Toma Shinjo

* Tennis
* School
* Casual
* Original

**Tōma Shinjō** is the captain of Shijo Minami Boys soft tennis club. He is a younger brother of Ryoma Shinjo, who is also an alumnus of the soft tennis club. As the only member who is devoted to the club, he faces despair as the team was on the verge of disbandment due to their poor performance and the lack of members.

## Appearance

Toma is short in stature and has a slightly tanned complexion. He has peanut brown hair which is parted to the left, and eyes of the same shade. He wears rectangular spectacles with thick black rims.

## Personality

Toma is really devoted to soft tennis. As the captain of the Boys’ Soft Tennis Club, Toma always gives his very best and pushes his limits during every single match. Making it clear why he got angry when he learned that the club was going to disband due to its lack of members and poor performance.

When it comes to the one thing that he’s passionate about, Toma would go to any extent in order to save it from tearing apart. We can see how persistent he was when he was trying to persuade Maki to take part in the Boys’ Soft Tennis Club.

Toma is also caring and understanding to his friends. When Yuuta got bullied, he stepped forward and defended them from the bullies. On another occasion, Rintaro and Maki each told Toma about their problems, to which Toma said he would gladly help them, without any hesitancy.

However, Toma often feels insecure and tends to keep his problem to himself, he is steadily becoming envious toward his friends because he has never experienced love from his parents. The vast number of problems that he keeps for himself is quite troubling and it ends up affecting his soft tennis performance in later matches.

He is also known to be short-tempered, and sometimes gets triggered easily by minor issues. He often channels his anger by using swear words, throwing and kicking objects. This is known as displacement in the terms of psychology.

## Plot

### Childhood

Toma Shinjo attends the same elementary school as Maki Katsuragi. He was raised in a wealthy family. However, he didn’t get the same affection from his parents as his older brother Ryoma Shinjo did. It was implied that his mother was obsessed with raising a perfect child, and therefore neglected him during his childhood. This event traumatizes Toma and makes him feel uncomfortable every time he’s with his mother.

### Shijo Minami Junior High

In his first year of attending the Shijo Minami Middle School, Toma joined the Boys Soft Tennis club, following in his brother's footsteps. While most of the members joined soft tennis because they have no other club to join, Toma joins the club because he is passionate and enjoys playing soft tennis. He is later appointed as the captain of the team.

During his second year, Toma's passion for playing soft tennis is tested. His team was greatly outperformed by the Girls Soft Tennis Club during a practice match, his partner forcefully left the soft tennis team, and during a student council meeting his team was at risk of disbandment due to the lack of positive results. The next day, he met Maki Katsuragi as the new transfer student in his class. Despite being a new student, Maki caught his attention by demonstrating an incredible reflex when catching a cat in the classroom. Fascinated, Toma persuaded Maki to join the soft tennis club. However, this proposal was immediately rejected by Maki as he has no interest in joining any club activities.

Later that night, he consulted Ryoma about Maki joining the club because it was at the risk of disbandment. Ryoma gives his approval to it and Toma is determined to persuade Maki once more. With the help of Yuuta, he learned about Maki's condition and started to make a bargain with him. Toma offered to help Maki with his chores, shopping, provided soft tennis uniforms and equipment for him, and told him that Ryoma approved of him joining the club. Still unsatisfied with this offer, Maki told Toma to pay him to join the club, stating that he’s not made of free time and agreed to join if he’s willing to pay him. Just as Maki about to left him, Toma shouted

Maki suddenly stopped walking and was surprised because he didn’t expect Toma to take his bargain. In addition, Toma said that he’ll even throw an extra payment if that’s still not enough. With no further reaction from Maki, Toma assumes that Maki accepts his offer and agrees to join the soft tennis club. He then asked Maki to come to the locker room near the tennis court the next day and provide him with equipment and uniform needed to join the club. Satisfied with the deal, Toma went back home with a smile on his face.

