Tsubasa Soga

* Tennis
* School
* Casual
* Original

**Tsubasa Soga** is a member of the Shijo Minami Boys’ soft-tennis club. He plays as the front player with Shingo Takenouchi as his partner. He used to play soccer with his two older brothers until middle school.

## Appearance

Tsubasa is of average height and has a darker complexion. He has dull blue hair parted to the left side with several protruding strands around his head and brown eyes.

## Personality

Tsubasa is a caring person, especially towards his close friends. Along with Shingo, he will gladly defend his friends when they’re being teased or bullied by others. This can be seen when a member from the track team teases Yuu by showing off his shirtless body, causing them to be uncomfortable. Shingo and Tsubasa notice it and ask the member to put his clothes back on.

Tsubasa can be cold and abrasive towards people he's uncomfortable with. Like Itsuki, he can be belligerent if provoked, though, unlike his fellow teammate he's known to cool off easier when intending to harm someone. This can be seen when Maki insults the club due to their poor performance: Tsubasa couldn’t accept Maki’s insult, which causes him to almost hit Maki’s head with a tennis racket.

Tsubasa also likes to tease people whenever he gets the chance to. He usually jokes around to mess with the other members of the boys’ soft tennis club, such as Itsuki and Taiyo.

## Plot

### Childhood

Tsubasa is the last child of the Soga family. Being raised in a family that likes to play soccer, Tsubasa and his two older brothers joined the soccer team during elementary school. However, Tsubasa’s poor performance led to his father being angry and disappointed at Tsubasa; his father wanted him to practice even harder so he could be as successful in soccer as his two older brothers.

### Shijo Minami Middle School

Tsubasa joined the Boys’ soft tennis club in the first year of junior high to avoid continuous pressure from his father. When his father learned that Tsubasa didn’t continue playing soccer, he was furious at him, calling him a coward, which ultimately ended their relationship. However, Tsubasa’s relationship with his two older brothers and mother remains the same as they are willing to acknowledge his decision and support him in any way possible.

In the second year, the boys’ soft tennis team is having a practice match against the girls’ soft tennis team. Tsubasa played as the back player with Rintaro as his partner. The game is heavily one sided with the boys being outperformed by the girls, unable to score a single point throughout the match. Days after the practice match, Toma announces that the Boys’ Soft Tennis Club will be disbanded if they are unable to win a match during the summer tournament. The teams are desperate to find new members, but Toma manages to recruit Maki and introduce him to the club members. When the club members are practicing their swings, Maki tells the team that they had achieved nothing in the past year as a club. As Maki continues to lecture them, Shingo shouts angrily towards him while Tsubasa almost hits Maki with a racket. The team then practices swinging for the rest of the club session.

During the next practice session, Toma suggests a practice match against other pairs of the club in order to accustom Maki to soft tennis. Tsubasa and Rintaro lost against the Toma-Maki pair without being able to score a single point. After the practice match, when Rintaro tries to congratulate Maki for his performance, Maki replies that they are plain awful and questions what they all have been doing during their time in the club.

Days later, Maki notices that their pair combination is what makes them awful, so he suggests to change them all to these new pairings: Rintaro paired with Itsuki, Tsubasa paired with Shingo, and Nao paired with Taiyo. Maki then proposes a 15-point game to test the new pair combinations. Initially, Tsubasa and Shingo are having difficulty to perform well during the match. They keep blaming each other for making mistakes until Tsubasa manages to score the first point. Afterwards, the pair is finally able to work together as a team and win the match.

The following days, Tsubasa and Shingo regularly spend their time together to improve their pair combination. Because they both come from different classes, Tsubasa and Shingo usually spend their time together outside the class. The club becomes livelier during the next practice session and they seem to have found their motivation to practice soft tennis harder than before.

