Kippei Tachibana
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| Kippei Tachibana (橘 桔平) |
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Kippei Tachibana (橘 桔平 Tachibana Kippei?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga The Prince of Tennis. He attends Fudomine Middle School, and is the Captain of the team.
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[edit] History
Tachibana was born in the Kyushu region of Japan, and grew up there, along with his younger sister Ann. They then attended Shishigaku Middle School, and Tachibana joined the tennis team.
Along with Senri Chitose, Tachibana became one of the Top 2 players of the Kyushu region. Tachibana and Chitose easily lead Shishigaku to becoming the Kyushu Champions, and they made it to the semi-finals in the Nationals before losing to Makinofuji Gakuen. However, after the Nationals, tragedy struck.
Tachibana had always been a very aggressive player, and during an intra-school ranking match with Chitose, he decided to try out his new move, the Wild Lion. He severely damaged Chitose's eye and hospitalized him. As atonement, and much to his sister's horror, Tachibana quit the tennis team. He also cut his long hair, and stopped bleaching it, returning to its natural black color.
Shortly after, his father transferred to Tokyo, and the family moved there. After arriving, Tachibana heard a rumor that Chitose had begun playing Tennis again, now for Shitenhouji Middle School. Tachibana joined the Fudomine club at that point. When he joined, he quickly realized that the first year players were far better than the older ones, but got no playing time. Tachibana allied with them, and they split off from the tennis club to form their own one.
The current coach and players didn't like that, and tried to stop them. During a confrontation, Tachibana lost his cool and attacked the coach. This resulted in Fudomine getting expelled from that year's Newcomer's Tournament. In the end, however, Tachibana and the others managed to have their new club recognized, and banded together to go the Nationals.
[edit] Notable Matches
[edit] Ryo Shishido
In the Tokyo Prefectural Tournament, Fudomine meets the reigning Champions Hyoutei Gakuen. Although they are a strong team, most of their regulars aren't there, as they want to save them for later.
In Singles 3, Tachibana and Shishido face each other. Although Shishido is confident, Tachibana defeats him in less than 15 minutes, and Hyoutei loses in the process. It is only after this match that the other players in the Tokyo Prefecture realize that Tachibana is the one who dominated the Kyuushu Region.
[edit] Akaya Kirihara
In the Kantou Tournament, Fudomine faces off against the two time reigning National Champions, Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku. In Singles 3, Tachibana faces off against 2nd year player Akaya Kirihara.
Although Tachibana is a superior player, he has locked away his Wild Beast Aura at this point, since he has a sprained ankle from before and also, just like Kirihara, is a player with more-or-less hidden violent tendences. Without his top form, he loses to Kirihara, who hits several balls to Tachibana's neck and face (manga) and foot (anime). He is hospitalized and remains there for a period of time. However, he temporarily returns to the courts to encourage Seigaku regular Shusuke Fuji during Fuji's match with Kirihara in the Kantou finals when Kirihara injures Fuji with the same play that he used on Tachibana himself. Fuji goes on to win the match.
[edit] Shusuke Fuji
Prior to the Nationals, Fuji requests a match with Tachibana, feeling unsure if his current skill level is enough. Although they start out evenly, Fuji gradually tries to draw out Tachibana's old form, and eventually succeeds in doing so. After Tachibana has reawakened, he easily crushes Fuji's Triple Counters, and ends the match.
[edit] Senri Chitose
In the National Quarterfinals, Fudomine and Shitenhouji are matched up, reuniting the two old teammates. By the time they play, Shitenhouji's victory is almost all but assured.
Throughout the match, they are even, with Chitose countering the Wild Lion with his Kamikakushi and the Wild Beast Aura with The Pinnacle of Great Wisdom. In the end, his predictive abilities from the Pinnacle of Great Wisdom prove to be superior to Tachibana's power. However, Chitose reveals that Tachibana never hit the ball to the side of his weak eye throughout the match, and thinks that he probably wouldn't have won if he didn't realize it at the last second.
Following this, Tachibana returns with an eyepatch covering his injured eye to watch the match between Shusuke Fuji and Kuranosuke Shiraishi.
[edit] Special Shots
[edit] Wild Lion
The Wild Lion (Abare Jishi) is Tachibana's most notable shot. It's a fast and powerful shot that completely defines his attack style. There are not a whole lot of details known about the shot, but it seems to just be a powerful forehand.
It is especially devastating because of Tachibana's Wild Beast Aura.
[edit] Super Rising
One of the more common shots used in Prince of Tennis, Super Rising is a shot where the returner hits the ball they are returning just as it is bouncing up in order to give the opponent less time to react. Tachibana uses it seal off Chitose's Kamikakushi.
[edit] Wild Beast Aura
A special form that Tachibana can go into, the Wild Beast Aura is similar to the State of Self Actualization, but it has its differences. In this, all of Tachibana's skills are better then before. Using this form, he was able to easily break through Shusuke Fuji's Triple Counters, and was able to stand on even footing with Chitose even after Chitose opened one of the 3 Doors of the State of Self Actualization.
[edit] Wild Ball
Tachibana's special shot, the Wild Ball is done while doing a certain stance, and the ball is then hit extremely hard with the frame of the racket. This shot seems to be a more powerful version of Akazawa Yoshirou's (St. Rudolph's captain) blur ball, and it is this shot that caused Chitose Senri's eye injury back when they were both still part of the Shishigaku tennis club.
Note that this was Tachibana's final shot against his latest match with Chitose.
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| Tennis team members: | Ryoma Echizen | Kunimitsu Tezuka | Shuichiro Oishi | Shusuke Fuji | Eiji Kikumaru | Takashi Kawamura | Sadaharu Inui | Takeshi Momoshiro | Kaoru Kaidoh |
| Schools: | Seishun Academy Middle School | Fudomine Middle School | St. Rudolph Gakuen | Yamabuki | Hyotei Gakuen | Midoriyama | Jyosei Shonan | Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku | Rokkaku Chuu |
| Supporting characters: | Sumire Ryuzaki | Nanjiro Echizen | Masashi Arai | Satoshi Horio | Kachiro Kato | Katsuo Mizuno | Sakuno Ryuzaki | Tomoka Osakada |
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| List of Prince of Tennis episodes | Tennis no Ojisama - Futari no Samurai | The Prince of Tennis (film) | The Prince of Tennis Musicals | Takeshi Konomi | |
