As the school of the protagonist, the focus of the series is on the Seigaku tennis team.  To date, Seigaku is considered one of the best schools from the Tokyo region.  During this current tennis season they have gone undefeated against all other schools including the two-time National champions, Rikkaidai.  However, this success has not always been the case for Seigaku.     Seigaku’s tennis team has a diverse group of tennis players from age, attitude, and playing styles.  These differences come together to form a team with such a warm bond, yet friendly rivalry.  From the stoic captain to the ever-evolving freshman, Seigaku fights on to fulfill their goal of achieving Nationals glory.   On their long road to Nationals, Seigaku has defeated many strong schools.  During the Districts, Seigaku defeated Fudoumine to become the District Champions  3-1.  They went on to defeat St. Rudolph 3-1 one as well and Yamabuki in the finals of Prefecturals 3-1 to advance to the Regionals.  The Seigaku had to battle even harder to defeat Hyoutei, one of their main rivals, 3-2, Jyousei Shounan ,3-1, Rokkaku, 3-0, and Rikkaidai, 3-2 to become the victor of the Kantou Regional.  However, their matches were not without a lost.  Captain Tezuka was severely injured in the match again Hyoutei and left to seek treatment leaving Seigaku in the hands of Vice-Captain Oishi.     UNIFORM White; Blue collar, shoulder section, sleeves down to the side of shirt; Sleeve has white stripe; Collar has red stripe; Seigaku in English, black on upper left side   CHARACTERS Tezuka Kunimitsu (3rd year)   Tezuka has short, light golden brown hair.  He wears oval framed glases and a green sweatband on left wrist.  Tezuka Kunimitsu is the captain of Seigaku’s tennis team.  He speaks very few words unless to punish a member with laps around the tennis courts.  Under the strict face, lies a player willing to sacrifice himself for the team.  His conviction and dedication have helped bring back glory to Seigaku.   During his first year, Tezuka’s arm was injured by an upperclassman striking him in his left arm (his dominant arm).  The pain grew worse the following year, and Tezuka had to decline to the Jr. Senbatsu Camp to seek treatment.  During this current year, his arm was declared healed, however in his game against Hyoutei’s Atobe, Tezuka injured his shoulder. He went to Germany to seek treatment.  Prior to his match against Atobe, Tezuka had never lost a game official or unofficial.  His special moves are Tezuka Zone where he controls the ball so well that the opponent’s return always comes back in his direction and Zero-shiki Drop shot, where the drop shot rolls back toward the net instead of bouncing toward the opponent.   Oishi Syuichirou (3rd year)   Oishi has very short, black hair, shaved on the bottom half of head and two small pointy bangs.  He also has expresive green eyes.  Oisihi is the vice-captain of the Seigaku team.  He cares much for the welfare of each of his teammates to the extent of overworrying.  Thus he is aptly nicknamed the "mother of Seigaku."  He is also Tezuka’s oldest friend.  Oishi plays doubles with Kikumaru Eiji for several years.  Together, he and Kikumaru are known as the national level “Golden Pair.” During this year, Oishi injured his wrist by coming to the aid of a pregnant woman prior to the Hyoutei match.  He is now fully healed.  While Tezkua sought treatment, Oishi became interim captain of the Seigaku Tennis team.  Oishi with Kikumaru has mastered the Australian Formation, I Formation, and Oishi Territory.where he plays up at the net.  His special move is the Moon Volley, a pin point lob that lands directly on the opponent’s base line.   Fuji Syuusuke (3rd year)   Fuji has brown hair up to nape of neck.  The majority of the time he keeps his eyes closed unless when serious then his cerulean eyes (anime) are revealed.  Fuji is known a Seigaku’s tensai (prodigy).  He is most famous for his Triple Counters (Tsubame Gaeshi, Higuma Otoshi, and Hakugei).  Tsubame Gaeshi is a return that does not bounce but rather rolls low to the ground.  Higuma Otoshi involves Fuji turning this back to return and is useful countering power shots like Momoshiro’s Dunk Smash.  Hakugei requires some wind in order to work by first slicing the ball so bounces upward suddenly before the opponent before bouncing behind the opponent and returning to Fuji.  Fuji has not really shown in full potential until the match against Rikkaidai where he gave it his all.  Previously, he was just motivated to push his opponents to their maximum.  Fuji sometimes play doubles with Kawamura Takashi or Kikumaru Eiji.  When he plays with Kikumaru Eiji, they maximize their abilities by playing like two singles players and are also called the “Dream Pair.”  Note of interest, Fuji enjoys wasabi sushi and invulnerable to all of Inui’s concoctions except aozu.   Inui Sadaharu (3rd year)   Inui has short spikey, black hair and wears reflective square framed glasses.  He is also the tallest member of the Seigaku tennis team.  Inui is known as the Data man of Seigaku and was taught his style of play by his old doubles partner Yanagi Renji of Rikkaidai.  Early on, Inui was dropped from the Seigaku regulars when Ryoma and Kaidou defeated him during the ranking matches.  During that time, he became the team manager concocting unusual juices, making training menus, taking data on his teammates, and retraining himself.  Later, he reclaimed his spot on his team by defeating Momoshiro in the following ranking match.    Aside from using his Data Tennis to analyze his opponets in game, Inui’s special move is the Super Sonic Serve, one of the fastest serves in the Junior Tennis scene.  