Mukahi Gakuto

Anime Manga
Mukahi Gakuto
Kanji	向日岳人
Kana	むかひがくと
Gender	Male
Age	14POT 15NPOT
Birthday	September 12 (Virgo)
Height	158 cm
Weight	48 kg
Blood Type	B
Dominant Arm	Left
Eyesight (Unaided)	1.5 both eyes
Shoe Size	25 cm
Family	Father Mother Older Sister Younger Brother
School
School	Hyoutei Academy Middle School 3rd
Elementary School	Hyoutei Academy Elementary School
Class	3-D
Seat	24
Committee	Exercise Committee
Best Subject(s)	Chemistry, English, PE
Worst Subject(s)	Politics/Economics
Tennis
Club Position	Regular
Play Style	Serve and Volley
Doubles Partner(s)	Oshitari Yuushi Hiyoshi Wakashi
Shoes	K.SWISS (Preventor 2000)
Racket(s)	BRIDGESTONE (Wingbeam M45)
Media
Manga Debut	Genius 117
Anime Debut	Episode 53
Voice	Hoshi SouichirouJP {{{VoiceENCR}}}EN (CR) {{{VoiceENVIZ}}}EN (VIZ)
Tenimyu Actors	Aoyagi Ruito (1st-A) Fukuyama Seiji (1st-B) Shison Jun (2nd) Satsuki Kitano (3rd)

Mukahi Gakuto (向日岳人(むかひがくと)) is a 3rd year student at Hyoutei Academy Middle School. He is famous as a practitioner of Acrobatic Tennis and physics defying Moonsault. Mukahi attended Hyoutei Academy Elementary School with Shishido Ryou and Akutagawa Jirou; the three have been friends since childhood.

Mukahi Gakuto

Appearance

Mukahi is small and jumpy. He is very short and light; his stature is commented on a few times, such as by Momoshiro Takeshi^{ep 53}, usually when performing acrobatic maneuvers. He is the third shortest middle schooler in the manga, only taller than first years Tooyama Kintarou and Ryouma Echizen. In the manga his eyes are brown, in the anime they are dark blue. He has very distinctive dark red hair styled in a blunt angled bob with symmetrical angled bangs.

Personality

Personal

• Hobbies: Bungee jumping
• Dislikes: Ghost stories, especially the book Hiyoshi left in his room.
• Spends His Allowance On: Hanging out with friends
• Most Wanted Item/Thing: Height (formerly, wings on his back)
• Skills Beyond Tennis: Skateboarding, street dancing, parkour
• Father's Occupation: Electronics shop (family business)
• Things he's bad with: His father, ghost stories
• Random Fact: Sends over 120 messages a day

Preferences

• Food(s): Fried Chicken (Karaage), Nattou
• Color(s): Red
• Motto(s): "A jump a day!" (He made it up when he was young)
• Movie(s): Spiderman
• Book(s): Sports Manga
• Music: Hip Hop
• Type of Person: High-spirited
• Date Spot: Amusement Park
• Most Visited Spot on Campus: The Roof

Biography

Mukahi first appears with the rest of the Hyoutei regulars of the time at the street courts, seemingly to taunt Momoshiro. Momoshiro challenges the Hyoutei players and Mukahi responds that he and Oshitari Yuushi would only play doubles. Echizen Ryouma arrives, a potential doubles partner, and the Hyoutei members escalate their vague insults. Having provoked Momoshiro, Mukahi leaps into a backflip over him and lands behind him, showing off his acrobatic ability. Mukahi challenges Momoshiro and Echizen to an informal match, but the challenge is declined.

Mukahi was introduced as a foil to acrobatic tennis player Kikumaru Eiji. In their doubles match as opponents (Mukahi/Oshitari vs. Kikumaru/Momoshiro) all observers note that Mukahi's acrobatics are superior, likely due to his smaller size and ludicrous jump height. However, his arrogance and low stamina prove to be his downfall. He jumps too much and loses his energy, eventually unable to play. Ultimately he and Oshitari lose.

Relationships

Oshitari Yuushi

Oshitari is Mukahi's primary doubles partner and best friend. Mukahi is often staying over at Oshitari's house and the two are spotted hanging out by other characters in the series. They appear in Houkago no Oujisama together frequently. They refer to each other by their given names. This is uncommon in Oshitari's case, but Mukahi is commonly referred to by his friends as "Gakuto". At U-17, they play each other to decide who will stay at the camp. Before the match they agree to no hard feelings but Mukahi suffers a devastating loss of 6-0, and definitely retains bitterness as he leaves the camp. Their friendship does not suffer any permanent damage.

Hiyoshi Wakashi

Hiyoshi and Mukahi play doubles together during Nationals against Seigaku. After Hiyoshi insults Oshitari's performance in the previous match, Mukahi remarks, "This is why I hate playing doubles with this guy." They perform with very good teamwork in their match, but they are shown to bicker outside of tennis. Despite this, they are also shown to be fairly close friends. When Oshitari wasn't home and Mukahi had run away, he went to Hiyoshi's house. They are shown to play pranks on each other as well: Mukahi puts a fake ghost in Hiyoshi's room, and Hiyoshi responds by leaving a ghost story in Mukahi's room– his weakness, Hiyoshi knows.

Kikumaru Eiji

Kikumaru and Mukahi operate as rivals in Acrobatic Tennis. Eventually, after their match, they grow to have a degree of respect towards each other, at least for their acrobatic abilities.

