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NiouM
Masaharu Niō
Kanji

仁王雅治

Rōmaji

Niō Masaharu

Nicknames

Trickster
Most Troublesome Guy
Con Artist Of The Courts
Genius Swindler (by Yanagi Renji)

Characteristics
Gender

Male

Age

14

Height

175 cm

Weight

62 kg

Birthday

December 4

Horoscope

Sagittarius

Blood Type

AB

Family

Unnamed (Parents)
Unnamed (Older Sister)
Unnamed (Younger Brother)

Education
Junior High

Rikkaidai (3rd Year)

Class

3-B

Seat

14

Club Position

Regular

Elementary School

Some school in the South

Japan U-17 Camp

Court 2 (Former)
No.15 of All Japan Representative (Former)
No.10 of All Japan Representative (Former)
No.9 of World Cup Middle School Division

Tennis
Dominant Arm

Left

Play Style

All Rounder

Doubles Partner(s)

Yagyū Hiroshi
Yanagi Renji
Atobe Keigo
Bunta Marui
Shuichiro Oishi

Racquet(s)

Prince MORE POWER 1150 S

Shoes

YONEX Power Cushion Wide 271 (SHT-271W)

Media
Movies

Atobe's Gift
Battle of the British Castle

Voice Actor

Yūki Masuda (Japanese)

Puri!
— Niou Masaharu


Background[]

Masaharu Niō (仁王 雅治, Niou Masaharu) is a third year from Rikkaidai Fuzoku. Even within the strongest corps, Niō is rumored to be "the most troublesome guy". Reading ten to twenty moves in advance, his forte is a style of play where he deceives his opponent, but that skill takes great artistry, as many others can attest. He can copy anyone's tennis style, but he is limited by his own physical abilities. This creates the illusion that his opponent is facing a copy of themselves. His parents have a house in Shikoku mentioned in the AnoPuri's.

Appearance[]

Nio has messy light gray hair that is usually in a rat-tail style. In the anime, his hair takes on more of a blue-gray tint. Niō's eyes are blue in the anime and golden yellow/light brown in the manga. He has a beauty mark on his chin. Niō is normally dressed in his Rikkai uniform (U17 uniform in New Prince of Tennis) or his school uniform.

Niō has skill in changing his appearance when impersonating others.

Personality[]

Nio's nickname is "The Con Artist Of The Courts" and this is shown in "Genius 359: Nightmare" when Niou was playing against Seigaku's Fuji.

Niō impersonates Atobe Keigo to make Kabaji Munehiro follow him when all the Middle School losers were climbing the mountain, he ordered Kabaji to carry Momoshiro who was then suffering from broken wrists. And second was when he ordered Kabaji to get him pillows to join the pillow fights between the Middle Schoolers.

Niō has a habit of saying "Puri!" "Piyo!" and more recently "Pupina!"

History[]

See: Masaharu Niō/History

Tennis Record[]

Official Middle School Tournaments[]

Tournament Round School Position Partner Opponent(s) Score
2008 Kanagawa Prefectural Finals Hanomiya Unknown Unknown Unknown Won
2008 Kantō Regionals Quarterfinals Nashikari Gakuen Doubles 1 Yagyū Hiroshi Ichimiya Keisuke/Ueno Won (6-0)
2008 Kantō Regionals Semifinals Fudomine Singles 1 None Mori Tatsunori None (NOTE-1)
2008 Kantō Regionals Finals Seigaku Doubles 1 Yagyū Hiroshi Kikumaru Eiji/Oishi Shuichiro Won (6-4)
2008 Nationals Round 2 Murigaoka Doubles 2 Marui Bunta Sakakibara/Suzuki Won (6-0)
2008 Nationals Quarterfinals Kabuto Doubles 2 Yagyū Hiroshi Minamihata/Yoshida Won (6-0)
2008 Nationals Semi-Finals Nagoya Seitoku Doubles 1 Yanagi Renji David Rivera/Lucas Siebold Won (6-1)
2008 Nationals Finals Seigaku Singles 2 None Fuji Shusuke Lost (5-7)
  • NOTE-1 No result due to Rikkai already winning 3 sets.

