Takeshi Momoshiro

Infobox animanga character
name = Takeshi Momoshiro
series = The Prince of Tennis


caption =
first =
last =
creator = Takeshi Konomi
voiced by = Masaya Onosaka (Japanese)
Doug Erholtz (English)
age =
born = July 23
class = 2-8
relatives =
aux1 name = School
aux1 = Seigaku
aux2 name = Style
aux2 = Aggressive Baseliner, right-handed

nihongo|Takeshi Momoshiro|桃城 武|Momoshiro Takeshi is a fictional character in "The Prince of Tennis" franchise. He prefers to go by the name "Momo", instead of his family name "Momoshiro". In the fourth character popularity poll for the series run by Weekly Shonen Jump, Momoshiro came in 9th place.cite book |title= Prince of Tennis　Vol. 38 |last= Konomi |first= Takeshi |authorlink=Takeshi Konomi |year= 2007 |publisher= Shueisha |isbn= 978-4-08-874353-0 |pages= 192 |chapter= Genius 333 ]

Character

Momoshiro is known as Seigaku’s number one rascal. He really wants to be liked by everyone, which is evident by his preference to be called "Momo-chan," even by the freshmen. As a compromise, some of the freshman call him "Momo-chan-senpai" while the third years call him by "Momo."

At the beginning of the series, he played an unfinished match with Ryoma Echizen (he did this to see the twist serve), though Momoshiro was injured at the time. Later, they become best friends and even doubles partners for once. Momoshiro's signature move is the "Dunk Smash," a very powerful response to lobs as he leaps several feet into the air, which he likes to finish off saying, "Don," upon landing. He later develops the "Jack Knife," a strong backhand shot.

Momoshiro is an aggressive baseliner. For a short time, he is cut from the regulars, after losing to Inui and Tezuka during Seigaku's 2nd monthly ranking matches. He takes being cut pretty hard and doesn't show up to practices for three days, leading the first years to think that Momoshiro has quit the club. Instead of going to practice, he spent his time playing street tennis; however, as he plays a match with An Tachibana, a good friend of his, he realizes his flaws as a tennis player and that in order for him to become stronger, he needs to stop underestimating his opponents. It is during this time that Momoshiro's importance to Seigaku as a team is revealed.

As the player who is the most open and friendly with everyone, Momoshiro is connected to everyone on the team on some level. And as such, he's one of the few members on the team that everyone seems to care about, which is why his disappearance affects all the regulars in some way. Momoshiro being cut from the team even leads to the temporary break up of the Golden Pair and even Eiji notes how practices are not the same without Momoshiro around. Although Ryoma, in particular, seems unconcerned about Momoshiro being cut from the team, in reality, he is worried about Momoshiro and goes looking for him during lunch period; a moment that reveals both how important Momoshiro's friendship is to Ryoma and how important Momoshiro is to Seigaku. Thus, when Momoshiro returns to practices, all seems right with the team again, although Tezuka punishes him for missing practice by making him run a record high of 100 laps. This is also when Momoshiro as a character is revealed in that Momoshiro doesn't worry about taking himself too seriously and despite being cut from the team, he is determined to support and cheer his teammates on as they face Hyotei in the Regionals.

Yet, Momoshiro ends up having to play a serious part again, almost instantly, when Oishi gets injured and doesn't show up for the match against Hyotei. Momoshiro's character is further revealed as he shows courage by first attempting to relieve Oishi from the hospital as quickly as possible and then, by being the one to take Oishi's place as Eiji's partner. Up until this point, Momoshiro is still a novice at playing doubles. But in one of Momoshiro's finest moments, he not only helps Eiji win the match against Hyotei, but takes the opportunity to master doubles with Oishi's quickly-given advice. Spectators even said Momoshiro and Eiji playing was like watching the Golden Pair. Momoshiro shows that he is not only one of the most adaptable people in Seigaku, but he's also a player and a friend who always gives 100% and comes through for his teammates. Even Inui has noted that Momoshiro's ability to overcome hurdles is amazing. He then is able to remain as Regular on the team when Tezuka has to leave the team to recuperate from his injury from his match with Hyotei's Atobe.

