Saeki Kojirou

Anime Manga
Saeki Kojirou
Kanji	佐伯虎次郎
Kana	さえき こじろう
Nicknames	Sae-san
Characteristics
Gender	Male
Age	15
Height	174 cm (40.5)
Weight	61
Birthday	October 1
Horoscope	Libra
Eyesight (Unaided)	2.5
Blood Type	O
Family	Father Mother 1 Older sister
School
Rokkaku	Rokkaku Middle School (3rd)
Class	3-C
Seat	9
Former School(s)	Rokkaku 3rd Elementary
Tennis
Club Position	Vice-captain
Dominant Arm	Left
Play Style	Serve and Volley
Doubles Partner(s)	Itsuki Marehiko
Racket(s)	Made by Ojii
Media
Manga Debut	Genius # 168
Anime Debut	Episode #
Seiyuu	Oda Yusei
Tenimyu Actors	Kawahara Kazuma[川原一馬] (1st) Yoshida Daiki[吉田大輝] (2nd) Yashiro Takuya [矢代卓也] (3rd)

Saeki Kojirou (佐伯虎次郎(さえきこじろう)) is a 3rd year student at Rokkaku Middle School. He's the vice-captain of the tennis club, and is the most popular guy at Rokkaku.

Appearance

In the manga, Saeki's hair ranges from dirty blonde to light brown, with brown eyes. In the anime, his hair is grey-silver, with black undertones. He also has dark blue eyes that light up when he uses his motion vision. In the video games, his hair is beige and sometimes platinum blonde. In the trading card game it's blonde. In the musicals it's dark brown.

Personality

Aoi Kentarou seems like he can’t stay calm and gets carried away easily because of his energetic behaviour, but actually he’s a patient and hardworking guy who knows how to take responsibility for his team.

He is good at complimenting others and making friends, but secretely believes that he's the best, although this side doesn't come out often. He tends to overestimate himself, because of that hidden pride, which led to his defeat by Kaidou eventually. He is shown to not be ambitious or conceited but genuinely curious when it comes to wanting to beat strong opponents.

Aoi has also been called a pressure junkie in reference to his tendency to let his mental pressure build up so he can concentrate better and in general perform better. This part isn't only restricted to tennis, it also shows in various other activities, like grilling Yakiniku and gathering clams.

Another aspect of his personality is his longing to become popular, mostly with girls. He seems to be unsuccessful though.

History

Prior to the events of the main story

When he was in his last year of Rokkaku 1st Elementary School, Ojii accidentally elected him as the next captain of Rokkaku Middle School's tennis club instead of Saeki (implied).

Kantou Tournament

Aoi first appears intruding on Saeki's and Fuji's meetup right before Seigaku's match vs Rokkaku in the semi-finals of the Kantou tournament. He is seen cheering on and commenting on the matches before his, namely D1 and D2. In singles 3, Aoi got Kaidou Kaoru as opponent. While he seems to lose at first, dropping 4 games, he quickly makes a comeback with his pressure tennis style and manages to turn the tables, before ultimately losing 7-5 after running out of stamina. Aoi is next shown attending the award ceremony, where it's seen that Rokkaku lost to Fudomine. It is unknown if Aoi lost his match. Aoi later appears during Seigaku's Training camp at Chiba. In the volleyball tournament, he teams up with Echizen and smashes his way through until the finals, which were eventually disbanded because of Inui juice zombies.

Nationals

In the nationals, he leads Rokkaku in singles 3 against Chinen Hiroshi. Despite being confident in his abilities, he ends up losing because of Chinen's arm reach and Shukuchiho. He joins his fellow members when they rush Ojii to the hospital after Kai Yuujirou's attack. He is seen cheering on Seigaku vs Shitenhouji and Rikkai. He also appears during the Yakiniku battle, where he disqualified early after drinking Iwashimizu.

Post Nationals

Aoi is shown sending a message in a bottle to Kurobane Harukaze and Amane Hikaru at the camp. He realizes that they probably won't arrive because the U17 camp takes place in the mountains.

