Characters / DAYS

A list of characters from DAYS.

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Seiseki High

Tsukamoto Tsukushi - # 17

Voiced by: Takuto Yoshinaga

The Protagonist of the series, Tsukushi is a meek, friendly, very shy boy with no special talents except for his determination. He is looking for friends, and befriending Kazama is what gets him to join the Seiseki soccer club.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: Had brown eyes in the manga, but they're blue in the anime. His hair color also changed from dark brown to black.
• Affectionate Nickname: "Tsuku-chan," courtesy of Sayuri.
• Alliterative Name: Tsukamoto Tsukushi.
• All-Loving Hero: He likes anyone and everyone by default.
• Ambiguously Bi: He gets shiny-eyed at the sight of the pretty girls when Kazama first takes him to play futsal, but he may or may not also be attracted to Kazama, describing him as "cool-looking" and "gentle" to his mother and saying he brightens everything around him.
• Amusing Injuries: His early attempts to play soccer are chock-full of clumsy accidents, making them pure slapstick. He never takes long to recover from any of them, no matter how painful they'd be in real life.
• Apologizes a Lot: Constantly saying "sorry". It's a borderline Catchphrase.
• Audience Surrogate: A beginner at football and thus doesn't know much about it.
• Badass Adorable: What he slowly develops into once his soccer skills power up.
• Bad Liar: Everyone can immediately tell if he's lying.
• Battle Cry: He's in charge of shouting it for Seiseki before matches. "Seiseki! Fight!"
• Best Friend: To Kazama. Even after they've both expanded their social circles they remain inseparable.
• Blue with Shock: He turns blue on a regular basis – namely, whenever he's scared, panicking, weirded out or just got injured.
• Blush Sticker: He has permanent blush stickers on his cheeks. Very large round ones.
• Butt-Monkey: Horribly clumsy and accident-prone, constantly on the receiving end of his teammates' teasing and rival players' mocking, and just very prone to embarrassing himself in general.
• Captain Oblivious: He has the tendency to unable to read the mood of the match.
• Character Tics: Holding his hands low in front of his body, one clasping the other, especially when he's nervous.
• Chaste Hero: He has yet to show any romantic attraction to anyone.
• Childhood Friends: With Sayuri, who is like an older sister to him.
• Classical Anti-Hero: Awkward, clumsy, insecure, constantly anxious, bad at sports, physically weak, and without any special talents or outstanding strengths except for a big heart and lots of determination.
• Comedic Underwear Exposure: Happens to him in the Saku High match when he's so nervous he forgets to tie his drawstrings and his pants fall down in front of everyone. Cue the whole team laughing.
• Confusion Fu: He develops a habit of appearing and disappearing where his opponents least expect it, partly due to the overbearing presences of the team's Three Arrows and his own unassuming demeanour. With Usui's help he further develops this to lose his marks.
• Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship: With Kazama, who is popular, confident and a soccer genius.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's soft, sweet, shy and emotional, as well as incredibly stubborn, unafraid of serious injury, and growing into an increasingly stronger player on the field.
• Curtains Match the Window: In the manga he has brown hair and brown eyes.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Implied before the start of the series. He never had any special skills or interests and nothing special to live for before he met Kazama and discovered soccer.
• Determinator: What keeps him going beyond his limits again and again and again. He's awful at soccer and his athletic ability isn't good either, but he wants to play soccer with everyone so he keeps training twice as much as everyone else.
  • Played for Drama after the match against Ichinose during Nationals, where during his Heroic Self-Deprecation phase he confided in Kazama that part of it comes from the circumstances surrounding him (especially after being chosen from the Interhighs)that ended up with him feeling he can only move forward in order to not let everybody down despite his fear of not being good enough.
• Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: He can't stop himself from thinking out loud on the train not once but twice before nationals... which would be fine if not for the girl sitting in front of him and hearing everything, combined with the odd connotation of some of his out-loud thoughts out of context; see Double Entendre below. He winds up very embarrassed both times.
• Disappeared Dad: His father died from a traffic accident when he was younger, leaving him alone with his mother.
• Double Entendre: He of all people manages to accidentally create one. On the train to school, about to board the bus that will take the team to nationals. He can't contain his excitement and accidentally thinks out loud, to the confusion of the girl sitting in front of him; he tries to silence himself after that, but one sentence tumbles out anyway...
  Tsukushi: [thinking] I wonder how many people will come watch the game... I don't want to become anyone's burden, so I have no option but to do my best! It might be a little scary, but that's why...
  Tsukushi: [out loud] I want to do it soon, I'm really excited...
  Girl: [horror-struck] Doing it soon? And with such a pure face...
• Emergency Impersonation: Played for Laughs in the manga. When Kazama oversleeps and misses the bus to the training camp, the other first-years try to disguise him as Kazama (with yellow tape for hair and a paper nose) and quickly ditch the plan because it doesn't work.
• Epic Fail: The overwhelming majority of his attempts to score goals turn out this way. One of the times he actually scored a goal against Touin, he got himself into an offside trap.
• Extreme Doormat: Played with. He stood up to his bullies before his first meeting with Kazama just fine, but other than that he's pretty willing to let people push him around, doing every task he's asked to do even when it's not his job and accepting insults with a thank-you and a promise to do his best. Seems like he only stands up for himself when he has nothing to lose with a person and chooses not to mind the rest, either out of cluelessness or due to his kind nature.
• Friendless Background: He had no friends except Sayuri, who he considers family, before he met Kazama.
• Friend to All Children: He sometimes visits his mother at the daycare where she works, and the children are always happy to see him.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Basically the entire plot of the series is how he goes from a total beginner to a feared player on the field, paralleling Mizuki's own rise two years earlier.
• Goofy Print Underwear: He accidentally reveals it when he forgets to tie his drawstrings in the match against Saku High and his pants fall down. It's red with white polka dots.
• Greater Need Than Mine: He is more than willing to step down from his spot on the Inter-High lineup when he gets picked instead of Kasahara, who has to move away to take care of his sick grandmother after the tournament and quit soccer, and has never once played in an official match in almost three years of playing with Seiseki. Unfortunately for him, no one lets him.
• Groin Attack: He suffers one at the very beginning, getting hit there by a soccer ball in a futsal match. He brushes it off and keeps playing.
• Hair-Contrast Duo: Downplayed with him and Kazama, with Kazama being lighthearted, cheerful and outgoing while Tsukushi is more serious and tends to get anxious or panic easily.
• The Heart: His kindness and neverending determination is what slowly wins the entire team over to his side and inspires them to train harder themselves. Many characters have also noted that he keeps the team in high spirits.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: He has a very hard time accepting that he's improving a lot and becoming an important member of the team, still thinking of himself as The Load.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kazama; they become nigh inseparable very quickly. The heterosexual part is debatable though.
• High-Pressure Emotion: Occasionally pops up when he's overcome by his own shyness or very very embarrassed, minus the steam from the ears.
• Humble Hero: As he gets stronger and people start to acknowledge his skill and see him as a valid threat he still views himself as a beginner and load and believes he doesn't deserve the recognition, if he notices it at all.
• Hyper-Awareness: His special skill. Since he's had to help his wheelchair-bound mother from an early age, he developed an extraordinary attention to detail. He eventually translates it into his playing style, noticing everything about his teammates and their playing styles and adjusting his own plays in correspondence to them.
  • He's also the only one to notice Kazama's injury in the Seikan match.
• I Can Still Fight!: He always keeps going despite all the injuries he gets while playing soccer, often insisting that they don't hurt at all when they obviously do.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: The reason why he joined the Seiseki soccer team. Kazama was the first friend he made in high school, as well as probably his first friend ever aside from Sayuri, and he wanted to spend more time with him and play together with him.
• Image Song: "Run or Run!"
• I'm Okay!: After the reveal that his toe is badly hurt in his futsal match with Kazama, he stomps down his injured foot, insisting he's okay. The others don't buy it.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: In the anime; they're wide and dark blue and fit his sweet, innocent personality.
• In Touch with His Feminine Side: He's anything but athletic or physically strong, has next to no aggression, and is incredibly open about his emotions, wearing them all written all over his face. Lampshaded in the second OVA, where Kimishita is forced to imagine a girlfriend and the closest thing to a girl he can imagine is Tsukushi in drag over Ukabata, an actual girl.
• Ironic Echo: Delivers one to his mother when he gave her a late Christmas present, stating that they don't talk about how expensive it is, this is after she gifts him new cleats.
• It's All My Fault: He blames himself after missing the deciding shot in the match against Saku High, resulting in Seiseki losing and not making it to the Inter-High.
• Junior Counterpart:
  • To Mizuki. Both only started soccer in high school, both were initially the worst players on the team but persevered, both didn't really have anything to keep them going before soccer, and both are kind-hearted, good-natured, simple, determined individuals.
  • He's also one to a player from a different team, Katou from Ryouzan, to the extent that he's occasionally called "Mini Katou". They both have the ability to sneak into plays and steal the ball, and Kazuma points out that Katou is the only player Tsukamoto can learn from even if he's from a rival team.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: He and his mother looked after a cat when he was a child, and he still remembers it fondly.
• The Klutz: He's rather accident-prone when playing soccer.
• Like Brother and Sister: With Sayuri. He compares her to an older sister on several occasions.
• Like Father, Like Son: He's as sweet, gentle and prone to overthinking and worrying too much as his mother. Very little is known about his father, but from what is known about him Tsukushi seems to have inherited his personality too.
• Living Emotional Crutch: To Kazama, who feels like Tsukushi gave him his joy of soccer back and even thanks his own estranged mother for giving birth to him because he could meet Tsukushi that way.
• The Load: He views himself as this, feeling like he can't do anything compared to his teammates, unaware of the fact that he's The Heart and keeps the team's inspiration and morale up. While it is true at the start, his growth is able to make him an increasing threat against other teams, to the point of finding him scarier than his more experienced teammates
  • After the match with Keiou ended, he felt that his role in that match is unnecessary (given that he didn't score goals or assists), himself ignoring the fact that he's the one that gave Kishimita the chance to score 3 goals with free kicks.
  • In fact, his mentality of being this is a frightening sight of him, trying and failing (in his own standards) again and again would have made him fear soccer.
• Luminescent Blush: Regularly gets them on top of his usual Blush Stickers.
• Made of Iron: Played with. While he does get knocked out by a nasty foul once, he's fine again by the end of the day, and otherwise played straight, with him suffering injuries that should definitely render him unable to play and continuing to play anyway.
• Magnetic Hero: He's very good at winning the sympathy and hearts of his teammates and rivals with his neverending determination and kind nature.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: A non-romantic example; he's the Feminine Boy to Ubukata's Masculine Girl.
• Mistaken for Romance: With Ubukata, thanks to the effect of Sleep Cute. Kazama also thinks he might like her in early parts of the series, although it's unclear if he seriously thinks he might fall for her or if it's just teasing.
• Moe Couplet: With Kazama. Their adoring Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship between the outgoing, talented, secretly lonely charmer and the shy, socially awkward, perfectly averade kid is played up for all the cuteness imaginable.
• Momma's Boy: Portrayed in a very positive light. He and his mother are very close, partly because they only have each other since his father died, partly because she sits in a wheelchair and Tsukushi has to take care of her and help her a lot.
• Naïve Newcomer: To the world of high school soccer, and soccer in general, having only started it in high school.
• Nervous Wreck: He panics and worries very easily, especially in any kind of social situations.
• Nice Guy: If there ever was one. He's good-natured, kind, and always thinks of everyone else before thinking of himself.
• No Social Skills: In heaps and spades. He's kind, shy, and very, very socially awkward, but he tries his best.
• Not a Date: When Ubukata takes him to a family restaurant to talk after the loss against Saku High, it's only to talk some sense into him. Their teammates do think it's a date though.
• The Not-Love Interest: To Kazama; they share a lot of moments with romantic connotations (such as their quiet heart-to-hearts and Kazama introducing him to his mom), Kazama describes him as the one who gave him hope again, and his Jerkass Realization after their fight plays out a lot like a Love Epiphany. They're just very good friends.
• Not What It Looks Like: His fellow first-years find him sleeping on Ubukata's shoulder after she comforts him when he blames himself for Seiseki losing against Sakuragi and jump to conclusions. Lucky for him, Ubukata scares them off before he wakes up.
• Older Than They Look: He and Narukami almost aren't allowed to enter their respective teams' locker rooms because security mistakes them for kids.
• Out of Focus: During the nationals, he is benched for the matches against Yuigahama and Ryouzan, at least until the second half of both of the matches.
• Personality Blood Types: Type A. He's kind, patient, loyal and reliable.
• Plucky Comic Relief: Curiously enough, In-Universe. His clumsiness, occasional airheadedness and all-around awkwardness immediately lighten the team's mood and make them laugh even in tense situations.
• Power-Strain Blackout: Due to running too much during the Ichinose's match where he acts as a defender to cover Usui's one-on-one marking against Aiba, his is visibly overexerted after the first half is over.
• Prone to Tears: He's very prone to tears, although it's less because of his fragility and more because of his compassionate and very emotional nature. Though his actual usual personality is dread of not being good enough.
• Protectorate: To Kazama, and eventually to the whole team. You mess with him, you mess with all of Seiseki.
• Ridiculously Average Guy: Subverted. The summary calls him "a boy with no special qualities" and he views himself that way, as do most people around him at first, but he's outstanding in his empathy, kindness, determination, and big heart.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Sensitive Guy to Kazama's Manly Man.
• Shared Family Quirks: He and his mother have the same response to getting a present from the other – and also the same response to the other's response. "Wasn't this too expensive?" "You promised you wouldn't say that!"
• Ship Tease: Had some with Ubukata initially, but that was discarded after a few volumes.
• Shrinking Violet: To the point that he can't get a word out when trying to introduce himself to the class in the manga, and goes beet red in the anime.
• Sleep Cute: He falls asleep on Ubukata's shoulder after the latter comforts him when he blames himself after the Saku High match.
• Socially Awkward Hero: Very much. He's almost cripplingly shy and insecure even though he has no qualms giving it his all and facing dangerous injuries while playing soccer.
• Sparkling Stream of Tears: He gets them pretty much every time he cries. Which is often.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: One of his strongest suits as a player. Since he's so unremarkable, opponents easily lose track of him, which allows him to suddenly appear behind them to steal the ball or shake off marks.
• Strong Family Resemblance: He has his mother's Blush Stickers and round eyes.
• Supporting Protagonist: He's not very talented or The Ace of the team but starts out as a benchwarmer who rarely gets to play, and even later he doesn't specialize in flashy plays but in supporting the team.
  • During Chapter 34 (the studying chapter), Usui felt that he (who gets average marks, which is way better compared to his teammates) would be suited to teach them since he has a lot of patience, though immediately later Usui gets him to just worry about himself and leave the team to the upper-classmen.
• Tareme Eyes: In contrast to almost everyone else's Tsurime Eyes, indicating his sweet and gentle nature.
• Tears of Joy: He's extremely prone to them, especially at the beginning when he's not used to people being nice to him yet.
• Tender Tears: He cries them when he gets chosen for the Interhigh lineup instead of Kasahara, who he helped train because it's his last tournament with the team.
• Time to Unlock More True Potential: Gets trained by Usui in shaking off his marks. It takes some time, but it works like a charm.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: The Tiny Guy to Ubukata's Huge Girl, forming a non-romantic version of this trope. She's taller than him by almost half a head.
• Tiny Schoolboy: Standing at only 156 cm (5'1''), he's the shortest member of the Seiseki soccer club (yes, including Ubukata) and the second shortest player in the series. It's implied that he's a late bloomer and puberty has yet to hit him properly.
• Thinking Out Loud: He does it out of excitement right before nationals, voicing his thoughts without realizing it at all, to the confusion of the girl sitting in front of him on the train. It leads to some very awkward situations.
• Took a Level in Badass: He goes from failing to receive even the simplest passes and messing up easy goals to Seiseki's number one rebound hunter in just a few months, and has the potential into being an arrow for Seiseki in the future. Although it's a downplayed example when it comes to the nationals, as he mostly played half time due to his stamina. Deconstructed in that his own anxiety and rock bottom self-worth drove him to find ways to become less of a burden, in his own mind. Also, even if he were to acknowledge his growth, it does not change how he sees himself deep down.
• Training from Hell: Puts himself through one to catch up to the rest of the team, sometimes running more than the rest of the first-years combined.
• True Companions: He views his teammates this way.
• Turn the Other Cheek: He receives all taunts from other players with gratitude and uses them to make himself work harder.
• Undying Loyalty: Towards the whole team, especially Kazama.
• Weak, but Skilled: What he develops into. He lacks the height and raw power of the other forwards, but he does get better and better at hunting rebounds, as well as dodging his marks as soon as they're not paying attention and appearing in the spots where his team needs him most, the latter to the point where Mizuki himself asks him to teach him the skill later.
• Wild Card: Indou considers him this after playing futsal with him when they first met, and his progression as soccer player ended up surprising Indou during the match against Keiou.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: The story finds many ways to rip the rug out from under his feet during matches. Two of the most egregious instances occur doing the match against Touin, wherein not only is a goal disallowed because of off-side which the reader cannot see until after the fact but a penalty kick is given against him for hand-touching the ball after he exhausted himself trying to reach it in the first place.
• You Remind Me of X: He reminds the third-years of Mizuki, being the worst player among the first-years but slowly fighting his way up with willpower and determination.