U-17 Camp Results[]

Type of Match Partner Opponent(s) Score
Tiebreaker-Style Elimination Match None Yagyū Hiroshi Lost (6-8)
Foreign Expedition Group Challenge Oishi Shūichirō Mutsu Yūho/Mutsu Yūma Won (Unknown)
U-17 Representatives VS. 2nd Stringers Player Shuffle 1st Set Atobe Keigo Juzaburō Mōri/Ochi Tsukimitsu Won (7-6) (50-48)
U-17 Representatives VS. 2nd Stringers Player Shuffle 2nd Set Atobe Keigo Mūri Juzaburō/Ochi Tsukimitsu Lost (0-6)
U-17 Representatives VS. 2nd Stringers Player Shuffle 3rd Set Atobe Keigo Mūri Juzaburō/Ochi Tsukimitsu Won (7-6)

Playing Style and Techniques[]

Niou is an All-Rounder and is shown to play excellently in both Doubles and Singles. He is also amongst the few characters who have been shown to be ambidextrous. Since in the Kanto Regional Tournament Final he played several games with his Right-Hand while pretending to Yagyuu.

Though he is not one of the 3 Monsters/Demons of Rikkai, Niou is described to be the "most troublesome player on court" by not only Inui, but also his Captain, Yukimura.

His nickname is The Trickster, and he is shown to be able to live up to his nickname with various methods of tricks, such as using his partner as a wall to hide his shot's course (and had the side-effect of Kikumaru getting hit by the shot), making his injuries look significantly more severe than they actually were, taking the ball in his racket heart to make Fuji's panic as he was looking for the ball during a Meteor Drive Shot (in Inui's dream, although the dream played up to Nio's characterization pretty accurately), and finally, being able to disguise and emulate others perfectly with his Illusion.

Laser Beam

Since Nio and Yagyuu are close friends, Nio knows some of Yagyu's moves, including the Laser Beam. First shown in his Doubles match against the Golden Pair disguised as Yagyu, it was noted that while the technique was efficient, it was slower than Yagyu's. He showed he can perfectly use it in a match against Nagoya Seitoku is the semi-finals of the Nationals in the OVA without needing to disguise himself as Yagyu.

Illusion

Niou becoming Tezuka through his Illusion TEchnique

Niou using Pinnacle of Hard Work as Tezuka

Nio's Illusion

Nio "morphing" into Tezuka

Niou creates an Illusion which gives the impression that he has become a different opponent. Niou can become any player as long as he has enough data on them and their play style is within his capability. He can become almost any School player since he has become a vast variety of other schoolers such as Tezuka Kunimitsu, Shiraishi Kuranosuke and Kikumaru Eiji. Through these Illusions, he can use almost all of the techniques of the player he has become, making him an extremely troublesome opponent. While initially very reliant on using Illusion to fight at a world's level, Nio has recently shown the potential to become an elite player even without this ability. Some of the most notable moves Niou can use include:

Meteor Drive (In Inui's dream)

In his singles match against Seigaku's Fuji, Nio shows his own move. This move is similar to Fuji's Hoshi Hanabi. Nio hits it high into the air and crash lands by the baseline of the opponents side of the court, meteor style.

He later does reveal he can use such a technique in real life against the German doubles team.

U-17 Stats[]

A trickster whose illusions fool opponents and allies alike.

Speed – 3: He has enough speed to finish off opponents who fell for a trick. In his mind that's all he needs.

Power – 2: This are is his weakness. To compensate for his lack of power, he uses his special technique Illusion.

Stamina – 3: Using Illusion consumes more stamina than playing normally, so that is a big problem. Even when copying someone who has as much stamina as he does, he can't last as long.

Mental – 5: To exceed the mental abilities of the person he copies, he has developed a special form of mental fortitude.

Technique – 5: To copy top class players, he has high technical abilities. The skills he possesses surpass mere trickery.

Kurobe Memo: More than just playstyle and techniques, he can copy a person's spirit. He then leaves an impression by using their charisma. He is definitely a dangerous individual.

