Template:Main Male Yusei Nishida (西田優征 Nishida Yūsei) is a member of the karuta club that Chihaya created. He has been shown to be good at karuta. He is the current president of the Mizusawa karuta club.
Appearance
Nishida is chubby, and has short, sandy blond hair. He usually has his eyes shut. He wears his school uniform most of the time. Also, he wears plain t-shirts and jeans when he isn't at school. During special tournaments and matches, he wears hakamas that the Ōe Traditional Clothing Shop lets the karuta club borrow.
Personality
Yusei is quite competitive. Despite his aggressive personality and tough attitude, he is loyal to his friends, especially when he's played with them as a team. Both traits show when he gives playing tips to Chihaya and the others. He also really loves pork dumplings. And despite his fat look, he is actually quite athletic. He excel not only in karuta but also in tennis which is seen in the manga and also in the anime where he played very well even though tennis is just a substitute for karuta.
Relationships
Arata Wataya
During his childhood, Arata was Yusei's most notable rival. After losing to him, Yusei stopped playing karuta and turned to tennis.
Chihaya Ayase
She and Yusei met as kids in Shiranami Karuta Society's headquarters; they had a 3-on-3 match against each other. According to Taichi, Chihaya and Yusei seem to be pretty much on par at karuta. She calls him Nikuman-kun (Meat Bun Guy) which really annoys him at first. For him, she is the group's airhead, and changing her behavior is out of character for her.
Taichi Mashima
Yusei respects Taichi greatly as the karuta club's president. He is the only one who calls Yusei by his (family) name.
Tsutomu Komano
He calls Tsutomu Desk-kun (Tsukue-kun). He considers Tsutomu as part of the main team, and didn't like it when he let Tsukuba take his place as the starting member for the group tournament so he and Sumire could spy on the other teams.
Yukari Nishida
Yukari is his big sister who is currently Hyoro's girlfriend. He gets annoyed when she supports Hokuo Academy instead of Mizusawa.
History
He was in a competition against Arata in grade school, but lost to him and got second place. In the anime, it is shown that after losing to Arata, he stopped playing karuta as he no longer won, and joined the tennis club instead as a substitute.
Official Matches Record
|
Opponents |
Tournament |
Results |
Cards Differences |
Important Event |
|
Unknown |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win |
Unknown |
- |
|
Unknown |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win |
Unknown |
- |
|
Unknown |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win |
Unknown |
Right after this match, Komano throws a tantrum and left. Taichi showed his leadership here. |
|
Unknown |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win |
Unknown |
- |
|
(Hokuo Academy) |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win (3-2) |
Unknown |
After the match, Hyoro told how he take pride over the trophy. |
|
Unknown (Takechi High) |
High School Team National Championship |
Win |
Unknown |
- |
|
Unknown |
High School Team National Championship (Round 2) |
Lose |
Unknown |
- |
|
Saitama Caruta Tournament (Class B : Final) |
Win |
+1 Card |
||
|
Sudo Akito (Hokuo Academy) |
Meijin East Qualifier Tournament (Round 1) |
Lose |
-20 Cards |
- |
|
Unknown (Shuryukan) |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win |
Unknown |
- |
|
Unknown (Tomihara West High) |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win (3-2) |
Unknown |
- |
|
Unknown (Homei High) |
High School Regional Tournament |
Win |
Unknown |
During the match, the aircond is malfunction and Taichi is having a hard time. He asked for a towel and Chihaya also gave one to him. |
|
Shiroyama (Hokuo Academy) |
High School Regional Tournament |
Lose (2-3) |
-13 Cards |
Even though Mizusawa lost, Mizusawa still become one of the representative for Tokyo region. |
|
(Chiba International School Of Information Sciences) |
High School Team National Championship |
Win (4-1) |
Unknown |
- |
|
(Yamaguchi Mioka High) |
High School Team National Championship |
Win (3-2) |
Unknown |
- |
|
Kawabe (Shoyo High School) |
High School Team National Championship (Quarter-Final) |
Win |
Unknown |
Before this match begins, Nishida snapped because he felt like Komano had given up in karuta. |
|
(First Akashi Girls’) |
High School Team National Championship (Semi-Final) |
Lose but the team win (3-2) |
-7 Cards |
- |
|
(Fujisaki High) |
High School Team National Championship (Final) |
Win (3-2) |
+1 Card Luck-of-the-Draw |
- |
|
(Fujisaki High) |
High School Individual National Championship (Class-A : Round 1) |
Win |
Unknown |
- |
|
High School Individual National Championship (Class-A : Round 2) |
Lose |
-9 Cards |
Nishida realized how much he still need to train the things he lacks. |
Karuta's style
Just like others who are from Suihoku karuta society, Nishida's karuta style is defensive karuta style. Nishida mentioned that his defensive karuta style is about taking 10 cards from your opponent field and defend 15 cards from his own field.
Techniques & Talents
Game Flow Sense
Nishida never actually memorizes the arrangement of all the cards in the field or the cards that had been read or not yet. Rather, he 'senses' the flow of the match and predict which part or which card will be read next. This talent of his helps to reserve both his mental and physical stamina, since he won't be too tired concentrating on forgetting the previous cards arrangement and memorizing the new ones.
Synopsis
Quotes
- (To himself) "Tennis can never replace karuta!"
Trivia
- Chihaya refers to him as Nikuman-kun which means Meat Bun or Porky.
- Nishida's nickname Nikuman-kun is a play on his real name "Nishida" -> "Nikuman".
- Nishida was extremely shocked when he found his sister is dating Retro-kun.
- He has been playing karuta since he was 5 years old. In Chapter 12, he says he has a playing history of 10 years.
- In the manga, Nishida joins the Mizushima karuta club before Komano.