Kazama Jin - # 9

Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka

The series' deuteragonist and the guy who inspired Tsukushi to join the soccer team, Kazama is laidback, outgoing, and does whatever he wants. He is praised as a soccer genius.

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• Academic Athlete: Revealed to be one when the team meets up for a study session and he doesn't study, playing video games instead and saying his grades are good anyway when called out on it. Turns out he gets almost perfect grades in all his classes and only came along for fun. Kimishita kicks him out.
• The Ace: Already a starter in his first year, and wore the ace number 7 while Mizuki was injured.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Went from blue eyes in the manga to brown eyes in the anime.
• Ambiguously Bi: On one hand he's attracted to girls with big breasts and has dated a significant number of girls before, but on the other hand there's the questionable nature of his feelings towards Tsukushi.
• Anger Born of Worry: He gets pretty mad at Tsukushi when the latter runs all the way to their first futsal match on a rainy night, and again when he keeps playing despite his feet being badly injured.
• Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: With Himura when they first meet. Their initial reaction is to try and one-up each other at things that are completely unrelated to soccer.
• Asleep in Class: He has a habit of sleeping through strategy meetings.
• Belated Injury Realization: He gets hit hard in the nose during the Saku High match but keeps playing normally. Then the first half is over, and as they leave the pitch for the halftime break he suddenly pipes up, "Senpais... my nose won't stop bleeding." Apparently he's been swallowing the blood all this time and completely ignored the injury otherwise.
• Benched Hero: When he gets injured in the Seikan match.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Easygoing and weird as he may seem, it's better to not get on his bad side. When he puts on an emotionless poker face, run.
• Big Damn Heroes: Him getting subbed in late into the Touin match, when Seiseki is one goal behind, immediately cheers up the team and shakes up the opponents.
• Big Man on Campus: Friendly, charming, a bit of a class clown, handsome, athletic, and smart. No wonder he's popular.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The Blonde to Mizuki's Brunette and Ooshiba's Redhead.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Or Borrowed Battle Cry: He takes a page out of Tsukushi's book and shouts "Seiseki, fight!" during the match against Ryouzan after Seiseki fall two goals behind shortly before the end of the first half to pump up his team mates.
• Broken Ace: At the beginning. He seems talented, handsome, outgoing and popular, but middle school has left him with no friends and no real motivation to continue soccer, and that's not even touching on his messed-up family background. He gets better.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: For all his quirks and eccentricities, he's genuinely good at soccer, good enough to be a starter in a powerhouse like Seiseki.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: His character sheet states that he likes big breasts and dislikes small ones.
• The Casanova: Apparently used to be one. He seems to have stopped since entering high school though.
• Character Tics: Clutching his sides while laughing.
• Chick Magnet: He has a lot of girls crushing on him, to the point that during Seiseki's festival, Kurusu is surprised that a girl gives sweets to him and not Kazama.
• Class Clown: He's constantly late, shamelessly recycling the same excuse every time, and has stripped in front of the entire class at least once. His teachers must have it rough with him.
• Cloudcuckoolander: He usually does whatever he wants, ranging from such things as being late for school and jumping on the bed to wearing a frog costume and adding "croak" to the end of his sentences and riding on top of a truck because he missed the bus to the training camp.
• Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship: With Tsukushi, who is shy, very socially awkward, used to get bullied, and is a total beginner at soccer.
• Cuddle Bug: He's rather physically affectionate towards Tsukushi and hugs him a lot. The habit eventually starts extending to others too.
• Description Cut: "We've got Kazama Jin, bringing speed and skill from the right." Cut to him sleeping and drooling on his desk.
  Kurusu: Hey, don't sleep through this!
• Dark and Troubled Past: He was apparently such a difficult child that his mother left him when he was still in elementary school. Later on he had trouble working with his team because he was such a selfish player, eventually got taken from the lineup because of it, and he says he "betrayed" Taniguchi after the latter helped him. He was isolated and had no real friends up until meeting Tsukushi. He once claims to be homeless, although he later mentions a home with tatami mats, so he was probably kidding.
  • According to the spin-off, his parents ended up divorcing each other with him following his father. Sometime later he is scouted by Katsutoshi, he decided to leave his father and live with his grandparents.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Pours hot water over the head of a guy who was badmouthing Tsukushi. And that's just after Tsukushi tried to defend him when those very same people trash-talked Kazama first, and Kazama didn't bat an eye.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: The way he's drawn in the manga makes him look rather feminine. The anime tones it down.
• Establishing Character Moment: In his first appearance in the manga, he saves Tsukushi from a pair of thugs... with nunchucks. (And then he hits himself with them by accident.)
• Everyone Loves Blondes: A genderflipped version of this trope. He's blond, handsome, charming, and a total Chick Magnet.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: In flashbacks up to middle school his hair is much shorter than in the present day, usually taking the shape of a longish bob cut. It's not until high school that his hairstyle changed to the long hair he wears now, at the same time that his whole life changed.
• First-Name Basis: Immediately starts calling Tsukushi by his first name, to the latter's surprise.
• Foil: To Kimishita, as a player. While Kimishita is an old-school type of player who commands and coordinates the team, Kazama is inventive and imaginative, turning the team's structure upside-down to improve it, earning him the title of "rebel."
• Friendless Background: Even though he's well-liked and popular, he didn't have any close friends before meeting Tsukushi.
• Friendship Moment: He gets one with Ubukata when the latter makes him realize how pointless it was to get mad at Tsukushi and essentially gets them to make up.
• The Gadfly: Enjoys harmlessly teasing and messing with people a lot.
• Grin of Audacity: He sports one when he's fired up in a match, most prominently in the game against Saku High.
• Hair-Contrast Duo: Downplayed with him and Tsukushi. He's the lighthearted, happy-go-lucky, outgoing one while dark-haired Tsukushi is more quiet and serious and tends to worry about things a lot.
• Handsome Lech: He's a bit of a pervert when it comes to girls, shamelessly making fun of their breast size or giving a crying Tsukushi a girl's panties to blow his nose in the manga.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Tsukushi; their close friendship is even pointed out by their teammates. The heterosexual part is a little questionable though.
• The Hyena: If anything remotely funny or awkward happens in his presence, there's a 100% chance he'll burst out laughing.
• Hypocritical Humor: He calls Hoshina "false eyelash guy." Coming from him of all people, that's a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
• I Can Still Fight!: He pretends to be fine in the Seikan match so he can keep playing, but that plan goes out the window when Tsukushi exposes him.
• Icy Blue Eyes: In the manga, whenever he goes into Tranquil Fury mode.
• Image Song: "Enjoyment".
• It's All About Me: In elementary and middle school. He never used to care about his teammates until joining Seiseki.
• Jerkass Realization: He comes to one after getting mad at Tsukushi. When the latter exposes his injury in front of the team and renders him unable to keep playing in front of his estranged mom. Although he understands why Tsukushi did so, he gets mad and tells him he'll never forgive him. Ubukata finally calls him out, making him realize that he broke his own promise to always be friends with Tsukushi no matter what, after pulling his friend into the soccer world and giving him something he loves doing.
• Keet: Cheerful, easygoing and happy-go-lucky, although more relaxed than most examples.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Definitely one of the prettiest characters in the entire series, and his shoulder-length blond locks are famous even in-universe.
• Luminescent Blush: He gets a very notable one when he finds out how hard Tsukushi has been training to be able to play soccer with him and tells him that his cleats only still look new because he's been saving them up for the times they play together.
• Major Injury Underreaction: In the Saku High match, he stops one of Indou's shots with his face. He appears to be fine until the halftime break, when he casually tells his teammates, "My nose won't stop bleeding."
• Makes Just as Much Sense in Context: Many of his weird actions, such as dressing up in a frog costume or wearing a Bruce Lee outfit instead of the club's jersey, are completely random.
• Manic Pixie Dream Guy: A non-romantic example to Tsukushi. The latter's life was pretty uneventful until he appeared, turned it upside down and gave his new friend a hobby to put his heart and soul into.
• Manly Tears: He breaks down crying after Seiseki loses to Sakuragi and he realizes that for the first time in his life he wanted to keep playing with his whole team instead of just winning for himself.
• Meaningful Appearance: He wears flashy bright red cleats with his Seiseki jersey while all his teammates' cleats are black. It fits his "eccentric" label.
• Missing Mom: His mother left him eight years ago. They eventually reunite when she watches him in the Seiseki vs Seikan match and make up.
• Moe Couplet: With Tsukushi. Polar opposites yet the sweetest, sappiest pair of best friends imaginable, they do nothing but amp up each other's adorableness.
• Mr. Exposition: At first he's the one to explain things about other characters to Tsukushi that the latter doesn't notice himself, and then when he's benched after his injury against Seikan he often explains strategies to Ubukata.
• Mr. Fanservice: Just look at the amount of Shirtless Scenes this boy gets.
• Nice Guy: Genuinely friendly and easy to get along with, although he might mess with you a little.
• The Nicknamer: He calls Sayuri "Sayurin," Ooshiba "Kiichiman," Ubukata "washboard", Hayase "Haya-chan" and Kasahara "Kassano-senpai." He also has a tendency to refer to people with the wrong honorifics, calling Kimishita "Kimishita-kun" and Haibara "Haibara-chan" when he should be addressing them both with "senpai."
• Non-Uniform Uniform: He wears his shirt open over a yellow T-shirt and leaves out the tie entirely.
• The Not-Love Interest: To Tsukushi, who likes and admires him a lot, started playing soccer and worked hard for him and, as Ubukata points out, has discovered a whole new world thanks to him. Officially they're just very good friends.
• "Oh, Crap!" Smile: One of his default reactions when something shocking happens.
• Out of Focus: For a large part of the fall tournament qualifiers up till the last part of the final match, by virtue of being benched due to his injury.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: With Himura. They politely acknowledge each other as outstanding first-years and rivals while silently declaring war on each other.
• Perpetual Smiler: He's rarely not smiling.
• Personality Blood Types: Type B. He's active, honest and laid-back, but also has a selfish side.
• The Promise: He promises Tsukushi that they'll always be friends, no matter what decision he makes regarding soccer.
• Rapid Hair Growth: Flashbacks dating back less than a year show him with hair about the length of Usui's. By the time he and Tsukushi get accepted into high school, it's down to his shoulders.
• Rescue Introduction: In the manga. He's first introduced rescuing Tsukushi from a group of bullies.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Manly Man to Tsukushi's Sensitive Guy.
• Shameless Fanservice Guy: Meet the boy who once took off his shirt in front of the entire class, for no reason other than fun.
• Shipping Torpedo: He doesn't like the idea of Tsukushi liking Ubukata and often tells his friend to give up on her (even if Tsukushi hasn't shown any romantic interest in her).
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: With Ubukata; he doesn't like her one bit, and the feeling's entirely mutual. He makes fun of her at every opportunity, and she frequently beats the crap out of him in return. They get better after the Seikan match though.
• Sleepyhead: He's capable of snoozing anywhere, at any time. Especially during strategy meetings, and even in the club room before practice.
• Smarter Than You Look: His teammates are shocked to find that he's an Academic Athlete with perfect grades and not Book Dumb like the majority of the team (or like his attitude would suggest).
• Stealth Hi/Bye: He's seen popping up out of nowhere when the other first-years are running laps and startling his upperclassmen, and another time he vanishes after a strategy meeting before the others can invite him to hang out, even though he was sleeping just a moment ago.
• Straight Man and Wise Guy: The Wise Guy to Kimishita's Straight Man in their "ruler and revolutionary" combination.
• Tall Poppy Syndrome: Got hit with this hard in middle school. He became the ace of his team as a first-year, was left with the responsibility for it upon entering second, and earned himself envy and hatred from all sides until his teammates had isolated him completely.
• This Is Unforgivable!: After Tsukushi reveals his injury to the team and gets him subbed out in the Seikan match, he gets mad because his estranged mother was watching the match and he wanted her to see him play more and quietly tells Tsukushi he'll never forgive him. It goes about as well as one would expect, and by the end of the match they have made up again.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Apparently. Flashbacks from middle school never show him smiling; now he smiles more than most of his teammates combined. At least part of that reason is implied to be Tsukushi.
• Took a Level in Kindness: He goes from complete selfishness in middle school to genuinely caring about his Seiseki teammates and wanting to win together with them.
• Tranquil Fury: His default mode when angered. He's perfectly capable of screwing you over while keeping a poker face.
• Undying Loyalty: Towards Tsukushi.
• The Un-Favourite: To the point where his mother took his little sister and left him. According to him it was because he was such a difficult child that she couldn't handle the trouble he kept on causing her.
• Valley Girl: He jokingly pretends to be one when dressed up as a girl during the celebration party after the Touin match. It lasts for two panels before he gets kicked by Ubukata.
• V-Sign: His signature move when he's proud of himself or something he pulled off, especially in matches.
• Worthy Opponent: Among the Seikan first-years, he views Himura that way.

