| |
|---|---|
| Kojirō Saeki | |
| Kanji |
佐伯虎次郎 |
| Rōmaji |
Saeki Kojirō |
| Nicknames |
Uselessly Handsome Guy [1] |
| Gender |
Male |
| Age |
14 (The Prince of Tennis) |
| Height |
174 cm |
| Weight |
61 kg |
| Birthday |
October 1 |
| Horoscope |
Libra |
| Blood Type |
O |
| Family |
Father |
| Junior High |
Rokkaku Junior High (3rd Year) |
| Class |
3-9 |
| Club Position |
Vice Captain |
| Elementary School |
Rokkaku Third Primary School |
| Dominant Arm |
Left |
| Play Style |
Serve and Volley |
| Doubles Partner(s) | |
| Racquet(s) |
Made by Ojī |
| Shoes |
NIKE NIKE AIRCOAT Implosion MID (F302228 041) |
| Manga Debut |
Genius 168 |
| Movies | |
| Voice Actor |
Katsuaki Arima (Japanese) |
Background[]
Kojirō Saeki (佐伯虎次郎, Saeki Kojirō) looks really laid-back and gentle, but looks can be deceiving, for he really is a very dangerous player. His talent for tennis is natural, and is accompanied by his above-average sight, which makes him even more difficult to beat. Saeki is also Rokkaku's Vice-Captain, and like Aoi Kentaro, seemed to be randomly selected by their coach. He was also the childhood friend of Shūsuke Fuji, and is still good friends with him.
Appearance[]
He has soft laid back light brown hair and brown eyes. In the anime his hair is two toned with the top layer being a silver-white and the bottom layer being black. More than once during the series, he was described to be good looking by various characters. During the one of the PairPuri episodes, it was shown that his looks and gentle demeanor attracted girls.
Personality[]
Gifted with incredible motion vision and a natural sense of the sport, the laid-back Saeki makes for a very dangerous opponent. He is a very friendly guy who is nice even to strangers. Due to his thoughtful personality and good looks Saeki is very popular with girls (much to the envy of his junior Aoi). He does not really care for popularity and prefers to treat everyone equally. His natural charm and the fact that he also quite good with words is what draws women to him (according to Shitenhoji's Konjiki).
In the Prince of Tennis Musicals he is portrayed as a cheerful and carefree guy who smiles a lot. He almost comes across as a joker who loves to lightly poke fun at people (especially Fuji).
History[]
Regionals[]
Saeki is first seen in the company of his fellow Rokkaku regulars observing the Seigaku-Hyoutei match. It is at that time that he and Marehiko Itsuki decide to pair up to play doubles after Amane "David" Hikaru refused to play against Shūsuke Fuji.
Just prior to Rokkaku's match against Seigaku, Saeki informs Shūsuke Fuji that Rokkaku's current captain is a freshman. Fuji in return yells at him and telling him that a first year captain is not something to laugh about.
During the early stages of the Kantō semifinals, with his potential reaching its climax, Saeki completely blew past Eiji Kikumaru, whose versatile Acrobatic Play became a non-factor. Despite a fabulous start against the Dream Pair, Saeki and his partner Marehiko Itsuki were unable to keep up when Kikumaru unveiled his Seal Step, and dropped the match to Seishun Academy. The doubles lineup also gave Saeki and Shūsuke Fuji a rare opportunity to confront each other on the courts. Saeki is a good friend of the Fuji brothers and is aware of the tension between Shūsuke and Yūta Fuji. He said that when he played Yūta he purposely lost as not to injure Yūta's shoulder any further by continuing the match. Because of his analytical ability, Saeki dictates the play for Itsuki during the key points. He also devised a strategy to seal off Yūjirō Kai's Shukuchihō.
Nationals[]
In the middle of his match against Higa's Kai Yūjirō in Singles One, his opponent mercilessly directed a shot against Oji, sending the old man to the hospital, after hearing Oji's insights about the Shukuchihō. Armed with new knowledge Saeki proved to be stronger than his opponent, but Kai still won the game, and emerged as winner, thus giving another point to Higa Chuu.
