Higa Middle School
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Higa Middle School (比嘉中学校?) is one of the schools in the manga/anime Prince of Tennis, originally from the island of Okinawa. The members of the tennis team have a rather bad attitude by tennis standards, and aren't afraid of using nasty methods to win. The school's coach is Saotome Harumi, who directly encourages the on-court violence.
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[edit] Tennis members
[edit] Eishirou Kite
Eishirou Kite is the captain of the Higa Chuu team. His nickname is Killer. The Rikkaidai team knows a lot about him, and Genichirou Sanada, Rikkaidai's vice captain, is well aware of Kite's strength and skills.
Since Kite's first year at Higa Chuu, he has collected martial arts prodigies for his team and taught them the incredible move "Shukuchihou" a technique based on martial arts. Thanks to this technique the user is giving the opponent the impression that the user is able to approach the net or baseline in 1 step.
Kite himself has an aggressive play style and can quickly figure out and target the opponent' s weaknesses. He's also is able of using the Big Bang serve. When Kite joined the Kyuushuu Tournament, he defeated all aces big time and was nicknamed the Hitman.
Kite is a rather calm and polite youth, but during matches and in the surroundings of his rivals, his more aggressive side shows up. He doesn't actively like the Higa teams methods of hurting people and taunting opponents, but neither does he forbids it - and if needed, he'll also use them. When Higa's coach Saotome Harumi says that he will abandon the team for losing four sets, Kite then slams a ball into the coach's abdominals as a punishment.
In the sim "Umibe no Secret", it's pointed out that Kite remains composed and polite in front of other teams, yet is extremely condescending towards them, and if physically attacked he won't hesitate to strike back. That's shown in the interaction with Jin Akutsu from Yamabuki, where he taunts Akutsu more or less directly ands later punches him in the stomach. If some requirements are met, the main girl (default name, Ayaka Tsujimoto) will be injured when she attempts to stop the fight and hurls herself between Akutsu and Kite to do so; this will prompt a rather sincere apology from Kite, who never expected that to happen.
Kite is Seishun Gakuen captain Kunimitsu Tezuka's first opponent in the Nationals. Kite starts the match with winning two to zero in the OVA) by using the "Shukuchihou". Tezuka then reveals his "Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami", and Kite is unable to catch up to it. Desperate, he swipes sand in Tezuka's direction, but Tezuka avoids it by imitation Kite's "Shukuchihou". Tezuka wins and Higa Chuu has to leave the Nationals with no sets won in the second round.
In the Prince of Tennis Musicals, Kite is portrayed by Luke C.
Special Moves/Shots
- Big Bang
- An incredible strong serve that takes a lot of stamina and power to use. Most players can't return this amazing power serve.
- Habu
- Kite enters the stance of a smash, but the difference is that when it bounces it curves randomly making it difficult to return. Since the stance of Habu and smash looks the exact same it is hard to know what kind of shot Kite will use.
[edit] Yuujirou Kai
Kai is perhaps the meanest member of the Higa team, as seen by his extremely snarky, chidlish and at times even infuriatingly cocky personality. At the lottery he tells Sanada that Rikkadai are losers, and during the match against Rokkaku Chuu's Saeki Kojirou, he directs a shot against their coach, who is known as Oji, sending him to the hospital.
Kai is Eiji Kikumaru's opponent in Singles 2. When they meet at the net and during their match, Kai mocks Kikumaru since he's more of a doubles player than a singles one. Because of Kikumaru's knowledge about how to seal "Shukuchihou" from the match between Kai and Saeki, he easily takes the first games; then, Kai reveals that he's actually lefthanded and can use the racket with a reverse grip. This change increases his advantage dramatically as he can use his special technique "Viking Horn". But thanks to Kikumaru's "Seal Step" he lost to Kikumaru with the score of 6-7.
In the Prince of Tennis Musicals, Kai is portrayed by Hijiri Shinotani.
Special Moves/Shots
- Viking Horn
- A powerful shot that first seems to go either left or right and then flies at the opposite side. Kai can only use this technique when he's holding his racket backwards.