Mizuki Hisahito - # 7

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa

The Captain of Seiseki's soccer team, as well as the ace. Mizuki seems calm and reasonable but actually isn't very bright or good with words. He's on his way to becoming a professional player.

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• The Ace: Currently the best player in Seiseki and the one to wear the ace number 7, as well as one of the strongest players in the country.
• Always Someone Better: To Ooshiba.
• Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: A nonverbal example with Indou. They like to compete on the soccer field, but even off it they have a petty rivalry going on and try to one-up each other all the time, as shown when they have an impromptu staring contest before their teams play against each other. This also applies to sumo, losing to Indou due to playing dirty (clapping at his face while also applying some sand) is the reason why he hated Indou ever since.
• Authority Equals Asskicking: The team captain and The Ace. Actually invoked by Usui, who told Nakazawa the strongest player should be captain to get around being made captain himself.
• Awakening the Sleeping Giant: If you're up against his team, Crippling the Competition is a bad, bad, bad idea.
• Batman Gambit: He (of all people!) pulls one on Ooshiba before the Touin match. He tells him he's considering Passing the Torch to him as captain, but he's still not entirely sure, leading to Ooshiba suddenly behaving like an angel and playing with utmost dedication for the entire match.
• Beat Panel: He regularly evokes this reaction in his teammates, usually by saying something weird before a match.
• Benched Hero: He's injured at the beginning and can't play in the Inter-High qualifiers until the semifinals.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: He may seem calm and stoic, but you absolutely shouldn't get on his bad side, especially not if you're his opponent in a match. He isn't called "Monster" for nothing.
• Big Eater: Every time he's shown eating he's usually shown stuffing his face with ridiculous amounts of food.
• Big Brother Mentor: Kinda-sorta becomes one to Tsukushi when he takes him under his wing. He sucks at explaining though, and mostly communicates with him through soccer (and sometimes Usui).
  • Played for Laughs in the first OVA, where he pretends Tsukushi is his actual little brother at one point.
• Birds of a Feather: With Tsukushi. They both joined the team as the weakest players, being godawful at soccer, but started training harder than everyone else to catch up. Mizuki is convinced that Tsukushi will become Seiseki's team captain in his third year, just like he himself did.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: The boke to Kimishita's tsukkomi.
• Book Dumb: Very much. He gets nothing but failing grades (and gets away with it because his future is already secured) and doesn't understand it when Tsukushi tries to explain his shooting techniques with logic.
• Born Lucky: According to Usui his good luck is legendary. He somehow managed to get into Seiseki despite only writing his name on the entrance test.
• Brutal Honesty: His modus operandi. He's not even doing it on purpose, he just has a tendency to directly say what he's thinking, no matter how weird or blunt it is to everyone else.
• Bullying a Dragon: Hokutou makes the mistake of using Unnecessary Roughness on his team on his watch. They get utterly destroyed.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He is the very definition of strange and very much lives in his own little world, but he's also the strongest player Seiseki has, and one of the strongest high school players in the country.
• The Captain: Of Seiseki.
• Celibate Eccentric Genius: Of sorts. He isn't exactly smart but an eccentric genius soccer player and apparently completely oblivious to romance and many people's crushes on him.
• Character Tics: His trademark thumbs-up gesture whenever he wants to put emphasis on something.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: In his first year he used to be the weakest player in the entire club. Now he's on his way to going pro, as well as one of the most powerful players in the country– all just thanks to hard work and dedication.
• Chaste Hero: He's completely clueless in the romance department, failing to understand people's attraction to him and showing no interest in love or dating in general (although he can get flustered when it's brought to his attention, like when he's shown blushing at what's heavily implied to be a dirty magazine in the second OVA).
• Cloudcuckoolander: Can only explain his techniques using sound words (to Kimishita's frustration) and doesn't understand normal explanations either. He also gets lost easily and doesn't seem to care about anything except soccer.
• Cloudcuckoolanguage: His sound word explanations definitely count.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: Implied. He attracts fangirls (like Ooshiba's sister) and fanboys right and left without realizing it.
• The Comically Serious: He's constantly saying and doing the most ridiculous things without realizing how ridiculous they are.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: He delivers one to a rival team that injured Ooshiba, rendering him unable to play, and very nearly did the same to Kimishita.
• Determinator: When he first joined the club he was worse than everyone else. Now he's the best player on the team and going pro after high school, and it's all because he trained harder than anyone else.
• The Ditz: To the point where he can't remember which grave is his grandfather's and constantly takes care of the wrong one.
  • One of the color pages even have him thanking the readers for supporting them for 4 years and 200 chapters...when the series is still serialized for a 3 and half years with 168 chapters. Naturally, everybody chewed him out.
• Don't Think, Feel: His strategy when playing. Any attempts at explaining things logically don't make sense to him.
• Dumb Jock: He's one of the best high school players in the country, but off the pitch he has no idea what he's doing.
• Even the Guys Want Him: He's attracted quite a number of fanboys, with one of them even asking Tsukushi to get him his autograph.
• Fee Fi Faux Pas: He manages to say something before the Touin match that makes the situation incredibly awkward.
  Mizuki: (claps hands together) Namaste.
  Seiseki: "Give up your lives"?!^note That's what it sounds like in Japanese.
  Mizuki: It means "thank you" in Hindi, or something.
  Usui: (thinking) It actually means "hello" in Sanskrit.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Went from the worst player in the Seiseki soccer club to one of the top players in the country over the course of two years.
• Genius Ditz: He's pretty bad at everything except soccer, but when it comes to soccer he's basically invincible.
• Gratuitous Foreign Language: "Namaste."
• "Good Luck" Gesture: His trademark thumbs-up.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Usui, who knows and understands him better than anyone else. He's also implied to have been very close to Kasahara before he left.
• Humble Hero: Despite being one of the best high school soccer players in the country and an absolute monster he doesn't have an ounce of pride, always remembers that he's capable of failures, is surprised when he pulls off a particularly powerful attack, and will happily learn from anyone and everyone, including virtual beginners like Tsukushi. He also compared his old self unfavourably to Tsukushi, in that as a beginner he was depressed at his uselessness while he acknowledged that Tsukushi was already trying to improve himself.
• Hunk: He's very well-built compared to most of his slimmer teammates and also the physically strongest player on the team. Must come from all that training.
• Image Song: "BURNING SPIRITS".
• Imagine Spot: Gets a brief one when Ooshiba tells him he balanced on a soccer ball on his third birthday and he proceeds to imagine a tiny Ooshiba doing just that.
• Innocent Fanservice Guy: Meanders between this trope and Shameless Fanservice Guy – his Cloudcuckoolander-ness doesn't make it clear. One time he takes off his shirt in the Seiseki vs Sakuragi pre-match discussion when he's praised as one of the three arrows, and another time he simply (mistakenly) thinks he's supposed to exchange jerseys with one of his opponents after a match. He doesn't see everyone else's problem both times.
• Innocently Insensitive: His trouble with expressing himself with words, along with his blunt honesty, sometimes have this effect.
• The Klutz: He can't play for the first part of the story because he injured himself in the shower.
• Magnetic Hero: He's very good at winning people's attention and hearts with his serious dedication and complete selflessness. It's also a trait he shares with Tsukushi.
• Manchild: Of the ditzy clueless variety, and sometimes also of the petty one (especially around Indou).
• Mr. Fanservice: He's shown stripping several times (for no reason that's logical to anyone but him), and he certainly has the body to show it off.
• My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: He thinks "Namaste" means "Thank you." It doesn't.
• Nice Guy: So good-natured and selfless that he once cried over Seiseki losing even though he had just won a pro contract out of it.
• Nosebleed: He gets one after watching Kazama score a particularly graceful free kick.
• No Sense of Direction: He's extremely prone to getting lost, to his teammates' chagrin.
• No Social Skills: He's somewhat clueless when it comes to social rules and conventions, as shown when he turns up to Kasahara's goodbye party with a white suit and roses or when he takes off his jersey after a practice match, believing they're supposed to switch jerseys.
• Oblivious to His Own Description: This exchange.
  Coach: Too bad a certain captain injured his foot in the showers. We have to consider that he might not be able to play.
  Mizuki: Right...
  Coach: I'm talking about you.
  Mizuki: Eh? What? I can't play?
• Oblivious to Love: He doesn't even realize that Ooshiba's older sister has a huge (and often very obvious) crush on him.
• Papa Wolf: He really doesn't take it well when you try to hurt his teammates. When Tsukushi gets fouled and receives a concussion he promises to score and avenge him, and later on he saves Kimishita from a foul that would have injured him badly, using a rough play that earns him a yellow card himself, and proceeds to absolutely destroy Hokutou's team after giving them a Death Glare.
• The Perfectionist: No matter how well he plays, he always feels like he's not at a hundred percent yet and could do better.
• Power Copying: A more realistic version. He closely observes other players and replicates their special moves and techniques in an attempt to learn from them, even players weaker than himself. It's what makes him so strong.
• The Promise: With Kimishita, a year before the start of the story. After losing to Touin in the prelim finals, they promised to take Seiseki to nationals together the next year.
• Red Baron: "Monster" Mizuki.
• Right in Front of Me: To Katou after drawing lots for the pairings in the nationals. "I don't need to remember anyone other than our next opponent." Who he is currently talking to.
• Quizzical Tilt: Occasionally does it when confused or thinking hard. Sometimes he tilts his entire upper body sideways.
• The Rival: To Saku High's Indou.
• Rousing Speech: Delivers a surprisingly good one before the match against Saku High, telling his underclassmen to just go out there and play for themselves.
• Running Gag: Getting lost in the most absurd ways and places possible, as well as his inability to start a pre-match speech normally.
• Scars Are Forever: The scar across his eyebrow that he got in the match against Touin still remains on his face long after the match is over and seems to have become a permanent part of his character design.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: How he views Indou. Indou himself seems to see him as more of a straight-up rival (possibly a friendly one), but when they meet they're both very quick to lapse into this dynamic.
• Sore Loser: He doesn't take losing to Indou too well. In the worst case he'll keep demanding a rematch until he either wins or has to go home.
• The Stoic: Usually seems that way, but he tends to get more emotional when soccer is concerned.
  • Not So Stoic: When he starts grinning brightly when playing soccer again for the first time after his injury, as well as in the flashback where reacts to Seiseki losing with tears streaming down from his eyes.
• Supporting Leader: Not the protagonist, but the team captain of Seiseki.
• Sweet Tooth: According to his character sheet, his Trademark Favorite Food is gummi candy.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome: His appeal to girls, presumably, along with his soccer skills that make Even the Guys Want Him.
• Team Dad: Alongside Usui's Team Mom. He takes the younger underclassmen (especially Tsukushi) under his wing, and he and Usui are occasionally shown working together to help their teammates realize things.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The other third-years are pretty used to his weird antics and rarely bat an eye at them anymore.
• When She Smiles: Playing soccer again after his injury (and even just the prospect of it) makes him smile from ear to ear. Tsukushi takes note of it: "So this is what he looks like when he smiles..."
• You Remind Me of X: Tsukushi reminds him of his own past self.

Kimishita Atsushi - # 10

Voiced by: Daisuke Ono

One of the second-years and a team regular, as well as the playmaker. Kimishita is grumpy, easily angered and always looks some degree of annoyed, but is actually a decent person.

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• Academic Athlete: He's good enough at soccer to assist Mizuki with his passes, but he's also shown to be the best student in his grade.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: He went from black hair and gray eyes in the manga to dark brown hair and green eyes in the anime.
• All Work vs. All Play: The All Work to Ooshiba's All Play, before the latter gets a serving of Character Development. He's hardworking and diligent and doesn't tolerate people slacking off, which goes twice for Ooshiba.
• Ambiguously Gay: He shows a complete and utter disinterest in women, gets irritated and defensive when asked about his type in girls or offered to be introduced to a potential girlfriend, and when he has to imagine a girlfriend after the others make him imagine where he'd take her on a date the closest thing to a "girl" he can imagine is Tsukushi in drag (which is not to say he likes the idea). Added to that is the ambiguous nature of his feelings towards Mizuki.
• Ask a Stupid Question...: This exchange in the second OVA.
  Ooshiba, leaning over and whispering: What kind of sauce is "resource"?
  Kimishita: The sauce they put on katsudon.
• Badass Boast: "I'll take the reins of the game completely and without a word, in one pass."
• Berserk Button: Don't treat your equipment badly or else.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: The long-suffering tsukkomi to Mizuki's and Ooshiba's boke.
• Bonding over Missing Parents: Downplayed with him and Tsukushi. They both come from considerably poor single-parent backgrounds, and he's quick to acknowledge the parallel, making him warm up to Tsukushi a little more.
• Brains and Brawn: The Brains to Ooshiba's Brawn.
• Brainy Brunette: Brown-haired and The Smart Guy to the max.
• Brutal Honesty: He gives a heaping helping of this to Ooshiba when the latter comes to him asking what he lacks. Cue Harsh Word Impact.
• Can't Catch Up: He feels that way about Mizuki, wondering if his partner's development is too fast for him and if his passes can't match that growth anymore. He gets better.

