Shusuke Fuji

Syusuke Fuji
The Prince of Tennis character
File:FujiShusuke.jpg Syusuke Fuji
Created by	Takeshi Konomi
In-universe information
Class	3-6

Syusuke Fuji (不二 周助, Fuji Syūsuke) is a fictional character in the anime and manga The Prince of Tennis. His name is romanized as Syusuke Fuji in the Japanese anime, and Shusuke Fuji in all the English versions.

The kanji for Fuji (不二) stands for 'not second', 'unparalleled', or 'peerless'. His name can also be seen as a bit of a pun when his hobbies and favorite foods are taken into account; Fujifilm is the world's largest photographic and imaging company, and one of Fuji's hobbies is photography. Fuji apples are a type of apple, and they are one of Fuji's favorite foods.

In the Valentine Chocolate specials from the manga, Fuji has constantly been in the top three recipients of chocolate, with the exception of the years 2005 and 2006.

Background

Shusuke Fuji is a third year student at Seishun Academy. He is given the title "tensai", or genius, due to his tactical skill on the tennis court. He is in the same class as Eiji Kikumaru, and is Eiji's good friend. Fuji is a leap year baby (his birthday is on February 29), and thus he can only properly celebrate his birthday once every four years. Fuji is cheerful and easygoing, with a penchant for playfully teasing those around him.

He is the middle child of the Fuji family. His unnamed father is a foreign-based employee, and is never seen in the series. His mother, 49-year-old Yoshiko, who also has perpetually-closed eyes, is seen in the manga as a kind and dedicated Japanese housewife. His younger brother, Yuta, is a tennis player at St. Rudolph Middle School. Fuji's elder sister, 24-year-old Yumiko, is considered very attractive and is popular among both Fuji and Yuta's friends.

He grew up in Chiba, where he became friends with Kojirō Saeki, the current vice-captain of Rokkaku Middle School Tennis Club. Later on, he moved to Tokyo and entered Seigaku.

Fuji usually takes the position of S2 (Singles 2), although sometimes he is paired with Takashi Kawamura or Eiji Kikumaru in Doubles (with Kikumaru, they are called the "Dream Pair"). Also, he and Ryoma Echizen temporarily take turns for the position of S1 (Singles 1) when captain Kunimitsu Tezuka is in rehabilitation.

Personality

Fuji is often seen with a calm and content expression on his face, with his eyes seemingly closed from lightly smiling. However, when he is excited or provoked, or when playing seriously, Fuji reveals his sharp eyes: blue in the anime and light brown in the manga.

Fuji generally seems very relaxed and in control, whilst his opponent is pushing himself to the limit, giving many the impression that Fuji is either a genius, who knows how to save his energy during plays, or that he does not really care about tennis itself. There are a few people that can "wake" the true player in Fuji and force him to play seriously, and these few are either nationally-ranked or extremely talented tennis players. Seigaku teammates Kunimitsu Tezuka and Ryoma Echizen, Shitenhōji captain Kuranosuke Shiraishi, and Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku regular Masaharu Niou have been acknowledged by Fuji to be actual challenges.

Fuji is particularly protective of his younger brother Yuta (probably to make up for former disagreements that almost brought them apart), as displayed throughout the series; he actively tries to "destroy" and punish those who have defeated his younger brother or have made him go through something dangerous (as proved by how differently he treats Jirou Akutagawa from Hyotei and Hajime Mizuki from Saint Rudolph. Though he holds no personal grudge towards Jirou, who won fairly against Yuta, he does resent Mizuki for a long time after seeing how he treated his brother as someone expendable to ensure his team's victory).

