Line #14 Main/KendoTeamCaptain


1	[[quoteright:320:[[Anime/MyHime https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mai-hime_kendo_team_captain.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:320:No, Takeda isn't [[OrAreYouJustHappyToSeeMe just happy to see you]].]]
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4	Any Japanese school worth its salt has a Kendo team, and any school at which the Kendo team gets significant on-screen time will have a rather good one. At such a school, the ClubPresident of the kendo team will usually be an important character of some sort. He or she (usually he, but women are showing up more often in this role, and are usually {{Shorttank}} or DefrostingIceQueen types) is generally [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics sempai]] to the KidSamurai, a {{True Companion\|s}} to the StudentCouncilPresident, and possibly TheRival to the HeirToTheDojo.
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6	One aspect of this trope that may not be immediately apparent to Western audiences is the social ranking of after-school activities. A rough equivalent would be the status hierarchy that exists in American high school sports. Kendo, as a traditional martial art and one that requires a good deal of strength and dexterity, is a club with high social status, thus the usual prominence of its club president.
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8	Most likely the BigManOnCampus. If he serves as TheAce or another character's AlwaysSomeoneBetter, see SchoolIdol. If he's a {{Jerkass}}, see JerkJock. If there's one in the club, the CuteSportsClubManager is his most likely LoveInterest.
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10	Sometimes, the Kendo Captain will be replaced with Judo or Karate captain, depending on the school and other factors.
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12	The closest Western counterpart would probably be TheQuarterback in American HighSchool series or a soccer team captain in an European or Latin American series.
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14	Compare HeirToTheDojo.
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16	----
17	!!Examples:
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19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
22	* Kyouichi Saionji from ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' is the captain of Ohtori Academy's kendo team. Played with in that while he does have plenty of admirers, he's not the BigManOnCampus, as that role is filled by his best friend, StudentCouncilPresident Touga Kiryuu- someone who Saionji is frustratingly unable to surpass in any way.
23	* Tatewaki Kunō from ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' is the captain of the team, but he is a grade-A, class one moron and buffoon that almost ''no one'' takes seriously. [[BewareTheSillyOnes In spite of that, he's an absolute monster capable of breaking stone with his sword]]. [[OvershadowedByAwesome He only appears weak because the main characters and many recurring ones are much stronger]].
24	* ''Literature/AccelWorld'': Takumu "Taku" Mayuzumi was this both at the prestigious school he formerly attended and later at Umisato Academy when he transferred. Notably, even though he is talented enough to take the position on his own, he was so driven to perfection that he resorted to using Burst points and Physical Burst to enhance his already formidable skills.
25	%%* Kirino from ''Manga/BambooBlade''. Since the whole show is about kendo, that makes her role quite prominent.
26	* Masashi Takeda (pictured above) from ''Anime/MyHime''. He's actually the series' ButtMonkey, as his skills afford him no victories over the monsters on campus. A HopelessSuitor to Natsuki Kuga, she once beat him unconscious with his own shinai after he saw her changing into her bikini on the beach, [[NotWhatItLooksLike then fell on top of her, causing Mai to think they were making out.]] And he's framed as a PantyThief by one of the series' monsters when he tries to confront it (In fact, Natsuki's panties, but at least there she knew he was innocent). He and his kendo team also find the victim of an Orphan attack while jogging at night for exercise.
27	%%* Maya Natsume from ''Manga/TenjhoTenge''.
28	%%* Wakou, Sharaku's tomboyish older sister from ''Manga/BlackJack''.
29	%%* Masaya Aoyama in ''Manga/TokyoMewMew''.
30	* Subversion: Genichirou Sanada from ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'' has the looks, the behavior, the ethics code ''and'' the kendo skills... but he's the sub-captain of the ''tennis'' team.
31	** To a degree, all of the tennis captains count as moral equivalents, considering how the story revolves around tennis.
32	* Hinagiku Katsura in ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'' -- in this case she's ''also'' the StudentCouncilPresident and adored by guys [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer and girls alike]] as the SchoolIdol. Despite this, and the wealth and prestige of their school, the Kendo team itself is rather unpopular with few new members and no known competent members besides Hinagiku herself. When Hayate tried to join to get Nagi interested in sports the club members seethed with jealousy at how close the two of them were as apparently none of them refer to Hinagiku [[LastNameBasis by her given name]]. They did express a desire to, but the fact that Hinagiku is beautiful, aloof, and so much better than them keeps any of them from trying.
33	%%* Masamune Asuka and [[TheRival Tounomine Hajime]] in ''Manga/{{Otomen}}''.
34	* Heiji Hattori in ''Manga/CaseClosed''. His kendo abilities become sometimes in handy when he is in the middle of a dangerous investigation.
35	* Takemitsu Shinzou in ''Manga/SketDance''. Bonus points for also constantly {{cosplay}}ing as a samurai.
