Ho Yay / The Prince of Tennis

One of the main purposes of The Prince of Tennis appears to be to provide the fandom with lots of attractive male characters to pair in any combination they like. Not surprisingly, they do.

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In General:

• One of the otome games, Prince Of Tennis: Girls, be gracious! actually has a Spear Counterpart, Prince Of Tennis: Boys, be glorious! where instead of you playing as a girl getting closer to the guys, you play as a boy getting closer to the guys.

Seigaku

• And one of the biggest wank sources in the fandom? How the Tezuka x Fuji couple got quite more fanservice in both manga and anime than other couples. Three-episodes anime match chock full of typically shoujo symbolism like Cherry Blossoms, Snow Means Love, and Umbrella of Togetherness? Check. Said match finished by Tezuka and Fuji practically hugging and smiling? Check. Manga match between Fuji and Niou where he sees Niou as Tezuka? Check. Is Fuji kinda flirting with Tezuka after the finals? Check. Tezuka smiling at Fuji's pseudo-flirting and asking him to not tell anybody. Check. Inui saying Tezuka's "so naive" in a tone that sounds almost like he's their fanboy? Check.
  • But Wait, There's More!! The anime-only duel episodes had a brief scene in which Fuji screams at Tezuka for playing against him despite being injured. Flashforward to some years, and during the Fuji vs. Niou match in the manga... Konomi actually slips some allusions to that until-then anime-only scene, confirming that it counts as manga canon as well.
  • In New Prince of Tennis, Fuji is the most upset at Tezuka leaving the U-17 camp, so he demands Tezuka a final match. After being defeated, Fuji spends a lot of time coping with Tezuka's departure by having an imaginary duel with him. A worried Eiji can only watch him from afar angrily shooting balls by himself.
  • Fuji ends up entirely changing his playstyle because Tezuka left, more or less. When he plays his first match against Germany at the pre-tournament exhibition matches, he hits his last ball directly into Tezuka's hand, like he's still angry about their breakup.
  • They sing two duets about their relationship: Koko de Bokura wa Deatte Shimatta and Tatoeba Ima. Both songs can be construed as being incredibly suggestive of more than friendship.
    • One of the composers for Prince of Tennis' music, UZA, has stated in the past that when he's writing songs for Fuji, he often ends up thinking that the "you" that gets referred to in the lyrics is Tezuka. As a general case, many of Fuji's character songs, such as Hitomi wo Tojite Kokoro no Mama Kimi wo Omou and Tsutaiochiru Mono Tsutaetai Koto, have clear references to Tezuka.
  • The entirety of the White Heat Remix audio commentary.
  • In the manga match between Kirihara and Fuji, there's a panel dedicated to Tezuka pausing in his rehabilitation to look up at the sky. A few panels later, it's revealed that Fuji has been rendered temporarily blind due to being hit in the head by Kirihara. Notably, Tezuka is in Kyushu at this point and is not watching the match.
    • This interaction is made more lighthearted in the anime as it occurs during the Prince of Bowling episode instead. When Fuji is incapacitated by Inui's new drink Aozu, Tezuka, who is asleep in Germany, is startled awake by a strange dream. In this instance, it should be noted that Kaidoh had already been downed by Aozu in a previous scene with no such reaction. Even as more and more of the club are taken down by Inui's drink, Tezuka doesn't make another appearance until Oishi uses Tezuka's patented catchphrase.
  • It isn't strange for Tezuka, as captain, to try and bring out the best in his teammates, but he often reserves this effort for the underclassmen who'll be taking up the reins in the club once the third years graduate (Ryoma, Momoshiro, Kaidoh). Fuji is the only third year member whose growth he shows a consistent vested interest in throughout the series. In addition, despite being surrounded by powerful rival characters (Atobe, Yukimura, Sanada, and Ryoma, just to name a few), it's revealed in the U-17 World Cup arc that Tezuka has been waiting a long time to see Fuji's true colors.
  • In the Teni Puri family skits, Fuji and Tezuka are depicted as the grandmother and grandfather of the family.
    • In the Wild West skit, Fuji is a woman looking for a lone gunman wielding dual pistols who later turns out to be Tezuka.
  • Realistically, this pair could fill their own page with how much they're teased in not just the anime and manga, but also in other official materials, as well as spinoffs. They're so not subtle about it that the Japanese fandom often considers the official staff to be their biggest supporters.