On the next day, he found out that Yuuta is being bullied by other classmates. He confronted the bully and made them leave Yuuta. The following afternoon, he introduces Maki to the club advisor, Sakurai-sensei, and allows Maki to begin the club activity this afternoon. After handing the equipment and wearing the uniform, Toma introduces Maki to the other members of Boys Soft Tennis Club and at Rintaro’s proposal, the club welcomed him by running a full 20-laps across the field. As each club member's stamina depleted, only Toma and Maki had the endurance to maintain their pace. During the final lap, both Toma and Maki pushed themselves to the limit and both reached the finish line at the same time. After completing all the 20-laps course, he told Maki that they could definitely win the match together. The rest of the team give a warm welcome to Maki afterwards.

The following days, Toma teaches Maki the basic rules and demonstrates some basic stances of soft tennis. After the club activities finished, Toma, Yuuta, and Mitsue accompanied Maki to do some shopping and walk to his apartment. Maki then invites them for dinner.

On the next day, Toma paired with Maki conducts a practice match against all the other members of the club. He argues that it is the best way to teach Maki about the basics and rules of soft tennis. With Maki playing front and Toma in the back, they easily dominated the other pairs and won all the sets. Frustrated by how poorly the other members performed, Toma threw his racket to the ground and furiously left the team.

The next day, he skipped the club activities and went straight home. As he talks to Ryoma, he blamed himself for being an awful captain to the team, which led to the team's poor performance. Ryoma cheers him up and tells him that it’s not his fault for what happened to the team. Toma skipped the club activities again the next day and went to Rokugo Watergate. He told Yuuta that he had enough with the Boys Soft Tennis Club, but Yuuta reminded him that didn't he love playing soft tennis?

Later in the evening, Ryoma got a phone call from Maki, asking him to speak with Toma. As Ryoma passes the phone to Toma, Maki tells him that if the group disbanded, he won’t get his salary, which is a problem for him. Maki then repeatedly orders Toma not to quit the soft tennis club stating that the Boys Soft Tennis Club are better together, while Ryoma hands him a clover talisman. Toma agreed to attend the club activity the next day and apologized to all the members for his selfishness.

As they prepared to begin the club activities, Maki told all the members that they needed to change all the pairs' combinations. Tsubasa paired with Shingo, Itsuki paired with Rintaro, and Nao paired with Taiyo. Maki then tested the new pair combination by conducting a 15-point match. As a result, the Maki and Toma pair lost to two of them and only managed to win a set by a close margin. After the match, the new pairs managed to acknowledge each other's strength.

One day, during a training session, Sakurai-sensei arrived at the soft tennis court and told the team that he arranged a practice match with Misaki Academy Soft Tennis Club. The team agreed and in high spirit to test how well they’re progressing. After the club session, Toma told Maki that he felt grateful to him for giving the team a new spirit and driving them to devote themselves to the game they once neglected.

The next day, Maki approached Toma at the locker room, telling him that he forgot to bring his racket and asked if he could borrow one. Suspicious of Maki's behaviour, Toma asked Maki to come to the classroom and confront him about the situation. After a while, Toma learned that Maki had an abusive father who broke the racket and demanded Maki to prepare money when he came back later this evening. Toma then gives Maki a new racket, withdraws some money for Maki’s father, and accompanies Maki to his apartment. Later that evening, Maki’s father arrived at the apartment. Just when he was about to approach Maki, Toma stepped in and threw 50,000 Yen of cash to him. He added that Maki is his precious partner and he would do anything to protect him, even if it meant killing Maki’s father. Feeling threatened, Maki’s father laughed and told Toma that he could easily kill him first. Maki stepped in and told his father that if he ever laid his hand to Toma, Maki wouldn't hesitate to kill him. After the conversation, Maki’s father left the apartment and Maki thanked Toma for stepping up for his sake.

During class on the next day, Maki became friendlier to him. After class had finished, Toma discussed with Rintaro about the practice plan for the club. Just when Rintaro is about to give him his practice plans, Toma tells him that Maki had formulated the plans for the group. Rintaro then looks away and tells Toma that he is no use for the soft tennis team and blames himself for the reason why the team never shows any positive result. He added that he is a failure in everything he did, never living up to his parent’s expectations. Toma then learned that Rintaro’s parents are not his biological parents, instead his adoptive one. His real mother got pregnant outside marriage and left him to be adopted. Just as Rintaro told Toma that his life has become a burden to the society and a failure, Toma shouted at him and said

Rintaro realized this and apologized for being a selfish person. Just as Maki approached him, he asked Rintaro not to tell Maki about his family issues because he’ll be angry with him. The team continued their club activities and when the team finished their activities, Sakurai-sensei came to the court and briefed them about the practice match against Misaki Academy on the next day. Toma stepped forward and told the team that even though this is a practice match, they should give their all and crush the opponent with it.

