History Manga / BabySteps

** [[{{Fridge Logic}} Fridge Logic]]: Eiichiro has constantly improved throughout the course of the series, so he has likely improved enough for those techniques to no longer have those drawbacks.

* MegaManning: [[Eiichirou adopts a variant of the Okada bazooka on the spot against Ogata, as his biggest weakness until now is his lack of power, most glaring against someone with a higher technical degree as Ogata is]].

** If 'slightly interested' counts, Ide Yoshiaki's group has one between the two girls, one of the boys and Ide himself. The two girls like Ide, although one [[WantMyBelovedToBeHappy wants to give her friend the best chance with him]], the other boy is 'slightly interested' in the one who doesn't count as the above and Ide is blissfully oblivious to everything except tennis.

* UnderdogsAlwaysLose: Ultimately played [[spoiler: straight]] in major tournaments when it comes to [[spoiler: going all the way]] for Eiichirou, [[spoiler: despite being subverted in the early stages against much higher-fancied opponents]].

*** Except [[spoiler Katsumi Ogata]] who bested him in their younger years before an injury temporarily took him out of the game.

* ThisCannotBe: Kouji Nishimura, when Eiichiro's tennis game turns out to be much better than advertised.

* NaiveNewcomer: We learn the [[IncrediblyLamePun "Ins and Outs"]] of tennis through the eyes of novice Eiichirou

* HeroOfAnotherStory: Ide Yoshiaki's back story is completely littered with sports movie clichés. He's given an entire cast of supporting characters, a compulsion to [[ChronicHeroSyndrome risk forfeiting his qualifying match to help a child in a car accident]] (and subsequently, a promise to the [[WheelchairWoobie wheelchair-bound child]]), an ability to [[ThePowerOfFriendship draw strength from]] his [[InstantFanClub spontaneously huge fan base]], and a tendency to [[MiracleRally always come from behind in all of his games]]. It's no surprise that even the end of his match with Eiichiro ends in [[DownToTheLastPlay ridiculously dramatic fashion]].

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Nabae Yuu and Ike Souji, to both Eiichirou and Takuma. Takuma also serves as this for Araya.

** Not so much anymore, he outgrew this after his [[spoiler:trip to Florida and his latest match with Takuma, Eiichiro has developed a very decisively offensive control oriented style of tennis, backed by a powerful serve and precise footwork made only possible by [[TrainingFromHell complete physical reconditioning]] to strengthen his muscles and increase his stamina, even Miyagawa who Eiichiro defeated in their last match via a mixture of luck and determination, was quick to notice how he TookALevelInBadass and that he should probably consider him a completely different player.]] It is of course, difficult to notice the upgrade even for the reader up to that point, since the Manga does a very good job in [[ShownTheirWork presenting Eiichiro's progress very gradually, and in a very detailed and borderline realistic fashion]].

* LoveDodecahedron: Kageyama likes Sasaki who likes Eiichiro, who in turns likes Natsu. Seems like a simple enough love square, except Natsu is also at the same time liked by Takuma, and [[spoiler:Souji]].

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "Do you want to become a professional player too, Takuma-senpai?"

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: "Do you want to become a professional player too, Takuma-senpai?"

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Not a physically violent example but Eiichirou didn't take too kindly to Ike joking about Natsu being his fiance. It was lampshaded by another student.

* ButtMonkey: Eiichirou

* ChekhovsGun: Coach Aoi teaches Eiichiro the between-the-legs shot in Chapter 71. It isn't shown or mentioned again until [[spoiler: Chapter 153, when Eiichiro uses it to defeat Ide Yoshiaki in the final game of their match.]]

* FissionMailed: [[spoiler: Coach Aoi doesn't believe Eiichiro is ready to beat the top national players, and states he must win the Kanagawa Junior Tennis Circuit (to earn a seeded rank in Kanto and start against weaker players) in order to reach the Top 16 and qualify for the All-Japan Junior tournament. Eiichiro loses to Araya in the Kanagawa finals, fails to become seeded, and is matched up against high-ranked Ide Yoshiaki in the All-Japan Junior qualifying match. He wins anyway.]]

Marou Eiichirou is a model high school student. Known by his classmates as “All-A” or “Ei-chan”, Eiichirou has a reputation for being studious and a perfectionist. Pretty much dedicating his entire life to studying, cram school, and school committee meetings, everything he does is to further his goal of becoming a successful, responsible adult. He’s even recently decided to start exercising… to make getting around easier when he goes to university, of course.