• Celibate Hero: According to his character sheet, he doesn't want a girlfriend and in the series and Q&A sections he regularly gets offended when asked about the topic. A reason for this is never stated.
• Characterization Marches On: Early chapters characterize him as a delinquent-type character who's constantly chewing gum and wears a thin necklace, even to practice. He gradually evolves into the team's perpetually annoyed, exasperated brain and a total stick in the mud.
• Character Tics: Chewing gum, in early chapters.
• Curse Cut Short: Happens when he gets kicked against the back of his head in the Saku High match and furiously turns around– only to discover that the one to kick him was Usui.
  Kimishita: (turning around after getting kicked) What the fu– Usui-senpai?
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: To Mizuki, a job he shares with Usui. He's often stuck trying to understand his captain's Cloudcuckoolanguage or looking for him when he gets lost.
  • He also winds up playing this role to Ooshiba.
• Cross-Popping Veins: He sports them in pretty much every panel. Their number increases with his level of anger.
• A Day in the Limelight: He gets his fair share of the spotlight in the Keiou match when all three arrows of Seiseki can't play.
• Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally, especially towards Ooshiba and occasionally Mizuki.
• Department of Redundancy Department: When Ooshiba comes to him and asks him what he's lacking as a player, his response is, "A humble approach, a base level of intelligence, respect for others, a base level of intelligence, common politeness, a base level of intelligence, cool judgement, a base level of intelligence, intelligence, intelligence, intelligence."
• Determinator: He got to his current skill level through years and years of hard work and practice.
• The Dreaded: Played for Laughs. The first-years are all afraid of him and look seriously amazed when Tsukushi talks to him normally.
  • The Spin-Off also reveals that he's apparently had a pretty scary reputation since before starting middle school, with people being scared when he so much as looks their way. Again, quickly Played for Laughs by having him yawn sleepily while the others talk about how terrifying he is.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Towards the first-years. He's constantly intimidating them, yelling at them, and threatening to make them run laps for something.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: He had straighter hair, a younger-looking face and a more innocent expression before becoming a series regular.
• Emotions vs. Stoicism: The Stoicism to Ooshiba's emotions. He's all about a rational approach and using his head while playing, rather than just blindly being guided by his emotions. (The one time he lets his emotions get to him in a match, it doesn't go too well.)
• Enraged by Idiocy: Basically, his default state. It's hard to find a scene where he's not lashing out, yelling at or threatening to punch one of his teammates for doing something stupid.
• Establishing Character Moment: Him yelling at Kurusu for leaving his equipment lying around, scaring the living daylights out of all the first-years (minus Kazama) in the process.
• Exact Eavesdropping: He overhears Taira telling Mizuki that he could bring out his full potential much better than Kimishita ever could and Mizuki sort of agreeing that he's not satisfied with Kimishita's passes and misunderstands the whole thing.
• Facepalm: One of his many colorful reactions to his teammates' antics.
• Family Business: His father has a sports equipment store that he often helps out in.
• First-Name Basis: He calls Ooshiba "Kiichi."
• Foil: To thoughtless, rich, conceited, Book Dumb, Hot-Blooded, irresponsible, naturally talented, lazy Ooshiba.
• Force and Finesse: The Finesse to Ooshiba's Force. He's a calculating player who's all about high-precision shots and passes whereas Ooshiba is all about throwing himself headfirst into the game with as much rough power as possible.
• Forgotten First Meeting: He eventually remembers first seeing Ooshiba when they were both children. He was on the soccer field with his friends and got distracted watching Ooshiba, who was playing soccer on the neighboring field. They didn't interact or learn each other's names until middle school though; Kimishita only recognizes him in retrospect.
• Friendship Moment: He gets several with Ooshiba, such as when he gives him honest advice on improving at soccer or later on when he's the only one who supports Ooshiba's on-a-whim decision to switch to defense to try and stop Mizuki.
• Good Is Not Nice: For all his anger and tendency to yell at his underclassmen or threaten them with violence, he's a genuinely good person who can't resist a sincere plea for help, gets mad when someone talks trash about his Worthy Opponents, and works hard for the sake of the team.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: To the point where he's almost always angry.
• Hates Being Touched: Implied. He's seen desperately trying to ward off his teammates as they dog-pile him after he scores the second free kick against Keiou. The next scene shows him after the hug, complaining that it hurt.
• Haughty "Hmph": The "tsk" or "tch" variety. Becomes an actual tongue-click in the anime.
• Heroic BSoD: He falls into a slump after overhearing Mizuki tell Taira he's not satisfied with his passes, worrying about not being able to catch up anymore and messing up his passes until his team pulls him out of it.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: He suffers from it hard at the beginning, viewing himself as Always Second Best. He gets better and more confident after Character Development ensues.
• He's Back!: He makes a comeback after a series of self doubt-induced flounders in the Seikan match, finally figuring out that he is good enough for Mizuki and getting his passes to connect to him again.
• I'll Kill You!: His default response to pretty much anyone who annoys him in any way.
• Image Song: "FIGHTING ROAD".
• Improbable Aiming Skills: He has scored every single one of his free kicks so far, including some ridiculously difficult ones under great pressure, and his passes almost always hit their target unless he's up against extremely strong opponents or not in his best form.
• Ineffectual Death Threats: He dishes them out 24/7, but of course he'd never think of going through with it. It still works well enough as an intimidation tactic.
• Inspirational Insult: He exchanges a series of these with Ooshiba during the halftime break against Saku High to fire each other up. Especially prominent on his side, since all his "insults" directed at Ooshiba are actually thinly-veiled praise for the way he's playing that day while calling him out on usually being lazy.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's rude, always annoyed, and more than willing to pick a fight, but he also fears that he's not good enough to be Mizuki's partner, passes to Tsukushi when he's near the goal despite saying he never would, and even gives advice to Ooshiba of all people when he asks him for help.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Flashbacks show that he used to admire Mizuki a lot back in his first year. His current self isn't as obvious about it and spends most of the time annoyed at his captain, but the admiration's still there.
• Like Father, Like Son: He started playing soccer because of his father.
• Luminescent Blush: He's very prone to them thanks to constant second-hand embarrassment.
• Messy Hair: Especially in the anime; in the manga it's more wavy than outright messy.
• Missing Mom: He lives alone with his father. Bonus Material reveals that his mother is alive and has apparently remarried, since he also seems to have a younger brother somewhere.
• Mundane Luxury: Sitting in a hotel room on the fifth floor, enjoying the view while drinking coffee is enough to, in his own words, make him feel like the king of some country.
• Mundane Object Amazement: He's shown getting impressed (and slightly confused) by a drink dispensing machine at a restaurant, presumably because he's too poor to eat out. He's also easily amazed by good or fancy food.
• Neck Lift: He'll easily lift Kurusu up by his face or neck when he annoys him too much.
• Not So Above It All: He's the one always calling his teammates out on their embarrassing behavior, but that's not to say he never does embarrassing things himself. A prime example is when he goes on stage to yell at his teammates' (admittedly bad) band during the school festival, then proceeds to advertise his yakisoba only a second later.
• Odd Friendship: With cheerful, outgoing, energetic Haibara.
• Only Sane Man: To the Seiseki regulars. He seems to have more common sense than half his teammates combined.
• The Perfectionist: When it comes to soccer. He's always looking to become even better, and flashbacks show that he was also looking for someone good enough to pass to and perfect his skills with before meeting Mizuki.
• Perpetual Frowner: He always looks so angry that he's about to pop a vein.
• Perpetual Poverty: His father's shop isn't going very well, and he's pretty much always broke.
• Personality Blood Types: Type AB. He's cool and rational, but also critical and unsociable.
• The Promise: He and Mizuki promised to bring the team to nationals after losing in the qualifiers in the previous year.
• Red Baron: "Akudou" (roughly translated as "Bad Boy" in the manga).
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Ooshiba's red.
• Rummage Sale Reject: His clothing style is best described as "throw on whatever ridiculously patterned shirt and pants you find without caring if the colors and patterns clash wildly." (Which they usually do.)
• Running Gag: Trying to sell yakisoba at every (sometimes wildly inappropriate) occasion, raising the price every time. Also trying to scam people and get his hands on their money at any chance in general.
• The Scrooge: He holds on to every buck he earns for dear life, refusing to spend money on anything or anyone, and isn't even above trying to scam his own teammates to get some extra cash. Justified in that he's broke.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: He has a rather foul mouth, to say the least.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: With Ooshiba, or so it seems at first. They're later revealed to be Vitriolic Best Buds who are very heavy on the vitriol.
• Slasher Smile: He pulls off an impressive one in the match against Keiou when telling them not to underestimate Seiseki.
• Smarter Than You Look: The first-years are shocked to learn that he's the top student in his grade, seeing as his attitude doesn't exactly match the smart, hardworking student stereotype.
• The Smart Guy: To Seiseki. As an offensive midfielder, his job is essentially to coordinate the plays of the team with his passes.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Played for Laughs. Kurusu thinks he's trying to invoke this by wearing glasses when the team meets up to study; turns out he's the smartest student in his grade and one of the smartest on the team.
• So Much for Stealth: When he catches Ooshiba running laps around the school in the morning, his first instinct is to hide behind a wall– only to be loudly greeted by Tsukushi a moment later. Cue the following dialogue:
  Tsukushi: Huh? Good morning, Kimishita-senpai. What are you doing here–
  Kimishita: (whisper-shouting) Keep your voice down, nimrod! He'll hear us, you moron!
  Tsukushi: Okay...
  Ooshiba, peering over the wall: Who'll hear you?
• Sour Supporter: He's unsociable, claims not to be particularly close with anyone on the team, and spends most of his time annoyed by his teammates, but he also puts them before anything else and only thinks about their success as a team, never about his own glory.
• Speak in Unison: With Ooshiba during their "temporary ceasefire" in the Saku High match.
• Straight Man and Wise Guy: The Straight Man to Kazama's Wise Guy in their "ruler and revolutionary" combo.
• The Strategist: Plays this role for Seiseki on the field, making spur-of-the-moment strategic decisions and figuring out how to best deal with the opposing team's offense and defense.
• Supreme Chef: Everybody loves his yakisoba.
• Technician Versus Performer: The Technician to Ooshiba's Performer. He's all about hard work, strategy and using his brain while playing while Ooshiba runs exclusively on ambition and gut feeling.
• Tough Love: Shows shades of this towards Ooshiba. He's constantly criticizing and insulting him, but he mostly does it to make him a better player.
• Tsundere: Acts harsh and angry and has trouble conveying that he's nicer than he wants people to know, but still does (involuntarily).
• Unexpected Virgin: The others think he has to have at least some kind of experience with girls and try to get it out of him in the second OVA. They give up after he tells them he'd pick out date spots based on what's the cheapest and realize that yes, he has indeed never been in love. (With a girl, anyway.)
• Unkempt Beauty: He places sixth in the official pretty boy rank, without caring about his appearance and with a disastrous fashion sense.
• Unknown Rival: To Aiba, along with Ooshiba. It's not even the former's fault – he just tends to forget the people who lost to him and winds up genuinely confused when Kimishita talks to him like they've met before.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: As seen in DAYS Gaiden, he used to be full of optimism, energy and big dreams as a kid.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Ooshiba. They can't get along whatsoever, but they respect each other as players, trust each other completely, and help each other grow. But only on the soccer field.
• Volleying Insults: Most of his interactions with Ooshiba end up this way.
• V-Sign: He flashes one at Kazama in the Keiou match, after landing his second free kick. It doesn't mean "victory" but "two"– namely, Kimishita is planning to get a free kick in for each one of the currently benched arrows of Seiseki and signaled that he dedicated the second one to Kazama.
• Weak, but Skilled: How he views himself. He admits that he loses to fellow midfielders Indou and Taira in terms of innate talent and physique, but he takes pride in his high-precision shots and passes.
• We Want Our Jerk Back!: His reaction when Ooshiba suddenly starts minding his manners before the match against Touin. He's considerably freaked out.
  Kimishita: You, who are you?
• When She Smiles: While usually seen scowling, he's capable of displaying some very sweet smiles on occasion. Behold.◊
• Worthy Opponent: After the match against them he starts considering Keiou that way and gets very angry when their supporters talk trash about them for losing. Lampshaded by the crowd: "Wait, why is he getting angry?"

Ooshiba Kiichi - # 11

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano

Also a second year, Ooshiba is a forward like Tsukushi and his rival for that position. He has a lot of potential, but is also hot-tempered, childish and irresponsible.

