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Takigawa Chris Yū
Seidou High School
Catcher, Manager
Bats: right Throws: right
Kanji 滝川・クリス・優
Nickname Master or Mentor (師匠 Shishō) (by Sawamura)
Characteristics
Gender Male
Age 17 (debut)

18 [1]

Date of birth 1 October
Place of birth Tokyo
Bloodtype B
Height 180 cm (5' 11")
Weight 70 kg (154 lbs)
Family Jorge "Animal" M. (Father)
Status
Education 3rd Year High School (debut)

Seidou Alumnus [2]

Class 3-D
First Appearance
Manga Act I - Chapter 18
Anime S1 - Episode 7
Cast
Voice Actor Namikawa Daisuke
Leading the team with the aim to win. That's Chris-senpai's style of baseball.
Miyuki about Chris

Takigawa Chris Yuu was a student of Seidou high school and a member of the Seidou High School Baseball Team. Because of a shoulder injury, he had to take a year off for rehabilitation and lost his position as the starting catcher. The coach asked him to stay in the position of a manager to guide the team. Therefore he is known as the "behind-the-scene person of influence" in Seidou. He was a former roommate of Kanemaru Shinji, and after the third years' retirement, he was roommates with Masuko Tooru and Makihara.

Appearance

A very handsome boy, with brown eyes, thick brown eyebrows, and brown hair which is slicked back with two strands hanging on his forehead. His eyes lost their shine due to the rehabilitation with no end in sight he has been undergoing. Because of that he had a gloomy aura around him and all the first years thought that he is hard to handle. It was revealed that many pitchers have quit because of him. But Sawamura's optimistic nature rubbed off on him, returning the former light back to his eyes.

He wears a short hairstyle in Act II instead of the comb back style he used to have.

Character

Chris is an uncompromising, hard worker and strong willed because as long as a single strand of hope remains, he will never give up on baseball.

Although he is not active as a player, he commands great trust from the same school year members. Chris is the member of the team who is most knowledgeable about baseball. One of Chris' main job is to look after the fitness of the freshmen pitchers. He is loved by his fellow third years for his knowledge in baseball and how helpful is Chris as he gives advice to others when it came to baseball. He also feels the same towards the the third years as he revealed how much it mattered to him on graduating with the others from Seidou, despite the fact his father disliked the school and pressured him not to continue at Seidou after Chris's injury.

Throughout the series, he has keen eyes observing the players with potentials and players who works best during defense of offense. He is one of the few people who understands Miyuki's action while on field and commends on members with great output.

After every game, he is one of the self-reflection coaches who helps Sawamura and Furuya reflect on their mistakes during the ballgame. He does the soft approach while Miyuki takes on the bad guy role.

History

Chris started his baseball career early, inheriting his dad's (aka "the Animal") passion who was active in Japan pro-baseball. He's got talent in strategy, defense and leadership which gave him advantage over other teams such as Miyuki's as part of the Marugame Senior League and eventually being recruited at Seidou.

He is the only freshman recognized by the seniors to have the potential to make it to the first string, yet he believes that Yuuki and the others are something more than what they were.

Due to invisible pressure he has to bear as a famous baseball player's son and as a famous catcher, his body began to crumble by repeatedly hiding his shoulder injury. Although injuries are something every sportsman has to deal with, the trainers did not realize his injury until it was too late. He tore his subscapularis tendon as well as that of his pronator quadrutus (near shoulder and wrist, hence, Chris cannot throw). He then had to go through careful exercises under his father's instruction.

At the start of the series, his father rejected the idea of him rejoining Seidou for he believed it was them who caused his suffering. He later on changed his mind upon realizing how little he knew that his son had the same passion he had when he was younger. [3]

Relationship with other characters

Miyuki Kazuya

Miyuki really admires Chris. It is revealed, that Chris and Miyuki met before their time as teammates in Seidou[4]. The two of them played against each other in junior high – at the end of the game Miyuki says that he was totally destroyed by Chris. Takashima tells Sawamura that the only team in junior high Miyuki lost against was led by Chris.[5]

Initially their relationship was adversarial. Upon introducing himself as a first year student to Chris, an ambitious Miyuki was outwardly respectful, but vowing inwardly to go after and take Chris's first string spot on the team. Little did he know that Chris was already experiencing the initial symptoms of the shoulder injury that would eventually force him off the varsity team. Being given the first string catcher's position after Chris's injury was a disappointment for Miyuki because he wanted to earn it. While other players have had a rival or two to chase after, Chris was the only teammate playing the catcher's position at his level.

Despite being unable to compete with Chris, Miyuki took opportunities to seek his help, especially when it came to managing Sawamura in particular. He continued to ask for Chris's help after his retirement to help Sawamura get over his bout with the yips, and later for himself as a physical therapy partner recovering from his injury in the fall tournament that sidelined him for 3 weeks. It's during this time that they spent together that Miyuki finally concedes that he would never be able to beat Chris no mater how hard he tried.

