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