36	* ''Manga/BusoRenkin'': TheAce Shusui Hayasaka is the captain of the Ginsei Private Academy Kendo Club, the Student Council Vice-President[[note]]under his twin sister Ouka[[/note]] and the most popular male student in school. When first introduced he becomes a friendly rival for StockShonenHero Kazuki as he is the only person willing to train with the exceptionally skilled Shusui before it is revealed [[spoiler:that he is working for the man-eating monsters of the L.X.E]].
37	%%* Saeko Bushijima at the beginning of ''Manga/HighschoolOfTheDead''.
38	%%* Kamiya Tsurugi and Taizan Yodaka are both captains of their Kendo clubs in the 2011 manga, ''Manga/{{Kurogane\|2011}}''.
39	%%* Wakaba Saegusa in ''Anime/VividredOperation''.
40	* Uzu Sanageyama from ''Anime/KillLaKill'' is one, as well as being a member of the EliteFour, the second-in-command of the series' AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil. [[spoiler:Uzu has a unique skill to dodge any attack he can see. After losing a battle with the main character, who manages to blind him, he sews his own eyes shut. Rather than slow him down, it makes him [[DisabilitySuperpower even more powerful.]]]]
41	* Hisashi Miyamoto from ''Anime/{{Jewelpet 2009}}'', the human partner of Chite and love interest to the heroine's best friend.
42	* ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' has Kojima, who is the son of the superintendent general of the metropolitan police. Very little is known about him other than that he apparently has a rivalry with the Astronomy Club President, [[YakuzaPrincess Momo Ryuju]].
43	* Kishika of ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'' is the kendo team captain of Rentarou's school, and extremely popular with her teammates.
44	[[/folder]]
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46	[[folder:Literature]]
47	%%* Shiina from ''Literature/HarukaNogizakasSecret'' is on the naginata team.
48	* Rei Hasekura (''Rosa Foetida en Bouton'') from ''Literature/MariaWatchesOverUs'' is the captain of St. Lillian's kendo team. This is also referenced in the TagTeam FightingGame ''VideoGame/{{Maribato}}'', where Rei appears as a playable character, wielding a [[NerfArm wooden sword]]. Curiously enough, her ''petit soeur'' Yoshino Shimazu also wields a wooden sword of her own.
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Video Games]]
52	* ''VideoGame/Persona3'' has a Kendo Team Social Link, indeed mainly focused on the captain. However, the script's mostly the same even if you're on the Track or Swim teams, and on the whole, the team doesn't really have as massive a pull as the other examples on this page.
53	** ''Persona 3 Portable'' adds new scenes with the Kendo Team Link seeing the captain from a different direction and adds the girls' Tennis team captain who starts failing at her job to inspire her teammates which you help her out on.
54	[[/folder]]
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56	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
57	* Osanai Syouko, the protagonist of [[YuriGenre Yuri]] VN ''VisualNovel/AoiShiro''. She has everything you can expect to find in a Kendo team captain.
58	* Kengo of ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters'' is such a devoted captain that he always wears his hakama instead of a school uniform, and is generally the stoic, realistic sane man to the antics of the other Little Busters. He's also very popular with girls, particularly softball captain Sasami. [[spoiler:However, it's eventually revealed that he only plays kendo to please his father, due to being HeirToTheDojo, and would actually prefer to spend his time playing around with his friends instead.]]
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	!!Moral equivalents:
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63	%%[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
64	%%* Juri Arisugawa (also from ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'') is the captain of the fencing team.
65	%%* As mentioned above, the tennis captains and sub-captains in ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'' count as sort-of equivalents too.
66	%%* Reika in ''Manga/AimForTheAce'' is the tennis equivalent.
67	%%[[/folder]]
68
69	%%[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
70	%%* Troy and Basketball in ''Film/HighSchoolMusical'' qualify.
71	%%[[/folder]]
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73	[[folder:Literature]]
74	%%* Oliver Wood, Cedric Diggory, Angelina Johnson, Roger Davies, and Literature/HarryPotter himself.
75	* In ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars'', Augustus was a star of the freshman basketball team (in Indiana, where basketball is king) prior to losing a leg to cancer.
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Web Original]]
79	* Since Whateley Academy in the Literature/WhateleyUniverse is a SuperheroSchool, there's a big emphasis on self-defense. So there are ''two'' martial arts groups, each with their own fearsome leader: N'Dizi of the Tigers and Zhong Lau of the Dragons.
80	[[/folder]]
81
82	[[folder:Western Animation]]
83	* Eric Bennett from ''WesternAnimation/BionicSix'' is the captain and star of his school's baseball team. In fact, his fighting style as Sport-1 involved him using a baseball bat as his main weapon.
84	[[/folder]]

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