• Oishi and Kikumaru are another popular slash pairing because they play doubles together. They obviously care for each other as partners and it can easily be interpreted as a romantic relationship. Their partnership actually hits so many tropes traditionally related to the archetypical Pseudo-Romantic Friendship that it's not funny.
  • One of their codes during games is Eiji telling Oishi to which side the teddy bear of his bedroom usually falls. Oishi can only know this trivia fact since he has sleepovers with Eiji very often.
  • When Oishi leaves his spot in the Regulars to Tezuka because of his injured wrist, Eiji is so devastated by the news that he decides to play singles since he doesn't want to play doubles with anyone else. At the end of his duel with Kai, Eiji happily tells that he liked his time playing singles, but felt it was a very lonely victory. He is willing to wait for Oishi's recovery.
  • During the Nationals, Eiji and Oishi get so in tune with each other that they manage to unknowingly reach the "Synchro" State, where both can coordinate perfectly their moves. Their synchro connects them to the point Eiji can tell when Oishi's wrist is at its limit, even when both are unaware of all this. By the time they play against Jackal and Marui, both are perfectly capable of switching to Synchro at will.

• Ryoma and Momoshiro are often slashed together as well. They are very good friends in the show and hang out a lot.
  • Ryoma's first friend in the Regulars is Momo, who not only acts like a Cool Big Bro to him as his senpai, Momo often passes by Ryoma's house on the way to school.
  • When Ryoma notices that Karupin has left the house, Momo offers to cover Ryoma at practice while he goes looking for his cat.
  • Ryoma and Momo often go together for burgers after class. After finding out that most of the singles spots are already taken by the seniors, they decide to give try to play doubles together. While at first, they try creating a code to switch turns, they eventually end up playing with the court divided in two. Despite their inability to play doubles together, Ryoma and Momo show during the match that they have the same kind of personality regarding tennis.
  • In New Prince of Tennis, Momo is the first one to punch Ryoma, confronting him about his careless attitude, pretending to be immediately accepted back in Team Japan after leaving for the USA without notice. While everyone agrees with Momo's reaction, it's also evident that Momo is the one closest to Ryoma to do this and took all of Ryoma's decisions very personally.

• Also another Fan-Preferred Couple is the Inui/Kaidoh ship. Inui starts asking Kaidoh to be his doubles partner (during sunset, while Kaidoh is training shirtless at the river). Kaidoh at first refuses, but later Inui convinces him by helping with his training.
  • Before the Prefecture Tournament, Inui, who has designed Kaidoh's training menu, proposes Kaidoh again to be his doubles partner, reasoning that aside from the Golden Pair, Seigaku is lacking another good team up. Kaidoh refuses, so Inui offers to help him perfect the newly discovered Boomerang Snake. The whole scene looks like Inui asking Kaidoh to be his boyfriend and Kaidoh rejecting him. After their first game as doubles, and despite losing against Shishido and Ohtori, Kaidoh ends up admitting that he enjoyed the game and is looking forward to teaming up with him again.
  • In the Anime-Only episode where many of the teammates were Date Peepers (except for Momo and Ryoma, who were the ones on the "date", and Tezuka, who kept rejecting Inui's calls), Inui decides to call Kaidoh, who mistakes the call as an actual invitation for a date with Inui. Kaidoh spent the rest of the episode considering attending the "date" and overthinking it instead of plain rejecting the idea. The worst part is that Kaidoh arrives at the place after everyone is gone, thinking that Inui stood him up.
  • After Inui's match against Yanagi, Kaidoh congratulates him by giving him a towel and a soft look on his face.
  • In the OVA, Kaidoh almost loses it when Kirihara starts to mercilessly attack Inui, to the point Kaidoh also reaches The Berserker mode, until Inui stops him. Later, Inui wakes to see Kaidoh waiting by his bed with a worried expression.

