this album is terrific even though I'm a big fan of Sanada but it's still worth buying the album for the good songs. Besides, you may have a different take on the album due to differing tastes. The biggest incentive would be the bonus Rajipuri CD which lasts for close to an hour where there are lots of humour and juicy details shared by Taiten-san and Okiayu-san. I'll share that with all on a later date.

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Tsuda Kenjirou-san!

Today's the birthday of Tsuda Kenjirou-san who plays Seigaku's brains, Inui Sadaharu in the anime! He was born on 11 June 1971 so this will be his 35th birthday. Currently, he doesn't belong to any agency and handles his career matters personally but he has an alliance with Tokyo Haiyuu Seikatsu Kyoudoukumiai (short-form Haikyou) where they do promotional work for him to get assignments. Tsuda-san's hometown is in Osaka and he graduated from Meiji University's Faculty of Literature where he majored in theatre studies. According to his official website, his height is 170cm, he weighs 53kg and his shoe size is 25.0cm. Tsuda-san counts computing, Osaka-ben and tennis as his strengths. Besides Tenipuri, Tsuda-san's voice can also be heard in animes like Air Gear, H2, Kochikame, SPEED GRAPHER, Yu-Gi-Oh, BECK, Rurounin Kenshin and Meine Liebe Weider. Other than work as a seiyuu, Tsuda-san is an actor who can be seen in movies, dramas and stage plays. I've spotted him in the drama version of Hana Yori Dango last autumn where he talked to the lead Tsukushi played by Inoue Mao. Although it wasn't a close-up shot which showed his face (only his side-view), his unique voice was enough to let me identify him.

As Inui Sadaharu, Tsuda-san has released 2 solo singles, "YOU GET THE POWER" and "DISTANCE", 1 solo album "e=mc2" and a group single "GO! GO! Megane's! with Tezuka Kunimitsu and Oshitari Yuushi as the unit Meganes.

Musical Dream Live 3rd CD

This is the cover of the Musical Dream Live 3rd CD containing the recording of the concerts held at Zepp Tokyo on 28th and 29th March this year. The CD, due to be released on 14 June, would have an original jacket sticker in the first press and the catalogue number is NECA-30165. There are a total of 21 tracks featuring the Seigaku and Hyotei teams thus explaining why characters from these schools are shown on the cover.

Frankly speaking, I find this cover rather amusing because some of these characters e.g. Tezuka and Echizen look rather out-of-place when they hold microphones. I guess being a singer doesn't seem to be suitable for them. On the other hand, we have people like Atobe, Oshitari, Eiji and Fuji who look perfectly comfortable with a mic in their hands as if they can pass off as real performers. Last but not least, we also have people like Kabaji who doesn't say anything other than "Usu" or "katsu no wa Hyotei desu", appearing on the cover. So does anyone actually play Kabaji in the musicals? And does Kabaji have any lines in the first place? I for one, can't imagine Kabaji singing though ^__^ so it makes me quite bewildered to see his face here.

Tenipuri anime to be shown in China this summer

According to the news article on Yomiuri Hochi, the Tenipuri anime series is going to be shown in China through 15 television stations this summer at cities including Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong. In addition, official character goods and DVDs will also be sold in China. Although China already has pirated Tenipuri merchandise floating around for some time, the company which has bought the rights said that they are confident of achieving the target sales of 500 million yen through the official goods. It is estimated that Tenipuri has made at least 50 billion yen from its comics and official merchandise on an international basis.

Hello & Goodbye - Kondou Kaoru

Here's the cover of the ED from the OVA, "Hello & Goodbye" by Kondou Kaoru released on 31 May. Personally, I do not really like this song so I tend to skip this at the end ever since I heard it in the first episode. It's not really to the extent of disliking the song itself but I would say that there's nothing particularly outstanding which catches my eye. The thing I find quite amusing is the choice of characters shown on the cover. If you notice, the three characters i.e. Hiragoba Rin, Yagyuu Hiroshi and Touyama Kintarou have not made their appearances yet in Ep 1 of the OVA (Yagyuu already appeared in the anime series though but he will only return in the OVA Vol 3). Besides, there isn't any obvious similarity between these three rival school characters so I find it weird to put them together with Echizen who's definitely included due to his status as the lead character.

