Ryoma Echizen

Ryoma Echizen (越前 リョーマ Echizen Ryōma) is the main character of the manga and anime, Prince of Tennis.

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The rather aloof Prince of Tennis star is a student at Seishun Academy Middle School (Seigaku) where he transferred to from America. Although only a freshman, Ryoma's brilliant tennis skills had previously earned him a background of winning four consecutive titles in the American Junior Tennis tournaments - all in a little over a year. Due to his nearly invincible tennis play, at the age of twelve, Ryoma is already labeled as a genius.

He is an all-round tennis player and his special abilities are Twist Serve, One-Footed Split-Step, Cyclone Smash (or Cool Drive in the manga), and Drive Volley, such as "Drive B" and "Drive A" (or Drive B and C in the manga). Above all his Twist Serve is powerful. With his amazing control, the ball spins at the opponent's face with amazing speed and powerful spin. One of Ryoma's greatest talents is his ability to learn new techniques at an amazingly fast pace.

Although he is left-handed, his famous Twist Serve is only effective when delivered from the dominant hand of his opponents (ex. he uses his right hand when serving against right handed players and vice versa). He sometime plays the game with his right hand. This is mainly used as either a handicap for weaker opponents and as a way to test his opponents abilities. When the need for returning at a difficult angle or distance arises, Ryoma also incorporates the use of "nitoryuu" or ambidexterity.

His catchphrase is "mada mada dane," literally meaning "no, not yet." Depending on the context, it can either mean "you're still not there yet" (to an opponent) or "it's not over yet." (Having been brought up in America most of his life, Ryoma is fluent English, and in the manga, he says "You still have lots more to work on.")

At the beginning of the series, all of Ryoma's tennis skills were a copy of his father's; former tennis pro Nanjirou Echizen. With the help of his team captain Kunimitsu Tezuka, Echizen realizes he needs to develop his own style of tennis, especially if he wants to fulfill his dream of finally defeating his father.

With each match, it becomes apparent that Ryoma not only brings his potential to the front, but that he is constantly reaching a new point in the state of self-actualization - especially so during crucial points in a match. Although he views each opponent as a stepping stone of advancement, Tezuka soon becomes the wall that Ryoma has set up for himself in order to achieve actual greatness. We see a little interaction between Shusuke Fuji and Ryoma in the anime, although this is left somewhat unexplored and open-ended.

Although Ryoma has a rather tunneled vision as to whom he considers a rival, (Tezuka and his father) there are many that view the freshman as just that. One of the more noteable examples of this in the anime is Kevin Smith, the son of Jintan Smith, the man who was defeated by Nanjirou Echizen. Kevin appeared later in the series in the "friendly" match between the U.S. and Japan. Kevin became obssessed with wanting to play Ryoma because of their pasts, whereas, in the beginning Ryoma regarded Kevin's threats with a rather unconcerned attitude.

Many of the characters in the anime, especially the Seigaku tennis team, have very sociable personalities, whether it be friendly, outgoing, passionate, or arrogant. Due to his excellent tennis skills and past accomplishments, Ryoma's confidence has frequently (and inaccurately) dubbed him as the latter. He appears cocky, but this is mainly kept on the courts where he employs it as a psychological tactic against his opponents. He is sarcastic in a lot of areas, yet quiet for the majority during any interaction with most of the characters in the anime, and he appears to be somewhat dense when it comes to human nature outside of tennis. Despite the boy's emotionless exterior, he does carry a friendship with his senpai Momoshiro.

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Stats

Ryoma Echizen

Class: First year

Weight: 50 kg

Height: 151 cm

DOB: December 24th

Favorite Color: Silver

Favorite Subject: Science

Hobbies: Trying out different bath salts

Racket: Bridgestone (Dynabeam Grandae)

Clothing: Fila

Shoes: Fila

Family: Nanjiro (father), Rinko (mother), Nanako (cousin), Karupin (cat)

Notes

The JTA (Japanese Tennis Association) has accepted Ryoma Echizen as a formal image character of the organization.