Several days later, Sakurai-sensei briefs the team about their practice match against Misaki Academy that will happen the next day. Toma tells them to believe in their abilities because tomorrow will be the day to see how much they’ve improved. The Tsubasa – Shingo pair play the third match against the Takeru Tanaka – Masato Nagano pair who are Misaki Academy representatives in the national tournament. Tsubasa and Shingo are feeling discouraged so Yuuta gives them an energy drink to re-motivate them.

Before the match begins, Tanaka and Nagano both tease Tsubasa and Shingo. Annoyed, they retaliate by squeezing Nagano’s hand and kicking Tanaka’s right leg. The match begins with Shingo making the first serve. As he delivers the serve, Tsubasa shouts loudly, which causes their opponents to lose their focus. Through this distraction strategy, the Tsubasa – Shingo pair manage to easily win points and they are able to win the first set. However, their advantages do not last long as Tanaka and Nagano are able to regain their focus and start pressuring Shingo and Tsubasa. They successfully make a comeback by winning three consecutive set and win the match. Despite losing all the practice matches, the boys are still happy because each of them managed to take a single set from Misaki Academy and even force their ace player, Arashi Oji, into a deuce in the final match.

Days after their match against Misaki Academy, Sakurai-sensei shows up and tells the club that he has arranged a barbeque party for them on the following Sunday. However, this party causes Nao’s mother to file a complaint to the school principal the next day, which causes the soft tennis club activity to be suspended for the whole week. During the next practice session, Sakurai-sensei informs club members about the suspension notice but also informs them about the summer tournament team bracket. When the team looks at the bracket, Toma recognizes that they’re up against Hatanouka Middle School.

The next day, the boys discuss in the library a plan to gather data about Joy Kusakabe, the star player in Hatanaouka Middle School. Taiyo voices his concern about peepers getting reported to the police, but later the team proceeds with Yuuta’s plan to dress up as girls and scout the Hatanaouka Middle School tennis court together with the rest of the team. At the scene, they’re able to sneak in a video camera and analyze Joy’s playstyle. Within the same week, the team manages to get a practice match with the Girls’ Soft Tennis Team for the summer tournament preparation.

On the day of the practice match between the Boys’ and Girls’ soft tennis team, Shingo brings his little sister, An, to watch the match. He introduces her to the rest of the team in the locker room. During preparation for the match, Rintaro and Itsuki brush the court while Mitsue, Yuu, and Shingo buy some drinks. An goes to the toilet unaccompanied and goes missing. Shingo quickly realizes that An is missing and the rest of the team helps him to look for her. With the match on the brink of cancellation, Maki manages to find An sleeping inside the infirmary. All the boys team members including Sakurai-sensei take turns to apologize to the girls’ soft tennis club. The team then continues the practice match as scheduled.

Later that night, Tsubasa is having casual conversations with his brothers. Suddenly, Tsubasa’s father comes in and asks him why he is still playing soft tennis. Tsubasa becomes angry and yells at him while walking up to his bedroom. Feeling offended, his father then yells back and slaps Tsubasa on his face. This causes Tsubasa to lose his balance and fall down the stairs with his arms outstretched, landing on them in an awkward manner. He then runs away from his house and goes to Shingo’s house.

When Tsubasa arrives in front of Shingo’s house, he is surprised to catch a glimpse of Shingo and tries to run away. Shingo catches up with him and finds out that Tsubasa’s right arm is injured. Shingo tells his father about Tsubasa’s condition, and they bring him to the hospital immediately. Upon medical examination, it is revealed that Tsubasa’s right arm is broken and needs at least 2 months to recover. This causes the pair to be unable to participate in the summer tournament that will be held in less than a month.

Later after receiving treatment at the hospital, Tsubasa and Shingo talk to each other at the park near Shingo’s house. Tsubasa tells him that his dad hates him because he left soccer and nothing he does is ever good enough for his dad. Tsubasa then cries because of what his father did to him, making him unable to participate in the Soft Tennis summer tournament.

