An Tachibana
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| An Tachibana (橘杏) |
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An Tachibana (橘杏 Tachibana An?) is a fictional character in the anime and manga The Prince of Tennis.
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[edit] Personality outline
An is the 13-year-old tomboyish sister of Kippei Tachibana, who also is a student at Fudomine Middle School (second year) and a regular member of their girls tennis club. Her more distinguishing physical traits are her pink barrettes (green when she's in sport clothes), and despite her boyishness, she's unafraid of using miniskirts, cute clothes or dresses, to pull off more feminine looks.
An cares very much for her brother and her friends from both the Seigaku and Fudomine teams, and tries to help them as much as she can. On the other hand, she has a rather explosive and even downright vicious temper that leads her to either get in trouble for the sake of others (as proved by Sakuno and Atobe) or become physically violent (as proved by Kirihara).
[edit] Role in the story
An's first appearance in the anime is in a fast food restaurant where Takeshi Momoshiro and Ryoma Echizen are eating hamburgers after school and discussing their chances to be regulars. She approaches them and they start speaking about the Seigaku team; Sakuno Ryuzaki and Tomoka Osakada, Ryoma's female friends from school, overhear this but don't butt in. Later, An is a witness of Ryoma and Momoshiro's failed "doubles debut" in the street courts with Izumi and Fukawa from Gyokurin. In the manga, An is only present at the street courts but not at the fast food restaurant, therefore she doesn't speak to Ryoma and Momo.
Some days later, during the Seigaku v/s Fudomine match, An sees Sakuno being harassed by a bully after accidentally stepping on his foot and damaging his tennis shoes. An tries to mediate and help Sakuno, but the guy slaps and belittles her . An is upset and refuses to back off, but then Momoshiro comes to her and Sakuno's defense, throwing the guy to the ground and telling him to not bully girls animore. After that, An properly introduces self to Sakuno and Momoshiro as Tachibana's sister.
[edit] Possible romantic prospects
An and Momoshiro are very close friends, and may or may not have some degree of mutual romantic interest. This is hinted because of Momoshiro's jealousy when he sees Fuji and An together, as well as the fact that he invited An to have All-You-Can-Eat sushi with the Seigaku Team and blushed when Fuji and Eiji mentioned that Momoshiro could end up liking her. Also, they went on an unofficial date (though it turns out disastrous and has many other people tagging along and spying), though Momoshiro denied many times any romantic involvement and claimed it was just an outing, and this was later confirmed by An herself to Shusuke Fuji; she only intended to cheer Momoshiro up after his fall of grace, but claimed the outing was a full date in front of others as a contingency plan to not let him refuse her. She's also one of the people who helped Momoshiro to regain his place in the regular line-up, after an unofficial match where he realized the flaw that was fatal for him: underestimating his opponents.
On the other hand, Momoshiro isn't An's only possible suitor. Akira Kamio, her brother's sub-captain in the Fudomine team, has also shown some degree of romantic interest in her (along with jealousy towards Momoshiro and other guys), and actually tried to ask her out on a date in the manga. Keigo Atobe also once tried to force her to go in a date with him, praising her personality and beauty, but was stopped by Kamio and Momoshiro.
[edit] Latest apparitions
An's less-than-kind side arises very seriously in the anime, after the match between her brother and Rikkaidai's Akaya Kirihara, where Kirihara used his "Red Trap" on Tachibana and made him put pressure on his already-twisted ankle and sent Tachibana to the hospital, causing him to miss the Senbatsu (Junior Invitational) Camp. As a result, the frustrated and depressed An quickly grows an unusually violent hatred for Kirihara.
In the anime series, An joins the Senbatsu team as a manager along with Sakuno and Tomoka, and confronts Kirihara directly about the issue. Kirihara crosses the line when he insults Tachibana and the Fudomine team as a reply and An's anger bursts out, resulting in Kirihara falling backwards down a flight of stairs when she tries to slap him and accidentally causes his fall. Kamio is blamed by everyone for the accident since Kirihara refuses to disclose any info and it's a known fact that he and Kamio are at odds as well, but in the end Ryoma discovers the truth as he finds one of An's hair clips on the floor, not too far from the stairs. Cornered by Kamio and Ryoma, An explains the whole situation, apologizes to everyone and finally makes peace with herself and with Kirihara, who has decided to not injure anybody else.
An's most recent appearance in the manga, where the whole Senbatsu camp plotline with her and Kirihara doesn't exist and her aggressivity is slightly toned down, happens during the Shitenhouji v/s Fudomine match. She hangs out with the Fudomine regulars and explains to them what happened between her older brother and his rival/friend Senri Chitose. An and Kamio also were present in the pre-Nationals confrontation between Fuji and Tachibana, where the latter broke all of Fuji's counters.
[edit] Voice
An's Japanese voice actress (seiyu) is Akiko Kimura. Her English voice actress is Jennifer Sekiguchi, and the Latin American one is Claudia Nieto.
Akiko Kimura has released several image songs for An:
- Taisetsu na mono (Important thing), and Miracle Colorful Carnival! (with Mikako Takahashi and Fuyuka Oura) from the mini album Go Go Girls!
- Nayande, waratte! (Worry, smile!), from the game Love of Prince
- Natsu no ojousan (Summer young lady), from the similarly-named single.
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| Tennis team members: | Ryoma Echizen | Kunimitsu Tezuka | Shuichiro Oishi | Shusuke Fuji | Eiji Kikumaru | Takashi Kawamura | Sadaharu Inui | Takeshi Momoshiro | Kaoru Kaidoh |
| Schools: | Seishun Academy Middle School | Fudomine Middle School | St. Rudolph Gakuen | Yamabuki | Hyotei Gakuen | Midoriyama | Jyosei Shonan | Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku | Rokkaku Chuu |
| Supporting characters: | Sumire Ryuzaki | Nanjiro Echizen | Masashi Arai | Satoshi Horio | Kachiro Kato | Katsuo Mizuno | Sakuno Ryuzaki | Tomoka Osakada |
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| List of Prince of Tennis episodes | Tennis no Ojisama - Futari no Samurai | The Prince of Tennis (film) | The Prince of Tennis Musicals | Takeshi Konomi | |