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• Adaptation Dye-Job: From bright red hair and brown eyes (manga) to auburn hair and teal-turquoise-dark blue-ish eyes (anime).
• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: He once delivers one to Tsukushi when the latter tells him how much he learned from watching a series of his spectacular moves, grinning and telling him to also remember the phrase "Ooshiba for president".
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Despite his usual pride he is not too stuck-up to bow and beg Kimishita of all people to tell him what he's lacking. It works.
• All Work vs. All Play: The All Play to Kimishita's All Work, at first. He starts out lazy and irresponsible, having so far gone by on talent alone and not needed practice. Then Character Development ensues.
• Always Second Best: To Mizuki. He simply can't beat him at soccer no matter what, to his frustration.
• Annoying Younger Sibling: To Mikoto on occasion, and it seems to have been even worse when they were kids.
• Attention Whore: He really doesn't like someone else standing out on the field more than he does.
• Batman Gambit: Ends up on the receiving end of one from Mizuki of all people, who makes him believe he's likely to become the next captain but isn't completely decided yet, leading him to give it his all and act perfectly angelic for the entirety of the Touin match.
• Benched Hero: He has to sit out after injuring his foot and can't play in the Keiou match.
• Big Brother Mentor: Eventually he becomes one to Tsukushi of all people. After some character development he stops seeing him as a rival for his position and takes him under his wing instead, letting him tag along when running laps while promising to lead him to victory, as well as repeatedly giving him tips on playing and scoring strategies.
• Big Fancy House: He's shown to live in one when his teammates come over to study; both his parents are doctors and rich enough to afford it.
• Big Little Brother: To his older sister, who is considerably tall herself; it's just that he's even taller.
• Bishie Sparkle: Played for Laughs. He briefly starts sparkling when Nakazawa describes his skill before the Saku High match and he stands up, proud.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: The boke to Kimishita's tsukkomi.
• Book Dumb: The only member of the team who's as dumb as Mizuki, if not worse as his parents are doctors and he's awful at even basic arithmetics.
• Brains and Brawn: The Brawn to Kimishita's Brains.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: He's very talented, which got to his head and made him think that he doesn't need to train anymore because he's good enough as he is. It's what keeps him from getting better.
• Buffy Speak: He can lapse into it at times when he can't think of a word, such as in this exchange:
  Ooshiba: Oh, I see, it's that! You know... that!
  Kimishita: How about you try using words? Words!
• Can't Catch Up: Towards Mizuki, for the longest time.
• Child Prodigy: Used to be one as a kid. According to official information he's been playing soccer for as long as he lives, and he's always been hailed as a genius, something that eventually got to his head.
• Cool Car: Gets driven to school in a Mercedes limousine.
• Determinator: When it comes to soccer. He has played it ever since he was a baby and not once has he thought of giving up.
• Didn't Think This Through: Proposes that Seiseki will three-peat the nationals and that he will star in all three. As Kimishita immediately pointed out, he's a second-year.
• Don't Think, Feel: It's even the title of his character song!
• Double Take: This exchange.
  Ooshiba, shaking hands with Aiba before their match: Remember me?
  Aiba: [looks at him in surprise before smirking] Nope, sorry. I don't remember anything about the rivals I beat.
  Ooshiba, walking off with a smug face: Ha.
  (Beat)
  Ooshiba: SHIT!!!
• Driven by Envy: He's largely driven by the desire to protect his position from the ever-improving Tsukushi and especially by his envy towards Mizuki for being The Ace and way out of his league.
• Dumb Jock: The most talented player in Seiseki (not the best, yet) and dumb as rocks.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: He's slimmer and more Bishonen-like in earlier chapters.
• Eating Lunch Alone: He used to be completely excluded by everyone upon first entering Seiseki, leading to a scene where he sat alone at a lunch table while listening to everyone around him talk trash about him. It got better when Satou approached and befriended him.
• Emotions vs. Stoicism: The Emotions to Kimishita's Stoicism. He starts out thinking very little of keeping a cool head in matches and only follows his emotions, which is what keeps him from getting better for some time.
• Fee Fi Faux Pas: He suddenly finds himself cheering for the rival team after Tsukushi has proven himself against them in a practice match during training camp. Cue the other subbed-out regulars giving him weird looks.
• The Fighting Narcissist: He doesn't usually brag about his looks, but he's out to play beautiful soccer and absolutely hates the rain for messing his hair up, let alone getting his uniform dirty. He gets better.
• Fiery Redhead: Hot-Blooded, check. Hair-Trigger Temper, check. Red hair, check.
• First-Name Basis: Calls Satou and Suzuki Hideki and Eita, respectively. Also has been on the receiving end of this from Kimishita ever since middle school.
• Foil:
  • To Tsukushi. While Tsukushi is short, meek, friendly, and has no soccer talent at all but works harder than anyone, he is tall, hot-blooded and somewhat violent, and as talented as he is lazy. They also drastically differ in playing styles despite ostensibly holding the same position — Ooshiba only thinks about scoring and does everything he can to get on the score sheet. In contrast, Tsukushi is primarily concerned with supporting the team and passing off to other players every chance he gets.
  • To smart, level-headed, poor, hard-working, self-critical Kimishita.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Foolish to his older sister's Responsible.
• Force and Finesse: The raw, unpolished Force to Kimishita's Finesse. He's best at making use of his size and brute strength and not very good at plays that require great precision, focus or technique.
• Glory Seeker: He's desperate for fame and recognition, which is actually what's getting in his way. Other players sense his greed and keep their mark on him to make sure he doesn't get the ball, which distracts them from his teammates and allows them to score.
• Gratuitous English:
  • "I am new captain here!"
  • "SHIT!!!"
• Green-Eyed Monster: He's overprotective of his position and can get very mad when Tsukushi gets to play instead of him. It's also implied that he's envious of Mizuki and wants to beat him as the ace.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: While calm when not provoked, he has an explosive temper and can even get violent when angered.
• Harsh Word Impact: Ends up on the receiving end of it after asking Kimishita what he's lacking as a player and the latter replies with a Long List, repeating the word "intelligence" over and over in the process.
• The Heart: When it comes to the three strikers between Tsukushi and Mizuki, since both of them didn't have his experience, he is the one usually focuses on covering their weaknesses.
• Heroic RRoD: At the beginning of the story he's prone to skipping practice, saving up his energy and relying on his natural talent alone. Then Tsukushi's hard work stirs up his sense of competition, and he finally starts putting his body and soul into playing in the match against Saku High – only for his untrained stamina to give in on him and collapse on the ground mid-match, unable to move after his body grew unused to working so hard.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Satou.
• Hidden Depths: According to his character sheet, his special skill is guessing the species of tropical fish. Keep in mind that he's Book Dumb to the max.
• Hot-Blooded: He can be pretty hot-tempered and aggressive, although he later learns how to keep a cool head when the situation requires it.
• Hunk: As muscular as he is tall.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: He insults Tsukushi at every opportunity, but he'll also yell at him to have some pride when he doubts himself.
• Idiot Hero: He has the hot-bloodedness and stupidity, and thanks to Character Development he's growing the determination and ability to lead the team to go with it. He's not the protagonist of course, but he's hinted to be next in line as captain of Seiseki.
• Image Song: "Don't think feel!!"
• In-Series Nickname: "Shiba" (courtesy of the third-years) and "Kiichiman" (courtesy of Kazama).
• Insufferable Genius: He takes a little too much pride in his natural talent as a player... to say the least.
• Ironic Echo: He gives one to Kimishita for petty revenge. Before leaving for the summer training camp, the latter once told him to "Use your head!" After the training camp, Ooshiba throws it back at him during an argument, complete with a mock imitation of Kimishita's tone. Kimishita is as annoyed as you'd expect.
• It's All About Me: He's incredibly self-centered at the beginning, caring about nothing but his own glory.
• Jerk Jock: Subverted. He shows all the characteristics – talented athlete, tall, strong, muscular, hot-headed and aggressive, violent, rich, entitled, big ego, dumb as a brick – but he doesn't get away with it and is far from a bad person, aggressively caring about his teammates, being generous with his money, and actively seeking advice to improve as a player.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Bratty, vain and easily jealous as he may be, he's still a good guy at the core and nice enough to tell Tsukushi to have some more pride in his skills after Higuchi told him that Seiseki is scarier with Tsukushi than with Ooshiba, a giant blow to his ego, as well as try to encourage a Heroic BSoD-ridden Kimishita and pass to him as a sign of trust even though he could easily have scored and become the hero of the match.
• Lazy Bum: Off the pitch. He says that his favorite pastime is "relaxing."
• Major Injury Underreaction: At first. After colliding with someone and sustaining a bleeding injury to the face, his first reaction is to stand up, claim he's fine, and wonder why the world is all red all of a sudden. (Later on he does complain while getting patched up though.)
• Manchild: He's not above throwing toddler-style tantrums when things aren't going his way, such as when he's about to get subbed out.
• Master of All: Eventually develops into one when it comes to soccer.
• Missed Him by That Much: With Kimishita as a kid. Kimishita once saw him play as a child while he was out playing with his own friends; if Ooshiba had turned around or taken a look at the neighboring field they might have met as children, instead of only officially running into each other in middle school.
• Moment Killer: He's quick to destroy any potential Moment of Awesome he might otherwise have by screwing up at a crucial moment or saying something stupid.
• Mood-Swinger: As part of his childish, gullible personality. He gets furious when insulted and instantly forgives you when you praise him instead. The tiniest thing can set him off and the tiniest thing can make him happy and downright generous again, unless something is big enough to put him into his "enlightened" mode where he doesn't let anything annoy him.
• Non-Uniform Uniform: He wears his school uniform shirt half open over a red tee and leaves out the tie.
• The Nose Knows: He claims to be able to smell someone's strength and ambition when playing.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Kimishita initially doesn't want to give him advice and is about to leave, he casts off his pride and goes as far as to bow and shout "Please!" It's enough to convince Kimishita that he's dead serious about it, leading to him staying and answering Ooshiba's questions after all.
  • He suddenly starts acting respectful before the Touin match. Even towards Kimishita – who is understandably weirded out.
• Personality Blood Types: Type O. He's passionate and determined, as well as vain and prone to jealousy.
• Power Copying: In the match against Ichiboshi. He passes several rival players and scores by himself using moves he got from the other forwards and Kimishita.
• Pride: He has too much of it, especially at the beginning. Over the course of the story he gradually gets over it, coming to terms with his own flaws and also recognizing his strengths in turn instead of just thinking of himself as amazing and infallible.
• Princely Young Man: Of the spoiled brat variety. His parents are filthy rich, and he seems to have his own butler and/or driver who calls him "Young Master."
• Privileged Rival: To Tsukushi, in that he's a spoiled rich kid. His money has no effect on his skill at soccer though – he simply started playing very, very early.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Kimishita's blue.
• The Rival: To Tsukushi, as they play the same position.
• Rivals Team Up: With Tsukushi, naturally, seeing as they're teammates. The more Tsukushi gets subbed in the more they have to play together in the first place, and more recently he's also started willingly collaborating with him, giving him instructions and even mentoring him to some extent.
• Running Gag: Thinking a pass is for him, only for himself and everyone else to discover that it was aimed at Mizuki and he was being used as a decoy. Becomes a lot less funny once you learn that this seriously gets to him.
• Sarcasm-Blind: At the very least when it comes to Kimishita, as revealed in the second OVA. He asks him what kind of sauce "resource" is and Kimishita sarcastically replies that it's katsudon sauce. Ooshiba buys it without a second thought.
• Ship Tease: With Kimishita, of all people. Many of his lines towards him can easily be read as romantic or being about pining, there's their Forgotten First Meeting (which leaves Kimishita in awe of Ooshiba playing) that makes their first proper meeting look like fate, and then there's the scene of Ooshiba almost feeding Kimishita a bit of meat, complete with Love Bubbles in the background, even if it turns out to be a prank. (As an added bonus, that scene is quickly followed by a panel of their faces being very close together as they argue, angled towards each other in a way reminiscent of an almost kiss scene.)
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With his older sister, who is smart and reasonable where he is impulsive and often stupid.
• Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: Zig-zagged in the anime. Sometimes his eyes are blue-green, sometimes they're dark blue or some other color entirely. Averted in the manga, where they're brown.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: He has a pretty foul mouth to go with that attitude.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: With Kimishita at the beginning, before they're revealed to have more of a Vitriolic Best Buds dynamic.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Played with. While he's said to be the player with the most potential on the team, he's not nearly as great as he thinks he is.
• Spanner in the Works: In the match against Touin. The one thing they didn't expect in their research is the dedication he throws into playing.
• Speak in Unison: With Kimishita when they call a temporary truce in the Saku High match.
• Spoiled Brat: His parents are very rich, and he himself used to be driven to school in a Mercedes in middle school.
• Status Quo Is God: He returns back to his usual disrespectful showoff self after acting angelic and mild-mannered for the entirety of the Touin match.
• Strategy, Schmategy: He doesn't think much when playing... or rather, before Character Development ensues he doesn't think at all.
• A Taste of Defeat: He starts questioning himself after Seiseki's loss to Saku High, leading to him trying to find out what he's been lacking and change himself to work harder and become a better player.
• Technician Versus Performer: The Performer to Kimishita's Technician. He's impulsive, intuitive and mostly wants to stand out and play a beautiful game where Kimishita is all about technique and keeping a cool head.
• Tempting Fate: His words to Tsukushi before the Saku High match. "I won't be subbed out for you!" No points for guessing what happens...
• Took a Level in Badass: He goes through several massive powerups over the course of the story.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Tomatoes, according to his character sheet.
• Tsundere: Sometimes. He has a ton of trouble admitting he cares about his teammates, and if he does admit it he does it reluctantly and very awkwardly.
• Uncle Pennybags: He blushes when people comment on his family's money, but he is very generous. At the team barbecue, he brings expensive meat that he shares with anyone, he's implied to pay for his teammates' drinks at the beginning of nationals and lets Tsukushi (who buys them) keep the change, and lets his team use his house for their study session.
• Unknown Rival: Towards Mizuki. He resents him for being the team's ace and wants to beat him at all costs while Mizuki doesn't even seem aware of his resentments for the longest time. Once he does, he encourages him to try and catch up though.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Full of potential as he is, he's not the best player in Seiseki because he doesn't practice much and rushes in without thinking. He gets better after some Character Development and learning to use his head when playing.
• Use Your Head: His go-to way of scoring goals is with headers.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Kimishita, although they're very heavy on the vitriol. They don't get along, but as players they become partners and actively support each other, helping each other grow and trusting each other unconditionally.
• Volleying Insults: In pretty much every fight with Kimishita.
• The Worf Effect: While hailed as the most talented player in Seiseki, he's also the one to get stopped or fail at scoring the most often, as well as the only forward who doesn't score a single on-screen goal until the second half of the match against Yuigahama.
• Younger Than They Look: As a child, due to his height. Flashbacks have other kids acknowledging him as looking at least a year older. (Although it's not pointed out, it may well still qualify now, with his build making him look nothing like a sixteen/seventeen-year-old.)

Usui Yuuta - # 3

Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai

A third-year defender, Usui is the vice captain and Mizuki's best friend. He is gentle and good with words, often speaking for Mizuki and taking on the role of the team's mom friend.

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• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He gave Nakazawa this mindset to get around being made captain because he was afraid of the responsibility.
• Beware the Nice Ones: While he's usually the sweet, responsible Team Mom, he's also shown scaring the crap out of his teammates when angered.
• Big Brother Mentor: To Tsukushi, both side by side with Mizuki when helping the latter mentor him, as well as individually when teaching him his special skills. He also plays this role to most of his underclassmen to a certain extent.
• Birds of a Feather: The reason why he instantly gets along with Kamimura, with both of them being the polite, patient Team Moms for their respective teams.
• Characterization Marches On: An early chapter has him blushing with embarrassment at Mizuki and Indou's staring contest, something that doesn't at all match with his behavior in later chapters.
• Chick Magnet: Not to Mizuki's extent, but as seen in the school festival chapter, he has his share of fangirls too.
• Class Representative: Revealed to be one in the second OVA.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: To Mizuki, a role he shares with Kimishita.
• Crushing Handshake: He nonchalantly delivers one to Himura after the Seikan match.
• A Day in the Limelight: In the Keiou match, which partly focuses on his role as a defender, as well as him taking on the role of the temporary captain while Mizuki is out. The match against Ichonise also spoiler: focuses on his flaws and truimph]].
• Friendly Rivalry: Unlike many other regulars who are fiercely protective of their positions, Usui enjoys his rivalry with his own first-year rival, Nitobe, encourages him, and happily works together with him on the field.
• The Gadfly: He enjoys harmlessly teasing or messing with people. Nitobe in particular seems to be a favorite victim.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Felt that way towards Mizuki when the latter overtook him in their first year. He grew out of it when faced with his responsibilities as a third-year.
• Group Hug: He pulls Kimishita and Ooshiba into one after they move in for a high five and then bait-and-switch their way out of it, telling them he's glad they made it into Seiseki.
• Hair Color Dissonance: Seeing as everyone else has normal hair colors, his gray hair is most likely a case of this.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Mizuki; he's shown to understand him better than anyone else does.
• Horrifying the Horror: Played for Laughs. Kimishita (who, in turn, is feared by the first-years) is afraid of him and visibly uncomfortable every time they interact.
• Humble Hero: He doesn't want to be number one or have any titles, even though he could well be classified one of Tokyo's Big Three if he wanted, according to Hoshina. He just wants to support his team.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Implied with Coach Nakazawa. Out of the whole team he seems to be closest to the coach, often talking to him about upcoming matches, strategies or certain decisions.
• Married to the Job: By his own choice. He doesn't currently want a girlfriend because soccer is more important to him and regularly rejects people's advances for that reason.
• Mellow Fellow: He's always calm, collected and friendly.
• Nerves of Steel: He's the only member of Seiseki to keep his cool during the Keiou match. Or so it seems. He's actually just pretending to keep his cool to help the others calm down and fit into his role as temporary captain.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Around poor Nitobe, apparently. Him popping up dangerously close to him and even whispering in his ear is a common occurrence.
• Not Himself: In the nationals competing against Ichinose, he let the first battle defeat against Miran badly affect him to be properly defending for a while, especially when Ichinose followed up in their attack.
• Number Two: He's the vice-captain of Seiseki and temporarily takes on the captain's position when Mizuki can't play after receiving two yellow cards.
• Real Men Cook: He makes curry for the team during a study session.
• Red Baron: "Mr. Seiseki."
• The Resenter: Towards Mizuki back in the day. He used to hate him for becoming the best player on the team from scratch and overtaking everyone else. He got better.
• Running Gag: Him popping up next to or behind Nitobe to comment on whatever is going on, scaring the living daylights out of him in the process.
• Slasher Smile: Wears one on his face when he's angry or up to something scary, terrifying his teammates.
• The Social Expert: He's extremely good at reading people or knowing exactly what to say to get them where he wants them, such as when he's the only one to notice Mizuki's good mood or when he convinced Nakazawa to make Mizuki captain instead of him.
• Soft-Spoken Sadist: Suzuki outright calls him a sadist in a Q&A. Some of his behavior underlines this, particularly when he's angry or when Kimishita of all people is shown to be afraid of him.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: He has a habit of appearing behind people, Nitobe in particular, out of nowhere. Tsukushi also learns his own Stealth Hi/Bye technique from him.
• Stepford Smiler: Several times, putting on his usual friendly, collected attitude to avoid making the team worry even though on the inside he's far from calm or even upset.
• The Stoic: While often smiling, he rarely expresses any real emotion.
• Team Mom: To Seiseki, watching over the younger players, supporting them and giving them advice. Tsukushi even outright compares him to a mom.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Before the beginning of the story he didn't use to care about anyone but himself, but when he entered his third year and realized the responsibility he had he started caring for the team.