As Momoshiro is the closest to a true friend Ryoma Echizen can claim, the two spend much time together eating hamburgers or playing street tennis. Unlike Ryoma, who is absolutely clueless as a doubles player, Momoshiro develops an affinity for playing doubles and even masters it, despite expressing a preference for singles. Momoshiro is good at "faking out" his opponents, and can be extremely sly and tricky on the courts. His ability to read the opponent's movements and to observe their viewpoints and expression allow Momoshiro to read his opponent's mind, thus he is able to guess where the ball will go and use shots that will confuse his opponents; however, it's an ability that Momoshiro, himself, hasn't noticed yet. Kunimitsu Tezuka, arguably one of the best tennis players in the middle-school circuit, has commented that when Momoshiro realizes his true potential as a tennis player, he'll be an extremely formidable and troublesome opponent.

During the Inter-school ranking tournament, before the National tournament, Momoshiro and Echizen played a singles match to determine who'll be a regular. Unfortunately, after Momoshiro was leading 4-0, Echizen decided to forfeit the game and Momoshiro was angry at him for not taking this match seriously. Eventually, Momoshiro finally realised that Echizen really wanted to take part in the US Open even though Echizen said he would attend the Nationals with the regulars. They then played a friendly singles game, despite Momoshiro losing 6-2, his friendship with Echizen has been the most valuable ever since their first encounter.

Before the National tournament, Momoshiro trained in the mountains, and as a result of his training he improved upon his natural "insight". While similar to Atobe Keigo's ability to see the weakness or potential of another player, Momoshiro's time in the mountains caused his insight to be related with nature, ex: the position of the sun, the direction of the wind, stray stones to deflect serves, etc.

Momoshiro and Kaoru Kaidoh are eternal rivals, and constantly try to out-do each other. Surprisingly enough, this makes them efficient as a doubles pair, because the two rivals know each other so well. Their teaming up helps Seigaku overcome their weakness in having another well set doubles team. In Genius 379, the last chapter of the manga, Momoshiro is seen as a third year and the new sub-captain of Seigaku, with Kaidoh as his captain. Their rivalry has, apparently, somewhat mellowed with time. [http://tieba.baidu.com/f?kz=331083217]

pecial Tennis Moves

Bullet Serve

A fast and powerful serve Momoshiro likes to use.

Dunk Smash

Momoshiro's signature move to finish off lobs; however, Momoshiro's Dunk Smash is different than normal smashes in that he uses the momentum from running to hit the smash, through perfect timing, by jumping forward, instead of the usual jumping backwards to hit a smash; thus causing Momoshiro's Dunk Smash to be twice as powerful and more effective than a normal smash.

Also, Momoshiro can do a Dunk Volley, where if his opponents predict a Dunk Smash, he can do a fake volley to confuse his opponents.

Jack Knife

The Jack Knife is a fast, sharp and powerful high-leveled backhand shot made by using the front foot to jump into the air with balance while utilizing the weight of the body to achieve maximum strength. When Momoshiro uses the Jack Knife, he keeps the ball at his racket until the last moment to make it a strong shot. He uses this move to win his match against Yamabuki's Sengoku. It is noted in the anime that the Jack Knife is a move no ordinary junior high student can do, only professionals are able to use the move successfully, which makes Momoshiro especially formidable as he can use it.

It is shown that he is starting to do this shot during a practice match with captain Kunimitsu Tezuka.

"That"

Only used once in the game against Rokkaku with Kawamura. This is a psychological tactic only used in doubles make his opponents think something unexpecting from Momoshiro will happen. Even though Rokkaku eventually overcame this tactic, it was referred as Kawamura's Dash Hadokyuu. As a result, it got both Rokkaku players psyched out, uncertain if and when another Dash Hadokyuu will come to them. However, it didn't (because Kawamura could only use it once in a match else he risks a wrist injury) and they both won.