Tennis Record[]
Playing Style and Techniques[]
Saeki is a left-handed serve-and-volleyer who's skilled at both singles and doubles and is able to come up with various tactics to seal the strengths of his opponents via exploiting their weaknesses and playstyle patterns. Examples of this is shown in his Doubles 1 match against Seigaku, where he was able to mark and force Kikumari Eiji to play him directly while Saeki proceeded to play against Fuji with his partner, Itsuki, 2-on-1 without Eiji interrupting him, and in his Singles 1 match against Higa, where after hearing how Shukuchiho works from Oji, was immediately able to devise a countermeasure towards it. In a practice match against St. Rudolph, he immediately noticed that Yuta's playstyle was self-destructive towards his still-developing body and deliberately did not go all out in order to not push Yuta for his safety.
His doubles combination with his partner, Itsuki, is very solid. Saeki's analytical abilities are utilized for his teammate as well, as he has given Itsuki advice at certain times to change the flow of the game and keep the two of them focused. Saeki has full trust in Itsuki, giving him information mid-point on his opponent's techniques and advice on how to return them, with Itsuki obliging and using Saeki's advice to flawlessly do just that. The two of them are able to easily cooperate and gang up on an opponent after isolating the other opponent from playing without having their formation disrupted.
Despite losing his match against the Kikumaru/Fuji pair and Kai Yujiro, his opponents have praised his skills, as his Seigaku opponents mentioned that he and Itsuki made it tough for them to take the win, and Kai pointed out that Saeki was a good player even before he figured out how to seal his Shukuchiho.
Motion Vision
Saeki, like Eiji Kikumaru and Kiyosumi Sengoku, is able to see opponent's movements clearly and catch minute movements in his opponents and the ball. He is able to use his vision to keep another player with motion vision like Kikumaru in check while he himself is able to play freely.
He's also able to use his motion vision to determine a ball's bounce after it leaves a player's racquet before it even hits the ground and is able to instantly relay this information verbally to his partner, as shown in his match against Seigaku where he informed Itsuki about Fuji's incomplete Tsubame Gaeshi and advised him on how to return it before the ball reached Itsuki.
Australian Formation (Anime Only)
In episode 136: Junior Selection Camp, Gathered, Fuji and Saeki pair up as a doubles pair against Inui and Yanagi pair. When they were losing, both Fuji and Saeki surprised viewers with their ability to use the Australian Formation. This allowed Fuji to use his first counter, Tsubame Gaeshi, in the match.
Personal Information[]
- Favorite Food: Mashed bean curd, Roast sea urchin (midraw)
- Hobby: Sea Activities
- Father's occupation: Engineer
- Uses Money On: Western clothes
- Motto: One chance, one shoot, one kill!
- Favorite Subject: Social Studies, Japanese
- Worst Subject: Math
- Committee: Vice-President of Student Council
- Most Visited Spot in School: Banking fence by the sea
- Favorite Color: White, Beige
- Favorite Movie: Titanic
- Favorite Book: King Lear by William Shakespeare
- Favorite Music: Chanson (French songs)
- Preferred type: A girl who can control/restrict me (Because she can't put me aside)
- Date Spot: Resort
- What he wants the most: To raise a dog
- Daily Routine: Walking along the beach
- Dislikes: Narrow places
- Other talents: Doing artistic castles of sand
Etymology[]
- The name Kojirō means "tiger" (虎) (ko), "next" (次) (ji) and "son" (郎) (rō).
- Kojirō's surname Saeki means "help, aid" (佐) (sa) and "chief, count, earl, uncle, Brazil" (伯) (eki).
Trivia[]
- In Musical, he is played by Kanata Irei. In New Prince of Tennis is an character named Irie Kanata, which his name is taken from.
- Saeki shares his first name with a famous Japanese swordsman, Sasaki Kojiro, who is famed for his Tsubame Gaeshi sword strike. Considering that Saeki's childhood friend, Fuji Shusuke, named one of his Triple Counters as Tsubame Gaeshi, this is most likely intentional on Konomi Takeshi's part.