• Though not as common anymore, Fuji/Kawamura was another common coupling. They are often considered to be the "iyashi pair" (the soothing pair) in Japanese fandom due to their dispositions when they're with each other. Kawamura (sans racket) is kind and polite with everyone, while Fuji tends to be the nicer version of himself when he's dealing with Kawamura. It's also likely no coincidence that Kawamura's character design looks very similar to Lupin and he calls Fuji "Fujiko-chan".
  • After Kawamura gets injured in his match against Kabaji, Fuji takes Kawamura's racquet, which is still stained with his blood, and decides to win his match with it in honor of Kawamura's determination. If it weren't because Jirou was very nice and enthusiastic, is very possible that Fuji would have gone berserk against him like he did in his duel against Mizuki.
  • Usually, Fuji is the one who happily hands Kawamura his racquet to give him an energy boost.

• Fuji/Eiji were also a popular ship during the first series, to the point they were known as "The Dream Pair" after being put together in Doubles 1 against Rokkaku Saeki and Itsuki.
  • In the Musicals first season, Eiji and Fuji had a duet "Kikumaru vs. Fuji ~ Rival na Futari", where both point out that their play styles are very different: Eiji does a lot of pointless movements but has a great accuracy, while Fuji is always precise but never shows his real emotions. Despite all these contrasts, both are very close, compliment each other in tennis and personality wise, and are glad to be both friends and rivals.
  • Both are often depicted as being best friends outside the tennis club since they are in the same classroom, Fuji constantly saves Eiji during lectures whenever the later gets distracted, and share a lot in common (their alternative pairings, Tezuka and Oishi, are also very close friends because of their titles of captain and vice-captain)
  • After Tezuka leaves Japan to train professionally in Germany, Fuji goes throught a furious match against himself, and Eiji is the only one watching him go throught what it looks like a breakup tantrum. Eiji is the only one who can understand Fuji's feelings despite his own shock.

Yamabuki

• Dan's admiration for Akutsu looks more like a crush.
  • One of Dan's more treasured items is his headband, which is oversized for him. It turns out that it used to belong to Akutsu. Dan keeps it after Akutsu tosses it.
  • Dan is one of the very few people who doesn't fear Akutsu, no matter how much Akutsu threatens him. In turn, Akutsu doesn't even consider punching him for real.
  • When Akutsu decides to quit tennis after being defeated by Ryoma, Dan runs after him crying and begging him not to quit the team. Akutsu promptly tells him to not cry and try out for the regulars himself, advice that Dan takes to his heart.

Hyotei

• The other doubles pair who can match the Golden Pair's closeness are Ohtori and Shishido.
  • Despite not having that level of trust in each other yet, Ohtori tries to plead with Coach Sakaki to give Shishido another chance to return to the regulars, and when Sakaki asks Ohtori if he would give his own place for Shishido, Ohtori hesitates. Just as Ohtori is about to say Yes, Shishido interrupts him and cuts his own hair as a sign of redemption.
  • Since the only spot left for Shishido was the one as Ohtori's pair, both end up being the most solid doubles pair of the team despite being a new formation.
  • In fact, those late-night "training sessions" with Ohtori and Shishido are played up to the nth degree in the anime for various imaginations of the fangirls. It's even more blatant when you notice that Ohtori refers to Shishido as "anata", which is often used between couples.
  • In New Prince of Tennis, Ohtori and Shishido are given a bedroom with the Golden Pair, as both pairs are known to have good partnerships. Both couples are seen hanging out very well like they’re having a double date.
  • This extends also to video games and other media.
    • In one of the Dating Sims, Gakuensai no Oujisama, the Featureless Protagonist can actually ask Ohtori about him and Shishido. His reaction can easily be seen as "He Is Not My Boyfriend".
    • And let's not get even started on the musicals... Kenta Kamakari (Shishido) is shown to have good chemistry with Koji Date (Ohtori), highlighted when both of them sing the first part of "Good Combination" like they are dedicating their lines to each other and then put their arms around each other shoulders. After Date decides to not return for the next editions and is replaced with Yusuke Seto, Kenta keeps the same level of chemistry with him as well.
    • And the fact that Smash Hit 2 actually takes the time to NAME the pairings...