[edit] Hiroshi Chinen
Chinen is the tallest player in Higa Chuu and is first introduced against Rokkaku Chuus' captain Aoi Kentaro. Chinen easily defeats Aoi with 6-0. Chinen is the scariest-looking member of the team and likes to mock his opponent. He's also very impatient, liking to finish matches quickly, but even then he can take his losses rather calmly.
Chinen switches between singles and doubles, and teams up with Rin Hirakoba against Shusuke Fuji and Takashi Kawamura of Seigaku.
In the Prince of Tennis Musicals, Chinen is portrayed by Takeshi Hayashino.
[edit] Kei Tanishi
Tanishi is the Singles 3 player from Higa Chuu and Ryoma Echizen's first opponent at Nationals. Although he possesses a big body that reminds one of a Sumo wrestler, Tanishi has monstrous strength. He is also violent and impulsive, and gets angry easily.
Echizen knows how to seal "Shukuchihou" , but still has a tough time thanks to Tanishi's "Big Bang" serve. But in the end, Tanishi runs out of stamina, and Ryoma is able to return the Big Bang Serve.
In the Prince of Tennis Musicals, Tanishi is portrayed by Yutaka Matsuzaki.
Special Moves/Shots
- Big Bang
- An incredibly strong serve that takes a lot of stamina and power to use. Done by jumping in the air and using the weight of the body and gravity to add speed and power to the serve.
[edit] Rin Hirakoba
Hirakoba is the only Higa Chuu member who likes fair play. Still, his attitude is rather twisted; he might not like Higa Chuus' methods, but he is still cocky. Hirakoba teams up with Hiroshi Chinen in Doubles 2, and he also has the incredible "Habu" technique.
When Higa Chuu's coach, Saotome Harumi, shows his "thumb down", Hirakoba is supposed to aim his "Habu" at the opponent's coach. Luckily for Seigaku coach Ryuzaki, Kawamura saves her at the last second. When Harumi shows it once again, Hirakoba ignores it and makes a normal smash. Harumi gets angry at Hirakoba for disobeying him, but Hirakoba yells at him to shut up since the match is interesting and he wants to play his own style. However, the "Habu" is eventually returned by Fuji's new Fourth Counter, "Kagerou Zutsumi", and also by Kawamura's Hadokyuu.
In the "Umibe no Secret" game, Hirakoba is signaled as being the "kid" of the team, and it's revealed that he mostly plays doubles with Chinen to control his stage fright. He can also be as polite yet condescending as Kite when speaking towards other teams; at some point, he and Akutsu also punch each other, taking the intervention of the main girl to stop them. He also sometimes refers to Kite by his first name, which Kite hates and tries to counter by threatening him to eat 'gouya'. In the 40.5 fanbook it's also shown that he's quite vain about his looks as well as aesthetically sensitive, spending money on hairdressers and saying his favorite type of girl is one who has good fashion sense.
In the Prince of Tennis Musicals, Hirakoba is portrayed by Yasuka Saito.
Special Moves/Shots
- Habu
- Hirakoba enters the stance of a smash, but the difference is that when it bounces it curves like a spiral, making it difficult to return. Since the stance of Habu and smash looks the exact same, it is hard to know what kind of shot Hirakoba will use.
- Giant Habu
- A upgrade of Habu. This shot is better since the ball begins to curve immediately after leaving the racket. The downside of this is that it can only be used once per match. After that, his hand becomes numb and he can no longer pull out the Habu normally.
[edit] Tomoya Shiranui
Shiranui teams up with Aragaki in Doubles 1 against Kaidoh Kaoru and Inui Sadaharu. Not much is known about him, other than he and Aragaki grew up together under the Okinawan sun and therefore has very high endurance. Unlike the other Higa Chuu members, Shiranui can't use the "Shukuchihou" technique. Kaidoh finishes the match alone without Inui's help thanks to his new technique, in which he concentrates all of his muscles to perform a powerful shot.
[edit] Aragaki Kouichi
Aragaki teams up with Shiranui in Doubles 1 against Kaidoh Kaoru and Inui Sadaharu. Not much is known about him either, and just like Shiranui, Aragaki can't use the "Shukuchihou". It is Aragaki that faints during the match with Kaidoh and Inui due to heat stroke.
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