Yuta is also not the only person he has been protective of in this sense; in the anime, he is very upset when Kippei Tachibana is injured in his match against Rikkai Dai regular Akaya Kirihara (in the manga, Ryoma is the one who is injured). He is also upset when Akaya Kirihara insults the two schools, Seigaku and Fudomine. When Seigaku is down 1-2 in the Kantō finals against Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku, he engages in a serious match with Akaya Kirihara, who plays a fairly violent form of tennis. Kirihara injures Fuji's knee and knocks over an already injured Tachibana, who arrives to encourage Fuji; thanks to this and the fact that Tezuka is also absent due to injury, Fuji becomes serious and goes on to win the match. According to what Fuji's sister, Yumiko, tells Hajime Mizuki and Yuta, Fuji never gets angry about what happens to him, but when his family or friends are in danger, he does not hold back and attacks with full seriousness. However, during the National Tournament he does not react in the same way when Ryuzaki-sensei is attacked during his doubles match with Kawamura Takashi against Higa Chuu. Although Fuji does reveal his Fourth Counter in this match, never is his anger awakened like it was with Kirihara, making Fuji use more dangerous moves like the Knuckle Serve.

At times, Fuji tends to act like Eiji Kikumaru, wanting to win and to be number one. In episode 70, there is a mixed club day at his school, where the students are not allowed to play the sport that they are in. During this day, Fuji plays curling, which no one else plays, thus his words are, "Participants: zero, the championship is mine."

Prior to the National Tournament, Fuji plays a practice match against Fudomine's Tachibana, who breaks each of Fuji's Triple Counter. Realizing that his counters are not enough for a national-level tournament, Fuji develops his fourth counter, Kagerō Zutsumi (Dragonfly Illusion). However, during Seigaku's National semifinal match against Shitenhōji's Kuranosuke Shiraishi, Fuji suffers his first loss in an official match, despite making a comeback from 0 games to 5 by using his evolved Triple Counter, he loses 6 games to 7 during a tiebreak. This is the first time that any of his teammates see Fuji so disappointed in the outcome of the match.

Fuji also seems to be one of few Seigaku Regulars (along with Shuichiro Oishi and Ryoma Echizen) who is genuinely close to Kunimitsu Tezuka, the captain of the tennis club. As such, he and Tezuka are often seen together.

In a chibi episode and in TeniPuri family, Fuji is portrayed as a woman, playing off on his somewhat feminine looks. In the TeniPuri family episodes, he is the sweet yet impulsive Grandmother of the family and is often paired up with Tezuka, who plays the Grandfather. In the other Tenipuri chibi episode, settled in the Far West, he plays a damsel in distress-type girl searching for a Lone Gunman who later turns out to be Tezuka.

Fuji is fairly popular amongst his peers. In episode 134, he goes on a "date" with Kurumi (he had no choice; Momoshiro and Eiji made the decision for him), a grade schooler who falls in love with him at first sight, thinking of him as a prince of sorts. Despite his penchant for jokes and pranks off-tennis, Fuji can be insightful and even sweet when his friends need it; during his so-called date with little Kurumi, when she reveals that she has low self-esteem since she feels overshadowed by her older twin sister Narumi, Fuji helps her to sort their problems out, seeing his own situation with Yuta reflected in the sisters' quarrels.

Along with Tezuka (though Tezuka's hand was shaking after mistakenly drank it), Fuji is possibly the only person on the entire Seigaku team who is immune to Sadaharu Inui's various concoctions. However, while Tezuka only appears unaffected and does not state what he thought of the concoctions, it has been a running gag in the story that Fuji actually "likes" those drinks and will recommend it to others too. While he may intentionally fault during practice occasionally in order to try the penal concoctions, he has also mentioned that he enjoys seeing others suffer from drinking the concoctions even more. He is, however, not immune to "Aozu", a horrific blue vinegar and cod liver oil concoction; this drink causes his only blackout, and since then, Inui has believed that Fuji has a grudge against him. His odd tastes in food do not stop at Inui's gruesome health drinks, and he takes delight in wasabi rolls, honey-mustard, and horse radishes. However, later on, Fuji seems to work harder to not end up drinking the oddly colored liquids.