Anime only arcs

Aoi appear first after he mistook Echizen Ryoma helping Ojii for bullying an old man. When the mistake was celared up, he invited them to go to Rokkaku's school grounds, where they fraternized. While Aoi's position remains the same as singles 3, he instead plays Echizen Ryoma instead of Kaidou Kaoru. His playstyle is changed to the point that he can hit accurately at one corner, and his racket has hexagonal strings which gives him more power. Nevertheless, he still lost. In the anime he is shown to be a very loud person, as Echizen Ryoma remarked.

Playstyle

Aoi Kentarou is an agressive baseliner, whose tactic relies on losing the first points on purpose, so he can make a comeback under the pressure. His pressure playstyle allows him to draw upon his 'hidden strength'. Due to his shortness, he's bad at the net, as was focused on in 'Higa vs Rokkaku'.

Cord Ball

Aoi's signature move is the cordball, which he can hit when he's under extreme pressure. He hits it from the baseline and as it skims the net, it usually drops before the opponent can react.

Personal Information

• Favorite Food: Yakiniku
• Hobby: Playing at the beach (Swimming), Researching/Spying on how Sae can be so popular
• Father's Occupation:　Company worker (construction company)
• Best School Subject: Japanese, ethics, sociology
• Favorite Color: Blue
• Type of person he's interested in: Whatever girl he comes to like is his type (A girl who likes him), A girl who sees him for what he truely is
• Committee (at school): Broadcasting company
• Worst School Subject: English
• Spot where he is frequently seen at school: He often goes over to class B　（Chatting with classmates)
• Spends his money on: Buying food
• Favorite saying: "Finding a needle in a haystack"
• Favorite movie: Sentai movies
• Favorite book: Fashion magazines
• Favorite music: The opening theme of the sentai show he watches every week
• Place he wants to go on a date: A theme park
• What he wants most: A cute girlfriend (40.5), Someone who sees him for what he is (23.5)
• Daily routine: Checking the latest fashion information
• Doesn't like: Peppers
• Specialty outside of tennis: Building plastic models

Relationships

Ojii

Aoi seems to be protective of Ojii across all media, and admires him greatly. Ojii had appointed him as captain, made him a racket and allows him to come over and play at his home. When Ojii was hit with a ball, Aoi accompanied him to the hospital without hesitation.

Saeki Kojirou

Aoi seems to admire Saeki to a certain extent, mostly because the latter is very popular with girls (and boys alike). Saeki sees him as a trustworthy captain, as does Aoi see him as a trustworthy vice-captain.

Trivia

• Aoi has expressed his wish to become taller. This was for the sake of 1: Becoming an All rounder and 2: Becoming popular with girls.
• He frequently fights with his two older brothers for ownership of the tv remote.
• Aoi can play even with Amane Hikaru
• His birth flower is the Alstroemeria.

Words for the Two

• About Aoi Kentarou: “With that pressure strategy of his, whether it’s clam gathering or a timed skin diving contest, Kentarou comes out top. He’s an interesting kid.” - Kurobane Harukaze
• About Aoi Kentarou: “He doesn’t think too hard about the consequences or circumstances, he’s innocent and naïve, and just a little bit cocky… I guess I’d say. You never get tired of being around him.” - Saeki Kojirou
• About Aoi Kentarou: “I’ll compliment you for not rising to my provocation. Maybe if you grow a little bit taller, you can be my opponent!” - Chinen Hiroshi

Music

• Love festival feat. Atobe Keigo, Echizen Ryoma
• Valentine day Kiss feat. Amane Hikaru, Itsuki Marehiko
• Sunset way
• Passion Rocket
• Gift
• Wasshoi! feat. Rokkaku

Gallery

• 

  Full body anime appearance

• 

  Aoi gets disqualified from the Yakiniku battle

• 

  Showcasing his pressure playstyle

Quotes

• “Alright, I’ll go for a cord ball with the next shot too! If I can’t hit it in, I’ll only be able to date ugly girls for three whole years… Never!!
• "How am I this awesome! And… it’ll fall directly on top of the line-!!”
• “You shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover”
• “Interesting!! If they can overturn that, it’d be awesome!!”