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[griptape]

Player
Name: Aru
Personal Journal: magaru
E-mail: czernecka[dot]magdalena[at]gmail.com
AIM/MSN: -
Timezone: CEST/CET
Current Characters in Route: none

Character
Name: Ibu Shinji
Series: Prince of Tennis
Timeline: after Nationals
Canon Resource Links:
PoT wikia
FET profile
His profile from the 40.5 fanbook

Personality:
An accurate description of Shinji’s personality would be to say that a part of his thoughts resides constantly in another dimension, exclusive to him. While suprisingly he is not that far from your typical teenage boy (especially when compared to other characters from this series), maybe a little on the weird side, the more you concentrate on his various habits and quirks, the more unique he becomes.

The first thing that comes to mind while describing Shinji is that he likes to talk. A lot. Mostly to himself. He is muttering under breath almost all the time and while his monologues aren’t loud, this habit can definitely be off-putting if you aren’t used to dealing with him. It also makes him come off as creepy at times. He doesn’t show much emotion but that doesn’t mean he’s particularly hiding how he feels - usually you can get a good grasp of his emotional state by just paying attention to what he’s muttering about. Shinji is usually quite calm as a result of expressing himself through words rather than action most of the time but there are instances when he loses his cool, like when he wanted to attack and injure the guy who insulted his team and would have done it, had he not been stopped at the last moment.

However, to say that he’s just talk (ahaha...) would be an exaggeration as there’s much more to him. He’s actually really hardworking and dedicated just like the rest of his team as shown by how much their skills have improved in the not that long time period between talented but relatively untrained kids establishing the new tennis club with the help of new manager, facing Seigaku in the district finals and eventually Nationals. This loyalty borders on being self-sacrificial at times as Shinji is prepared to push very well past his limits just to avoid being a disappointment to said manager and his teammates. He is very close to them and they are on first name basis.

He is called “the genius of Fudoumine” and while it might not mean much seeing as almost every team in this show seems to have a player who’s referred to as their genius, Shinji’s play style is interesting and clever as he relies heavily on strategy and patience instead of brute force. He plays very accurately. As opposed to powerful wrist-breaking returns other characters use, his signature move, Spot allows him to slowly weaken the arm of his usually unsuspecting opponent until it becomes numb. Word of God lists flower arrangement as one of his hobbies, which requires precision and discourages rushing. He seems to have an eye for the beautiful things and does care about his own looks, maybe a little too much - his fanbook profile states that he spends almost three hours per day on hair care.

However, Shinji’s determination can also apply to very trivial situations, meaning that he can be really stubborn at times, like when he ended up playing a match with Echizen Ryoma to determine who gets to keep the last grip tape that was in stock since none of them were willing to give it up.

Strengths/Weaknesses:

Hardworking
His motto is to put words into practice, after all! After establishing the new tennis club, Shinji trained enough to get to the level where he and his teammates could easily beat most schools in their district, even the seeded ones. Later, they train even harder not to be a disappointment for Tachibana.

Loyal
The team is very important to Shinji and he is very close to his teammates. He would do a lot for Fudoumine to win, even if it means injuring himself, like in the match against Kintarou where he didn’t want to forfeit even though he was hurt. There was also an instance in the canon where the team got into car accident on their way to the courts but still played their matches.

Composed
Most of the time, he doesn’t let his emotions get the better of him. He remains calm regardless of what’s going on and it’s hard to tell what he’s thinking about by just looking at him. However, he does have a strong emotional response to surrounding world, just that he doesn’t show it most of the time.

Creative
One of his hobbies is flower arrangement and judging by the time he spends on this, he probably has some hairdressing skills as well.

Athletic
He’s a member of the tennis club and does not skip his training, so his body can withstand some effort.

Honest
When he’s muttering, Shinji voices out pretty much all his thoughts and doesn’t really filter them in any way, so if you want to know what he really thinks of you, just listen to him. He doesn’t really have much shame when it comes to this. He would make a terrible liar because blurting out the truth sooner or later would be inevitable.

Blunt
Because he says everything out loud, he’ll also tell you things you don’t really want to hear. Well, he’ll mutter this to himself but he won’t care if you are listening or not. Also, be wary of what secrets you entrust him because he might accidentally spill the beans and not because he’s a bad guy.

Annoying
As mentioned before, Shinji’s mumbling habit can be extremely irritating especially for people who are not used to his presence. He won’t stop even if asked multiple times.

Stubborn
He has trouble letting go, even when it comes to really trivial things, just like that grip tape incident I described earlier.

Pessimistic
Shinji tends to see the world in darker colors and assume the worst from time to time. This can also lead to him blaming himself for whatever goes wrong for their team.