During the match against Misaki Academy, the Toma-Maki pair was playing against Oji-Sunaga pair, the ace of Misaki Academy. Despite having an early advantage, the Oji-Sunaga pair managed to flip the situation and win both the first and second set. After losing two straight sets, Maki learned that the Oji-Sunaga pair was not a double player, instead Oji controlling the whole field and Sunaga was just the accessory. He then told Toma to aim his shot at the field between Oji and Sunaga to exploit the pair's weakness. Using this strategy, the pair managed to win the third and fourth set with a perfect score (4-0), forcing the game to a final set. During the final game, the Toma-Maki pair managed to hold the Oji-Sunaga pair equally, forcing the game on a deuce several times. Oji finally realized that it takes teamwork to play doubles in soft tennis and apologize to Sunaga. After the third deuce, the Oji-Sunaga pair managed to work together as a team which made the Toma-Maki pair lose with a score of 11-9. Even though they lost the match, both Toma and Maki were satisfied with the result.

On the next day, as the boys were discussing practice plans, Sakurai-sensei showed up and arranged a barbecue party for them on the following Sunday. During the party, as the team was eating and talking to each other, Arashi Oji showed up with his dog and blended in with the rest of the team. Meanwhile, Toma is sitting by the corner and eating his food alone. Yuuta approached him and asked him why he didn’t join the rest of the team. Toma explained that he had a social anxiety problem, stating that he found it difficult to be around people, slip in, and have fun with them. Moments later, Rintaro asked the whole team to perform their victory dance to motivate the team before the summer tournament.

Next day after the barbecue party, Sakurai-sensei gathered all the Boys’ soft tennis club members and told them that club activities were suspended for a week due to a complaint from Nao’s parents. But he also gave the team good news as the summer tournament team bracket had been announced. When the team looked at the bracket, Toma recognized that they’re up against Hatanouka Middle School. He then discusses with Maki a plan to gather data about Joy Kusakabe, a star player in Hatanaouka Middle School. The next day, Yuuta and Maki cross-dressed as girls and scouted the Hatanaouka Middle School tennis court together with the rest of the team. They’re able to sneak in a video camera and analyze Joy’s playstyle. Within the same week, the team managed to get a practice match with the Girls’ Soft Tennis Team for the summer tournament preparation.

As soon as the suspension period was lifted, the Boys’ Soft Tennis Team underwent a practice match with the Girls’ Soft Tennis Team. The practice match was on the verge of cancellation as Shingo's younger sister went missing before the match. She was locked inside the infirmary by Nao. Fortunately, Maki is able to locate her inside the locked infirmary and the practice match was back on schedule. This time, the Boys had improved a lot and managed to balance the Girls performance. As Toma, Maki, Yuuta, and Mitsue walked to their home, they discussed Nao's behaviour and his overprotective parents.

The next day, the team was surprised when Tsubasa announced his withdrawal from the summer tournament due to his broken right arm. Shingo also withdrew from the tournament because he refused to play with pairs other than Tsubasa. This made Nao and Taiyo pair to participate in the summer tournament. After the club activities, Toma and Maki met Arashi on their way home. As they walked together, they met the Itsuse Brothers, last year's champion of the soft tennis championship. Toma and Arashi were mocked for being inferior to them. At home, Toma became insecure to himself, especially when Ryoma often complimented Maki rather than him. As his problems piled up, Toma yelled at his mother during dinner. His mother then revealed that she didn’t want to be his mother, because all this time she was just doing it for Ryoma.

When the team were practicing on the next day, Kinuyo Kasuga with the student council board greeted the Boys’ Soft Tennis Team. She commended the effort of the Boys' Soft Tennis Team and reminded them that they need to win at least once during the summer tournament to avoid disbandment. After practice, Sakurai-sensei brought some news about the bracket for the summer tournament. Toma realized that he will play against Joy from Hatanaouka Middle School as his first match. Afterwards, Toma was seen entering the art-prep room, talking to Sakurai-sensei.