Special techniques

Counters

Sometimes called the "Three Counter Moves" (or more often called the Triple Counter). Game sealing returns, the counters are techniques that could only be pulled off by a genius like Shusuke Fuji. Each counter has a very low chance of being returned.

Later on in the series, during the Nationals, Fuji upgrades his Triple Counter and reveals more counters: Kagerou Zutsumi, Hecatoncheires no Monban and Hoshi Hanabi.

Although Fuji develops six counters, his set of counters is still called "Triple Counter".

Fuji's first four counters are based on animals: Tsubame Gaeshi: Swallow; Higuma Otoshi: Brown Bear; Hakugei: Whale; Kagerou Zutsumi: Dragonfly.

When Fuji "evolves" his Triple Counter, their new names are based on mythical creatures: Houou Gaeshi: Phoenix; Kirin Otoshi: Qilin; Hakuryu: Dragon.

Tsubame Gaeshi (燕返し, trans. "Swallow Return")

The first of Fuji's counters to be shown and the one he is often most associated with. Fuji utilizes his opponent's topspin by returning the ball with an extreme slice that doubles the amount of spin. The slice combines with the topspin and causes the ball to dip toward the ground and continue rolling across the court without a bounce. This counter is legendary in that once it is hit, the game is sealed. However, Tsubame Gaeshi can still be returned if it is hit before it touches the ground, which only a handful of players have succeeded in doing.

Fuji's counters can be sealed when an opponent can hit "sinkers", which are balls without spin. However, Fuji can then utilize the net to force the opponent to hit cord balls (balls that hit the top of the net before going in), which forces the ball to spin, and along with rolling the ball with his racket, he can pull off a perfect Tsubame Gaeshi.

In his match against Tezuka, Fuji uses the Tsubame Gaeshi in a reverse manner, dubbed the Reverse Tsubame Gaeshi. Instead of adding backspin to an opponent's topspin shot, Fuji adds extreme topspin to a slice/backspin shot. This also causes the ball to simply roll along the ground, like the original Tsubame Gaeshi, making it almost impossible to return.

Higuma Otoshi (羆落とし, trans. "Bear Drop")

By quickly rotating his body, Fuji uses centripetal force to absorb the force of any overhead smash; he then returns the ball with a lob that almost always lands on the opponent's baseline.

This counter is first broken by Ryoma Echizen, who hits cord balls to change the trajectory of his smash, therefore altering the position of Fuji's lob. Powerful smashes can also overpower the centrifugal force used to nullify the force of a smash. In the first round of the National Tournament, the Shukuchi technique of Higa Chuu renders the counter useless, as Higa players can move from the baseline to the net and vice versa in "one step".

Hakugei (白鯨, trans. "White Whale")

Fuji's third counter, Hakugei is a super slice lob with such extreme backspin that as soon as it passes over the net on to the opposite court, it curves upwards out of sight, than it falls straight down (usually on the baseline), and it flies back to Fuji's hand. However, Fuji needs wind to use the Hakugei.

It is first shown during Fuji's match against Hyotei's Jirou Akutagawa. Hakugei can be returned if the opponent is fast enough to hit the ball as it flies back to Fuji's hand. Fuji can also change the direction of the ball after it hits the opponent's court, either to go with the direction of the wind or to lessen the chance of a return.

In the anime, Fuji changes the direction in his match against Tezuka, where Tezuka approaches the net to wait for the technique, but Fuji adapts and the ball instead flies into the net away from Tezuka.

Hakugei is completely broken by Kuranosuke Shiraishi's Perfect Tennis when he changes the direction of how he returns the ball by 90 degrees, hitting it softly in a lateral way.

Kagerou Zutsumi (蜉蝣ずつみ, lit. Dragonfly Illusion)

Fuji's fourth counter, Kagerou Zutsumi uses both hands as he brings his racket down in an overhead swing that both contains and nullifies all spin on the ball. The ball is then returned devoid of spin, and gives the other player the illusion that the ball is farther than it actually is.

This counter is first revealed in Seigaku's first Doubles match with Kawamura against Higa Chuu in the National Tournament.

