List of The Prince of Tennis Characters - Protagonists - Shusuke Fuji

Shusuke Fuji

Shusuke Fuji (不二 周助, Fuji Shūsuke?)

• Voiced by: Yuki Kaida (Japanese), Adam Lawson (English, episodes 1–30) and Johnny Yong Bosch (English episodes 31–50)

Fuji is a third year student at Seishun Academy. The middle child of three, he has an older sister, Yumiko, who is very attractive and admired by his friends; his younger brother is Yuta, who was a student at Seigaku, but transferred to St. Rudolph. Fuji is a leap year baby, only getting to properly celebrate his birthday on February 29. He is given the title "tensai", or genius, due to his tactical skill on the tennis court.

He is generally very relaxed and in control, whilst his opponent is pushing himself to the limit, giving many the impression that Fuji is either a genius who knows how to save his energy during play, or that he does not really care about tennis itself. There are a few people that can "wake" the true player in Fuji and force him to play seriously, and these few are either nationally-ranked or extremely talented tennis players. Seigaku teammates Kunimitsu Tezuka and Ryoma Echizen, Shitenhōji captain Kuranosuke Shiraishi, Hyotei Gakuen Chuto Bu regular Yushi Oshitari and Rikkaidai Fuzoku regular Akaya Kirihara have been acknowledged by Fuji to be actual challenges.

Fuji's most famous moves are known as the Triple Counters: Higuma Ootoshi ("Bear Drop") for returning smashes; Tsubame Gaeshi ("Swallow Return") which runs on the ground without bouncing; and Hakugei ("White Whale"), a shot that uses the wind to hop straight into the air and return to Fuji on the bounce. In the nationals, he creates evolved versions of his Triple Counters, and even creates three more original counters. In addition, Fuji sometimes uses an underhand serve that seems to disappear when the opponent is about to hit it.

Fuji usually takes the position of Singles 2, although he sometimes pairs with Takashi Kawamura or Eiji Kikumaru in Doubles (with Kikumaru, they are called the "Dream Pair"). He and Ryoma Echizen temporarily take turns for the position of Singles 1 when captain Kunimitsu Tezuka is in rehabilitation.

In the anime, when all the tennis teams of Japan competed for a spot in the roster to play America in the Goodwill games, Fuji is one of three Seigaku players to earn a spot (along with Kikumaru and Echizen). He played Singles 2 against Arnold Ignashov.

Fuji is often seen with a calm and content expression on his face with his eyes seemingly closed from lightly smiling. However, when he is excited or provoked, or when playing seriously, Fuji reveals his sharp eyes: light brown in the manga, and blue in the anime.

Fuji enjoys a good relationship with his teammates, especially classmate Eiji Kikumaru. Fuji is also one of few Seigaku Regulars who is genuinely close to Kunimitsu Tezuka, the captain of the tennis club. As such, he and Tezuka are often seen together.

Fuji is particularly protective of his younger brother Yuuta, as displayed throughout the series; he actively tries to "destroy" and punish those who have defeated or harmed his younger brother.

Although not completely obvious, Fuji seems to have a very strong sense of justice. If another player is unfairly injured or sacrifices a lot just to lose Fuji seems to always avenge them and give them a chance. Ex. Against Hyotei's Munehiro Kabaji teammate Takashi Kawamura goes as far as to use the one-handed Hadoukyu continuously to the point of bleeding yet did not win the match because neither side could continue, Fuji asks to use Kawamura's racket in his matchand goes all out from the beginning. Another, is when Fuji visits Fudomine's Tachibana in the hospital after he'd been injured in Fudomine's match against Rikkaidai where Akaya Kirihara purposefully injured his leg. Fuji then asks to have his grip tape, because he feels it was unfair. In manga, it was Ryoma who was injured during an outside match match against Kirihara.

Fuji plays the grandmother in the Tenipuri Family episodes. Tezuka is her husband, Inui as the son in-law, Oishi as the daughter, Ryoma Echizen, Kaoru Kaidoh and Takeshi Momoshiro (Momoko) are the grandchildren.

Fuji is one of the few male characters in the anime who is voiced by a female voice actor, others being Ryoma Echizen, Kintarou Tooyama of Shitenhouji, Taichi Dan of Yamabuki, Youhei and Kouhei Tanaka of Jyosei Shonan (the latter two being anime only characters), and Seiichi Yukimura of Rikkaidai Fuzoku. However, Ryoma, Kintarō and Taichi are first years, thus younger and more naturally voiced by a voice actress. Despite Fuji and Yukimura being third years, they are also voiced by voice actresses.

• In the anime series, Fuji's voice actress is Yuki Kaida who also voices Fuji's sister, Yumiko.

• For the live-action adaptation film of The Prince of Tennis, Tenimyu actor Hiroki Aiba portrays Fuji.

• In The Prince of Tennis Musicals, Fuji has been portrayed by actors Kimeru (2003–2005), Takashi Nagayama, who stood in during Remarkable 1st Match Fudomine due to a cast change, Hiroki Aiba (2005–2007, 2008), Yuuta Furukawa (2007–2009), Hashimoto Taito (2008–2010), Ryou Mitsuya (2010–2012), and Yusuke Yata (2012-Present).