Answer - Yanagi Renji

As mentioned previously, here's the cover of Yanagi Renji's birthday single by the title of "Answer" released on 4 June. To be frank, I was stumped for words when I first saw this. Well, the part about Renji not opening his eyes isn't surprising but the clothes he is wearing and the pose he strikes...I just don't know how I should describe it. Somehow, this had the same problem as Sanada's album cover where the pose seemed so awkward and out of place especially when it is compared with the character's usual style and image. The turtleneck shirt is still acceptable to me but that sweater leaves much to be desired. And I would have very much preferred to see Renji's face instead of the side view.

With regards to the song itself, there's no surprises too since the style is of the techno type just like Renji's first single. It would have been better if he can attempt a ballad or even a rock number. Last but not least, the talk clip at the end of this CD is rather silly. Renji was talking about Inui's poor naming sense for his new technique and then the topic suddenly changed to him being confused about his identity where he mentioned he was Inui and then Kabaji. At the end of the day, I am still none the wiser as to what the whole clip is about.

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Kondou Takayuki-san!

Today's the 28th birthday of Kondou Takayuki who plays Ooishi Shuuichirou in Tenipuri! His hometown is in Tottori and he is under the management of Haikyo where he counts fellow Tenipuri seiyuus like Suwabe Junichi (Atobe Keigo), Namikawa Daisuke (Ootori Choutarou), Ooyura Fuyuka (Osakada Tomoka) and Minagawa Junko (Echizen Ryoma) as his colleagues. His blood group is A while his height and weight are 173cm and 69kg respectively. As he's the youngest seiyuu among the Seigaku team, he's affectionately called Kon-chan (name + the word "chan" is usually used for children or people younger than you). Besides his official website at Haikyo, Kondou-san also has a website which he made by himself. As Kondou-san claims to be a greenhorn at IT, the design of the site is rather simple and focuses more on the content. Other than his profile, there are photos of his family members and places he's been to, a BBS where he answers questions or problems raised by fans and a diary of the happenings in his life.

Other than Tenipuri, Kondou-san's voice can also be heard in other animes like Yu Gi Ou, Starship Operators, NARUTO, Shakugan no Shana and Kochikame. As for CD releases under Ooishi's name, the solo singles include "Piece by Piece", "TWO" and "Hontou no Kimochi" plus "On The Radio" series CDs for June 03 (with Kaida Yuki - Fuji Shuusuke) and October 2003 (with Tsuda Kenjirou - Inui Sadaharu). In addition, since Ooishi is part of Aozu and Seigaku, Kondou-san can also heard in CDs like "Yakusoku - We Love Seigaku", "Departures", "Birthday - Aruki Hajimeta Hi", "Don't Look Back" and "White Line".

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Yanagi Renji!

Today's the birthday of Yanagi Renji, the strategist of Rikkai whose nickname is Master! It's quite a coincidence because we have three guys who are good at data tennis celebrating their birthdays one after another i.e. Mizuki, Inui and now Yanagi. Has it got anything with the fact that they all happen to be born under the sign of Gemini?

Talking about Renji, besides the fact that he's a childhood friend of Inui and they happen to be each other's first doubles partner, not much is really known about his background except for the fact that he moved to Kanagawa during his primary school days. He has since evolved into a strong singles player now and is one of the Top 3 within Rikkai along with Yukimura and Sanada. One distinct trait about Renji is that he keeps his eyes shut just like what Fuji does but the difference between them is that Renji seems so cool and devoid of emotions unlike Fuji who opens his eyes when someone really gets on his nerves. And I have scanned this photo from the Shueisha calendar where you can see how Renji looks like with his eyes wide open.

Among the Rikkai members, Renji is the only one who calls Sanada by his first name rather his surname. Even Yukimura doesn't do that. As such, I suppose that they may have known each other since primary school days as they seem to understand each other so well that they can even form a doubles team like what they did against Fudoumine during the Kantou tournament semi-finals.

As seen from the profile below, Renji seems to have a preference for niche brands when it comes to his favourite tennis accessories. Actually, among the characters, names like YONEX, NIKE, PUMA, PRINCE, WILSON are very common when it comes to their favourite shoes or rackets. However, in Renji's case, his favourite brands turn out to be DIADORA and VOLKL which I suppose should be a German brand. To be frank, I haven't heard of this until I read about it in 20.5.