Inui plays singles, but is also able to play doubles as seen in doubles matches with Yanagi, Kaidou, and Momoshiro.  When Inui puts aside his Data tennis, his instinct-driven tennis is a force to be reckoned with.   Kikumaru Eiji (3rd year)   Kikumaru has short red hair that curls at the end and sport a bandaid on his right cheek.  He also have dark blue eyes (anime).  Kikumaru is the other half of Seigaku’s nationally ranked “Golden Pair.”  He is Oishi’s doubles partner.  Kikumaru’s speciality is acrobatic play.  The unusual positions and degree of flexibility required to do this style of tennis shock many an opponent not used to it.  Like Hyoutei’s Gakuto, Kikuamaru struggled with his low stamina, but has since built it up.  Due to Oishi’s unfortunate accident before the Hyoutei match, he was forced to pair with Momoshiro Takeshi.  However, this unusual pairing let Kikumaru evolve as a player allowing him to dabble in the defensive aspect of doubles.  His “dream” pairing with Fuji against Rokkaku further advanced his skills and added to his arsenal a new move that makes it appear that there are several Kikumarus because of incredible speed.  Kikumaru also has the best vision of all the Seigaku players.  Kikumaru’s most famous moves are the Kikumaru Beam and Kikumaru Bazooka.   Kawamura Takashi (3rd year)   Kawamura has short, light brown hair with sideburns and small part on the right side.  Normally, he is a very nice and mild-mannered.  However, hand him a tennis racquet, Kawamura goes into “Burning” mode where he exudes bravado and confidence his normal self does not.  While in “Burning” mode, he often shouts out English phrases in play and has fiery aura when initially holding a racquet.  Kawamura is power tennis player.  With the guidance of Fudoumine’s Ishida Tetsu, he have modifed the Hadoukyuu into one and two-handed forms. With Momoshiro’s help, he’s evolved the Hadoukyuu into the Dash Hadoukyuu, a very powerful move that he can only use once in a game or risk breaking his wrist.  In the initial stages of the Dash Hakdoukyuu, Kawamura appears to look like a demon.  He also can do his Burning Serve.  Of interest, when Kawamura enters high school, he will retire from tennis to fully train as a sushi chef to take over the family sushi business.   Momoshiro Takeshi (2nd year)   Momoshiro has short black hair combed upward into a spikey flattop and has violet eyes.  Momoshiro wears a  black armband on his right arm.  He is the first regular that Ryoma encounters at Seigaku.  Since his first year, Momoshiro or as he likes to be called “Momo-chan” has developed into a great tennis player.  Like Kawamura, he too is a power tennis player.  One driving factor in his development has been his longtime rivalry with Kaidou Kaoru, but as of the Rikkaidai match, they have reached a basic understanding.    During this season, Momoshiro lost his regulars spot during the second ranking tournamnet at Seigaku.  However, with Oishi’s injury and Tezuka’s subsequent injury, he has risen back to his regulars possession.  With Oishi’s injury prior to the Hyoutei match, Momoshiro took his place in doubles with Kikumaru.  The doubles experience with Kikumaru and with Inui have developed Momoshiro into a great doubles players and allowed him see through his passrionate nature to read his opponent’s moves.  His more known special moves are the Dunk Smash and Jack Knife.  Kaidou Kaoru (2nd year)   Kaidou has short, black hair and sports a green and white bandana.  His eyes are snake-like, which goes well with his brand of tennis.  Kaidou has a habit of hissing a lot that matches his nickname “Mamushi” (Viper).  His habits and his appearance go well with the names of his special moves, the Snake, a high angle shot, and the Boomerang Snake, a shot that goes around the side of the tennis court into the opponent’s court.  Kaidou has also adapted his Snake move for when he’s running around on the courts into the Running Snake.  Kaidou’s main strategy in tennis is to wear his opponent’s down with his endurance.  To do this, Kaidou trains very hard daily by running laps, drills, and practicins his swings.  Proof of Kaidou’s tenacity is his mastering of the Boomerang Snake that required extensive wrist and arm techinque training and his never-surrender attitude in game.   Kaidou has paired with Inui in doubles as well as Momoshiro, his longtime rival.  His pairing with Inui allowed him to fine tune his Boomerang Snake and work on his doubles skills.  Also, underneath Kaidou’s gruff snakelike persona is a warmer side that has an affinity for rescuing dogs and caving into Ryoma’s cat, Karupin’s demands to play. Echizen Ryoma (1st year)   Ryoma has short black hair with greenish undertones and greenish-brown eyes (anime), not to mention short.   He always found wearing a light blue and white sweatband on his left wrist.  As the protagonist of the series, the series revolves on Ryoma’s evolution into a great tennis player and that of his tennis team.  Ryoma also has a lot to live up to as the son of the great Samurai Nanjirou.  Prior to coming to Japan, Ryoma had won four junior tennis titles.   From first defeating Kaidou and Inui to gain a spot on the Seigaku regulars to the Rikkaidai match, Ryoma’s tennis has evolved.  His arsenal of tennis moves include the Twist Serve, Twist Serve Tornado, Split Step, Stutter Step, Drives A and B, and Cyclone Smash.  Since his loss to Tezuka, Ryoma has truly grown into the “Pillar of Support” for Seigaku as Tezuka wished for him to be especially with his defeat of the one of the best junior high players Rikkaidai’s Sanada Genichirou.  Also, as great as Ryoma is at singles tennis, he plays doubles poorly.