| |
|---|---|
| Yūjirō Kai | |
| Kanji |
甲斐裕次郎 |
| Rōmaji |
Kai Yūjirō |
| Gender |
Male |
| Age |
14 (The Prince of Tennis) |
| Height |
175 cm |
| Weight |
63 kg |
| Birthday |
August 27 |
| Horoscope |
Virgo |
| Blood Type |
B |
| Family |
Grandfather |
| Junior High |
Higa Middle School (3rd Year) |
| Class |
3-2 |
| Seat |
6 |
| Club Position |
Vice Captain |
| Elementary School |
Ryuukyuu Minami Elementary school |
| Japan U-17 Camp |
Court 2 |
| Dominant Arm |
Left |
| Doubles Partner(s) | |
| Manga Debut |
Genius 248 |
| Anime Debut |
Nationals OVA 1 |
| Movies | |
| Voice Actor |
Daisuke Nakamura (Japanese) |
Yūjirō Kai (甲斐 裕次郎, Kai Yūjirō) is a 3rd year Middle Schooler and is the vice-captain of Higa's Tennis club first appearing at the Nationals in the main Prince of Tennis series.
Appearance[]
Kai has long brown hair that is infact dyed like the rest of his Higa teammates, and wears a cap. He is dark skinned like most Kyushu Players.
Personality[]
Kai is a player on the Higa Tennis club who has a tendency to be brash and impulsive despite being the oldest member.
History[]
Nationals[]
Kai's Backward Left-Handed grip.
In the middle of his Singles 1 match against Rokkaku's Saeki Kojirō, Kai mercilessly directed a shot at Oji, sending the old man to the hospital, after Oji provided Saeki with his insights on Higa's trademark technique, the Shukuchihō. Armed with this new knowledge, Saeki proved to be a greater challenge than his Rokkaku teammates, but Kai ultimately emerged victorious. Kai's next opponent was Seigaku's doubles specialist, Kikumaru Eiji in Singles 2. Taking a page from Saeki's demonstration, Kikumaru ai med his shots to Kai's right and left corners, sealing off the Shukuchihō, which Kai can only perform with a linear front-back movement. Although he is ambidextrous, Kai is predominantly a backward left-hander.
His reverse grip allows him to delay the timing of his shots. Thus, Kai was able to read Kikumaru's movements and leveled the match, but Kikumaru benefited from a little assistance from the net dramatically ending their tie-breaker making it 7-6 to Kikumaru.
Prior To U-17 Camp[]
Shown in the Another Story OVA series, Unfortunately for the Higa Chuu regulars, after mistreating their horrible and standing up to his ways, it resulted in the coach not caring about them after they missed their flight. This meant that Kai along with Eishirō Kite, Hirakoba Rin, Hiroshi Chinen, Kei Tanishi, Aragaki Kouichi and Tomoya Shiranui were forced to work off the money to buy tickets to fly back. They end up in Osaka while working cleaners for a temple and bump into Seigaku tennis club who are on a trip to Osaka for their joint training session with Shitenhōji tennis club.
Eventually, their coach sends them tickets while they are working and are able to return to Okinawa.
U-17 Camp[]
Shortly after the Nationals, Kai along with his Higa teammates Eishirō Kite, Rin Hirakoba, Hiroshi Chinen and Kei Tanishi is invited to the U-17 Training Camp, amongst several other middle schoolers and high schoolers. There, he pairs with Kite with the two of them believing they will be a doubles team, however the announcer then declares that each pair will play a tie-break where the winner stays while the loser must leave the camp.Kai loses to Kite 7-0, however the losers of the tie-break games dont actually go home.
Instead they train in the mountains with a Drunken Coach. After the coach being angered by the middle schoolers (they stole his sake), the coach takes the 27 middle schoolers from the mountains back to the U-17 camp. Upon arrival of the camp it is unknown which players, but they defeat the 8 players of the 2nd Court and replace them as the 2nd Court. The announcer declares all 27 players members of the 2nd Court. Making Kai currently a member of the 2nd Court.
Tennis Record[]
Playing Style and Techniques[]
A martial arts-based technique that gives the impression Kai is able to approach the net or baseline in 1 step.
Kai's unique way of holding his racket (and chopsticks). It is a requirement for his Viking Horn
He switches to his natural left-handed style while using a racket with a reverse grip to use his "Viking Horn" shot, which curves before reaching the opponent's side. He utilizes this attack by waiting for his opponents reaction and at the last second, strikes back to the opposite side of the reaction.
U-17 Camp Stats[]
- Speed: 3
- Technique: 4
- Mental: 3
- Stamina: 3
- Power: 2
Personal Information[]
- Hobbies: To make friends
- Father’s Job: Sake shop
- Spends Allowance On: Junk food (fast food)
- Favourite Motto: Strike while the iron is hot
- Strong Subject/s: Physical Education
- Worst Subject/s: Maths
- Most visit school spot: Pool
- Committee: School Festival Executive Committee
- Favourite Colour: Orange
- Favourite Food: Pineapple, Sasebo Burger
- Favourite Movie: Action
- Favourite Book: Accessories Catalog
- Favourite Music: Rock, Hip hop
- Preferred Type: A girl who does not sweat the details
- Ideal Date Spot: Shopping mall
- Thing you want right now: Metal Accessories
- Daily Routine: After-school detour
- Dislike: Girls crying
- Special skill: Okinawan Martial Arts, Making accessories out of Silver
Etymology[]
- The name Yūjirō means "abundant" (裕) (yū), "next" (次) (ji) and "son" (郎) (rō).
- Yūjirō's surname Kai means "worth, avail, effect, result, use" (甲斐).
Trivia[]
Character Trivia[]
- In an interview with Monthly Pro Tennis, Kai revealed that he had not known that he was the vice captain of Higa's tennis club.
Other Trivia[]
- For hitting Oji in the match against Saeki Kojirō in the National Tournament, Kai Yūjirō should have been disqualified from the match as that is a code violation: unsportsmanlike behavior.
Gallery[]
