Keigo Atobe

Keigo Atobe 「跡部景吾, Atobe Keigo」 is a third year student at Hyotei and the captain of their tennis team, having defeated all of the members of the team during his first year.

Appearance
One of Atobe's characteristics is the mole below his right eye, known as the "tear mole". In the manga, Atobe has blonde hair and blue eyes. However, in the anime, he has black hair and onyx eyes (later shown to be extremely dark blue). He's quite tall and he's deemed by many as "attractive" as he possesses several fans — most of which (but aren't limited to) female.

In the first series, Atobe is often seen wearing either his Hyotei jersey or the Hyotei school uniform. There are a few episode in which he wear casual clothes.

In the sequel series, Atobe is always seen in his U-17 training camp jersey.

Personality
Atobe is severely narcissistic and arrogant; often using the quote "Be awed at the sight of my prowess!" 「俺様の美技に酔いな, lit. Oresama no bigi ni yoi na」 used first after knocking out Tezuka's racket with his drive volley. Despite being arrogant, he's also charming and is popular between both boys and girls of his school.

The entire Hyotei are his fans and often cheer, "The winner is Hyotei". Atobe can shut them up easily if need be, just by snapping his fingers.

As a child during his time in England, he was able to gain insight because he was often mocked by children his age. He never gave up and worked hard to reach the top.

He's very wealthy, and owns various chateaus, mansions, and vehicles, which are often used to benefit his team. Despite his personality, he trains constantly and takes pride in his team. After losing to Ryoma in a match, he cuts his hair due to a bet, despite taking great pride in it. He also truly appreciates his teammates and rivals; this is shown in several instances: he stands up for Shishido's plight in front of coach Sasaki, he recognizes Tezuka's might after their duel (even lifting Tezuka's hand to show him as someone who had fought hard and also deserved praising), he speaks to Ryoma after his fight with Tezuka, and so forth.

Despite having lost to Seigaku twice, Atobe seems to accept his losses gracefully, not too bitter to aid his former opponents by going to search for the missing Ryoma with his own helicopter as Seigaku faces Rikkai in the Nationals Finals.

Atobe also mentioned that while he doesn't mind going easy on an opponent, he hates it when an opponent goes easy on him. He is rather generous and uses his allowance to buy things for his teammates. Furthermore, the aforementioned mini-movie Atobe's Gift shows that one of the reasons he had to hold the convention was to cheer up his childhood friend and partner Kabaji, who is very depressed after the announcement of his beloved older sister's future marriage. He also claimed the date coincided with Kabaji's birthday, which Kabaji revealed to be a lie.

The Prince of The School Festival has portrayed Atobe to be far more noble than one would expect. Atobe is enraged when Hirose is attacked by his rabid fangirls, and not only lectures her for not telling him about the incidents, but he also protects her from such fans.

Background
Two years prior to the story, Atobe just arrives from England and starts life as a student of Hyotei. On the first day of school, he gives a speech to the school as a freshmen representative. During his speech, he calls out the current boys' tennis club captain and announces that he's the new king/captain of the club and school. It is mentioned by several female students that he donated many things to the school, making him popular with his female classmates.

When he enters the club, he effortlessly defeats all the upperclassmen which resulted in the captain of that time to ask Atobe to be the new captain. As he agrees to the new position, Oshitari appears and seems to challenge the new captain of the tennis club. What happens afterwards is unknown.

One year prior to the story, Atobe along with Hyotei win the Tokyo Prefectural tournament and defeat Seigaku along the way. It is in this tournament that Atobe defeats Seigaku's captain. Atobe and Hyotei cruise through the Regional finals however their Regional success is thwarted by the likes of Rikkai.

Play Style & Techniques
Atobe is considered the example of a perfect and complete all-rounder as stated by Sengoku showing Atobe's skills as a player. His tennis abilities are centered around his superior insight, which allows him to perceive his opponent's weaknesses and attack them. It is also revealed that his extremely defensive style is one he chose for himself, while his natural playing style is "ultra-offensive". Only Ryoma has only managed to make him use his original style.

