Akutagawa Jirou

Anime Manga
Akutagawa Jirou
Kanji	芥川慈郎
Kana	あくたがわじろう
Gender	Male
Age	15
Birthday	May 5 (Taurus)
Height	160 cm
Weight	49 kgPOT 51 kgNPOT
Blood Type	AB
Dominant Arm	Right
Eyesight (Unaided)	1.5, both eyes
Shoe Size	26 cm
Family	Father Mother Older Brother Younger Sister
Nicknames	Sleeping Beauty
School
School	Hyoutei Academy Middle School 3rd Year
Elementary School	Hyoutei Academy Elementary Division
Class	C
Seat	2
Committee	Off-Campus Activities
Best Subject(s)	Technology, PE
Worst Subject(s)	Classics, Chinese
Tennis
Club Position	Regular
Play Style	Serve and Volley
Doubles Partner(s)	Shishido Ryou (match not shown)
Shoes	WILSON SURGE DST 02 Mid S1234W
Racket(s)	WILSON HYPER PRO STAFF 7.6 with ROLLERS
Media
Anime Debut	Episode 48
Voice	Ueda YūjiJP {{{VoiceENCR}}}EN (CR) {{{VoiceENVIZ}}}EN (VIZ)
Tenimyu Actors	Yabuki Takuya (1st) Naitou Taiki (1st) Akazawa Tomoru (2nd) Tamura Shougo (3rd)

Akutagawa Jirou (芥川慈郎(あくたがわじろう)) is a 3rd year student at Hyoutei Academy Middle School and a regular on Hyoutei's tennis team. He is very rarely referred to by his family name, and is usually known as simply Jirou. Akutagawa is an incredibly talented serve-and-volleyer, his biggest asset being his "magic wrists". His extraordinary wrist flexibility allows him to return a shot from any position. He spends almost all of his time asleep, which is tolerated by the tennis club because of his talent. When he is awake, he is positive and bursting with excited energy.

Appearance

Akutagawa is short with wavy slightly wild hair, which is yellow in the manga and orange in the anime. He has big brown eyes in both media. He is most often seen asleep. He wears striped boxers under his uniform, and is sometimes seen wearing only his boxers, having accidentally removed his shorts while being woken up by a teammate.

Personality

Akutagawa is an extremely positive person. When he isn't sleeping or sleepy, as he almost always is, he's usually quite excited. He has no negative reaction to even losing a match. Things that excite him the most are difficult tennis opponents, such as Atobe Keigo and Fuji Shuusuke.

History

Before the Storyline

Akutagawa watches Atobe defeat the entire tennis club on their first day of middle school with Mukahi Gakuto and Shishido Ryou. At the beginning of the Another Story OVA, when Atobe declares himself king of this school (not just the tennis club), Akutagawa looked amazed rather than appalled. Later as Mukahi and Shishido express their distaste at the idea of Atobe in the tennis club, Akutagawa is positive about it.

He faces Marui Bunta in the Newcomers Tournament during his first year. He loses and takes Marui's wristbands.

Anime Only

"Jirou's Awakening" is episode 4 of Another Story OVA II - Ano Toki no Bokura. It takes place close to the end of Akutagawa's second year. The regulars have deemed Akutagawa's sleepiness an issue, and Oshitari Yuushi takes it upon himself to find something that stimulates him. He and Mukahi Gakuto follow Akutagawa to Rikkai, where he, in surprising wakefulness, goes to observe Marui Bunta's talents. He then follows Marui and approaches him, and the two sit and talk while eating pastries. Marui does not remember Akutagawa at first until he mentions the Newcomers Tournament. Marui offhandedly expresses interest in playing Akutagawa again, and Akutagawa takes it to heart, running off excitedly. Oshitari and Mukahi have discovered his stimulation.

Akutagawa asks Atobe to arrange a practice match between Hyoutei and Rikkai. Atobe agrees to do so, but only if Akutagawa doesn't sleep through practice. Akutagawa agrees and somehow manages to stay awake during practice for more than a week, up until the two schools face each other.

The day of the match arrives and the two volleyers play a glorious game of tennis, and it looks like Akutagawa can grasp victory– until he falls asleep mid-game, his exhaustion catching up to him. Marui leaves him a message saying he looks forward to the day he reluctantly receives Akutagawa's wristbands (in such a case Akutagawa defeats him).