Pokémon Information
Affiliation: Trainer
Starter: Swinub
Password: Strawberry Marmalade

Samples
First Person Sample:
[The video starts with dark screen and some hardly audible but constant noise. After a few seconds, it becomes apparent that it actually is speech, even though the words aren’t probably directed to those checking the broadcast.]

...who was that woman and what is this place anyway? Did I fall asleep on the bus and ended up in some amusement park? But I don’t recall ever hearing about an amusement park that would treat its guests like this, maybe I’ve been kidnapped? But that would make no sense, why would someone take their time and kidnap me when my family is not even rich, that Atobe from Hyoutei probably has to worry about this kind of stuff but why me... Or maybe this is some kind of prank, like these joke TV shows, I bet there are hidden cameras here somewhere...

[The voice eventually stops for a moment and the screen brightens to reveal the face of the speaker, young boy with dark hair, staring at the screen. He doesn’t look that shocked for someone who suddenly found themselves in such a situation. The video shakes as he starts flipping the device and pressing all the buttons.]

Figured out there must be cameras somewhere, I knew it, so this probably is some reality show I never signed up for... oh wait, they have a picture of me here, how did they get it, creepy stalkers. To anyone who is watching this, please let me out, I don’t know why would you keep me here but if it’s for some show then you got the wrong person and I’m supposed to show up at practice today afternoon, Tachibana-san is not going to be pleased if I miss it. I would appreciate some directions to the nearest train station and information about when does the next train to Tokyo leave? Thank you...

[The boy sighs and gets back to examining the functions of his Pokégear before eventually shutting down the connection.]

Third Person Sample:

Shinji was almost done checking out the contents of the bag he had been given. Nothing out of ordinary, typical travel things (and someone was even nice enough to put in not only shampoo but also conditioner! The boy briefly wondered if this particular kind will be good for his hair as he didn’t recognize the brand.) Of all the items he had received, besides the Pokégear and the handbook that had been left for later, only this spherical capsule looked suspicious. Since he had already pushed all the buttons on the communication device, now it was time to do the same with the capsule. At least it only had one.

The moment Shinji pressed the button, the ball cracked open, releasing a ray of red light which eventually materialized into...

“Swiii swii swinub!” A small fluffy piglet appeared in front of him.

“...what is this thing, a plushie?” Shinji asked, even though there was nobody around to answer “Looks a little like a pig but I’ve never seen one like this, I wonder if it’s some exotic new species that’s not found in Japan but if that’s the case then where exactly I am now? That “world of Pokémon” thing, is it a name of an amusement park? Or maybe this thing is a mutant or some complicated hi-tech toy” Shinji just kept talking while the little Swinub that was inside the Pokéball just stood where it was released. It was going to approach its new Trainer at first but Shinji’s rant clearly scared the Pokémon. It let out a few swii sounds and bounced back a few steps.

“What’s that furball doing, who would program a toy so that it would run away from the kid?” Shinji said “Then again, I’m probably not who they are targeting, maybe that’s what kids are into these days? Hey, furball, what I’m supposed to do with you?” Now Shinji got curious and wished to touch the little creature - was it really a toy or a mutant pig or something else? He made a few steps in the Swinub’s direction, but the Pokémon didn’t seem to be the bravest of its kind.

“Swii...” it said and moved back as the human approached. Shinji wasn’t too happy about this. He tried to reassure the Swinub that his intentions were good.

“Why are you running away, little furball, it’s not like I’m going to kill you and make myself a ham sandwich, I’m not a butcher and I don’t even know how to prepare pork, besides that I have no idea if you are edible at all” he said. If the creature understands human speech, it would definitely see that Shinji wasn’t to be feared, right?

Well, the Pokémon definitely understood at least some of it, because it didn’t look like it was going to approach its new Trainer. But there must be some way to make it at least a little more trusting, right? Shinji remembered something that he found when he was searching through his new backpack.

“This might do the trick, like in all these safari parks... but on the other hand, all parks and forests usually have the “Do not feed the animals” signs, what if this one has rabies or something similar...” the boy muttered as he opened his backpack and took out a handful of nuts. “Do pigs even eat this kind of stuff? But then again it is not a pig so maybe it has different tastes and if it’s a toy after all, then it probably won’t eat at all unless these new models have that programmed...”

Assuming that he wouldn’t be able to come closer, he aimed well and threw one of the nuts. It landed near the Swinub which was cautious at first, but it was also quite hungry, being in the Pokéball for so long. Eventually it made a few steps forward, to where the nut had landed. That’s what Shinji was waiting for. He threw another nut and a few more, making the creature come closer. It was still a little scared but it soon became apparent that the Swinub wasn’t going to turn down the food in Shinji’s hands.

“Good boy” Shinji smiled when the piglet got near him. “Or a girl, I don’t know what you are. But you definitely seem like a living thing now that I could take a good look...” he said as he extended his hand to touch the Pokémon. Its body was warm.

Looks like he and his new partner were off to a great start.