Kagerou Zutsumi is apparently useless against Kuranosuke Shiraishi's Perfect Tennis as the returning ball without spin comes to Shiraishi's court very slowly and he simply smashes the ball to win the point.

Houou Gaeshi (鳳凰返し, lit. Phoenix Return)

The upgraded version of Tsubame Gaeshi, Houou Gaeshi is one of the 3 upgraded techniques of the Triple Counter that Fuji creates in his match against Kuranosuke Shiraishi in the Nationals. Unlike Tsubame Gaeshi, Houou Gaeshi sinks at a higher rate and is closer to the net, thus making it much harder to return before it lands.

Houou Gaeshi is first defeated by Masaharu Niou in Tezuka's form; like the Tsubame Gaeshi, the ball can be returned by hitting the ball before it touches the ground.

Kirin Otoshi (キリン落とし, lit. Kirin/Qilin Drop)

The upgraded version of Higuma Otoshi. The only visible difference from this technique is that Fuji uses two hands to repel Shiraishi's smash rather than the one handed Higuma Otoshi. In the OVA, it reaches the opponent's baseline much faster than Higuma Otoshi.

Kirin Otoshi is first defeated by Masaharu Niou, who uses Tezuka's form to return the ball by using the Tezuka Zone to make the ball enter his side rather than letting it go to his baseline.

Hakuryu (白竜, Hakuryū, lit. White Dragon)

The upgraded version of Hakugei. Unlike Hakugei, Hakuryu rises much higher into the sky. Instead of spinning backwards to Fuji, the ball will bounce towards the sides.

Hakuryu is first defeated by Masaharu Niou, who uses Tezuka's form and returns the ball by smashing it before it bounces.

Hecatoncheires no Monban (へカトンケイルの門番, Hekatonkeiru no Monban, lit. Gate Keeper of Hecatoncheires)

Fuji's fifth counter (first stated to be his "final" counter), Hecatoncheires no Monban, is actually translated to "The Hundred Armed Giant", but this is a title from Greek Mythology, and thus kept with the name "Gate Keeper of Hecatoncheires". Using the reverse side of the racket, Fuji uses the slide of the oncoming ball over the gut and forcing a super spin to the ball. Then by instantaneously reversing his wrist and using the other side of the racket, he doubles the spin yet again. The way this counter works is from the extreme underspin Fuji creates, forcing the ball being returned back to him being a topspin, and topspins have a faster sink, making the ball sink before it passes the net.

Kuranosuke Shiraishi manages to overcome the tremendous spin of the ball and breaks this counter by creating a counter-spin on the ball just strong enough for the ball to go beyond the net as a cord ball.

Hoshi Hanabi (星花火, lit. Star Fireworks)

Hoshi Hanabi is Fuji's sixth counter. He reveals it during the Singles 2 match against Rikkai Dai's Masaharu Niou in the National Finals.

When the opponent hits a cord ball as a result of returning Hecatoncheires no Monban, Fuji responds by launching the ball straight into the sky, out of anyone's field of vision. Due to a certain wind, the ball will then crash land at a very high speed with an irregular spin and it will bounce to any side. It seeems that he first used this technique against Shitenhouji's Shiraishi on his last shot but the shot was out. The name of the technique was not yet revealed that time.

According to Sadaharu Inui, Hoshi Hanabi can be performed by Fuji because he can read the wind.

Serves

Disappearing Serve

Otherwise known as a "cut-serve", but because Fuji spins the ball as he drops it, the ball also disappears. While not as fast or powerful as most serves, many players are caught off guard by the way the ball abruptly "cuts" to the left (the returner's right), and in a sense "disappears". Fuji first uses this move when he faces Jirou Akutagawa from Hyotei Academy.

The Disappearing Serve is completely broken by Shiraishi's Perfect Tennis during the National Semifinals.