Tokyo and Kantou Tournaments

During the Tokyo Tournament, in the consolation match Hyoutei plays against St. Rudolph, Akutagawa defeats Fuji Yuuta in 15 minutes.

Later at the Kantou Tournament, Yuuta stumbles upon him sleeping, waking him up. They recognize each other, only for Akutagawa to fall back asleep. Kabaji soon appears to retrieve him as Seigaku plays Hyoutei. In this match, he faces Yuuta's brother Fuji Shuusuke. Rather than showing dismay at being overwhelmed by Fuji's counters, Akutagawa is very excited by how cool they are. He is still able to show off his miraculous returns, even when Fuji aims for his feet, a weakness for serve and volley players. In the end, however, he is decisively defeated, although this doesn't dampen his spirit at all.

Akutagawa is later seen with his teammates observing the Rikkai vs. Seigaku matches in the Kantou Tournament Final. He is especially enthusiastic when Marui Bunta plays. He is a big fan of Marui's volleys and genius tricks such as the tsunawatari and techu atte.

Anime Only

At Seigaku's mountain training camp, Akutagawa plays a match against Kaidou Kaoru. He is taken out by the Boomerang Snake and defaults the match.

Nationals

Akutagawa starts to go on court to play against Echizen in Singles 1 at Nationals, but Atobe tells him to get off, and Atobe plays Singles 1. Akutagawa smiles and acts like he's not surprised.

Anime Only

He appears the night before they face Seigaku at the courts where the first lost, is found by his teammates sleeping there.

U-17 Training Camp

Akutagawa attends the camp with the other Hyoutei regulars. He defeats Kabaji Munehiro in the Pair Matches. He stays in room 204 with his friend and teammate Mukahi as well as his idol, Marui Bunta.

Events

Events in Akutagawa's Life
Age 0	May 5	Born
Age 6		Spends most of the day sleeping
Age 7		Appears on a poster in a shopping district with Mukahi Gakuto
Age 12	March	Graduates from Hyoutei Elementary Division
	April	Enters Hyoutei Middle School
		Faces Atobe Keigo in a practice match
Age 13	July	Swims backstroke at school’s swimming tournament, is a runner-up
	August	Is crazy about the cheesecake that Oshitari Yuushi brought as a present
	Autumn	Meets Marui Bunta at a newcomers‘ tournament, receives wristbands for remembrance
	October	At athletic festival, with white (blanc) team, creates a huge Angel monument and is spoken about
	January	At singing contest he falls sleep, his snoring is louder than singing voices and is talked about again
	April	Advances to his second year
Age 14	May	On an excursion to Las Vegas, he gets lost, so Atobe has to send a helicopter to find him
	June	As a member of comittee for off-school activities, plans a cultural Exchange tournament (baseball tournament with a school from Florida), is part of administration
	July	Runner-up at Kantou Tournament
	August	Is supposed to go to tennis training camp in Canada, but oversleeps and is late for a plane
		Nationals best 16
	September	Falls asleep on a tree, is rescued by Hiyoshi Wakashi
	October	Is inaugurated as mascot character of black (noir) team for athletic day
		On a school trip in Germany, he falls asleep in Neuschwenstein Castle, all tennis club members go to search for him
	November	At culture festival, he helps with Musical Sleeping Beauty where he plays a prince and receives an awards for best supporting actor
		Last day of the festival, a girl confesses to him, but he doesn’t notice
	Winter	Goes for a tennis training camp to Guam, but he oversleeps and misses returning plane
	April	Advances to his third year
Age 15	May	Receives an alarm clock from club members for his birthday
	June	Participates in the Tokyo Tournament
	July	Participates in the Kantou Tournament
		At opera appreciation meeting, he falls asleep in the middle of Niebelung’s Ring (from Wagner)
	August 10	Decision about appearing at Nationals
	August 17 - 18	Participates in the National Tournament
		Yakiniku Battle
	September 2	Works at information desk for Memorial Ceremony of Hyotei Theater
	November	Eats Marui Bunta’s wagashi at Rikkai’s culture festival
		Participates in the U17 boarding camp, Winning team
		Gets photos of the stars from Fuji Shuusuke
	December	Becomes a part of the supporting group in Australia
		Falls asleep on the wayside and is escorted back by Ralph

