History HoYay / ThePrinceOfTennis

* Also Sanada's devotion towards Yukimura reaches very high levels. Parodied in two scenes of one of the Chibi-family episodes, Sanada often accompanies Yukimura in a wheelchair, who apologizes for the trouble. Then Yukimura faints for some reason, and Sanada screams his name while looking up at the sky.

** Worth expanding on the chibi family episodes. In the first, Kirihara is the neighborhood bully towards Ryoma and "Momoko," and when they look at his house on children's day, the flags outside indicate he has a looooot of siblings. In the next family episode, Ryoma, "Momoko," and "Shuuko" imagine Kirihara at the beach with his parents... they're far, far in the background, but one is wearing Sanada's hat and one has Yukimura's haircut...
** They know each other since they were 4 years old. Nobody wanted to be doubles pair with either of them, so both decided to play together. Despite losing their first game, Yukimura makes a promise to a crying Sanada that they were going to be the best players in Japan and win a doubles game together someday. After 10 years, they finally manage to win as a doubles pair against the Australian Team.

* Renji is equally as close to Yukimura and Sanada. For starters, Renji has a FirstNameBasis with both of them (something he has with only his teammates and Inui). The three of them are usually hanging out together after classes, and both Renji and Sanada are the ones who visit Yukimura at the hospital more often.
** During the World Cup, Renji gets enraged at Mori for asking about Yukimura's health. Considering Renji's usual stoic personality, the topic of one of his closest friend's health is the first time he loses control and gives a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to someone.

** When Kite offers Marui to be doubles partners against Kimijima and Tohno, Jackal is seen depressed about it.

** Yuuji and Zaizen end up joining the U-17 camp because Yuuji wanted to go visit Koharu at the camp.

* Kawamura is ChildhoodFriends with Akutsu. While Kawamura isn't exempt of Akutsu's rage fits, he is still one of the few people who isn't scared of him.

* Atobe/Tezuka has its fair share of followers as they're both captains for their respective teams, incredibly skilled tennis players, and, despite the clear differences in their personalities, similar in many ways.

** It isn't strange for Tezuka, as captain, to try and bring out the best in his teammates, but he often reserves this effort for the underclassmen who'll be taking up the reins in the club once the third years graduate (Ryoma, Momoshiro, Kaidoh). Fuji is the only third year member whose growth he shows a consistent vested interest in throughout the series. In addition, despite being surrounded by powerful rival characters (Atobe, Yukimura, Sanada, and Ryoma, just to name a few), it's revealed in the U-17 World Cup arc that Tezuka has been waiting a long time to see Fuji's true strength.

** In the manga match between Kirihara and Fuji, there's a panel dedicated to Tezuka pausing in his rehabilitation to look up at the sky. A few panels later, it's revealed that Fuji has been rendered temporarily blind due to being hit in the head by Kirihara. Notably, Tezuka is in Kyushu at this point and is not watching the match.

*** This interaction is made more lighthearted in the anime as it occurs during the Prince of Bowling episode instead. When Fuji is incapacitated by Inui's new drink Aozu, Tezuka, who is asleep in Germany, is startled awake by a strange dream. In this instance, it should be noted that Kaidoh had already been downed by Aozu in a previous scene with no such reaction.

** They sing ''two'' duets about their relationship: 「ここで僕らは出会ってしまった」 (Koko de Bokura wa Deatte Shimatta) and 「たとえば今」(Tatoeba Ima). Both songs can be construed as being incredibly suggestive of more than friendship.

** Both are assigned as roommates along with Gakuto. They are later seen enjoying their snacks together. In the ending montage of each room, Gakuto is seen bored by himself in his top bunkbed, while Marui and Jiroh are still sharing snacks. Judging by Jackal's reaction, it can be interpreted as jealousy of Marui's chemestry with Jirou.

** During the match against each other, Yukimura is very used to Atobe's flashy introductions, to the point he uses it to steal Atobe's spotlight by predicting his final boast and replicating it exactly like Atobe. While Atobe seems amused, this actually affects his first game.

** Kintarou isn't shy from openly whine and throw tantrums if he can't play with Ryoma. He basically whined to the referee to let him have just a one-ball game with him since they never got to play Singles 1 against each other. Ryoma accepts.

** When Ryoma is expelled from the camp for breaking the rules and defending Tokugawa, Kintarou is the most vocal about Ryoma's departure. When Ryoma is revealed to have joined the American Team, Kintarou has a hard time accepting it, but quickly accepts it if that means playing against him at some point. And when Ryoma returns to Team Japan, Kintarou is the only one who wants him to join again completely excited, while all the others are either accepting Ryoma back for estrategic reasons without any emotions in between, or are still upset with him for leaving both teams in the first place.

** In the Musicals first season, Eiji and Fuji had a duet "Kikumaru vs. Fuji ~ Rival na Futari", where both point out that their play styles are very different: Eiji does a lot of pointless movements but has a great accuracy, while Fuji is lways precise but never shows his real emotions. Despite all these contrasts, both are very close, compliment each other in tennis and personality wise, and are glad to be both friends and rivals.
** Both are often depicted as being best friends outside the tennis club since they are in the same classroom, Fuji constantly saves Eiji during lectures and share a lot in common (their alternative pairings, Tezuka and Oishi, are also very close friends because of their titles of captain and vice-captain)

* In the fan books, Oshitari Yuushi and Mukahi Gakuto's first meeting has all the implications of a shoujo manga and more. Gakuto finds Yuushi at the top of a water tank watching the sunset after having his first tennis match against Atobe. Both start connecting immediately.