This technique is featured in games and can only be used by Momoshiro during doubles while losing. The benefit of this is to remove the opponents special gauge completely.

uper Great Momoshiro Special/Super Dunk (anime only)

Similar to the "Dunk Smash"; however, "Super Dunk" is unique in that Momoshiro uses his strength to delay the timing of the ball's bounce after it has hit the ground, thus making predicting when the ball will bounce off the ground difficult. Momoshiro developed this shot during a practice match with Gakuto Mukahi of Hyotei Academy. The name was changed from "Super Great Momoshiro Special" to "Super Dunk" because many complained about the former being so long and tacky.

Tornado Snake

One of the signature shots of his rival, Kaoru Kaidoh, Momoshiro uses this shot during his and Kaidoh's match against Hitouji and Konjiki of Shitenhouji, in order to cause them to think he and Kaidoh have switched places (they were wearing masks at the time).

Insight

Prior to the Nationals tournament, Insight is a skill Momoshiro unearths during his training in the mountains. He is able to sense the subtle changes in the atmosphere around him and use it to his advantage. Unfortunately, Oshitari figures out and covers his weak spots against Momoshiro.

Prediction

During his match with Kurobane Harukaze and Amane Hikaru of Rokkaku Chuu in Doubles 2, Momoshiro was able to predict his opponent's moves and where the ball was going to land. He was able to recognize the ball was going to be out when they were playing for match point thus ultimately winning the match for Seigaku. That was shown during his match against Oshitari Yuushi. While playing Oshitari, Momoshiro gives up his "Prediction" style of playing and returns to his previous tenacious play style by playing at 100% and re-integrating his "Jack Knife" shot.

Tournament Matches

Reception

Momoshiro has done well in all of the Shonen Jump popularity polls held for the series. In the very first poll, he came in 4th place among all characters from the series. [cite book |title= Prince of Tennis　Vol. 10 |last= Konomi |first= Takeshi |year= 2001 |publisher= Shueisha |isbn= 4-08-873162-X |pages= 184 |chapter= Genius 83 ] In the second poll, he came in 6th place [cite book |title= Prince of Tennis　Vol. 18 |last= Konomi |first= Takeshi |year= 2003 |publisher= Shueisha |isbn= 4-08-873407-6 |pages= 192 |chapter= Genius 158 ] , while he dropped to 25th in the third [cite book |title= Prince of Tennis　Vol. 33 |last= Konomi |first= Takeshi |year= 2006 |publisher= Shueisha |isbn= 4-08-874048-3 |pages= 192 |chapter= Genius 276 ] . In the fourth poll, he moved back up to 9th place.

Trivia

* Momoshiro lives with his parents and two much younger siblings who are in elementary school.

* In the TeniPuri Family chibi episodes, Momoshiro is the second child of the family and younger "sister" to Ryoma. "Her" name is Momoko and she's a tomboyish and mischievous girl with braids and pink dresses.

* Momo, being a 2nd year, addresses all of the upperclassmen on his team as "sempai" (senior), but calls upperclassman Takashi Kawamura "Taka-san".

* In the Nationals, Momo doesn't wear his Seigaku t-shirt and instead wears the yellow t-shirt he wears when playing street tennis.

Actors

* In the anime series, Momoshiro's seiyū (or voice actor) is Masaya Onosaka.

* For the live-action adaptation film of "The Prince of Tennis", Tenimyu actor Masaki Kaji portrays Momoshiro.

* In The Prince of Tennis Musicals, Momoshiro is portrayed by actors Eiji Moriyama (2003-2005), Masaki Kaji (2005-2006), Shinpei Takagi (2006-2007), and Tetsuya Makita (2007-present).

References