Minami Tenjin

* Anime
* Manga

****Minami Tenjin**** (天神 岬波, *Tenjin Minami*?) is the male deuteragonist of the More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers manga series. Considered to be the most popular student at Seishun Academy, he is Shiori Sakurazaka's partner in the training and Akari Watanabe's former crush.

## Appearance

Minami is a handsome teenage boy with purple eyes and blonde hair (revealed to be dyed as he is a natural brunette) that has bangs hanging on the right side of his face. Minami is rather tall, as he is only slightly shorter than Jirō.

Minami's school uniform consists of an untucked, blue button up shirt that he keeps open which exposes his lavender undershirt, dark blue pants buckled with a brown belt, and brown shoes.

## Personality

A popular and well-liked school idol, Minami is the object of nearly every girl's affection, including Akari Watanabe, who is hoping to become his partner during the couples training. What makes Minami so admirable are the numerous amounts of traits and skills that he has that would make other boys jealous. He is a star athlete who is proficient in multiple sports including basketball, volleyball, and track-and-field. As noted by Jirō, he is also academically intelligent, scoring high marks on written tests. Above all, he possesses a calm and cool demeanor in the presence of others which is what has earned him the respect of his peers.

Despite his popularity amongst the school, Minami does not have an ego where he sees himself as superior to the other students. He is generally portrayed as a very friendly person who treats everyone with respect, including social outcasts like Jirō and Sadaharu. He also appears to be humble as he will give credit to others without fully taking it for himself, such as when he informed his peers that it was Jirō who pointed out Mei's leg injury and he himself wouldn't have saved her from further injuring it if it wasn't for Jirō's awareness.

Another testament to Minami's kindness is his concern for others' safety. He saved Akari from a box of gym equipment from landing on her, escorted Jirō to the infirmary after he had suffered a head injury during gym class and prevented Mei from competing in the track-race after discovering her injury.

Minami is observant, as he was aware that Akari was attracted to him long before she had confessed to him. Furthermore, he was also the first person to notice that Akari had fallen in love with Jirō and pushed her to realize her true feelings for him.

However, despite having traits that would deem him to be a perfect human being, Minami does have a few flaws. He has a rather twisted idea of love after being rejected by Nozomi, the woman he was in love with, and then witnessing her having sex with his brother years ago. As a result, Minami has developed a deep, one-sided attachment towards her despite knowing that they may never be together. This unhealthy attachment has led him to deny himself other prospects or opportunities for love including rejecting Akari after she confessed to him and dismissing rumors that he was attracted to Shiori. The incident has also left Minami mentally scarred as he is shown to be distraught upon being reminded about the event after Shiori slapped his hand away.

Minami's kindness can also be a double-edged sword at times in the sense that it affects his personal life. He is aware that his need to please others and his inability to reject requests strain him to the point that he may take on too much than he can handle. For example, after Jirō initially declined to run in the track race as a replacement for Mei, Minami offered to run in her place instead. Therefore, he would need to run twice as much distance compared to his fellow runners and this is without mentioning the fact that he had already competed in multiple sporting events before the race, thus putting him and his class at a major disadvantage.

As mentioned by Shiori, Minami enjoys eating sweet foods.

## History

A few years prior to the start of the series, Minami was a young teen who had fallen in love with his tutor and Minato's fiancé, Nozomi. When he confessed to her, she rejected him citing her engagement to his brother which was not known to Minami before. Later on, Minami accidentally witnessed Nozomi and Minato having sex which resulted in him developing what he considered to be a one-sided, fruitless chase for her love.

At some point, Minami enrolled in Seishun Academy and became employed at Starbox Coffee. He has known Shū Terafune for at least one year.

## Plot

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## Relationships

### Akari Watanabe

During an outing on a school trip, Minami ends up being confessed to by Akari but gently lets her down, revealing that he has unrequited feelings for a woman in his past. (The woman, named Nozomi, was his former tutor that ended up marrying his older brother; it's hinted that his views on love are jaded due to accidentally witnessing his brother and Nozomi having sex with one another in **Chapter 48**.) Thanks to this conversation, Minami helps Akari realize that she is now in love with Jirō Yakuin and wishes Akari luck with trying to win Jirō's heart.

### Shiori Sakurazaka

As partners is the Marriage Practical, Shiori and Minami were never shown interacting before being paired but the two agreed to work together to perform well on the practical, even calling each other by their first names immediately. Unlike Akari and Jirō, they seem to be a more functional couple, showcased by sharing the housework equally, taking turns cooking, and avoiding conflict. While the two were shown to positively interact with each other in public, Shiori's inexperience and anxiety with male acquaintances contributed to the pair's poor score during their first evaluation. Shiori eventually mustered the strength to be a better partner to Minami thanks to encouragement from Jirō.

Like many others, Shiori enjoys Minami's company as she considers him to be kind and helpful. Minami also appears to be fond of Shiori as he agreed to stay as her partner despite the two having reached A-Rank multiple times. Over time, Shiori eventually opens up more the Minami, talking to him, albeit indirectly, about her personal issues including her feelings for Jirō.

### Jirō Yakuin

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### Nozomi Tenjin

Nozomi was Minami's former tutor whom he had feelings for in **Chapter 48**, but she rejected him and chose Minato Tenjin (Minami's older brother) instead as shown when Minami accidentally witnessed Minato and Nozomi having sex. Minami has yet to move on from this incident, as it is hinted that he still has feelings for her.

### Minato Tenjin

Minato is Minami's older brother. Not a lot is seen of the relationship between the two, except that Minami did not speak particularly fondly of his brother when the latter was brought up in a conversation. This may be due to the fact that Minato's wife is Minami's first love, and he accidentally witnessed the two having sex.

### Shū Terafune

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### Keiichiro Kamo

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### Takeshita & Jun Wajiro

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## Etymology

* The name **Minami** means "cape, promontory" (岬) (**mi**) and "wave, breaker" (波) (**nami**).
* Minami's surname **Tenjin** means "heavenly god/heavenly gods" (天神).

## Trivia

* Like most of the characters, Minami's surname is derived from the name of a Japanese train station; Tenjin Station.
	+ However, Minami's full name is can also derived from another Japanese train station; Tenjin-Minami Station.
	+ He and Jirō hold the distinction of the being the only characters to have both their given names and surnames taken from Japanese train stations.
* Minami has a sweet tooth.

## References

1. ↑ *More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers* Manga — Vol. 2 Chapter 8.
2. ↑ *More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers* Manga — Vol. 4 Chapter 26.
3. ↑ *More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers* Manga — Vol. 8 Chapter 48.
4. ↑ *More Than a Married Couple, But Not Lovers* Manga and Anime — Vol. 1 Chapter 5 and Episode 3.