• In the fan books, Yuushi Oshitari and Gakuto Mukahi's first meeting has all the implications of a shoujo manga and more. Gakuto finds Yuushi at the top of a water tank watching the sunset after having his first tennis match against Atobe. Both start connecting immediately.
  • Yuushi and Gakuto are the only doubles partners who have a mutual First-Name Basis, while all the other pairs have at least one of them calling the other by their last names.
  • In the OVA "Hyotei vs. Rikkaidai", Yuushi and Gakuto get their own redemption match as a doubles pair by defeating Marui and Tamagawa. The final point is possible thanks to Oshitari helping Gakuto reach the high lobe by giving him a boost. This connects to their first meeting, where Gakuto tells him that his dream is to be able to fly higher than anyone, and he could only achieve this with his partner's help.

• Gakuto also gets somewhat teased with his kouhai Hiyoshi in the Nationals arc. They're seen having lunch and talking in a restaurant... full of romantic couples. They even get awkward about it.

• Kabaji's loyalty to Atobe goes beyond his status as Atobe's personal assistant.
  • Kabaji is constantly near to fulfilling all of Atobe's orders, despite being in different school years. This goes all way back to their childhoods since Kabaji has been close to Atobe since they were in Kindergarten in England. When Atobe returns to Japan and enters Hyotei Middle School, Kabaji keeps being his assistant, despite him being in the Elementary School building.
  • In the OVA "Atobe Kara no Okurimono", it's revealed that Kabaji was depressed because his sister was about to get married, so Atobe has no better idea than organize an entire festival that involved inviting all the schools to participate. Kabaji later thanks Atobe for the gesture, despite Atobe never admitting to it.
  • In New Prince of Tennis, Kabaji enters the court to protect Atobe from a very powerful shot aimed at him. This not only disqualifies Kabaji from the U-17 camp for interrupting a match but also hurts Atobe's pride as a tennis player. Atobe looks upset at the situation, so he just orders Kabaji to leave, despite knowing that Kabaji was only trying to protect him.

• Atobe and Oshitari are often presented together if Kabaji isn't around as the two best players of the team.
  • The OVAs of their first year in middle school show Oshitari as the new transfer student and the only one who manages to play at Atobe's level an entire game. Atobe looks impressed right away.
  • In "The Battle of the British City" movie, Oshitari is seen accompanying Atobe in the place of the vice-captain, which is a place usually occupied by Kabaji since Hyotei doesn't have a second in command. This not only shows Oshitari's place as Hyotei's second best but also the other person closest to Atobe after Kabaji, who is both his assistant and childhood friend.

Rikkaidai

• Sanada's devotion towards Yukimura reaches very high levels. Parodied in two scenes of one of the Chibi-family episodes, Sanada often accompanies Yukimura in a wheelchair, who apologizes for the trouble. Then Yukimura faints for some reason, and Sanada screams his name while looking up at the sky.
  • Also Tenimyu doesn't help to prove wrong, because all of their duets and setups came close to a love song tune.
  • The fact that Sanada resembles the archetypical Japanese male while Yukimura resembles the ideal Japanese *woman* simple can't be a coincidence.
  • The Character Song albums and The Musicals also take it to another level, because every single song involving a duet by Sanada and Yukimura sounds like a love ballad.
  • Worth expanding on the Chibi Family episodes. In the first, Kirihara is the neighborhood bully towards Ryoma and "Momoko," and when they look at his house on children's day, the flags outside indicate he has a lot of siblings. In the next family episode, Ryoma, "Momoko," and "Shuuko" imagine Kirihara at the beach with his parents... they're far, far in the background, but one is wearing Sanada's hat and one has Yukimura's haircut...
  • They have known each other since they were 4 years old. Nobody wanted to be a doubles pair with either of them, so both decided to play together. Despite losing their first game, Yukimura made a promise to a crying Sanada that they were going to be the best players in Japan and win a doubles game together someday. After 10 years, they finally managed to win as a doubles pair against the Australian Team.