Name: Yanagi Renji
School: Rikkaidai Fuuzokuchuu Year 3
Date of Birth: 4 June
Zodiac Sign: Gemini
Blood Group: A
Play Style: Counter-puncher, Right-handed
Favourite Shoes: DIADORA Rebound Ace DA2 (128076. ED784)
Favourite Racket: VOLKL Catapult V1 Midplus
Special technique: Data tennis
Favourite food: Everything especially those which are bland
Hobbies: Reading (literature works)
Family: Grandparents, parents and elder sister
Father's occupation: Accountant
Subjects good at: Japanese, Classics and World History
Favourite Colour: White
Favourite type of girl: Someone who is calculative

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Inui Sadaharu!

Today's the birthday of Inui Sadaharu, the data-tennis expert from Seigaku! Although he believes in the usefulness of using data to adjust his play style when dealing with different opponents, there are times when Inui has doubts about himself and this method because when unexpected events happen, they can throw his predictions off the track and he can be left helpless at such times. Besides, he used to be unable to make full use of the virtues in data-tennis because he didn't have the physical prowess to execute the moves that he knows he should do. Nevertheless, Inui is not someone to give up without a fight as he tries to find ways to improve by doing daily physical training and collecting more detailed data about his rivals. As such, I must commend him for being one of the most hardworking guys in Seigaku other than Kaidou. Of course, this doesn't mean that the other characters don't put in effort but that's usually not shown explicitly for all to see. For those at the top of the league like Atobe, Tezuka, Sanada or even Yukimura, their achievements wasn't accomplished overnight either since they must have also gone through tough training to get to where they are at. As such, I feel that Konomi-sensei chooses to use people like Inui and Kaidou to emphasize the importance of daily hard work in tennis.

Talking about partners, Inui wasn't really involved in doubles until he and Kaidou paired up against Hyotei's Shishido and Ootori in the Kantou 1st round. That's when Inui and Kaidou became another fixed combination for consideration when choosing players for the doubles matches. On the surface, it seems a bad idea to put someone who's more logical with someone who tends to get carried away at times and chooses to use his stamina as the stakes to secure victory. However, opposites do attract in this case so they manage to get along with each other on the court after all.

There's also Yanagi Renji, Inui's childhood pal and first doubles partner. Since they know each other so well, this is especially useful when you need to coordinate moves to confuse the rivals. Too bad that they are now in different schools or they would have been a formidable team to beat given that they started out many years earlier as compared most of the doubles teams who probably got to know one another for less than 3 years.

When we talk about Inui, there's also one important aspect to note i.e. his Inui juices. In the beginning, we started off with the innocent-looking vegetable juices but as it slowly evolved, we had other prototypes like Inui Juice, Penal-tea, Aozu and Akazu which was a nightmare to those who tried it. Even Tezuka couldn't stand it when he accidentally drank from the wrong bottle. Only Fuji, the tensai with a taste bud for the exotic flavours can stand such juices but there was once when he couldn't (at the bowling alley) and that's when Inui thought that Fuji bore a grudge against him for it.

Last but not least, I really have to mention Inui's opaque glasses which makes it impossible to see how he looks. However, in one of the DVD's covers i.e. Vol 31, we do get a glimpse of his eyes which makes it easier to picture his face in our minds. Come to think of it, there are a number of characters who also wear opaque glasses like Yagyuu from Rikkai and Muromachi from Yamabuki...Was Konomi-sensei too lazy to draw the eyes or did he want to leave more room for imagination as to how these people look?

Name: Inui Sadaharu
School: Seishun Gakuen Chuutoubu Year 3 Class 11
Date of Birth: 3 June
Zodiac Sign: Gemini
Height: 184 cm
Weight: 62 kg
Blood Type: AB
Play Style: Serve & Volley, Right-handed
Favourite Shoes: PUMA Sequence PT0636 0067
Favourite Racket: Prince Graphite Challenge
Special Techniques: Data Tennis, High-speed serve (now termed as Waterfall if you have read the manga)
Hobbies: Letting Seigaku members drink his Inui juices and reflecting light from his glasses
Family: Parents (only child)
Father's Occupation: Civil Servant
Subject good at: Physics
Favourite Colour: Black
Favourite type of girl: A mature girl who's at ease with herself, preferably someone older than him

Flower-Sakuranka- by GIGS

Although I had meant to post reviews on Sanada's album and OVA Vol 2 before I get to the GIGS single, I got so excited at receiving this today, which is just one day after its release on 31 May so I decided to let this single "jump queue".