Personal Information

Profile

• Hobbies: Reading Manga (JoJo's Bizarre Adventures), Sleeping, Going to collab cafés
• Dislikes/Weaknesses: Tomatoes, The stairs at Gakuto’s house
• Spends His Allowance On: New Pocky Products
• Most Wanted Item/Thing: a big sofa for his room, A summer house… is what I said right? Atobe!
• Skills Beyond Tennis: Can recite all the stands of Jojo, Doing a Kamehameha
• Father's Occupation: Self-employed (Dry Cleaners Owner)
• Place He'd Like to Travel: I don’t really care about the place, because I will stay at the hotel
• Gift He'd Give Someone Dear: The sheep shaped alarm clock I use
• Daily routine: Changing his pillow case
• Routine During Tournament: High-fiving Marui-kun

Preferences

• Food(s): Lamb, Mousse-flavored Pocky, Country Ma’am
• Color(s): Orange
• Motto(s): Good things come to those who wait.
• Movie(s): Will fall asleep no matter what it is
• Book(s): Shounen manga in general (Lately it’s the ones he lent from Yuuta)
• Music: Will fall asleep no matter what it is
• Type of Person: A fun and cheerful girl
• Date Spot: Manga tea house, a bookshop where you can sleep
• Most Visited Spot on Campus: Quadrangle, Back Courtyard, Rooftop, Infirmary (places where he can sleep)
• Anniversary: When I was a first year in fall…huh what day was that?

Bag Contents

Pocky

Jirou says "I sleep because I'm hungry," so the girls in his class sneak this inside his bag while he sleeps.

Manga

He prefers reading manga from a book over a magazine. He borrowed this from his older brother after he finished reading it.

Marui's wrist band

He forcibly took off Marui Bunta's Wilson wristband after their match at the Newcomers Tournament in their first year.

Mobile phone with GPS

His parents gave it to him because they worry about how he can fall asleep anywhere. It's usually out of battery.

Copies of class notes

His classmates made these for him for all subjects, worried because he sleeps before tests, too.

Alarm clock that adjusts the time using radio waves

A birthday present from club members. He likes it but it doesn't look like he's used it.

Daily School Life

• 7:00AM - Rises from bed after his older sister yanks off his futon, breakfast
• 8:50AM - Goes to school (falls asleep twice and is absent from morning practice)
• ~9:00AM - 1st Period: Japanese II - Classics (dozes off)
• ~10:00AM - 2nd Period: Physical Education - Fencing
• ~10:50AM - Recess: Dozes in the library
• ~11:00AM - 3rd Period: Social Studies I - Geography (dozes off)
• ~12:00PM - 4th Period: Music - Classical Appreciation (dozes off)
• ~12:50PM - Lunch Break: Forgets his bento and gets Atobe to treat him
• 1:10PM - Afternoon nap under the shade of the tree in the courtyard
• ~2:00PM - Carelessly oversleeps and is late for 5th Period (English Conversation)
• ~2:20PM - 6th Period: Technical Skills - Woodworking
• ~3:40PM - Club Activities: Serve & volley practice
• 5:50PM - Falls asleep on his way home and is discovered by Atobe, who sends him home by limousine
• ~6:00PM - Dozes off while tending to his family's dry cleaning shop
• 7:00PM - Is awakened by Mukahi, who brought over some side dishes to share
• 7:30PM - Bathes, dinner, changes his pillow cover
• 8:00PM - Reads manga, a new volley idea comes to mind
• ~9:00PM - Falls asleep while doing practice volley swings in the yard
• 10:00PM - Is discovered by his older brother, who puts him, fast asleep, back to his room

Relationships

Marui Bunta

Akutagawa idolizes Marui Bunta for his genius volleys, and models his tennis after the Rikkai boy's. Marui's tennis is stimulating enough to keep Akutagawa awake, even when he's only observing. He appears to admire Marui deeply, possibly to an obsessive degree.

Mukahi Gakuto

Mukahi and Akutagawa have been close friends since early childhood. They appear in a poster together in a shopping district, and their parents' stores (Mukahi Electronics, Akutagawa Dry Cleaners) are side by side. They live close to one another and Mukahi often brings Akutagawa food.

Shishido Ryou

Like Mukahi, Shishido has been friends with Akutagawa since age 7, if not earlier. The two form a friendship trio with Mukahi. At age 7, Shishido fights some bullies that made Mukahi and Akutagawa cry. Shishido (like Mukahi) is accustomed to looking out after Akutagawa, who falls asleep in random places. This is convenient as the three live close to one another.