Knuckle Serve (anime only)

This move is shown when Fuji is playing Akaya Kirihara from Rikkai Dai in the anime. Due to the fact Fuji is angry, he uses the Knuckle Serve to take revenge. Before the user throws the ball in the air, the user squeezes the ball first. Its direction can only be seen by the one who served it.

Others

Upper Body Split Step

This move was created out of need at the Kanto Tournament finals during his match with Kirihara who hurt Fuji's knee. The difference in speed allows Fuji to cover the court more effectively.

"Closed Eyes"

This is not exactly a tecnhique but it's a state that sharpens Fuji's abilities greatly. Fuji used it first at Kanto Finals during his match with Kirihara after he blinded him with a smash. But it's at the National Finals in his match against Masaharu Niou when Fuji refines his "closed eyes" mode, even being able to aim for a cord ball and break all of Tezuka's techniques, including Hyaku Ren Jitoku and Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami.

Tournament Matches

Tournament matches

Tournament		Position	Partner	Opposing school	Opponent(s)	Score
Tokyo District Preliminaries	Round 1	Singles 1	—	Gyokurin	?	6-0
Tokyo District Preliminaries	Finals	Doubles 2	Takashi Kawamura	Fudomine Middle School	Tetsu Ishida / Masaya Sakurai	4-2 (forefeit)
Tokyo Prefectual Tournament	Semi-Finals	Singles 2	—	St. Rudolph	Hajime Mizuki	7-5
Tokyo Prefectual Tournament	Finals	Doubles 2	Takashi Kawamura	Yamabuki Middle School	Inakichi Nitobe / Ichicuma Kita	3-6
Kanto Regional Tournament	Round 1	Singles 2	—	Hyotei Academy	Jirou Akutagawa	6-1
Kanto Regional Tournament	Semi-Finals	Doubles 1	Eiji Kikumaru	Rokkaku Middle School	Kojiro Saeki / Marehiko Itsuki	6-2
Kanto Regional Tournament	Finals	Singles 2	—	Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku	Akaya Kirihara	6-4
National Tournament	Round 1	Doubles 2	Takashi Kawamura	Higa Middle School	Hiroshi Chinen / Rin Hirakoba	7-5
National Tournament	Semi-Finals	Singles 3	—	Shintenhouji	Kuranosuke Shiraishi	6-7
National Tournament	Finals	Singles 2	—	Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku	Masaharu Niou	7-5

      = Win
      = Loss

Notable matches

Kunimitsu Tezuka

Two years ago, when Fuji and Tezuka were first years, Fuji requested a match against Tezuka. Though the match ended with Tezuka's complete defeat (6-0), Fuji was displeased with the outcome since Tezuka was not playing in his best form due to having his arm previously injured by an upperclassman. They promised to play each other once again after Tezuka's arm completely heals.

Ryoma Echizen

During a practice match, Fuji plays against Ryoma Echizen. They both start to play out evenly, but Fuji starts to use one of his Triple Counter, Higuma Otoshi, which gives him the upper-hand. However, Ryoma manages to find a way to break the counter, but the match is soon stopped due to rain, with Fuji leading 4 games to 3.

There have been countless references to it in the story afterwards, including some in the TeniPuri chibi episodes.

In an interview released in December 2007, Konomi mentioned that he originally planned to have Fuji transfer to Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku after this match, but he later scrapped that idea.

Jirou Akutagawa

Shusuke Fuji started the match by performing the Disappearing Serve, which excites Jirou Akutagawa, who decides to get serious, but fails to return the ball during Fuji's service game. During Jirou's service game, he serves the ball and suddenly approaches the net, which prompts Fuji to aim for Jirou's foot, but Jirou is able to volley it. The same pattern continues throughout the game, which Jirou subsequently wins.

During Fuji's service game, he prevents Jirou from going to the net and manages to win the game. Fuji later manages to win three straight points during Jirou's service game, so Jirou tries to counter by approaching the net right after using a flat serve. When Fuji returns the ball, Jirou takes the chance to smash it, but Fuji uses his Higuma Otoshi to take the point. When Jirou approaches the net right at the beginning of the next game, Fuji uses his third counter, Hakugei. From there, Fuji manages to dominate and win the match with 6 games to 1.