• Renji is equally as close to Yukimura and Sanada. For starters, Renji has a First-Name Basis with both of them (something he has with only his teammates and Inui). The three of them usually hang out together after classes, and both Renji and Sanada are the ones who visit Yukimura at the hospital more often.
  • During the World Cup, Renji gets enraged at Mori for asking about Yukimura's health. Considering Renji's usual stoic personality, the topic of one of his closest friends' health is the first time he loses control and gives a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to someone.

• Renji Yanagi and Akaya Kirihara develop also a bond as Sempai/Kohai.
  • After Renji loses his game against Inui, he is prepared to receive Sanada's usual slap for the losers. Kirihara quickly gets between them, blocking the slap meant for Renji, and says that it's not going to be necessary if Akaya wins for both of them.
  • When they are assigned as doubles partners, Renji promptly keeps Kirihara at bay.
  • In the U-17 camp, Renji willingly forfeits his match against Kirihara, because he wants Kirihara to grow at the camp, requesting Shiraishi to look after him in his absence. Fortunately, Renji returns with the others after surviving Mifune's training in the mountains.

• Jackal and Marui are also close as doubles partners.
  • One of Marui's catchphrases is "It will be done... by Jackal!", prompting a surprised Jackal to say "Why me?!". Apparently, Marui has made a custom of using Jackal as a punchline and they always play doubles together.
  • In the U-17 camp, Jackal is seen sobbing and lamenting that he isn't assigned to Marui's room, and looks kind of jealous at Marui having a good time with Jirou and Gakuto.
  • When Kite offers Marui to be doubles partners against Kimijima and Tohno, Jackal is seen as depressed about it.
  • In "Hyotei vs. Rikkaidai", everyone is surprised when Marui is paired with the newcomer Tamagawa. Jackal later admits that he wanted to play one last match with Marui as his partner, but he preferred to give more experience to the future captain and help build his confidence.

Shitenhouji

• Takeshi Konomi himself is so aware of this that he actually parodied the trope in canon. Just watch Yuuji and Koharu.
  • Despite denying that they are gay outside of their games, Koharu is seen fawning over other handsome players like Kamio, Atobe, Tezuka, Saeki, and Sengoku.
  • Yuuji and Zaizen end up joining the U-17 camp because Yuuji wants to go visit Koharu at the camp.

Inter-schools

• The image songs make some duets sound just So. So. GAY. Inui and Yanagi's duet is all about them being reunited after years and planning to take over the world together, for example. Makes some sense in the context of both being the Genius Bruiser type as well as Birds of a Feather, but still...
  • When they were kids, Renji and Inui had Affectionate Nicknames for each other. Renji used to call Inui "Doctor", while Inui called Renji "Professor".
  • After their singles match, Inui and Renji reconnect and promise to keep in touch with each other. It's later revealed that Inui taught Renji how to make his horrible vegetable juices for the rest of their teams.
  • During the Nationals, Renji is clearly disturbed and in pain watching how Kirihara aims all his attacks at Inui. Renji almost breaks down and tearfully begs Inui to forfeit, because he can't stand watching him suffer.
  • When Renji faces Akuto Mitsuya, the senior who taught him Data Tennis, Inui picks up from Yanagi and manages to defeat him in the name of both.

• Kawamura is Childhood Friends with Akutsu. While Kawamura isn't exempt from Akutsu's rage fits, he is still one of the few people who isn't scared of him.
  • Kawamura is familiar enough with the Akutsu family that Yuuki, Akutsu's mom, trusts him enough to ask him to keep an eye on her son, almost like a mother-in-law would ask her son's partner.
  • In the U-17 camp, they are assigned as bunkmates, given their shared history. Kawamura has to be the one who keeps Akutsu calm and restrain him from punching anybody else.