Haibara Jirou - # 2

Voiced by: Hiro Shimono

Another third-year, Haibara is a defender and team regular and the second shortest player on the team. He is energetic and usually a cheerful guy, but he's also serious and responsible when he has to be.

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• And Your Reward Is Clothes: Tries to invoke this by telling Kimishita to give him his shirts if he beats him at Uno. Unfortunately for him, Kimishita almost always wins, although he is occasionally seen wearing shirts that might easily be Kimishita's.
• Be Yourself: He says as much to Tsukushi, telling him to find his own unique strengths instead of trying to copy Ooshiba.
• Big Brother Mentor: He is another who helps Tsukushi to improve himself. During a training camp game where Tsukushi's position is changed to defender, Haibara teaches him that "the forward is the first line of defence", providing him with his personal role in the team as offensive rebounder.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: The energetic Little Guy to gentle, patient Inohara's Big Guy. Complete with being carried piggyback and telling him where to go.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: His eyebrows are rather thick in the anime.
• Curtains Match the Window: His eyes are the same shade of dark brown as his hair.
• Day in the Limelight: Chapters 41 and 42. He's the only regular in the defense during the match and has to educate and lead the first years, including Tsukushii. Emphasis is placed on his lack of self-confidence which causes him to miss that he's a regular because of his own efforts and not just because his upperclassmen graduated.
• Dope Slap: Does this to Tsukushi when Tsukushi is trying to find his own playing style, using it as an example that he can't copy Ooshiba (as Ooshiba would usually avoid his hits). He also delivers running dropkicks when he sees Tsukushi doing something stupid in the following match.
• The Glomp: He jumps into Mizuki's arms when the latter scores a goal against Saku High, bringing Seiseki in the lead.
• Height Angst: He's putting his all into strategy and technique because he knows he can't beat his opponents in height.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: He is aware that he doesn't have the best build for the sport so he has to use his intelligence and copious amounts of research to improve. His teammates (minus Mizuki, obviously) acknowledge his lack of self-confidence.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Inohara.
• Keet: He can be a giant ball of energy when not in serious mode.
• The Napoleon: Short, energetic, often loud and prone to yelling or hitting people in a friendly manner, and likes being carried piggyback by Inohara and telling him where to go. He's nicer than most examples of the trope, though.
• Odd Friendship: With tall, gentle and calm Inohara. They're almost always seen together even though they're polar opposites. He also seems to have one with Kimishita.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: A very skilled defender in his own right and crucial to Seiseki, he still doesn't get as much praise and attention as he could because the others on his powerhouse team are even more amazing.
• Quirky Curls: His hair looks very fluffy and wavy, matching his energetic, upbeat personality.
• Tiny Schoolboy: The second shortest player on the team, standing only an inch taller than Tsukushi – and unlike Tsukushi, he's not very likely to grow anymore.
• Weak, but Skilled: He tries to make up for his small height by using his head and trying to outsmart his opponents.

Inohara Susumu - # 1

Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto

A third-year and Seiseki's main goalkeeper, Inohara may look intimidating but is actually a very kind soul. He and Haibara are rarely seen apart from each other.

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• After-Action Healing Drama: Struggling to defend against the attacks from Ichinose for 10 minutes, he hit his back from the post while defending. Forcing Shou to replace him.
• Anime Hair: Don't even begin to ask how his hair works. Not even hair gel could make it stand straight up like this.
• The Big Guy: Of Seiseki.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: The Big to Haibara's Little.
• Face of a Thug: Downplayed. He looks intimidating, but he's tame as a lamb.
• Gentle Giant: If there ever was one. He's huge and looks scary, but he's actually a very nice guy whose hobby is knitting and who's afraid of ghosts. (It's still better not to get on his bad side though.)
• Good Is Not Soft: One of the kindest guys you'll ever meet, but he still won't hesitate to intimidate or even hit you if you don't behave.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Haibara. They're best friends and inseparable.
• Nice Guy: To the core.
• Odd Friendship: With short, outgoing and energetic Haibara.
• Real Men Wear Pink: His hobby is knitting.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: He has a little sister who looks like a doll and is so small she gets mistaken for his child at first.
• Spiky Hair: It's standing straight up like the crown of the Statue of Liberty.

Kurusu Hiroyuki - # 15

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino

A first-year midfielder and part of Tsukushi and Kazama's friend group. He's loud-mouthed, a bit brash and rough around the edges, but at the core he's a very nice guy.

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• All Men Are Perverts: He and the other first-years (minus Kazama and Tsukushi) get very excited over a large bra that accidentally ended up in the laundry. Ubukata doesn't approve.
• Anime Hair: His spiky undercut probably needs a lot of gel to hold up like that.
• Book Dumb: As shown during the team study session, he's not the brightest candle on the cake, especially in chemistry.
• Butt-Monkey: He's a frequent victim of yells, threats and slaps from Kimishita or Ubukata, although a good part is actually deserved.
• A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 35 is about him and his late grandfather.
• Date Peepers:
  • Played with. He, along with Nitobe and Shiratori, finds Tsukushi sleeping on Ubukata's shoulder at a family restaurant after she comforted him when he blamed himself for the loss to Saku High. They all think it's a date, mistakenly.
  • Later, when he along with Nitobe and Shiratori finds Hoshina waiting out side Ukabata's room at night during the Nationals. Leading them to think that Ukabata has started her hunt for the Top 10. Nakki persuaded them to not go further.
• Hot-Blooded: He's pretty hot-headed, loud and harsh.
• Hyper-Awareness: After the match against Ichiboshi, he's the only outsider that is aware that something is going on with Tsukushi (with only involves Ukabata & Kazama).
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: He (along with the other first-years) isn't above making fun of and harmlessly roasting Tsukushi, but when someone else looks down on him he'll proudly tell them it was him that they lost to.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He comes across as brash and a little rude at first, but he's quickly won over by Tsukushi's hardworking nature.
• Nervous Wreck: When he's on the pitch, he has a tendency to panic whenever he has the ball.
• No Indoor Voice: He's very prone to yelling, and equally prone to getting reprimanded by Kimishita, who does not appreciate the noise.
• Power Trio: He, Nitobe and Shiratori, companions since middle school, make up the first-year idiot trio.
• True Companions: With Nitobe and Shiratori, having played together since middle school. The three of them also end up becoming true companions to Tsukushi.

Nitobe Tetsuya - # 14

Voiced by: Kaito Ishikawa

Also a first-year and part of Tsukushi and Kazama's squad. He's generally serious and hard-working almost to a fault, except when it comes to school grades, as well as somewhat unlucky.

---

• Adaptation Dye-Job: His hair is close to orange in the manga, but light brown in the anime.
• Affectionate Nickname: Sometimes referred to as Nito by his teammates.
• All Men Are Perverts: Gets excited over a bra in the laundry along with Kurusu and Shiratori.
• Book Dumb: Forming a trio with Kurusu and Shiratori. The three of them need some serious tutoring to pass their exams and be able to join the team for their training camp.
• Butt-Monkey: Usui's favorite victim when it comes to teasing or suddenly appearing behind him. The fact that he's already intimidated by him doesn't help.
• Date Peepers: Together with Kurusu and Shiratori, or so they think. The ones they peep on are Tsukushi and Ubukata, with the former being oblivious (as he slept at that time), the latter not approving at all.
• Fiery Redhead: Less so in the anime (in which his hair is more of a light brown). In the manga though, it's closer to orange and, either way, he's easily fired up.
• Green-Eyed Monster: In the match against Keiou, whilst struggling with the pressure of the match, he becomes envious of how well Tsukamoto, who hasn't been playing anywhere near as long as him, is doing.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take a lot to send him flying off the handle. At the beginning of the Ryouzan match, all it takes is a comment or two.
• Likes Older Women: According to his character sheet.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Pulls this on Kurusu in one of the early chapters. Is frequently on the receiving end of this from Usui.
• Trauma Conga Line: In the match against Keiou, his performance is affected by his nerves, he starts feeling inferior to Tsukamoto, tears his hamstring when trying too hard to compete, and knocks over an opposing player when he falls. To add insult to injury, they happen to be in the penalty area at the time. Immediate red card.
• True Companions: With Kurusu and Shiratori, his old middle school friends, and eventually with Tsukushi.

Nakijin Shou - # 12

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Toyonaga

A first-year goalkeeper and also part of Tsukushi and Kazama's squad. He's quiet, shy and good-natured and tends to stay out of the other first-years' nonsense.

---

• A Day in the Limelight: The match against Ichinose after Inohara is injured during the match.
• Ambiguously Brown: He's noticeably more tan than the rest of the cast, with no explanation given.
• In-Series Nickname: "Nakki."
• Nice Guy: To the point where the others call him out on it.
• Only Sane Man: Between socially awkward Tsukushi, class clown Kazama, and the Kurusu-Nitobe-Shiratori idiot trio, he plays this role to the first-years.
• Out of Focus: Doesn't get a lot of playtime due to him being a goalkeeper in his first year.
• Poor Communication Kills: Runs the risk of making this happen in a match due to his inability to give the players in front of him proper instructions. Thankfully this has yet to happen in an official game.
• Shrinking Violet: Not to Tsukushi's extent, but he's still shy enough to make communicating with the team and giving them instructions a less-than-easy feat.

Satou Hideki and Suzuki Eita - # 5 and # 6

Voiced by: Shohei Komatsu (Satou), Junta Terashima (Suzuki)

A pair of second-year midfielders. Not much is known about them, except that they usually appear as a duo.

---

• Bit Character: Although they're recurring characters, very little is known about them, and they never have a large importance to the plot.
• The Casanova: His experience with dating women make his teammates look up to him for matchmaking purposes, much to his chargin.
• Divergent Character Evolution: While originally only being Those Two Guys and always treated as one entity, they're later shown to have their own personalities. Satou is harsher and more forward while Suzuki is more gentle and thoughtful.
• The Dividual: Word of God treats them as one. They always show up together in stats and rankings, and even in their character sheets their characteristics are much the same or complementary.
• First-Name Basis: Ooshiba calls them by their respective first names.
• The Generic Guy: For a lagre part of the series they're just there. There's not much to know about them, and even their character sheets lampshade that they're the token normals.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: The Spin-Off reveals that they used to be a creepily closed-off duo, recognizing only each other and looking down on the rest of the world like a pair of unrelated creepy twins. They got better, although they're still very close friends.
• Only Friend: Satou was this to Ooshiba at the beginning of their first year at Seiseki.
• Significant Birth Date: In relation to each other. Their birthdays are 11/9 and 1/19, respectively, adding to their weird "in sync without being twins" dynamic.
• Take Up My Sword: Usui chose Suzuki to succeed Usui's role.
• Those Two Guys: To the extreme. They're rarely seen or mentioned apart from each other and are fairly nondescript until recent chapters.

Hayase Takanobu - # 8

Voiced by: Daiki Hamano

A third-year left-winger and the fastest left-footed dribbler on the team. Fairly little is known about him, except that he's fairly hot-headed and snarky.

---

• Adaptation Dye-Job: He's a brunet in the manga, but the anime made his hair bright red.
• Casanova Wannabe: His neverending quest to find a girlfriend is a bit of a running gag. Mission status so far: unsuccessful.
• Covert Pervert: As seen in the OVA, where he and Kokubo watch pretty girls in swimsuits through binoculars.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • The first OVA partly centers around his and Kokubo's quest to pick up girls at the beach.
  • Gets another one in the Ichiboshi match, facing off against Chinen, a rival left-footed player.
• Deadpan Snarker: Some of his remarks can be pretty snarky.
• Fiery Redhead: In the anime. While he's not as ridiculously hot-blooded as Ooshiba, he's very far from stoic, especially on the pitch or in his quest to find a girlfriend. In addition, he also appears to have a pretty sharp tongue.
• Foil: To Chinen, with both of them being the fastest left-footed players on their respective teams, redheads, full of pride, and extremely sore losers, as well as having an attitude about their third-year status.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Kokubo.
• In-Series Nickname: "Haya-chan" (by Kazama).
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: His hair is long enough to wear in a bun, and he is rather pretty, even if he's not as sparkly as Kazama.
• Precision F-Strike: When facing off against Chinen he suddenly explodes. "Don't fuck with me!"
• Pride: Has a lot of it as a player, according to Kokubo.
• Skewed Priorities: Against Chinen: "If you were to shake me off with such a technique, it'd be awfully embarrassing!" Like he has no better reasons to stop him from getting away in the middle of a nationals match, no less.
  "Was that your reason...?"
• Southpaw Advantage: Left-handed and a left-footed player, the best in Seiseki.
• They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: "That's Hayase-senpai to you!"
• Those Two Guys: With Kokubo, although not to Satou and Suzuki's extent.

Kokubo Mitsuru

Voiced by: Yuuya Murakami

Also a third-year and a left-winger like Hayase. The two are close friends, but aside from that even less is known about him than about Hayase.

---

• Bit Character: There's virtually nothing known about him except that he's a flirt, a third-year and friends with Hayase. Even the manga makes fun of this at some point, showing off the skills of every third-year except him, leaving him to complain he's a third-year too.
• The Casanova: The "Girlfriend" section of his character sheet reveals that he's apparently three-timing.
• A Day in the Limelight: With Hayase in the first OVA.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Hayase.
• Satellite Character: Virtually all his characterization comes from Hayase and his interactions with him.
• Those Two Guys: With Hayase, but not as extremely as Satou and Suzuki.

Kasahara Junpei

Voiced by: Genki Muro

A kind-hearted third-year who's never been on the lineup in any official matches. He has to leave the school after the Inter-High, and Tsukushi helps him try and make the lineup so he can play with everyone at least once.

---

• Eyes Always Shut: He's always depicted with his eyes closed.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Very close friends with Mizuki before moving away.
• Nice Guy: Friendly, mild-mannered and kind-hearted, not even showing any resentment when Tsukushi gets chosen for the lineup instead of him and opting to help him get stronger instead.
• Put on a Bus: He leaves the team after the Inter-High qualifiers to take care of his sick grandmother.
  • The Bus Came Back: Returns to cheer the team on at nationals.
• Stepford Smiler: He pretends to be okay with leaving the team and acts like it was his own choice when really he needs to leave to look after his sick grandmother and is deeply heartbroken about leaving, wishing he could have kept playing with Seiseki till the end, and later when Tsukushi gets chosen instead of him he supports him while pretending he isn't frustrated or disappointed.

Ubukata Chikako

Voiced by: Mariya Ise

A first-year and Tsukushi and Kazama's classmate, Ubukata signs up to become the soccer club's manager after getting inspired by Tsukushi. She's both smart and tough (and short-tempered and bossy) and slowly grows to care about the whole team, although she has trouble showing it.