Shishido Ryou

Mukahi and Shishido, along with Akutagawa Jirou, have been friends since early childhood. On one occasion at age 7, Shishido attacked other kids that made Mukahi and Akutagawa cry. As middle school first years they are shown to be quite close, Mukahi calling Shishido by his given name, although he stops calling him this by third year. On their way up the mountain at U-17, they argue frequently, though this is likely exacerbated by their frustration with leaving the camp. Shishido and Mukahi go clothes shopping together because they both like denim.

Akutagawa Jirou

As part of the "Childhood Trio" with Shishido Ryou, as mentioned above, Akutagawa and Mukahi have been close since childhood. Mukahi's father's electronic shop and Akutagawa's family dry cleaners are side by side. Mukahi brings Akutagawa food many evenings, as they live close by. Akutagawa's fear is the stairs in Mukahi's house. Although it is unknown why he fears them, it is at least clear that Akutagawa spends a good amount of time in Mukahi's home. At U-17, they are both roommates with Marui Bunta in Room 204.

Anime specific events

In episode 112, Mukahi plays a singles match against Momoshiro Takeshi.

Events

Events in Mukahi's Life
September 12	Age 0	Born
	Age 5	Stops during his travel and bites into a hard apple
March	Age 12	Graduates from Hyoutei Elementary
April		Enters Hyoutei Middle School
June		Runs away to Oshitari's house for the first time
November	Age 13	Has a dream that he becomes a bird and opposes the yakitori booth at the cultural festival
March		Advances to his second year
October	Age 14	Oshitari isn't home so he runs away to Hiyoshi's home
April		Advances to his third year
July		Kantou Tournament
		Wakes up 1 hour earlier each morning to train
August		National Tournament
		Yakiniku Battle
November	Age 15	Participates in the U17 boarding camp
		During the secret training on the mountain he and Kurobane gather fruits and nuts from the trees
December		Becomes a part of the supporting group in Australia
		Challenges the Dragonfly Return technique

Tennis

Play Style

Mukahi's play involves a lot of jumping, which allows for shots at rare angles and overwhelms his opponents. His Acrobatic Tennis also allows him make seemingly impossible returns, as he can get to almost anywhere in the air. The Moonsault is his greatest weapon, a seemingly impossible flip return from high in the air that hits the court straight down and is difficult to return. He is shown to have surprising strength for his size when he is able to return a Dunk Smash from mid air.

He is best suited for short matches. His frequent use of high jumps and acrobatic maneuvers drains his stamina faster than the average player, and long matches have proven to be his weakness for both of his matches in the series. Because of the airborne nature of his play, Mukahi is best suited for doubles. His singles ability is held back because of the time he spends in the air– in doubles, his partner can return a shot while he is still trying to land, but in singles, he can't necessarily make it back to the ground and in place in enough time.

Tennis Bag Contents

Bird Feathers

He picks these ups, sterilizes them, and turns them into accessories.

Another item

Another definition

Trivia

• He repaired Kamio Akira's broken headphones at camp.

Messages From and To Others

Others about Mukahi

• "Aah, his acrobatics are amazing C~ The way he gets points with that spinny volley is also super cool!!" - Akutagawa Jirou
• "Occasionally, I wish he would stop going wherever he wants. Oh well, that’s his favorite spot though." - Oshitari Yuushi
• “‘There’s a ghost in my house!’ you claimed, so I went to check it out, but… the only thing I saw was just some piece of clothing draped in the shape of a person. Siiiigh. As my retaliation, I secretly left a horror novel somewhere in your house.” - Hiyoshi Wakashi

Mukahi about others

• About Oshitari Yuushi: "I’m relying on you Yuushi. Ah, but he still hasn’t given something in return for the juice money !!"
• About Oshitari Yuushi: "That Yuushi, whenever things don't go his way, he closes himself off! Cut that out and give me back the juice money I lent you!"
• About Ootori Choutarou: "He’s very tall, so I always get the feeling I’m being looked down upon. That doesn’t feel very good."
• About Atobe Keigo: "That Atobe, he changed his cell phone again right!? Shit, I want the newest model too!"
• About Shiraishi Kuranosuke: "Shit, Shiraishi, telling me that 'karaage is bad for my health!' It's my freedom to eat whatever I want!"
• About Kikumaru Eiji: "We didn't play each other in Nationals. As I thought, Kikumaru, you ran away because you're scared of my acrobatics!"
• About Akutagawa Jirou and Marui Bunta: "I'm in the same room as Jirou and Marui. But when they start their volley talks, you just can't stop them, even until late into the night!"
• About Shishido Ryou: “He gets all of his spending money through doing chores around the house. He told me that if he washes the dishes he gets 50 yen; if he takes out the garbage he gets 100 yen. And then, he spends all the money he earns on spoiling his kouhai. He’s a really good guy.”

Music

• A・O・P ～Satoshi sameru senshi～ feat. Oshitari Yuushi
• Da Da Da
• Da Da Da (Kikumaru mix) feat. Kikumaru Eiji
• Get Out the Way with HYOTEI SUPERSTARS II
• Passion feat. Oshitari Yuushi
• Spiral feat. Oshitari Yuushi

Gallery

• 

  A small Gakuto pouts while eating an apple.

• 

  Mukahi executing a Moonsault.

• 

  From the Prince of After School.

Quotes

• "Motto tonde miso!" ("You should jump more!")
• "There's always someone above you."
• "Kuso Kuso!" (cursing)