Miyuki is one of the few underclassmen who knows Chris's history on the team and is a staunch supporter. Making disparaging remarks about Chris in Miyuki's presence is enough to set off his temper as Sawamura discovered during a complaint-laced rant about being paired with Chris for his initial training.

Sawamura Eijun

Their first encounter was a disaster. When Sawamura was in the second string, he was assigned to work with Chris. But both Sawamura and Chris didn't like to be teamed up. Because of Sawamura's stupidity and inexperience, Chris tells Sawamura that he won’t be able to be the ace in the future.

During Furuya's pitching debut, Sawamura gets angry at Chris' constant melancholy and yells that he'll never become a soulless player like him. Chris turns his back to Sawamura and says that Sawamura hit the mark, and not to become like him.

Afterwards, after a run in which an infuriated Miyuki who overheard Sawamura talking about the exchange with Takashima, Sawamura is informed about Chris' injury and his strong will to recover. Sawamura – who didn’t know that Chris went to physiotherapy everyday after practice – is stunned and immediately regrets his words. He confronts Chris and bows his head to the floor to apologize, and asks for another chance. They then worked together again, slowly polishing Sawamura's skills.

The two formed a battery only once during a scrimmage in which Sawamura pitched with a form taught to him by Chris and Kataoka. Ono isn't able to catch those pitches and so the coach asks Chris if he is able to bring out Sawamura's talent in this match, and allows Chris to catch regardless of  him still recovering, and the two dominated.

On several occasions, Chris has greatly helped Sawamura recover his confidence.[6] He often gives pieces of advice to which Sawamura readily accepts, whether he understands it or not.

Player Statistics


Defense
 
4/5
Shoulder
 
4/5
Running
 
3/5
Physical Strength
 
3/5
Mental Strength
 
4/5
Batting
 
3/5
Contact
 
3/5
Power
 
3/5

Trivia

  • Chris ranked 6th in the first Official characters popularity poll, moving up from 7th in the primary online voting result. [7]
  • He has a quiet voice.
  • He respects his father for always helping him with the rehabilitation.
  • He respects Iván Rodríguez
  • In his junior high days he was called No.1 catcher in Tokyo.
  • When he came to watch Seidou vs. Sousei game in Act II, he wears a Cardinals shirt referencing the MLB team St. Louis Cardinals .[8]
  • Rankings from the guidebook:[9]
    • Game leading: He ranks first, with Miyuki Kazuya right behind him.
  • Favorite Food: Chocolate [9]
  • Favorite Subject: English, Classical Literature [9]
  • Hobbies: Training and body/health research [9]
  • His dorm room number is 202. [9]
  • In junior high, he was in the same Marugame Senior League as Shirakawa Katsuyuki.
  • According to Terajima's twitter:
  • Chris has his hair styled the way it is because he easily gets depressed.
  • Statistics from when he was 14 and a second year junior high student as recorded by Miyuki:
    • Height: 165 cm
    • Weight: 55 kg
    • Bat to Ball Contact: A
    • Power: A
    • Running: B
    • Shoulder: A
    • Base Protection: A

Name Etymology

  • Takigawa (滝川) - Rapids
  • Chris (クリス) - Carrier of Christ
  • Yuu (優) - Higher/Superior
  • Unbeknownst, Chris's voice actor Daisuke Namikawa, also voiced Joe Gibson Jr. in Major (also a baseball anime), who is also a son of a former Major Leaguer who played for the Japanese League.

Quotes

  • "You’re the one who has given up on returning to the first string. So I don’t want to be lectured by someone like you. No matter how high the wall is, I will never become a soulless player like you." - Sawamura [10]
  • "Chris, that kid is waiting for you at the pitching mound!" - Kataoka [11]
  • "He's still the same. Giving all he's got got just to get a runner out. Leading the team with the aim to win. That's Chris-senpai's style of baseball." - Miyuki [3]
  • "I only find out when I stand in the batter's box, what kind of pitcher you are." - about Sawamura [12]
  • "Baseball is the kind of sports where the game starts when the pitcher throws the ball. You can say that the pitcher's responsibility is huge." - Sawamura and Furuya [13]
  • "Is not a bad thing to be chosen as a first string member. You don't have to burden yourself with everything alone." - to Sawamura [13]
  • "What’s more important than being hit is what happens after you’re hit." - to Sawamura [14]
  • "A low outside pitch. Someone like you, who devoted himself to attacking all this time, this is the pitch I want you to learn the most." - to Sawamura [15]

Gallery

References

  1. Act I - Chapter 260
  2. Act I - Chapter 412
  3. 3.0 3.1 Act I - Chapter 31
  4. Act I - Extra Chapter 48.5 "Miyuki Kazuya"
  5. Act I - Chapter 21
  6. Act I - Chapter 223
  7. Act II - Chapter 51
  8. Act II - Chapter 204
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Official Guide Book - Omote
  10. Act I - Chapter 20
  11. Act I - Chapter 28
  12. Act I - Chapter 235
  13. 13.0 13.1 Act I - Chapter 39
  14. Act I - Chapter 110
  15. Act I - Chapter 224

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