Character Who are the most talented players?

[felixng2011]

The first three or four seem rather obvious to me.

1. Kintarou
2. Akutsu
3. Ryoma
4. Tezuka

Who else belongs in this group or possibly surpasses any of these guys talent wise.

I rank Kintarou and Akutsu higher than Ryoma in terms of talent. Kintarou only played tennis for one year and Akutsu only a few years and he was half-assing.

 

[Kaoz]

Hm I agree with Kintarou and Akutsu at 1 and 2, but I think I'd switch them around. It's true that Kintarou hasn't been playing for a long time, but it's explicitly stated multiple times that Akutsu is a once-in-a-decade talent. I also think I'd round out the top 3 with Fuji over either Ryoma or Tezuka. He's pretty much in the same boat as Akutsu, even if not to the same degree. But still, he didn't really take tennis seriously until this year. Contrast that with Ryoma who must have been playing tennis pretty much every single day for over a decade now (and with a former world no. 1 as coach no less) and Tezuka who must've worked incredibly hard too, evidenced by him achieving Hyakuren when he was like 10. So in summary:

1. Akutsu
2. Kintarou
3. Fuji

Beyond these guys, it becomes pretty hard to tell in my opinion. All the top players are up there in some capacity, otherwise they wouldn't have made it this far. But I think it kind of comes down to what you think counts as talent for the purpose of this discussion.

 

[felixng2011]

Hm I agree with Kintarou and Akutsu at 1 and 2, but I think I'd switch them around. It's true that Kintarou hasn't been playing for a long time, but it's explicitly stated multiple times that Akutsu is a once-in-a-decade talent. I also think I'd round out the top 3 with Fuji over either Ryoma or Tezuka. He's pretty much in the same boat as Akutsu, even if not to the same degree. But still, he didn't really take tennis seriously until this year. Contrast that with Ryoma who must have been playing tennis pretty much every single day for over a decade now (and with a former world no. 1 as coach no less) and Tezuka who must've worked incredibly hard too, evidenced by him achieving Hyakuren when he was like 10. So in summary:

1. Akutsu
2. Kintarou
3. Fuji

Beyond these guys, it becomes pretty hard to tell in my opinion. All the top players are up there in some capacity, otherwise they wouldn't have made it this far. But I think it kind of comes down to what you think counts as talent for the purpose of this discussion.

I was on the fence about Akutsu. He might actually be more talented than Kintarou but even though it was never explicitly stated I feel like Kintarou is that level of talent too.

Agree about Ryoma and Tezuka which is why I didn't put them as high. I was thinking Fuji as well but even though he generally hasn't tried his "hardest" I can't say he has been impressive enough for me to label him as a top 5 talent and his ability to level up mid battle isn't better than Ryoma to me either. One weakness for Fuji is that he isn't very impressive as an athlete. Ryoma might not be as well but I would say Akutsu, Kintarou and Tezuka are.

Now that I think about it Fuji with a Tezuka esque mentality would probably be better than Tezuka so its not a stretch I guess.

Maybe:

1. Akutsu/Kintarou
2. Kintarou/Akutsu
3. Ryoma
4. Fuji
5. Tezuka

 

[Artsci]

These are some of the names that come first to my mind regarding to the most talented players:
1. Akutsu
2. Kintarou
3. Fuji
4. Ryoma
5. Yukimura
6/7. Tezuka/ Atobe
8/9. Chitose/ Kirihara
10. Niou
11/12. Sanada/ Shiraishi
13. Momo
14/15. Yuushi/ Mauri

There is one more person I wanna mention who is Kabaji. I am not sure where to place this guy. He was able to copy any moves simply by seeing it once and can even copy moves like Hyakuren. He almost beat Tezuka in the Nationals but he would lose to players like Jiro or Kikumaru.

 

[Hardy]

I think I would divide the characters in 3 different sections first in order to know who's the most talented, in the end.