Techniques

 * Insight: Supposedly gifted with fantastic eyesight, Atobe uses this in Insight, a technique where he can quickly determine his opponent's weaknesses. He places his fingers between his widely opened eyes and laughs with a somewhat insane tone.
 * Kori no Sekai 「氷の世界, lit. World of Ice」: All tennis players possess one, if not more, blind sports from any given position. Atobe has evolved his Insight to such a level where he can clearly discern these spots and is able hit balls with pinpoint accuracy and timing at these blind spots. These blind spots are visually represented by pillars of ice, and when Atobe hits a shot at the blind spot, the opponent is unable to react to the shot.
 * Atobe Kingdom: The human body itself have their own dead angles, which is known as the Zettai Shikaku 「lit. Absolute Blind Spots」, which are located in the joints that humans are unable to conform to because the skeletal structure can only move in certain ways regardless of one's flexibility or speed. Mastering his Insight even further during his Court Shuffle Match against Irie, Atobe is able to see through his opponent's skeletal structure and, by extension, see the opponent's Zettai Shikaku, and time his shots during the moments when the Zettai Shikaku acts up, able to hit the ball when the opponent is unable to move at all.
 * Hametsu e no Rondo 「破滅への輪舞曲, lit. Rondo Towards Destruction」: A high level two-part smash in which the first part loosens the opponent's grip on the racket while the follow-up smash is free to score. The first smash hits the opponent's grip on the racquet and knocks the racquet out of the opponent's hand. As the ball bounces up from the force of impact, Atobe smashes it once again at the court to score the point.
 * Tannhauser Serve: When performed correctly, the technique does not allow the ball to bounce and makes the ball spin rapidly down the court, thus rendering it almost impossible to return.
 * Shitsui he no Fugue 「失意への遁走曲, lit. Fugue Towards Despair」: An advanced smash that combines the aspects of both Rondo Towards Destruction and the Tannhauser Serve, Atobe first knocks out the opponent's racket with a normal smash, and then he hits a smash version of his Tannhauser Serve, hitting a smash that functions like Ryoma's COOL Drive: the ball is given an irregular spin where it rolls on the ground instead of bouncing, due to the enormous sidespin that was used.
 * Gigue Towards Lamentation: The move is created by Atobe and is said to be another greatly improved version of the Rondo Towards Destruction. However it was countered by Irie Kanata before the move could be shown.
 * 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.
 * Viking Horn: A powerful shot that first seems to go either left or right and then flies at the opposite side due to holding the racket at a reverse grip and throwing off the opponent's timing. Atobe can only use this technique when he is holding his racket backwards.
 * Higuma Otoshi 「羆落とし, lit. Bear Drop」: In his Nationals match against Ryoma, Atobe demonstrates his ability to use Higuma Otoshi, one of Fuji's Triple Counters. By quickly rotating his body, Atobe uses centrifugal force to absorb the force of any overhead smash; he then returns the ball with a lob that almost always lands on the opponent's baseline.
 * Synchronization: This is a Doubles-Only technique in which both players become fully synchronized and move as if they were one; breathing as one and knowing exactly what their partner's next move would be. It is said that doubles players could not go to the top of the pros without 'Synchronization'.

Trivia

 * On the first series popularity polls, Atobe ranked 27th on the first poll, 15th on the second poll, 3rd on the third poll, and 1st on the fourth poll. On the sequel series popularity polls, Atobe ranked 3rd on the first poll and 2nd on the second poll.
 * According to the official fanbook(s):
 * Atobe's worst subjects are none.
 * His most visited place in school is his special sofa in the student council room.
 * He spends his allowance on stuff for the club members.
 * His motto is "Adel sitzt im Gemüt, nicht im Geblüt" (Nobility resides in the mind, not in the blood)
 * His favorite movies are European films.
 * His favorite book is anything by Shakespeare.
 * His favorite music is classical music.
 * His ideal date spot is cruising the southern isles.
 * He wants a new tennis court.
 * His daily routine is drinking (non-alcoholic) champagne in the bath.
 * He dislikes arthropods.
 * His other specialty besides tennis is fencing and ballroom dancing.
 * His ideal type is someone who loves to win.

Quotes
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