It's easy to see why I'm enthusiastic about this CD because my Top 3 favourites are singing together for the first time! Oh well, Echizen is also in GIGS but don't get me wrong, I don't dislike him at all. It's just that being the lead character, Echizen gets to bask in the limelight all the time so I thought it would be better to let the three bucchous to enjoy it exclusively this time round. Whenever there's Echizen, everything good goes to him as what Momo said before. It may be selfishness on my part since we are talking about my Top 3 favourites here but Echizen does seem like the odd one out because the other three are in the same year and hold the post of captain in their respective teams (well, Sanada is the vice-captain though). I can't help but think that his inclusion in this group has a lot to do with his status as the leading guy in Tenipuri.

Coming to the song itself, I bet everyone who has watched the OVA Ep 1 to 3 so far should have heard it before although what we get is only the TV-size version. You would get to hear the entire song in this single which only contains the track "Flower-Sakuranka-" and its instrumental version. It's a very catchy and fast-tempo number which should be easy to remember even at the first listening. Since my Top 3 favourites are singing this, I managed to pick out the individual parts they sang since I know the voices of these seiyuus i.e. Okiayu Ryoutarou, Suwabe Junichi and Kusunoki Taiten pretty well. Of course, for Minagawa Junko, that's also easy to pick out since her voice is rather distinct. Fortunately, everyone gets to sing a couple of solo lines so there's not much of an issue when it comes to whether favouritism is practised here.

With regards to the cover, my only grouse is why must Sanada be made to kneel on the floor?! If everyone gets to show off their coolness while standing, this puts Sanada in a very awkward pose. Maybe those designing the covers should take care in future to prevent any controversies.

As a special treat or should I say because of my Top 3 favourites, I actually sat down to write the romaji lyrics of this song and will indicate the sections which the characters sang so that you can use it as a guide when listening to the song. Please do not reproduce this anywhere without my permission, thanks.

Flower-Sakuranka- by GIGS (Atobe Keigo, Echizen Ryoma, Sanada Genichirou & Tezuka Kunimitsu)

Donna iro de kikazareba jibun rashiku irareru (Echizen)
Biru ni kaketa ano sora wa oshiete wa kurenai (Atobe)

Mayoi konda meiro ni mo kanarazu deguchi wa aru (Tezuka)
Tachi tomatte shimattara kotae ni wa tsukenai (Sanada)

Motemeteru mono ga nan datte (Tezuka & Echizen)
Ketsumatsu wo isoija (Atobe)
Ima ga tsumaranai ze (Sanada)

Saki midarete karei ni mae (All)
Puraido wa nugi sutero (Atobe)
Hokori takaku kokoro moyase (All)
Kazari no iro ja (Sanada)
Honmono ni wa nare ya shinai ze (Echizen)

Ima sugu ni hoshii mono wa hontou wa wakkatte iru (Tezuka)
Karada ga furuedasu hodo no saikou no suriru (Echizen)

Tadori tsuku basshou ga doko datte (Tezuka & Echizen)
Ketsumatsu wo isoija (Tezuka)
Asu ga tsumaranai ze (Echizen)

Itoshii hodo mune wo kogase (All)
Yuutsu sae maki konde (Sanada)
Kuruoshikumo kirei ni nare (All)
Itsuwari no iro ja (Tezuka)
Honmono ni wa nare ya shinaize (Atobe)

Katachi no nai hikari ga sasu basshou de kimi wo matte iru (Echizen)

Saki midarete kirei ni mae (All)
Puraido wa nugi sutero (Atobe)
Hokori takaku kokoro moyase (All)
Owaranai tabi e (Echizen)

Itoshii hodo mune wo kogase (All)
Yuutsu sae maki konde (Tezuka)
Kuruoshikumo kirei ni nare (All)
Itsuwari no iro ja (Sanada)
Honmono ni nare ya shinai ze (Echizen)