Personal Information [1][]

  • Hobby: Playing darts.
  • Father's Occupation: Company employee (construction company)
  • Spends allowance on: secret
  • Motto: Straddle the black, white horse. Back up by going forward, forward
  • Best subject: Math
  • Worse subject: Music
  • Most visited spot in school: Rooftop
  • Favorite Color: Blue
  • Favorite Food: Yakiniku (fried meat)
  • Favorite movie: "8 1/2"
  • Favorite book: Paradies der falschen Vögel (The Trickster's Paradise)
  • Favorite music: Jazz
  • Favorite type: A girl who is full of strategies or good at diplomacy
  • Favorite Date spot: Sea
  • Most wanted item now: Screw and driver (usage unknown)
  • Daily routine: Preparation and review for class
  • Dislikes/bad at: Heat
  • Special skill aside tennis: Archery, gun-shooting games

Daily School Life[1][]

  • 06:45 - Oversleeps. Forgets to eat breakfast
  • 07:00 - Goes to school. Morning practice
  • 08:30 - First Period: Music
  • 09:30 - Second Period: Calligraphy
  • 10:40 - Third Period: Science/Meteorology
  • 11:40 - Fourth Period: Mathematics
  • 12:30 - Lunch break: Brings his yakiniku special from Umikaze to the rooftop
  • 13:15 - Impersonates a teacher at the eastern gate and feeds a stray cat
  • 13:30 - Fifth Period: Civics (afternoon nap)
  • 14:30 - Sixth Period: German
  • 15:30 - Tennis Club. Becomes Yukimura with his Illusion
  • 18:00 - Gun shooting at the game center
  • 18:30 - Eats dinner at the coffee shop
  • 19:30 - Returns home, works on something
  • 20:00 - Gathers information on the internet
  • 20:30 -Calls Yagyuu and asks about the scope of the test
  • 21:00 - Ups his concentration by throwing darts
  • 21:30 - Goes out to watch the late show
  • 01:00 - After returning home, showers then sleeps

Note form Marui: Even though we had a recorder test, he wasn't in the music classroom. It's too bad he wasn't there to hear my genius performance.

Note from Yukimura: He can even become me. What a truly frightening guy. However, during practice, it's better if you don't become me too much.

Etymology[]

  • The name Masaharu means "elegant, graceful" (雅) (masa) and "cure" (治) (haru).
  • Masaharu's surname Niō means "compassionate" (仁) (ni) and "king, prince, monarch, sovereign, potentate" (王) (ō).

Trivia[]

Character Trivia[]

  • When Sanada lost to Ryoma, Niou was the first to slap him.
  • Niou is not afraid of Sanada.
  • According to Shiraishi, Niou does not take the required amount of calories in a day.
  • Niou is low in Vitamin D.
  • Whenever Niou becomes Yukimura, he would be a victim of Yips.
  • At the age of 12, Niou skipped the sports festival. Also, he participated in learning outside of school at a circus[1].
  • He visited the architecture department of a technical high school during the high school/college observation trip[1].
  • Yanagi has witnessed Niou feeding a stray cat on the school grounds.
  • As a child, Niou loved surprising people and acting differently- a reason for why he says "Puri" and stick his tongue out while imagining his family becoming frantic[1].
  • According to Jackal, Niou has used Illusion to become every tennis regular, except for him.
  • He is so mysterious that no one knows where he lives.
  • Niou enjoys spreading rumours about people. His latest victim was Sanada (saying he was flirting with someone).
  • His family members all mimic one another[1].
  • In the Ano Koro no Oujisama - The Princes From Back Then, Niou is seen riding on top of the rails of a bridge after leaving behind a note saying, "I'm going on a journey." He left his parents' house in Shikoku and was heading towards Honshuu. However, he got hungry in the end and went home in the evening.
  • He is the only Rikkaidai member Inui Sadaharu doesn't have a data on.
  • There is a large tree on campus where a lot of love confessions happen. In databook 40.5, there is a photo of Niou being confessed to. Niou very politely declined the confession.
  • He is left-handed, which means that up to the point when the switch was revealed, both he and Hiroshi Yagyū were playing with their non-dominant hands for the match against the Golden Pair.

Other Trivia[]

  • Since the beginning of Prince of Tennis, he holds the distinction of being the only middle school doubles specialist to never lose a doubles match. This also holds true for the first 200 chapters of New Prince of Tennis.
  • Niō shares the exact same height and weight with Atobe Keigo, making their switch in New Prince of Tennis easy to pull off.

References[]


Gallery[]

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