Atobe Keigo

Akutagawa is excited by Atobe's tennis. Atobe is one of the few opponents who truly wakes him up and gets him excited to play. Akutagawa is always eager to play him again.

Kabaji Munehiro

Kabaji is often ordered by Atobe to locate Akutagawa when he is gone sleeping somewhere. He is good at finding him and frequently seen carrying a sleeping Akutagawa over his shoulder. He is also in charge of waking Akutagawa up.

Tennis

Playstyle

Akutagawa is a serve-and-volleyer. He attempts to model his tennis style after Marui Bunta's, but he is talented in his own right. He has excellent wrist flexibility, almost a mutation, perhaps, that allows him to return a shot from any angle. As a result he is shown to be immune to his opponents aiming at his feet, a common serve-and-volleyer's weakness.

It is because of his unique and inherent wrist flexibility that Kabaji cannot copy his style and loses to him during the U-17 Pair Matches.

Stats

Akutagawa Jirou
Speed	3
Power	3
Stamina	3
Mental	3
Technique	5

Match History

Tournament	Players	Score

Trivia

Quotes

• "That was so awesome did you guys see that?"
• "Amazing!"

Others about Akutagawa

• "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!" - Mukahi Gakuto
• "Geez, he's gotten so used to having me and Shishido around! Since our houses are close by, we get put in charge of waking Jirou up." - Mukahi Gakuto
• "Akutagawa-senpai? ...can you please stop calling me "HiyoC~" for a change?" - Hiyoshi Wakashi
• "I have no doubt that he has a natural gift for volleys. Your moods are too unstable, Jirou." - Atobe Keigo
• "Jirou is really cheerful, it's great, isn't it. His smile can somehow... make you feel cleansed." - Oshitari Yuushi
• "Jirou...... senpai...... please............. be awake.................................. during practice." - Kabaji Munehiro
• "The other day when I went to the shops, I saw him minding the shop at a dry cleaners! Though, he was sleeping, of course!" - Kamio Akira
• "It seems like Akutagawa-kun is wide awake when it comes to Marui-kun's matches, doesn't it? He is asleep for everything else though..." - Kite Eishirou
• "Just when I thought Akutagawa was mumbling, it was Stand names from "JoJo". I thought it was a some kind of rap!" - Oshitari Kenya
• "That Jirou guy, why is he always that sleepy? Seriously unbelievable." - Zaizen Hikaru
• "Stop it with the 'It [that shot] will be returned cleanly...... by Shishido, that is!' at least when you pair up with me in doubles!" - Shishido Ryou
• "Akutagawa-kun is someone who is the epitome of the word 'innocence'. It's great to be honest with your own feelings." - Shiraishi Kuranosuke
• "Jirou is our mood-maker, I believe. Although he's usually just asleep, he's noisy when awake." - Taki Haginosuke
• "The match at the Kantou Tournament was fun. I want to play against your volleys again at this training camp." - Fuji Shuusuke
• "Nfufu... I know now, Akutagawa-kun. That sleepy face... it's due to your late-night secret training, isn't it?" - Mizuki Hajime
• "I lost during the Prefectural Tournament, but next time I will win against you with my Double Twist Spin Shot!" - Fuji Yuuta
• "When I see Jirou-san having so much fun with tennis, I become even happier" - Ootori Choutarou
• "His volleys are genius-like, but he’s also whimsical. That does trip some people up." - Hiyoshi Wakashi
• "Jirou is surprisingly good with kids. When his sister was little, he used to give her piggyback rides and take her to go play at the park. He always seems sleepy, but strangely enough the kids seem to just love him." - Shishido Ryou^23.5

Akutagawa about others

• About Kabaji Munehiro: "Hm…? Ah, Kabaji? Thanks for always waking me…ZZZZZZ."
• About Mukahi Gakuto: "Aah, his acrobatics are amazing C~ The way he gets points with that spinny volley is also super cool!!"
• About Shishido Ryou: "He seems to be the most energetic when he is working out in the morning ~ I really cannot imitate his act of waking up early just to walk his dog. But I heard that he is actually unable to wake up in the mornings and therefore needs two alarm clocks ~"

Music

• Daydream
• Against Wind
• BRAND NEW DAY with. Guava Trio

Gallery

• 

  Akutagawa and his teammates

• 

  Akutagawa expressing disappointment