First, we have the players that were born with an amazing physique, the top athletes, and without a doubt Akutsu is the number 1 in this aspect, followed by Kintarou. He was born tall and strong, yet still remains fast and agile, so he could basically play any sport he'd like. However, I don't think he is as technically gifted as other characters, and I'm pretty sure he trained for months before the camp so his current skill didn't come out of nowhere.

Secondly, we have the players that are just naturals at tennis. I'd say the best in this category is actually Jirou (to the point that Atobe used to let him miss practices and still remained Hyotei's arguably second best player) but he didn't show any results in the camp (where he finally started training) that would justify this pick. The "tensais" (Fuji, Yuushi... Marui? etc) or even Ryoma, Kintarou, Niou and Yuki might have a better shot at this, but I'd be surprised if they didn't work hard to get where they are. I think Yukimura is probably the highlight of that group, skipping tennis for months and still remaining the beast that he is, the top player in Japan's MS tennis. Without those in mind, imo, the player leading this category is actually Mouri, who remained a regular at Rikkai without ever training (without being born with an amazing body like Akutsu's), and nowadays is the only 1st year HSer to be part of Japan's G-10. I'd give Kirihara a chance in this category for naturally learning the one foot split step on his own, without knowing it was even a technique, but that is basically all that is credited to him (to the point that speed is what made him a regular at Rikkai).

Last, we have the players that learn the fastest, which is a talent on its own. Of course, both Super Rookies are on top on this category with their incredible growth rates, followed by Atobe (who was the one that improved the most at the camp without actually training more, IIRC?). Kabaji would be the king of this category if he actually learned his moves instead of just copying them.

TL;DR, with all those in mind, the one character that keeps appearing in all those lists is... Kintarou, so I'd say he's the most talented player in the series. Internationally, the Dorgias Bros, Henri and Amadeus deserve a mention.

 

[Kaoz]

However, I don't think he is as technically gifted as other characters, and I'm pretty sure he trained for months before the camp so his current skill didn't come out of nowhere.

We don't really know that, do we? We do know that he quit the club after playing Ryoma and we know he didn't return after his encounter with Sengoku. He hadn't played between those two times and we can't say for sure about whether or not he did after Sengoku's challenge. Even prior to that though, this year was the first time he had touched a racket in five years and Banda mentioned Akutsu never practiced seriously while he was at Yamabuki.

Moreover, every other character also trained between the nationals and the camp, so I reckon Akutsu played the least out of them all in the past 5-6 years, even less than Kintarou who hadn't even started playing until this year.

Also, I think it's a bit odd to add Jiro to the naturals at tennis category, at least the way it's labeled, but not Akutsu or Kite for instance. I'm guessing it's because those guys' technical skills are high (although Kintarou's really wasn't prior to the mountain camp), but one of the big reasons why that's true for Jiro is because of his flexible wrists which fundamentally isn't much different from Akutsu's overall flexibility and Kite's perfect balance in my eyes.

 

[Hardy]

Pretty sure it had been stated that after he left Yamabuki, Akutsu kept training with Dan and he was even about to go train to the US but decided to stay in Japan, that's why I mentioned that. I do admit that his feats for a starter in tennis up until he quit Yamabuki (considering how much of a technical sport it is) are impressive, but not unheard of. In fact, he was just an almost no brainer offensive player until his match with Ryona.

Forgot about Kite, but in my mind he is too much of a hard worker to fit the category.

Maybe I'm ignoring Jirou's wrists too much? I just think he would still be pretty good without them. In my mind it's kind of like Messi's ankles in football (without them he would still be amazing, but would be injured more often, would have to chicken out in tackles, play safer, etc...). In the end, though, I did say that even with the camp training Jirou's talents didn't show to be impressive at all, so I discarded him.

 

[Kaoz]

Pretty sure it had been stated that after he left Yamabuki, Akutsu kept training with Dan and he was even about to go train to the US but decided to stay in Japan, that's why I mentioned that.

When and where? My main point of contention here is that during the 2/6 match they stated that Akutsu hadn't been playing for a while (of course there's also the question how much training with Dan really helped Akutsu in that case considering Dan's no Nanjirou or Sugi).