Akaya Kirihara (manga version)

Fuji starts off the game by going on the offense, winning him the first point. Akaya Kirihara then enters his Devil Mode and starts using his Split-Step to force Fuji into the corner, which Fuji countered by using Hakugei. Using the Split-Step, Kirihara is able to run up to the ball and smash the ball back, only for Fuji to return the ball with a Higuma Otoshi, winning him the first game.

Fuji also wins the next game, and has a brief flashback of Tezuka's match against Keigo Atobe, which makes Fuji decide to start playing seriously. Kirihara then injures Fuji with a smash that knocks away Fuji's racket, and Fuji is also blinded by the injury sustained as a result of Kirihara hitting the ball to Fuji's head. Though Fuji continues to play, Kirihara manages to win four straight games, turning the score to his favor 4 games to 3.

After being mocked by Kirihara, Fuji begins to play better despite his injury with his eyes closed, winning the next 2 games. However, Kirihara unconsciously enters Muga no Kyōchi, giving Fuji a run for it, and only manages to win the last point by using the side of his racket after Kirihara broke it with Sanada's Ka technique. The match ends with Fuji winning 7 games to 5.

Akaya Kirihara (anime version)

Fuji starts off the match with his Disappearing Serve, which Akaya Kirihara fails to return three times in a row. However, on the fourth try, Kirihara is able to hit it, but it hits the net, so Fuji wins the game. During Kirihara's service game, he hits a Twist Serve, but it is evaded by Fuji. After Kirihara fails to win a few points from Fuji, he activates his Devil Mode. Kirihara then smashes the ball and hits Fuji's knee twice in a row, subsequently winning him the game. Due to the pain in his knee, Fuji loses three straight games.

When Kirihara tries to hit Tachibana, who came to encourage Fuji, with a Knuckle Serve, Fuji gets angry, and uses the Knuckle Serve himself, which scares Kirihara. Due to Kirihara's fear, Fuji manages to win that game. When Kirihara's fear grows, he steps back, causing him to get hit on his knee. Believing that Fuji hit his knee on purpose, Kirihara is paralyzed by his fear, which results in Fuji winning the last few points with service aces, and the last with a Hakugei.

Kunimitsu Tezuka (anime only)

During Seigaku's inter-school match-ups, Kunimitsu Tezuka and Shusuke Fuji are pitted against each other. Fuji dominates at first and easily wins the first game, however, Tezuka wins the next game in no time because Fuji had difficulty returning Tezuka serves. Fuji tries to counter by using his Triple Counter, but everyone is surprised when Tezuka seals Fuji's Triple Counter in one play. The match continues and Tezuka dominates at 4 games to 2.

Fuji becomes serious and his shots begin to change as he displays improved Triple Counter. As Fuji begins to dominate the match, Tezuka responds by using smashes that hit the net, which seals Fuji's improved Higuma Otoshi. During the match point, Tezuka smashes, but Fuji had predicted his hit already and used his Higuma Otoshi. When the ball passes Tezuka, Fuji believes that he has won, but Tezuka, while in mid-air, quickly switches his racket to his right hand, and uses the Tezuka Zone, which allows him to hit his Zero-Shiki Drop Shot. Tezuka wins with a score of 7 games to 6.

Kuranosuke Shiraishi

During the National Semifinals - Seigaku versus Shitenhouji -, Fuji is pitted against Shitenhouji's captain, Kuranosuke Shiraishi, in the Singles 3 slot. Shiraishi completely dominates the match by using his Perfect Tennis, sealing Fuji's Disappearing Serve and even his (first) four counters, resulting in Shiraishi taking the lead with 5 games to 0.