---

• Action Girl: She's more than capable of beating the crap out of guys who are acting perverted or aren't listening to her.
• A-Cup Angst: Bringing up her breast size is a bad idea. It doesn't stop Kazama.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Her hair went from grayish in the manga to full-on pink in the anime.
• Audience Surrogate: As the manager she gets a view on the team from the outside, watching them all grow and slowly getting attached.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: She analyzes the living daylights out of Touin's playing style and spots the weaknesses in their seemingly flawless strategy.
• Badass Bookworm: A smart girl who likes reading to the point of knowing how to speed read, used to dream of being a writer, and can knock your lights out if you mess with her – or analyze and strategize the hell out of you, like she does against Touin. In the volume 8 omake, the books (342) she read in a year are more than the rest of the Top 5 combined (167).
• Berserk Button: Perverts. To a lesser degree, fooling around and not taking one's job seriously enough in general.
• Betty and Veronica: Subverted. She's set up to be the Veronica to Sayuri's Betty and Tsukushi's Archie, but there's no romantic attraction involved on either side and she later winds up having... something going on with Hoshina.
• Cute Sports Club Manager: She has the looks but she most definitely doesn't have the personality.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Her writing getting rejected over and over and over and over made her stop believing in the power of hard work.
• The Dreaded: Downplayed. The first-years (except for Tsukushi and Kazama) all end up fearing her for her strength and temper.
• Exhausted Eye Bags: She sports them after taking her research sessions a little too far, most notably when researching Ichiboshi.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: She only took serious effort at studying soccer during the summer as a first year in Seiseki and her analysis ended up playing a part in spotting the weakness of the other teams that Hoshina & Yuuki (who are more experienced in soccer) are frighteningly impressed.
• Hair Color Dissonance: While it still makes more or less sense in the manga, being a grayish hue leaning into pink, in the anime it's full-on pinkish, but presumably supposed to represent a realistic color because everyone else has realistic hair colors.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Her attitude before meeting Tsukushi. Turns out she fell for the Hard Work Fallacy herself once, working her hardest to become a writer and failing over and over until she gave up.
• Heroic RRoD: Her habit of excessively analyzing her opponents' soccer matches by herself finally caught up to her during the nationals, with her collapsing in front of everybody before Seiseki's national match against Ryouzan. It took her until the second half to recover herself enough to provide a struggling Seiseki the strategy to defeat them.
• Hidden Depths: She's so cynical towards Tsukushi's work ethic because she used to dream of being a writer and work hard day after day, despite all the rejections she got from publishers, until she eventually got disillusioned and gave up.
• Hope Is Scary: She catches herself dreaming again as she watches Seiseki grow, both as a team and on her. While she remarks that she knows she shouldn't, she also admits that she can't stop herself.
• Imagine Spotting: She imagines beating the living daylights out of Kurusu, Nitobe and Shiratori when they catch Tsukushi sleeping on her shoulder and jump to conclusions. They notice and get the hell out of dodge.
• Implied Love Interest: To Hoshina. They grow close enough to visit each other's houses (and rooms) to discuss matches together and worry about their appearance and the looks of their rooms before.
• Jade-Colored Glasses: Wears them at the beginning of the series. She used to be more idealistic until her dreams got crushed in middle school and she stopped believing in hard work.
• Killing Intent: She radiates it when she catches Kurusu, Nitobe and Shiratori secretly watching Tsukushi sleeping on her shoulder and jump to conclusions. They run for it.
• Only Sane Man: To Seiseki, more often than not. Especially to the first-years, who she constantly catches doing something stupid.
• Pervert Revenge Mode: She gives her fellow first-years a sound beating, or at least a good talking-to, for acting perverted on more than one occasion and once beats up a guy who was secretly filming her for Keiou. Her favorite victim is Kazama though, at least till they start getting along.
• Ship Tease: With Tsukushi at first, and most prominently with Hoshina.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Implied with Hoshina.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: With Kazama, initially. They start warming up to each other after the Seikan match though.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: She's the team strategist and always puts on her glasses when she starts studying or researching.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only girl in the Seiseki soccer club (naturally, as it's a boys' team) and the only female member of the main cast.
• The Strategist: She plays this role in the Touin match afterwards.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: A non-romantic example with Tsukushi. She's almost half a head taller than him.
• Took a Level in Idealism: Thanks to Tsukushi and the soccer club she starts dreaming and believing in the power of hard work once more.
• Tsundere: She has lots of trouble showing that she cares about the team but still obviously does, as seen when she spends days and nights researching Touin and working out a strategy to beat them.
• The Watson: At first. She's usually the one to ask questions about the strategy for the audience.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She calls out Kazama after his fight with Tsukushi. It works. Later attempts it towards Tsukushi after the Ichinose when his self doubt is getting the better of him. However he runs before she could get to him, making her get Kazama to reach out to him.
• Women Are Wiser: Possibly the most level-headed and sane person in the Seiseki soccer club, and the only girl.

Nakazawa Katsutoshi

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi

Seiseki's coach. He's a stoic person who usually seems tired and a little detached, but he's also a highly skilled coach who knows how to make his players grow and improve.

---

• Amicably Divorced: With Junko. They seem to be on good terms, she's just not interested in him romantically anymore.
• Apathetic Teacher: Subverted. He has the scruffy appearance and tired exasperation of one, but he's actually rather strict and cunning, as well as a highly skilled coach.
• Dreadful Musician: Apparently. When a band consisting of soccer team members and him as the lead singer plays at the school festival, he sings a very desperate song dedicated to his ex-wife, begging her to come back. Audience members remark that given his singing, it's no wonder she left him. It still moves them to tears because of how heartfelt it is.
• Everyone Went to School Together: He appears to have been high school teammates with Ichiboshi's coach.
• A Father to His Men: A more subtle example, as he's usually too stoic to let it show, but the team is still the most important thing in his life, so important that he ditches a date with Junko(!) after getting a call from Ubukata in the Spin-Off and immediately goes running to them. Perhaps it's most accurate to call him an awkward Bumbling Dad to his men.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: The good kind, although it only emphasizes his tired middle-aged bachelor lifestyle instead of making him look badass.
• Hopeless Suitor: To Junko after their divorce. He wants her back, but she's not interested.
• In-Series Nickname: Large parts of the team call him "Whiskers" (or "Beardy," depending on the translation).
• Intergenerational Friendship: He appears to get along well with Usui.
• Not So Above It All: In the school festival. He stops being the exasperated adult and becomes their lead singer for Seiseki soccer club's band performance.
• Perma-Stubble: His facial hair (aside from his mustache) meanders between this and a full-on beard, matching his somewhat scruffy appearance.
• Seriously Scruffy: More so in the manga, where he's got the messy hair to go with his Perma-Stubble, wrinkled clothes, and tired expression.
• Say My Name: "JUNKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
• The Stoic: The most emotion he usually shows is mild exasperation, even in tense matches.
  • Not So Stoic: He does lose his cool when his ex-wife Junko is concerned though.
  • Later breaks out of his stoic attitude after a run-in with Ichiboshi's coach and getting riled up by his annoyingly cheery demeanor.
• Training from Hell: Regularly puts the team through those. It pays off.
• Vague Age: His age is never made clear. Going by his looks and the fact that he already had time to get married, divorced, and coach Seiseki for at least several years, he could be anywhere between his late twenties to early forties, most likely somewhere in his thirties.

Tachibana Sayuri

Voiced by: Ayane Sakura

Tsukushi's childhood friend and a second-year at Seiseki. Sweet and caring, she's been looking after Tsukushi since they were little, with the latter viewing her as an older sister.

---

• Affectionate Nickname: Tsukushi calls her Sayuri-chan, and Kazama nicknames her Sayurin. She also calls Tsukushi Tsuku-chan.
• Betty and Veronica: Set up to be the Betty to Tsukushi's Archie and Ubukata's Veronica, except that there are no feelings involved on any side.
• The Bus Came Back: She, along with Tsukushi's mom, returns to watch Seiseki play and cheer them on at the stadium at nationals.
• Childhood Friends: She's been friends with Tsukushi since they were little.
• Cool Big Sis: To Tsukushi.
• Curtains Match the Window: Brown hair and brown eyes.
• Intergenerational Friendship: She's very close with Tsukushi's mom (who also calls her Sayuri-chan) and the two of them often watch Tsukushi's matches together.
• Like Brother and Sister: Tsukushi compares her to an older sister on several occasions.
• Nice Girl: Sweet and friendly to the core.
• Out of Focus: She gets very little screentime after Tsukushi joins the Seiseki soccer club.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Ubukata's Tomboy. Eventually also the Girly Girl to Yuki's Tomboy.

Ooshiba Mikoto

Voiced by: Natsuki Aikawa

Ooshiba's older sister, a Seiseki third-year. She is smarter and more serious and reasonable than her brother, but even so (or maybe because of that) they seem to get along okay.

---

• All Love Is Unrequited: She has a crush on Mizuki, who is perfectly oblivious.
• All There in the Manual: She doesn't get a first name until the character guidebook.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: The Responsible to Kiichi's Foolish.
• Huge Schoolgirl: She stands at a whopping 185 cm (6 feet!), making her only two inches shorter than her brother.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Temporarily sports them when spying on Mizuki during the team study session. It creeps her brother out.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Kiichi. She is smart, diligent, level-headed and shy where he is dumb, lazy, and a boisterous overgrown ego on legs.

Sakuragi High

Indou Kaoru - # 7

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki

The Ace and captain of Saku High, Indou is a third-year and a feared midfielder gifted with inane talent. Scary as he can be on the field, Indou is also emotional and even has a silly side. He views Mizuki as his rival.

---

• Always Someone Better: To Kimishita, who doesn't take losing to him well because it means he lost as a midfielder and even catches himself wondering if Seiseki could have won if Indou had played in his stead.
• Ambiguously Bi: One of the Q&A sections had someone asking him who from the Seiseki soccer club (not just the team, meaning it includes Ubukata) he would date. He didn't take the easy way out and say Ubukata but said Usui instead. Add that to his overprotectiveness of and possible crush on Natsu and his... curious behavior around Mizuki, and you've got a bunch of mixed signals.
• Anime Hair: His spiky hair defies the laws of gravity.
• Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: With Mizuki. If there's anything they can compete at, even if it's unrelated to soccer, they will. And if they lose to the other, they'll keep demanding a rematch until someone stops them.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Played with. While he's perfectly capable of staying focused on the pitch, off the pitch he's shown to be distracted by something as mundane as a butterfly.
• Big Eater: At least one of the Seiseki matches he watches with his team is intercepted of cuts of him munching on different food while watching the game, never eating the same thing in two of these cuts.
• Butt-Monkey: His fellow third-years don't exactly take him seriously, and Mizuki rejects all his attempts to be friends with him (which doesn't deter him in the least).
• The Captain: Of Saku High.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Played for Laughs. He doesn't take it well when other boys appear to get along well with Natsu.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Introduced as silly and sentimental, but he's still one of Tokyo's top three players and a highly intelligent strategist.
• Curtains Match the Window: Brown hair and brown eyes.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He lost both his parents as a child, found a new mentor figure in Narukami's father who also died, and ran away from home and tramped all the way from Hokkaido to Tokyo just because of a promise he made to him.
• Establishing Character Moment: Sitting next to Tsukushi on the train, watching him watch the video his teammates made of him playing and listening to their comments and crying his eyes out.
  Indou, sobbing: These guys are so nice!
• First-Name Basis: With Narukami. He calls him Shuuji while the latter calls him Kaoru.
• Friendly Rivalry: How he sees his rivalry with Mizuki. Mizuki doesn't reciprocate.
• Gender-Blender Name: When Narukami refers to him as "Kaoru," Tsukushi initially thinks he's talking about a girl. He himself doesn't seem to mind, going as far as to refer to himself as "Kaoru-chan."
• Hero of Another Story: He was originally the protagonist of Furimukuna Kimi Wa, another series by Yasuda before he created DAYS. It tells his backstory from his childhood to joining the Saku High team.
• Inelegant Blubbering: His Establishing Character Moment has him rather ungracefully bawling his eyes out over how nice Tsukushi's teammates are.
• Like an Old Married Couple: With Narukami. They're constantly squabbling, but they're also inseparable.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Towards Mizuki, along with a good shade of The Only One Able to Defeat You. He doesn't want Mizuki to lose to anyone but him, and often doesn't even think he can.
• Parental Abandonment: His parents died when he was a child, and even Narukami's father, who was a Parental Substitute to him, passed away much too soon.
• The Pollyanna: His backstory reveals that his parents died when he was still in elementary school, and the man who became his Parental Substitute also died soon after. He still manages to be friendly, silly and happy most of the time.
• The Rival: To Mizuki.
• Significant Birth Date: In relation to Narukami. His birthday is on January 11 while Narukami's is on January 10, making them only one day apart in age.
• Sore Loser: A trait he apparently shares with Mizuki.
• Spiky Hair: It stands up straight.
• Stalker without a Crush: Shows shades of this towards Mizuki. He shows up to all his matches, approaches him when he's not playing or on the bench, and even has his phone number despite the latter never giving it to him.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Curry. According to his stats his "curry loving-ness" is at 5/5.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: At the beginning, most likely. He seems to believe he and Mizuki are the fated rivals you'd find in a generic sports anime, need to stay in touch, and made a promise to face off whereas Mizuki can't remember promising a thing, although it's unclear if Indou is imagining or misunderstanding things or if Mizuki actually did make a promise and just forgot.

Narukami Shuuji - # 10

Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae

A forward and feared as the top scorer of Saku High, Narukami is also a third-year (even if he doesn't look it). He is shown to be very selfish and even cruel on the field, but he also has a playful side. He and Indou are inseparable.

---

• Badass Adorable: Tiny, cheerful and cute as a button and absolutely not to be messed with on the soccer field.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He initially comes off as cheery and friendly, but hidden behind that lies a sadistic nature with a greed for scoring and victory.
• Disappeared Dad: His father has been dead for several years.
• First-Name Basis: With Indou.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: He used to be sickly, physically weak and completely devoid of confidence until Indou convinced him to pick up soccer in high school. Now he's one of the best dribblers in the country.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Indou. They're best friends, even if they bicker all the time.
• Hypocritical Humor: His character sheet, which says he dislikes mushroom-like hairstyles and is good at being liked by animals– right next to a picture of him with a mushroom haircut, all scratched up by a cat.
• Keet: Cheerful, energetic and very childish, he's always either smiling or pouting and seems like a friendly, outgoing guy. And then there's his soccer-playing self...
• Like an Old Married Couple: With Indou. They've been inseparable for years, and according to other Saku High players they've been constantly bickering for just as long.
• Older Than They Look: He's a third-year. Even Tsukushi initially mistakes him for a middle schooler.
• Perpetual Smiler: He's virtually always smiling to some degree – unless he's angry at Indou, which is when he temporarily drops it in favor of a pout.
• Psychopathic Manchild: He's very cheerful on the field... while enjoying to break rival players' hearts and bragging about it. Seiseki's players are fairly creeped out by his demeanor.
• Significant Birth Date: In relation to Indou. He's exactly one day older than him.
• Take a Third Option: Rejecting an offer to become a pro in order to go overseas.

Seikan High

Taira Genichirou - # 10

Voiced by: Yusuke Kobayashi

Seikan's midfielder and captain. He's widely known to be on national level and already has a pro contract, just like Mizuki, who will be his teammate. He's friendly in his demeanor, although somewhat devious.