In the summer tournament, the Toma-Maki pair played against the Joy Kusakabe–Masami Ootomo pair as their first match. In the first set, Toma and Maki were overwhelmed by Joy’s agility and power, giving the first set to the Hatanaouka Middle School. During the second set, Maki reminds Toma that it takes two people working together to play doubles in soft tennis. He asked Toma to redirect all his serve to the back side of the field, which completely ignores Joy. This strategy was proven to be successful as Ootomo was exhausted and unable to return Toma’s serve. Toma and Maki managed to take the second, third, and fourth set, and therefore won the match. The result of the match gave a sense of relief and excitement to all the Shijo Minami Boys’ Soft Tennis Club members as they’re saved from disbandment and left the other participants shocked as they didn’t expect that Hatanouka Middle School pair would lose in the first match.

During the quarterfinals, Toma and Maki were against a third-year pair from Oonishi Middle School, Yamashita and Sakai. Since Toma and Maki had found their pacing of the game, they easily won the game with a perfect 3-0 score. Moving on to the semi-final the pair was against another third-year pair from Umagomekita High School, Nakatani and Kimura. They won the match with a 3-1 score and advanced to the final where they were playing against the Itsuse Brothers.

In the final round, Toma and Maki were overwhelmed by the Itsuse Brothers. They didn’t even manage to score a single point during the first set, losing the set to the Itsuse Brothers. Maki encourages Toma not to get flustered by them but rather play the game as usual. However, they were still overwhelmed during the second set, unable to score even a single point against them. Before the third set began, Maki told Toma that he could easily switch between front and back players as he recently picked up soft tennis. It could be an advantage to the pair as it will catch them off guard. The strategy was similar to the Nao and Taiyo pair playstyle and succeeded in confusing the Itsuse Brothers. As a result, they were able to score a point during the third set and ultimately won the set. Using the same strategy, they were able to go through the fourth set and force the game to a final game. During the final game, the Itsuse Brothers become very anxious of losing the game. This condition affected their performance and the Maki-Toma pair was able to lead 3 points during the set. Fearing they might lose the game for sure, Sora approached Riku and slapped him on the face. He also asked Riku to slap him on his face which made them back to their senses. From there, the Itsuse Brothers managed to turn things around and won the match with a score of 7-3. After the match was concluded, the Itsuse Brothers finally acknowledged the Toma and Maki pair and told them that they put on a great performance. Upon returning to the bench, they were congratulated by the rest of the teams for their effort.

While waiting for the team tournament, Toma called Ryoma's phone and was surprised because it was picked up by his mother. When Toma told his mother about the match result and just about to acknowledge her, his mother informed him that she is filing a divorce application with Ryoma living with her and Toma with his father. Right after the phone call ended, Ryoma arrived at the tennis court realizing that Toma had learned about his mother's condition.

At the epilogue, Toma was attending the same high school as the Itsuse Brothers and during a match against them, Toma was annoyed by his pair, saying that he has no sense of game and repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Toma told him that he couldn’t continue playing with him as a pair and was going to search for another pair. When Toma was walking out of school, he noticed Maki across the street. Both of them stared toward each other intensely as a commuter train passed by at the platform above them.

## Playstyle and Abilities

Toma usually plays as the back player in soft tennis. However, he could also play as the front player. He is able to execute a slice serve with great accuracy, as seen in the match against Hatanouka Middle School.

Toma also has great endurance and stamina. He can consistently maintain his serve and performance throughout the whole match. Besides that, he is able to quickly adapt his playstyle in various situations and is able to produce different strategies in different matches. This has proven to be Toma’s advantage as his opponent didn’t expect it coming and caught off guard when playing against him.

As the president of Shijo Minami Boys’ Soft Tennis Club, he is a respectable leader due to his great performance and his determination to save the club from disbandment.

## Relationships

### **Maki Katsuragi**

Maki Katsuragi is Toma’s friend. The two first met at elementary school and got reunited during the second year of Middle School when Maki transferred to Shijo Minami Middle School.