Just when Shiraishi is winning the sixth game with 40-0, Fuji receives encouragement from Ryoma Echizen, and starts to play aggressively. He displays his upgraded Triple Counter and finally Hecatoncheires no Monban, his "final" counter, winning him six straight games. Before Fuji's match point, Shiraishi nearly returns Fuji's final counter, and is able to return the technique with a cord ball during the next turn. Fuji continuously hits his final counter, but Shiraishi returns them all with cord balls. In the end, after Fuji's final Hakuryu lands out, Shiraishi wins with 7 games to 6, being the first person to ever beat Fuji in an official singles match.

Masaharu Niou

During the National Finals - Seigaku versus Rikkai Dai -, Fuji plays against the "King of Swindlers", Masaharu Niou, in the Singles 2 slot. The match starts out with Fuji playing seriously right from the start, using his upgraded Triple Counter and his Hecatoncheires no Monban to win him three straight games. In order to counter-attack, Niou creates an illusion in the form of Tezuka.

Mimicking all of Tezuka's techniques, including Hyaku Ren Jitoku no Kiwami and Tezuka Phantom, Niou beats all of Fuji's counters and turns the tables with 5 games to 4. With Niou's service game, everyone thought he could win the match with four Zero-Shiki Serves, but instead Niou activates Saiki Kanpatsu no Kiwami. However, Fuji learns to defeat the technique by returning the ball with his eyes closed, thus making it impossible for Niou to predict Fuji's movements. With his "closed eyes" mode, Fuji then breaks all of Tezuka's techniques and turns the match in his favor with 6 games to 5.

With the advantage, Fuji emphazises that Niou could have won the match if he used four Zero-Shiki Serves in his last service game, but certainly Niou's didn't hit them because he can't do it, which meant that Niou's illusion is not perfect after all. Realizing that Tezuka is not longer effective against Fuji, Niou changes into Shiraishi's form, the first person to beat Fuji in a singles match, which is when Fuji announces the name of his new counter: Hoshi Hanabi. Niou uses Shiraishi's Perfect Tennis, defeating all of Fuji's previous counters and returning Hecatoncheires no Monban with a cord ball, as the true Shiraishi did at the Semifinal match, but Fuji reveals his sixth counter, Hoshi Hanabi, winning him the point and completely breaking Niou's illusion. With his new counter, Fuji finally wins the match with a score of 7 games to 5.

After the match, it was noted by coach Ryuzaki that Fuji got his revenge against Shiraishi and has surpassed Tezuka.

Reception

In all the Shonen Jump character popularity poll of series, Fuji has remained in the top two. Besides the second character popularity poll, where Fuji came in first place, Fuji has come in second place in every other poll.

In addition, in the Valentine Chocolate specials of the manga, Fuji has constantly been in the top three recipients of chocolate, including receiving the most in 2001, with the exception of the years 2005 and 2006.

Actors

Fuji is one of the few male characters in the anime who is voiced by a female voice actor, others being Ryoma Echizen, Kintarou Tooyama of Shitenhouji, Taichi Dan of Yamabuki, Youhei and Kouhei Tanaka of Jyosei Shonan (the latter two being anime only characters), and Seiichi Yukimura of Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku. However, Ryoma, Kintarō and Taichi are first years, thus younger and more naturally voiced by a female seiyū, but despite Fuji and Yukimura being third years, they are also voiced by female seiyū.

• In the anime series, Fuji's seiyū is Yuki Kaida. In the Japanese original, both Fuji and his sister Yumiko are voiced by Yuki Kaida.

• For the live-action adaptation film of The Prince of Tennis, Tenimyu actor Hiroki Aiba portrays Fuji.

• In The Prince of Tennis Musicals, Fuji is portrayed by actors Kimeru (2003-2005), Takashi Nagayama (2003-2004), Hiroki Aiba (2005-2007, 2008), Yuuta Furukawa (2007-present), and Hashimoto Taito (2008-present).

• In the English anime series, Fuji is voiced first by Adam Lawson, and later (from episode 31 on) by Johnny Yong Bosch.