Takashi Kawamura is a fictional character in the anime and manga The Prince of Tennis

Personality

Takashi is a soft-spoken person off the court, very gentle and shy, though still outspoken and stubborns when he takes a decision. However, he becomes extremely aggressive and loud once he grabs his racket, or any racket. This change in his personality is marked by him shouting “Burning!!!”

Takashi’s style of play is aggressive baseliner and in the original Japanese, he often punctuates his play with English expressions (In the English adaptations, he uses rather unorthodox language).

History

Kawamura joined Seigaku’s tennis club as a first year student. Although he had a lot of power, he was ridiculed by many of the older members of the club because he had no other skills, and couldn’t make successful shots. However, he found close friends in his fellow first years, most of whom were notoriously skilled, such as Kunimitsu Tezuka, Shusuke Fuji, Shuichiro Oishi, Eiji Kikumaru, and Sadaharu Inui. Together with them, he became a part of Seigaku’s future.

He is currently a third year student, and in this year he has finally made it as one of the tennis team’s Regulars. He also works at his father’s sushi shop, and intends to quit tennis after middle school to concentrate on his future career as a sushi chef. His goal is to own the #1 Sushi store in Japan.

Often referred to as “Taka-san”, Kawamura specializes in power tennis. He has been paired with Shusuke Fuji and Takeshi Momoshiro in doubles. He’s also an old friend of Yamabuki player Jin Akutsu, whom he met in a karate dojo before he started playing tennis; when Akutsu retires from tennis after Yamabuki’s loss to Seigaku, he makes Kawamura promise that he’ll work hard in tennis from then on.

Prior to Seigaku beginning the Nationals, Kawamura makes a vow to become the #1 Power Player at the National Level. In the national semifinals, he plays 2 singles against Shitenhouji’s Gin Ishida who knows 108 styles of Hadokyuu, who appears to currently be the #1 Power Player. Kawamura’s top shot is the Hadokyuu, which he originally learned after seeing it performed by Fudomine Middle School’s Tetsu Ishida, the younger brother of Gin.

After losing 23 points in a row to the first 23 styles of Hadoukyuu, he is down 5-0, 40-0 when he is knocked into the stands, where he is caught by Akutsu. Inspired by Akutsu, Kawamura returns newly awakened and begins hitting Hadokyuu’s again. His final shot, what he called his final hadokyuu, was not truly a hadokyuu. He injures Gin’s wrist because Gin is only able to nullify hadokyuu shots, forcing him to forfeit and making Taka the #1 Power Player in Junior High School.

Techniques

“Burning!”

A state which occurs whenever Kawamura holds a racket. He gets pumped up, giving his shots more power and increasing his skill level.In episode 70 in the anime,he entered “Burning” holding a baseball bat while he was playing baseball.

Burning Serve

An extremely fast serve that Kawamura uses when he is in his “burning” state.

Hadoukyuu

A very powerful maneuver that uses 120% of an arm’s strength or power. Originally from Gin Ishida, copied by his brother, Tetsu Ishida of Fudomine, Kawamura began using Hadoukyuu after being on its receiving end in a match between Seigaku and Fudomine. This fantasy move is based on the nonexistent principle that if given time to prepare, a player can charge the strength of his shot to give it more power. The technique is very fatal and dangerous to the arms of both the user and receiver. The move itself and its name is very similar to Street Fighter’s Hadouken.

Two-Handed Hadoukyuu

Similar to the original and one-handed Hadoukyuu but with both arms. This lowers the risk of arm injuries caused by the original Hadoukyuu by balancing the arm strength but reduces the power of the shot due to a smaller follow through. Additionally, using two hands severely limits the range of the shot.

Dash Hadoukyuu

Similar to the original Hadoukyuu but performed while running or dashing towards the net. This strengthens the shot, somewhat because of the momentum of the run or dash, but can be only used once or may break the wrist. This shot is first used in the match against Rokkaku in Doubles 2, where Taka teamed up with Momoshiro against Amane and Harukaze.

Jump Hadoukyuu

Similar to the original Hadoukyuu but performed while jumping for a smash. This makes the shot extremely difficult to return. Can be performed using the original or two-handed Hadoukyuu.(First seen in his match against Oishi).

Final Hadoukyuu

This is a form of Hadoukyuu that hasn’t actually been officially named by Konomi. Taka has only used Final Hadoukyuu once, during his match with Ishida Gin. After losing 23 points in a row and getting down 5-0 40-0, he uses this shot with the inspiration of Akutsu. Final Hadoukyuu’s true power level is unknown, but it at least surpasses Gin’s 60th Style Hadoukyuu. When Taka used this shot, he broke Gin’s wrist and forced him to forfeit. It is revealed afterwards the Final Hadoukyuu isn’t really a hadoukyuu at all.

Trivia

* It seems he can run fast while holding a tennis racket.

* Taka-san’s trademark quote is “Burning!”, but others used often are “Great-o!”, “Victory!”, “Come on, baby!”, “Shocking!”, “God damn!”, “Its show time!”, “Leave it to me, Monkey!” and “Oh my God!”

* After Junior High, Taka-san plans to quit tennis and focus on becoming a sushi chef.

* Taka-san lives with his father, mother, and younger sister. Their home is located in the second floor of the building where Kawamura Sushi, the family restaurant, is located.

* He and Akutsu Jin were neighbors, becoming friends after joining the same karate dojo. Kawamura is also good friends with Akutsu’s mother, Yuuki.

* In the TeniPuri Family chibi episodes, Kawamura is the only one of the Seigaku regulars who is not a family member. Instead, he is a friend and owner of “Burning Sushi”, who delivers sushi to the family at the end of every episode.

Actors

* In the Anime series, Taka-san’s seiy? (or voice actor) is Naru Kawamoto.

* For the live-action adaptation film of The Prince of Tennis, actor Yoshikazu Kotani portrays Taka-san.

* In The Prince of Tennis Musicals, Taka-san is portrayed by actors Yoshitsugu Abe (2003-2004), Morimoto Ryoji (2003), Eiki Kitamura (2004), Yoshikazu Kotani (2005-2006) and Kouji Watanabe (2006-current).