• Jiroh adores Marui, to the point he often commutes all the way to Kanagawa just to watch Marui's training sessions. In Fanbook 40.5, Atobe checks his bag and finds one of Marui's wristbands.
  • Apparently Marui is aware that Jiroh follows him around, but he doesn't seem bothered since he likes the attention.
  • Both are assigned as roommates along with Gakuto. They are later seen enjoying their snacks together. In the ending montage of each room, Gakuto is seen bored by himself in his top bunk bed, while Marui and Jiroh are still sharing snacks. Judging by Jackal's reaction, it can be interpreted as jealousy of Marui's chemistry with Jirou.

• In the anime we have Sanada and Atobe attending a tango concert together, and somehow managing to sit right near each other, and having the tune of the concert stuck in their heads. It's just a mass of implications.

• In "Hyotei vs. Rikkaidai", somehow Atobe had Yukimura's phone number on his contacts list and asks if the Rikkaidai team would like to participate in a friendly match for the inauguration of his new stadium in Kanagawa. Yukimura doesn't seem bothered by the sudden call and immediately accepts the invitation.
  • During the match against each other, Yukimura is very used to Atobe's flashy introductions, to the point he uses them to steal Atobe's spotlight by predicting his final boast and replicating it exactly like Atobe. While Atobe seems amused, this actually affects his first game.

• Kintarou and Ryoma as the "Prodigy Rookies" pair.
  • Kintarou has been eager to have a match against Ryoma ever since he heard of a talented rookie in Tokyo, exactly like him.
  • While Kintarou's personality contrasts Ryoma's to the point Ryoma is constantly annoyed at him, Ryoma still considers him a worthy rival.
  • Kintarou isn't shy from openly whining and throwing tantrums if he can't play with Ryoma. He basically whined to the referee to let him have just a one-ball game with him since they never got to play Singles 1 against each other. Ryoma accepts.
  • Both have the same idea of challenging Oni for a match at U-17, both being eliminated immediately by him.
  • When Ryoma is expelled from the camp for breaking the rules and defending Tokugawa, Kintarou is the most vocal about Ryoma's departure. When Ryoma is revealed to have joined the American Team, Kintarou has a hard time accepting it, but quickly accepts it if that means playing against him at some point. And when Ryoma returns to Team Japan, Kintarou is the only one who wants him to join again completely excited, while all the others are either accepting Ryoma back for strategic reasons without any emotions in between or are still upset with him for leaving both teams in the first place.

• The Fujicest has also garnered a strong fanbase.
  • Shuusuke is very protective of Yuuta, to the point he goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge if his little brother ever gets hurt. After the St. Rudolph arc, he humiliates Mizuki and starts ignoring him afterward for putting Yuuta's shoulder at risk.
    • In New Prince of Tennis he takes it upon himself to take out Jackal for throwing a pillow at his little brother, taking Yukimura and Shiraishi with him as backup for his revenge.
  • Despite growing resentment for being always called "Fuji's younger brother", Yuuta is always proud whenever Shuusuke plays.
  • In the Date Peepers filler episode, Shuusuke tells Yuuta that they should also go on a "sibling date", prompting Yuuta to react embarrassed. He only breaks his streak of ignoring Mizuki when he comments that maybe Yuuta grew to hate him because of those jokes.

• Atobe/Tezuka has its fair share of followers as they're both captains for their respective teams, incredibly skilled tennis players and, despite the clear differences in their personalities, similar in many ways.
  • At first, Atobe antagonizes Tezuka directly, and his game strategy aims to destroy his arm. But during the match, Atobe gets overwhelmed by Tezuka's determination and drive to go beyond his limits and potentially risk his arm for his team going to the Nationals, to the point Atobe doesn't feel good after defeating him.
  • In New Prince of Tennis, Tezuka appoints Atobe as the leader of the middle schoolers at the U-17 camp. Atobe respects his departure and takes the lead from then.

• Any and all combinations of Shiraishi, Fuji, and Yukimura have gained more traction since The New Prince of Tennis due to the massive popularity of the Room 201/Plant Trio dynamic. Yukimura/Fuji in particular is quite popular due to how similar they are as characters.