The next day, Tsubasa tells the team that he fractured his right wrist, which causes him to withdraw from the summer tournament. This results in Nao and Taiyo taking over their place in the summer tournament. As the team gets discouraged, Nao proposes to pair Shingo with other members. Shingo angrily yells at him, saying that he and Tsubasa are a pair, and he doesn’t want to be paired with anyone other than him. Both Shingo and Tsubasa put their hope in the Nao – Taiyo pair, as they were already practicing hard for the upcoming tournament.

On the day of the summer tournament, Tsubasa and Shingo arrive at the court in order to support the other pairs while playing. During the second match, Tsubasa and Shingo try to motivate the Nao – Taiyo pair. Even after Yuuta's briefing about their opponent's playstyle, the pair remains pessimistic to even win a single game. Tsubasa and Shingo get angry, telling them to stop saying nonsense and believe in their skill. Meanwhile, Maki tells them to use unorthodox strategies to confuse their opponent.

During the match, Nao and Taiyo constantly switch positions between back and front. This strategy succeeds in confusing their opponents and the Nao – Taiyo pair is able to maintain their advantage, forcing the match into a final game. During the final game, both Nao and Taiyo are already exhausted and their performance worsens. They ultimately lose the set, giving victory to Sasaki – Kawakami pair. Although they lose the match, Shingo and Tsubasa both hug them and commend them for giving their best during the match.

At the epilogue, set 2 years after the national soft tennis championship, Tsubasa continues playing soft tennis in his high school.

## Playstyle and Abilities

Tsubasa used to play at the back when paired with Rintaro. However, he takes the front when playing with Shingo. One of the variations in their playstyle include taunting and distracting their opponents by shouting violently in order to make the opposing team lose their focus. This strategy proved useful when the pair was up against Misaki Academy national representative. According to Maki, both Shingo and Tsubasa are self-centered players, which makes them a good pair since they could complement each other's weaknesses and amplify their strengths.

## Relationships

### Shingo Takenouchi

Tsubasa is partnered up with Shingo Takenouchi by Katsuragi Maki, which was at first seen as a bad combination because of their bright and clashing personalities. With time, the two got used to each other's play and began improving together, becoming another strong pair in the team.
It is later on showed that Tsubasa trusts Shingo. Tsubasa is seen standing outside Shingo's household after falling down the flight of stairs, which caused him to break his wrist after an argument with his father. At Shingo's request, Shingo's father took Tsubasa to the hospital to get his broken wrist checked. It is revealed that Tsubasa has a two month recovery, which means he won’t be able to compete in their tournament, which prevents Shingo from debuting in the summer tournament with his new partner.
At the end of Episode 9, it is revealed that Tsubasa and Shingo were in the same soccer club during their elementary school days. Shingo also mentioned how great Tsubasa was at soccer even though Tsubasa denies it and constantly compares himself to his brothers, who also play soccer. Shingo continues to support Tsubasa by listening to his story, learning about how he truly broke his wrist, and Tsubasa's situation with his father. This is a huge step toward completely trusting each other, which Maki had foreseen when he paired up the two for soft tennis.

## Quotes

* *(to Maki Katsuragi)* Tsubasa Soga in Class 2-B. Bug me and I'll punch you. - **(Episode 2)**
* *(to Tsubasa's Dad)* Because you treat me like I'm some idiot! - **(Episode 9)**
* *(to Doctor)* I'm just a clumsy idiot. - **(Episode 9)**
* *(to Shingo)* I wanna play... in our match...! - **(Episode 9)**

## Trivia

* According to the interview with director Akane Kazuki, Tsubasa might not have a hobby that actually seems like a hobby.
* The T-Shirt that Tsubasa wears shows 15 as in “fifteen years old”. It is because he looks up to that age while in fact, he is thirteen years old.
* Tsubasa’s least favourite subject is English.
* Tsubasa’s blood type is A.

### **Etymology**

* The name Tsubasa (翅翼) means wing of a bird.
* Tsubasa’s surname, Soga, means once, formerly, before (曽)(**so**) and selfish, ego (我)(**ga**).