日曜日, 9月 12, 2004

Prince of Tennis - Buddies (Part 1)

Actually, among all the various characters in Tenipuri, there are many buddy combinations which are worth discussing. Suddenly, I have the urge to talk about my thoughts about some of these groupings...

Tezuka and Oishi
Tezuka and Oishi
Other than the fact that they knew each other since Year 1 and that Oishi knows about Tezuka's injury, I don't seem to see a lot of closeness between these two guys outside of the courts and school like Momo and Echizen going for hamburgers together. Somehow, what binds them is the common belief that they can make it to the Nationals before they graduate and that seems to be the basis of their friendship. I'm not sure how to put it but SHINNEN seems to be the core ingredient in this pairing. I think since Tezuka is not one who expresses his emotions freely, Oishi becomes the bridge between him and the other members who may not understand him as well. Honestly speaking, I'm quite touched by their friendship especially when Tezuka had to leave for Germany to treat his shoulder and Oishi promised to make it to the Nationals for Tezuka to join the team in their quest. It's just that in the few recent episodes, there seems to be minimal interaction between them.

Sanada and Yukimura (Rikkaidai)
Well, there is very little mention of Yukimura other than the fact that we know there's something wrong with his body which stops him from playing tennis. I don't even know where the problem lies since the anime didn't mention. What we can see is that Sanada and Yukimura share a strong bond with each other which seems to be somewhat similar to what Tezuka and Oishi have. I like this combination quite a bit since there's the stern Sanada with the smiley face Yukimura which is the exact opposite of Tezuka and Oishi (captain is stern, vice captain is nice). Since Yukimura's operation is already successful, maybe we will get to see how his skills are and if possible, know more about his history with Sanada.

Momoshiro and Kaidou
These two are essentially rivals who provocate each other at the slightest opportunity. However, that match with Rikkaidai made me very touched besides it being really exciting. That's because these rivals put aside their differences for the sake of their sole aim to win the match. Actually, what they were fighting over so far were really small issues like not wanting to lose out to each other but the fact that they decided to get along with each other for once as compared to the St Rudolph match where they were doing their own thing, means a lot in this match since it's the Kantou finals. They tried to create chances for each other to perform his best tricks which speaks of the great coordination they can create from the sparks in their relationship. And when Kaidou was beaten psychologically by Jackal with his impersonation of Boomerang Snake, Momo tried to cover for him until he recovered from the shock. As Inui and Fuji put it correctly, being rivals helped them to know each other's strengths and weaknesses in addition to knowing how it feels to be in that sort of situation when you start to question your ability. Momo had this problem before when his Dunk Smash was blocked so he knows best how Kaidou is feeling. Hopefully, they can appear more in Doubles since I see that they can click pretty well just like what Kaidou and Inui did during the Hyotei match.

Tezuka and Fuji
Something strange about them...Fuji seems to be able to read Tezuka's mind and constantly teases him about various things while Tezuka is able to speak his mind in front of Fuji besides Oishi. The thing binding them would probably be coined as understanding of each other. The story didn't really say how close they were in the early years but seems like Fuji is a good listening ear for Tezuka when the need arises. Fuji has never beaten Tezuka before (in fact no one has managed to do so in the whole of Seigaku) so I'm wondering if Fuji does regard defeating Tezuka as a goal to achieve in addition to treating him as a buddy. Rivals or friends? It's this ambiguous mix of emotions that makes this relationship hard to define...

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