---

• Always Someone Better: How Kimishita feels about him.
• The Bus Came Back: After disappearing for some time after the training camp, he and the rest of Seikan come back into focus at nationals.
• The Captain: Of Seikan.
• The Casanova: He has an "unspecified but high" number of girlfriends.
• Defeat Means Friendship: He starts out talking trash about Kimishita's skill behind his back (which he overhears) but winds up becoming a kind of mentor figure to him after Seikan loses to Seiseki in a practice match.
• Establishing Character Moment: Him making out with a girl in a dark room at training camp, and looking perfectly unfazed when Mizuki walks in on them while the girl runs off.
• Functional Addict: He smokes and seems to like beer a lot and still somehow manages to stay healthy enough to be one of the top players in the country.
• The Gadfly: He certainly enjoys riling people up.
• Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: Depending on whether you see him as a good guy or not.
• Interrupted Intimacy: A more family-friendly version, but played to the same effect. Mizuki walks in on him kissing a girl in a dark room, and the girl gets embarrassed and runs away.
• Jerkass: According to Usui, he has "no flaws aside from his personality."

Himura Mayumi

Voiced by: KENN

Seikan's forward and genius first-year. He's a hot-blooded showoff and Kazama's rival in the Seiseki vs Seikan match.

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• The Bus Came Back: Returns to watch Seiseki play at nationals, along with the rest of Seikan, when they're not busy playing in the tournament themselves.
• Hot-Blooded: Extremely hot-headed, stubborn and excitable.
• Irrational Hatred: According to his character sheet, what he dislikes most is Kazama. Why he hates him so much isn't explained.
• Large Ham: He's loud, hot-blooded, and prone to stripping and showing off whenever he's scored a goal or is otherwise proud of himself on the pitch.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He'd never admit it, but he seems to feel this way towards Kazama. When watching matches his focus is always on Kazama, and when the latter seems to be holding back against his ex-teammates from Yuigahama he gets angry and starts yelling and complaining about how he lost the bite he still had at the training camp until Taira tells him they actually improved since then.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: With Kazama in the bath. They're exchanging polite acknowledgements while the underlying edge is ever-present, with both of them subtly and silently declaring war on each other.
• The Rival: To Kazama. They're always trying to one-up each other every time they meet, on the pitch or off it.
• Tsundere: A non-romantic example towards Kazama. He insults his plays at any chance he gets while also not-so-subtly rooting for him and Seiseki to win.
• Worthy Opponent: He and Kazama consider each other this way.

Touin Academy

Hoshina Takumi

Voiced by: Yūichi Nakamura

Touin's captain and strongest player, strong enough to be considered one of Tokyo's Big Three. He's a very serious and dedicated person, as well as polite and gentlemanlike.

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• The Ace: Of Touin and also one of Tokyo's Big Three, beside Mizuki and Indou.
• Badass Family: Comes from one. His two older brothers are both pro players.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: His eyebrows are notably larger and thicker than the rest of the cast's.
• Establishing Character Moment: Although he's been around for some time before, he gets his when Ubukata goes to scout out his school disguised as a reporter from another school and he meets her at the entrance, guides her over the grounds, treats her with gentlemanlike care and, when she is exposed by his teammates, simply remarks that Touin has nothing to hide.
• First-Name Basis: His nickname on the team is a shortening of his first name.
• Graceful Loser: He goes as far as to acknowledge Ubukata's efforts in helping Seiseki win with a bow, and even later he barely shows any emotion over the loss, although he undoubtedly feels it.
• In-Series Nickname: His teammates call him "Taku."
• My Greatest Failure: Not passing to Kaidou in a match three years ago, a decision that resulted in Touin failing to win.
• Nice Guy: A very nice, polite, considerate and honest person.
• Old-School Chivalry: Downplayed. He acts very polite and gentlemanlike around Ubukata when she visits Touin incognito to spy on their strategy, such as instantly offering to accompany her around the school or warning her to watch her step when there are obstacles in her way.
• One Head Taller: He has a 15-cm height difference with Ubukata.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Kaidou's Red.
• Ship Tease: With Ubukata. They're seen getting closer after their teams' face-off, to the point where he visits her hotel room and she frets over the appearance of her hair and room before.
• Single Tear: He sheds one after realizing that Touin's loss to Seiseki isn't the end, even if it marks the end of his school soccer career.
• The Stoic: He rarely shows any emotion.
  • Not So Stoic: ...except after losing to Seiseki.

Kaidou Hayato

Touin's pinch ace, a player who only gets subbed in during overtime unless a situation of need arises. Light-hearted, friendly and easygoing, he has been Hoshina's companion for a long time.

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• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Of the same size as Hoshina's or even thicker. Maybe it's a Touin thing.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Due to a prior back injury he only gets put in fairly late in the match or during times of need and can't dominate the game as much as he undoubtedly would otherwise.
• Glass Cannon: After his injury he can't play long and thus only gets subbed in when absolutely necessary.
• Mellow Fellow: Chill, laid-back and friendly at all times.
• Perpetual Smiler: Always seems to be in some kind of good mood.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Hoshina's Blue.

Ichiboshi Academy

Aiba Miran

Ichiboshi's ace and, so far, the only current second-year to already have a pro contract. He looks a little intimidating, but is actually pretty friendly, as well as a prankster.

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• The Ace: He is currently the only second-year with a pro contract, as well as the only character besides Mizuki to have been signed in his second year at all.
• Always Someone Better: To Kimishita and Ooshiba. Like them, he is a second-year, but he can easily one-up their already massive skills and has single-handedly dished out a crushing defeat to them in the past.
• Ambiguously Brown: His tanned skin is commented on In-Universe, but its origin is unknown.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The summary Kai gives of him. "In his six years of elementary school he scored a hundred goals, in his time in middle school he shook of seven guys, his staple food is parfait, he has a personal pitch at the hill behind his house..."
• The Gadfly: He's a bit of a trickster who loves harmlessly messing with his teammates, especially Chinen.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: After Seiseki scored their first goal, he manages to quickly even the score, breaking away 5 opponents which include Kazama and Usui, also instantly breaking Ooshiba's moment of breaking away 4 opponents
• Nice Guy: While a little mischievous, he's a genuinely friendly, fun guy.
• Not-So-Innocent Whistle: Does one of these after tripping Chinen from behind and the latter turns around furiously.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Shows shades of this with Chinen and their apparently ongoing prank war.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Parfait. That fact is so commonly known that it's lampshaded by Maruoka.

Chinen Kazuma

A third-year at Ichiboshi and very good at freestyling. He seems a little rude and irritable but isn't unfriendly, except to Aiba, who constantly succeeds at driving him up the wall.

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• Asshole Victim: He's constantly trash-talking Aiba and constantly finds himself on the receiving end of his pranks or winds up discovering that Aiba overheard his trash-talking when he was confident he'd never know.
• Fiery Redhead: Or rather, a fiery ginger with a lot of attitude.
• Green-Eyed Monster: The reason for his animosity towards Aiba is heavily implied to be jealousy, as he's constantly claiming Aiba's letting his fame and success get to his head and shouldn't get cocky just because he's a little good and already has a pro contract.
• Oh, Crap!: His natural reaction to Aiba appearing right behind him as he claims he'll never catch wind of his trash-talking.
• Right Behind Me: His first appearance has him insulting Aiba behind his back and claiming his underclassman will never find out, only for that very underclassman to walk in on him saying that.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: He appears to be in some kind of prank war with Aiba.
• Tempting Fate: "It's okay, he won't find out!" Cue Aiba walking in that very second.

Niiro Keito

Ichiboshi's genius first-year forward, a cheery but smug and overconfident kid even in matters that have nothing to do with soccer. He can be nice to his opponents if he respects them though.

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• Indy Ploy: A trope that applies to all of his team to some extent, but him in particular. He doesn't follow a set strategy, simply making things up and following sudden whims as he goes.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Among the Cast Full of Pretty Boys his appearance is unusually plain, with his often smug eyes, messy coconut-like hair, and most prominently, a missing tooth.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Towards Kazama, who wanted to compete with him one on him.
• Small Name, Big Ego: While his faith in his soccer skills may be justified, he probably shouldn't be as overconfident about most of his other traits, including his appearance. For his first dedicated appearance, he is good enough break away from Kazama, but sometimes could make embarrassing mistakes such as doing a foul throw (which Tsukushi would later make the same mistake) and failing a heel lift,
• Worthy Opponent: Considers Kazama one to a degree where he can't even bring himself to mock his appearance.

Others

Tsukamoto Nozomi

Voiced by: Atsumi Tanezaki

Tsukushi's single mother. She's as kind, caring and emotional as her son and largely raised him by herself. She works at a daycare and is bound to a wheelchair for as-yet unknown reasons.

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• Absurdly Youthful Mother: Subverted. She looks the part, but she's actually 38, she just hasn't aged much.
• Almighty Mom: Implied. She doesn't usually go around telling people off, but flashbacks show that she's perfectly capable of it.
• Blush Sticker: Tsukushi got his from her, apparently.
• The Cutie: Sweet, kind, bubbly, caring, and very emotional, just like her son.
• Doting Parent: To Tsukushi. She is very proud of him and happily supports his newfound love of soccer no matter how often he gets hurt (even if she does worry), watching all his matches in recordings or on TV and cheering him on as best as she can.
• Dream-Crushing Handicap: Due to her being unable to walk, she was unable to pursue her dreams of ballet. Which is why she's shocked by getting ballet tickets as a present from Tsukushi.
• Early-Bird Cameo: She appears in the first scene of the anime, which has Tsukushi pushing her around the school grounds in her wheelchair on the first day of high school and Kazama catching a glimpse of the two of them.
• Establishing Character Moment: In the manga she is first seen where she works at the daycare, smiling cheerfully and playing with puppets, telling the kids a story while they all crowd around her, visibly loving her as much as she loves them.
• Friend to All Children: As a natural part of her profession. The kids at her daycare are shown to like her a lot, a feeling that's very much mutual.
• Glamorous Single Mother: Deconstructed. she is doing exceptionally well, being a loving parent and great role model and taking good care of her son while providing for him with a job she visibly enjoys doing, but is also shown to have struggled with raising Tsukushi and keeping them both afloat all by herself. It's fortunate that Tsukushi turns out to be a good natured kid.
• Good Is Not Soft: Even with her disabilities she's willing to complain to Tsukushi's elementary school when she saw him in bruises and even tell him to speak up about it.
• Good Parents: She's portrayed as a very kind, wise, loving mother, and Tsukushi loves her with all his heart.
• Like Parent, Like Child: Kind, sweet, a worry-wart, easily nervous, and very determined, just like her son.
• Happily Married: Appears to have been this to Tsukushi's father before he died. He was very dedicated to her, and she still remembers him fondly, often noting how Tsukushi takes after him.
• Nice Girl: She's sweet and friendly and taught Tsukushi to always be caring and attentive and consider other people's needs as well as his own.
• Older Than They Look: She's in her late thirties but could pass as mid-twenties. Apparently looking young runs in the family.
• Parents as People: Discussed by herself when thinking about the way she raised Tsukushi, especially when she's bound to a wheelchair and being a single mother (by her own choice).
• Plucky Girl: She powered through working and raising Tsukushi alone while bound to a wheelchair. Determination, too, apparently runs in the family.
• The Pollyanna: She lost her husband in an accident and was left raising her son by herself while also being unable to walk, and even before that something seems to have happened to make her lose the use of her legs, as she was shown capable of walking in high school flashbacks. Despite that she still retained her warmth, kindness and optimism.
• Remarrying for Your Kids: Defied. She was strongly suggested to do this after her husband's untimely death, but she refused and insisted on raising Tsukushi alone.

Narukami Natsu

Narukami's older sister by two years, a Saku High alumna and former manager of the Saku High soccer club. A kind, smart, mature young woman who is keeping her brother and his live-in best friend in check.

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• Cool Big Sis: The sweet, smart, and beautiful older sister figure to Shuuji and Indou.
• Cute Sports Club Manager: Used to be one to Saku High before graduating.
• Promotion to Parent: Ever since the death of their father she's been the one to look after Shuuji, as well as Indou, who has no family left at all.
• Supreme Chef: Indou's Trademark Favorite Food is her curry.
• Women Are Wiser: She's noticeably more normal and well-adjusted than her two younger brother figures.

Kimishita Tooru

Kimishita's father and owner of a sports equipment store. He's a good-natured, friendly man who cares a lot about his son; Kimishita got his love of soccer from him.

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• Affectionate Gesture to the Head: He gives out lots of these to his son in flashbacks.
• All There in the Manual: His first name is never mentioned in the manga or even the Spin-Off but only in bonus material and character guides.
• Bumbling Dad: Flashbacks in Kimishita's Gaiden show he certainly used to be one. He didn't even use to be able to fry eggs without burning them, which didn't keep him from trying. Deconstructed, however, as he's also shown trying his hardest to not be bumbling anymore and become a good, capable parent.
• Good Parents: He's always there for his son, supporting him whenever he can and trying his hardest to become good at everything a single parent needs to be able to do, even cooking, which he sucks at. Kimishita loves and respects him a lot.
• Lethal Chef: Used to be one. He couldn't even manage to fry eggs without turning them into charcoal in flashbacks. Whether or not he got better is unknown.
• Like Father, Like Son: They both share a love of soccer.
• Nice Guy: Friendly, good-natured and dedicated to his son.
• Perpetual Smiler: The overwhelming majority of his appearances show him with a bright smile on his face.
• The Pollyanna: He still seems to love his wife who left him for unknown reasons, he had to struggle with raising his son as a single father, they're both having trouble making ends meet with their shop, and still he meets every day with a smile.

Kazama Yuki

Kazama's younger sister, a quiet, mature middle school girl. Since she and her mother left when Kazama was a child, she hasn't seen her brother in years.

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• Black Bead Eyes: She sports these at all times, an oddly cartoonish detail in her otherwise realistic look.
• Establishing Character Moment: In her introductory episode where she and her mom meet Nozomi and Sayuri, she's very polite towards them and thanking them for looking after Kazama. Then she explains the tactics to Nozomi's group on Seiseki against Yuigahama in the second half after just looking at the match for a short while.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: She is serious and well-mannered where Jin is a goofball who does whatever he wants. Apparently it was even worse when they were little, with him causing their mother so much trouble she decided to leave him while Yuki never seems to have caused much trouble.
• Green-Eyed Monster: She says she never liked her brother much because his eyes shine brighter than hers even though he's a boy, and he's always too cheery in his mails.
• Hidden Depths: After Seiseki's match against Ryouzan, she admits to Ukabata that she wants to attend Seiseki and become an assistant manager.
• Mr. Exposition: Towards Nozomi's group when it comes to explaining them the soccer tactics in Seiseki's nationals.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to her brother's red.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: She is quiet, stoic and mature where her brother is cheery, goofy and outgoing.
• The Sixth Ranger: Downplayed, she took care of a fainted Ukabata during Seiseki's match against Ryouzan..
• The Stoic: As calm and expressionless as it gets.
• Walking Spoiler: It's hard to bring her up without spoiling Kazama's backstory.