He convinces Maki to join the school’s Boys’ soft tennis club to pair with him and save the club from disbandment. Maki makes a deal with Toma, stating that he will join the club if Toma gives him money. Toma accepts, and the two pair up, and become the strongest pair on the Shijo Minami Middle School boys’ soft tennis team.

### **Yuta Asuka**

Yuuta Asuka is one of Toma’s close friends. At times when Yuuta got bullied, Toma stepped up and defended him from the bullies. There were also times when Toma was depressed and isolated himself, Yuuta often accompanied him and helped him solve his problem. This is why Toma often tells Yuuta and not the others, about his problems.

### **Ryoma Shinjo**

Ryoma is Toma’s older brother. He is the one who motivates Toma to play soft tennis. He cares for Toma and always supports him to do what’s best for him. When faced with a problem with their mother, Ryoma simply stated that their personality didn’t match up and asked Toma not to think about it too much.

### **Toma's Mother**

Toma’s mother didn’t care about Toma during childhood, since she was obsessed with raising Ryoma as a perfect child, she neglected Toma and never gave him love. This event traumatized Toma and he always felt uncomfortable when his mother was around. His mother told him that he never wanted to raise Toma in the first place, stating that he is a failure that could never be like Ryoma.

### **Kinuyo Kasuga**

Kinuyo Kasuga is the Chairman of the Shijo Minami Student Council. During the meeting with all the club presidents, she told them that a club with no positive result and wasting the school budget should be disbanded because it is nothing more than a parasite. This made Toma angry as she was referring to the Boys’ Soft Tennis Club. However, as the club practiced hard and started showing positive results, Kinuyo gave a visit to the team and appreciated their effort to avoid the club disbandment. She then told the group that they only need to win once during the summer tournament to avoid disbandment. Toma accepted the terms and asked her and the student council board to look forward to their match during the summer tournament.

## Match History

[a]Details of the individual score for each match set was not shown in the anime.

## Quotes

* Unless we win a match during the summer tournament, we will be disbanded – **Episode 1**
* (*Toma to Maki*) 10,000 Yen…. That makes 30,000 by July and if we win the tournament, I’ll add 10,000. That makes a total of 40,000 Yen! – **Episode 1**
* (*Toma to Yuuta bullies*) Don’t think you’re tough because Yuuta won’t fight back! – **Episode 2**
* (*Toma to Maki after 20-lap runs*) Katsuragi…. (*Breathes heavily*) Maki…., with your speed and endurance, if you pair with me, we could definitely win a match – **Episode 2**
* (*Toma, throwing his racket*) What have you been doing? How the hell do you lose to someone who’s never played tennis?! You guys are plain awful. Either that or plain idiots! – **Episode 3**
* Thank you, Maki. Everyone’s changed so much since you’ve came – **Episode 4**
* (*Toma to Maki’s Father*) Maki is my precious doubles partner, don’t torment him anymore – **Episode 5**
* (*Toma to Maki’s Father*) If you keep on tormenting Maki, I…. I’ll kill you. – **Episode 5**
* (*Toma to Rintaro*) Who’s a burden? Who decided that? The mom and dad you have right now love you more than anything! Enough that I envy you! What part of that disappoints you?! Whoever the hell gave birth to you doesn’t matter one bit! – **Episode 5**
* Listen up everyone, this match means everything! It’s do or die! Let’s crush them with everything we got! – **Episode 5**
* I’m bad at being around people, getting along, and having fun. How am I supposed to just slip in there? I just don’t know what to do. – **Episode 7**
* (Toma to Ryoma) Ryoma, all you’ve been talking about is Maki. – **Episode 10**
* (Toma to Kinuyo) The fact that it’s taken something like this for us to get serious is pathetic. I regret it. All of us do. But every day of it has been fun, we’re grateful for it. Please look forward to when we play. – **Episode 10**

## Trivia

* It is implied that he has feelings for Maki, though it's not confirmed yet.
* Toma likes dinosaurs and fossils as his hobby.
* He is the class president of 2-C, the same class as Maki, Yuuta, and Mitsue.
* Regarding his name, **Tōma** (柊真) means ***truth*** and **Shinjo**(新城) means ***New Castle***.
* Toma's Zodiac Sign is Aries and his blood type is O