Prince of Tennis Wiki
Kentarō Aoi
Kanji

葵剣太郎

Rōmaji

Aoi Kentarō

Characteristics
Gender

Male

Age

12

Height

165 cm

Weight

53 kg

Birthday

December 20

Horoscope

Sagittarius

Blood Type

O

Family

Grandfather
Grandmother
Father
Mother
Two Older Brothers

Education
Junior High

Rokkaku Junior High (1st Year)

Class

1-1

Club Position

Captain
Regular

Tennis
Dominant Arm

Right

Play Style

Aggressive Baseliner

Racquet(s)

Made by Ojī

Shoes

WIMBLEDOM WBM-101

Media
Manga Debut

Genius 143

Anime Debut

Episode 90

Movies

Atobe's Gift

Voice Actor

Toshiyuki Toyonaga (Japanese)

Kentarō Aoi (葵 剣太郎, Aoi Kentarō) is the jolly, talkative and energetic captain of Rokkaku. What makes him stand out is that he is only a freshman, and some teams are doubtful of his capabilities as a team captain. However, despite being a rookie, Aoi is a high-caliber player, who were able to match up with Kaidō Kaoru (manga) and Echizen Ryoma (anime).

Appearance[]

Aoi has black hair but it is shaved down all the way to his scalp. He has dark blue eyes. Aoi also has a fairly slender build.

Personality[]

Aoi is a very carefree and friendly individual. He is always very loud and passionate in whatever her does. Aoi often tries to make friends with everyone he meets, however, he is also a very "girl-loving" person almost to a fault. He does not have enough charms to get these girls though but nevertheless is always fantasizing about finding a cute girlfriend one day. He can get fairly envious of other guys who have better luck at women than him, like his upperclassmen Saeki.

History[]

Regionals[]

Aoi is first seen watching the match between Tezuka Kunimitsu and Atobe Keigo. For a first-year student, Aoi has an incredible credential, leading as Rokkaku's captain. Throughout the tournament, to challenge himself, Aoi deliberately loses the first few games to his opponents, but has always managed to dig himself out of the hole and emerged victorious.

That is until he played Kaidō Kaoru during the Kantō semifinals. After trailing 0-4, Aoi tied the score, but failed to replicate his previous results and eventually lost to Kaido,

Nationals[]

A bigger shock for Aoi came during the first round of the Nationals where he failed to put himself on the scoreboard against Chinen Hiroshi

Playing Style & Techniques[]

Aoi Kentaro is an aggressive baseliner who is skilled enough to be picked by Oji to be his team's captain, despite his young age. While records show that all of his matches are close calls, with the scores at 6-4 and 7-5 (with one exceptions), it's been shown that those scores are due to Aoi letting the opponent purposefully win the first four to five games. This habit of Aoi's to deliberately put himself at a disadvantage is to heighten the pressure he intentionally puts on himself, while he makes bets against himself to further increase that pressure. This also shows that he is confident enough in his skills to make a comeback win despite the major handicap he put on himself.

Once he puts himself in that mentality, however, he showcases a phenomenal improvement in his overall game, being able to immediately hit 3 service aces against his Kanto semifinals opponent Kaido Kaoru back-to-back. Aoi's confidence and the pressure he puts on himself doesn't hinder him at all, instead increasing his concentration and allowing himself to play at his fullest.

Aoi's strong enough to hit fast serves (at least 180 km/hr while having a first serve average of 76%, according to Inui's notes), fast enough to pull off a serve-and-volley and score a quick point, and has a very delicate touch to be able to not only hit well-placed drop shots but be able to intentionally aim for cord balls as well. This allowed him to immediately win back 4 games in a row against Kaido.

His habit of intentionally falling behind has worked against him, however, as against Kaido, the extra time given to Kaido for playing longer took a toll on his stamina, which eventually affected his control and gave Kaido the win. Against Higa's Chinen, dropping 4 games in a row gave him little time to be unable to score a game against him, as he fell prey to Chinen's Shukuchiho.

Cord Ball

A return that hits the top of the net and drops into the opponent's court, Aoi is able to aim for these shots on purpose. His control is amazing, as Aoi is able to deliberately aim for a cord ball that drops right on the singles sideline (when aiming for a cord ball alone is already difficult).

Unfortunately, against Higa High School in the Nationals, this shot was easy fodder for Chinen's Shukuchiho, whose ability to go from the baseline to the net in one step was a natural counter to Aoi's talent with this shot.

Tennis Record[]

Official Middle School Tournaments[]

Tournament Round School Position Partner Opponent(s) Score
2008 Chiba District Preliminaries Round 2 Ikeue Jr. High Unknown Singles None Chida Won (7-5)
2008 Chiba District Preliminaries Round 3 Shinshou Jr. High Unknown Singles None Hayashi Won (7-5)
2008 Chiba District Preliminaries Round 4 Masa Jr. High Unknown Singles None Wakataku Won (7-5)
2008 Chiba District Preliminaries Quarterfinals Kainoku Jr. High Unknown Singles None Kaneko Won (7-5)
2008 Chiba District Preliminaries Semifinals Sankyou Gakuin Unknown Singles None Wake Won (6-4)
2008 Chiba District Preliminaries Finals Kasahara 2nd High Unknown Singles None Kitsuda Won (7-5)
2008 Chiba Prefectural Round 3 Funabashi Unknown Singles None Torimoto Won (6-4)
2008 Chiba Prefectural Round 4 Chokai Jr. High Unknown Singles None Oozuka Won (7-5)
2008 Chiba Prefectural Quarterfinals Rakuka Gakuin Unknown Singles None Kitaori Won (7-6)
2008 Chiba Prefectural Semifinals Hana Jr. High Unknown Singles None Kuragi Won (6-4)
2008 Chiba Prefectural Finals Hiko Fuzoku Unknown Singles None Furuhashi Won (7-5)
2008 Kantō Regionals Round 1 Ooguchi Minami Doubles 1 Itsuki Marehiko Akashi Makoto/Sunaga Hirohito Won (7-5)
2008 Kantō Regionals (NOTE-1) Semifinals Seishun Academy Singles 3 None Kaidō Kaoru Lost (5-7)
2008 Kantō Regionals (NOTE-1) Semifinals Seishun Academy Singles 3 None Echizen Ryoma Lost (4-6)
2008 Nationals Round 1 Higa Junior High Singles 3 None Chinen Hiroshi Lost (0-6)
  • NOTE-1 In the anime, he played against Echizen Ryoma during his match against Seigaku, while in the manga, his opponent was Kaidō Kaoru.

Personal Information[]

  • Special Move: Forcing the opponent to hit the same spot
  • Favorite Food: Roasted Meat
  • Hobby: Sea Activities
  • Father's occupation: Office worker (Construction)
  • Favorite Subject: Japanese, Morals, Social Studies
  • Favorite Color: Blue
  • Preferred type: Girls that like me

Etymology[]

  • The name Kentarō means "sword, blade, saber, bayonet, sting, clock hand" (剣) (ken), "thick, big, great" (太) (ta) and "son" (郎) ().
  • Kentarō's surname Aoi means "hollyhock, althea" (葵).

Trivia[]

  • Kentaro is significantly taller than both Ryoma and Kintaro, although all of them are first years.
  • Kentaro is the only first year middle school captain in the current Prince of Tennis timeline.

References[]