Niou Love Post (Happy Birthday, Masaharu!)
Niou Masaharu Love Post
Or,
The Trickster Has His Day
There ARE spoilers for the entire series in this post!
And not all images are safe for work.
And yes, this is extremely and horribly biased in favour of Rikai Dai. Be warned.
In recent weeks there was a bit of, well, less than love for Niou. And there has also been quite a lot of confusion about who, exactly, Niou is. Seeing as it is Niou’s birthday today, I wanted to share the Niou love in the hopes to celebrate him as a character, as well as to celebrate the fact he is now a grand old nineteen years old.
Niou Masaharu, here’s to you!
"That beauty mark below his mouth is sexy! Isn’t it?"
-Smash@Rail, Tezuka Meet Rikkai?
1. Unlike Yagyuu the doubles slut (three partners in five matches, oh my!), Niou exclusively plays doubles with Yagyuu.
According to volume 20.5 (nicely summarized on FET, Niou plays doubles with Yagyuu in Round 2 and the Finals of the Kantou Regionals in 2002 (current year of the tennis circuit). As well, in Genius 269, based on the positions of the characters in panels on pages 12, 13 and 15 it can be surmised that Niou and Yagyuu likely played doubles together in the Nationals Round 2 against Murigaoka.
However.
Niou is not just a doubles player. In the Kantou Regional Semifinals against Fudomine, Niou was slated into the singles one position.
2. Niou has confidence, which could be as a result of playing for Rikkai, or which could be a reason for him playing for Rikkai Dai, the top team on the junior high school circuit.
3. Niou has a very famous catchphrase: "Puri!"
4. Niou can be sly.
5. And a bit of a pest sometimes.
6. Unlike Kirihara, Niou has already [at least mostly] gone through puberty.
7. Niou is not a hedgehog!
8. But Niou does have a distinctive hairstyle. A bit old-school late eighties/early nineties, but would Niou care? Probably not.
9. The animators have fun with his hair.
10. Niou is known to be a bit tricksy at times.
11. But he has never lost a game of tennis! (That we know of ;)
12. Niou can give Chitose and his rainbow sparkles a run for their money.
13. True to his Sagittarian nature, Niou likes darts.
14. Niou is no idiot. He is also loves math.
15. Niou is one of the few who will stand up to Sanada*.
16. Niou was very, very cute as a little bugger.
17. And he makes a relatively attractive girl, too!
However.
Much of the interest (or lack thereof) about Niou has to do with him in apposition/parallel to one person.
Yes.
Yagyuu.
18. Niou has a close relationship with Yagyuu.
19. He and Yagyuu do look a bit alike. And Yagyuu, incidentally, looks a bit like Kaidoh, too.
20. But Yagyuu and Niou do not look the same down below.
21. Niou had the guts to go up to a megane dork on the golf team and dare him to play tennis instead.
Which obviously worked.
22. Niou and Yagyuu both like to play around.
23. Niou can also hit Yagyuu’s laser beam.
24. Niou does a decent impression of Yagyuu, both on the court, and personality-wise
25. Niou, though, is not the mentally unstable one.
26. As adaptable on the court, so too can Niou top or bottom.
27. Niou likes to experiment as well.
Niou Masaharu, Happy Birthday! Here’s hoping you get lots of love from fans and Yagyuu, too!
P.S. Niou doesn't really like to sing, either ;D ;D ;D
*Note: That is actually Yagyuu, but who’s to say Niou wouldn’t have said the same thing?
Images from, in no particular order: Maybism, Nono, Coco, Negahyst, Kakushiazi, Jet Monster, and Satoumizu, in addition to official manga and anime images. Thanks to Whisper and obsessed_love for the help with this post. :D :D :D
Or,
The Trickster Has His Day
There ARE spoilers for the entire series in this post!
And not all images are safe for work.
And yes, this is extremely and horribly biased in favour of Rikai Dai. Be warned.
In recent weeks there was a bit of, well, less than love for Niou. And there has also been quite a lot of confusion about who, exactly, Niou is. Seeing as it is Niou’s birthday today, I wanted to share the Niou love in the hopes to celebrate him as a character, as well as to celebrate the fact he is now a grand old nineteen years old.
Niou Masaharu, here’s to you!
"That beauty mark below his mouth is sexy! Isn’t it?"
-Smash@Rail, Tezuka Meet Rikkai?
1. Unlike Yagyuu the doubles slut (three partners in five matches, oh my!), Niou exclusively plays doubles with Yagyuu.
According to volume 20.5 (nicely summarized on FET, Niou plays doubles with Yagyuu in Round 2 and the Finals of the Kantou Regionals in 2002 (current year of the tennis circuit). As well, in Genius 269, based on the positions of the characters in panels on pages 12, 13 and 15 it can be surmised that Niou and Yagyuu likely played doubles together in the Nationals Round 2 against Murigaoka.
However.
Niou is not just a doubles player. In the Kantou Regional Semifinals against Fudomine, Niou was slated into the singles one position.
2. Niou has confidence, which could be as a result of playing for Rikkai, or which could be a reason for him playing for Rikkai Dai, the top team on the junior high school circuit.
3. Niou has a very famous catchphrase: "Puri!"
4. Niou can be sly.
5. And a bit of a pest sometimes.
6. Unlike Kirihara, Niou has already [at least mostly] gone through puberty.
7. Niou is not a hedgehog!
8. But Niou does have a distinctive hairstyle. A bit old-school late eighties/early nineties, but would Niou care? Probably not.
9. The animators have fun with his hair.
10. Niou is known to be a bit tricksy at times.
11. But he has never lost a game of tennis! (That we know of ;)
12. Niou can give Chitose and his rainbow sparkles a run for their money.
13. True to his Sagittarian nature, Niou likes darts.
14. Niou is no idiot. He is also loves math.
15. Niou is one of the few who will stand up to Sanada*.
16. Niou was very, very cute as a little bugger.
17. And he makes a relatively attractive girl, too!
However.
Much of the interest (or lack thereof) about Niou has to do with him in apposition/parallel to one person.
Yes.
Yagyuu.
18. Niou has a close relationship with Yagyuu.
19. He and Yagyuu do look a bit alike. And Yagyuu, incidentally, looks a bit like Kaidoh, too.
20. But Yagyuu and Niou do not look the same down below.
21. Niou had the guts to go up to a megane dork on the golf team and dare him to play tennis instead.
Which obviously worked.
22. Niou and Yagyuu both like to play around.
23. Niou can also hit Yagyuu’s laser beam.
24. Niou does a decent impression of Yagyuu, both on the court, and personality-wise
25. Niou, though, is not the mentally unstable one.
26. As adaptable on the court, so too can Niou top or bottom.
27. Niou likes to experiment as well.
Niou Masaharu, Happy Birthday! Here’s hoping you get lots of love from fans and Yagyuu, too!
P.S. Niou doesn't really like to sing, either ;D ;D ;D
*Note: That is actually Yagyuu, but who’s to say Niou wouldn’t have said the same thing?
Images from, in no particular order: Maybism, Nono, Coco, Negahyst, Kakushiazi, Jet Monster, and Satoumizu, in addition to official manga and anime images. Thanks to Whisper and obsessed_love for the help with this post. :D :D :D