Yuusuke Saeki

Yuusuke Saeki
Character Info
Kanji Name	佐伯 祐介
Romanji Name	Saeki Yūsuke
Gender	Male
Date of Birth	2/25
Blood Type	AB
Team	Kamakura Middle school Kamakura High School U-16 Borussia Dortmund
Position	Midfielder
Number	6 (Kamakura), 12 (U-16), 22 (Dortmund)
First Appearance
Voice Actor
Voiced By	Shingaki Tarusuke

Yuusuke Saeki (佐伯 祐介, Saeki Yūsuke^?) is a friend of Aizawa brothers back from middle school. While Kakeru transferred to Enoshima, he stayed in Kamakura and became a first year starter as a defending midfielder. He is noted to be a genius and possess both physical fitness and wide vision that makes him an ideal football player.

Background

Meeting for the first time.

Yusuke, along with Kakeru and Kouta, attended Kamakura Middle School together. It was revealed that he first met Kakeru when they were turning in their application for the football club. Through the intense training and their passion for soccer, he and Kakeru quickly became close friends.

After the death of Suguru, Yusuke became the captain of the soccer team for the middle school division. Also, during his third year, he was scouted to represent Japan in the National Team for the first time.

Appearance

Saeki Yusuke

Yusuke has an average height with brown hair and eyes. He was noted to have grown at least 5 cm since middle school along with an increase in power that's reflected in his middle shots. Most of the time, he can be seen in a Kamakura High team jersey, which consists of a gray under shirt with white and blue jacket and pants. During official matches, he dons the dark blue and black jersey with the number "6" on the back.

Personality

Most of the time, Yusuke is very calm and easygoing. In a normal situation, he can always be seen with a kind smile on his face. In soccer, he is shown to be very determined but humble. Even though he is often noted to be genius himself, he is not arrogant and have the humility to admit his admiration for others. In addition to his natural talents, he puts a lot of efforts in improving his skills.

Above all else, Yusuke is portrayed as a loyal friend. He can be seen worrying for his friends, mainly Kakeru, and is willing to stand up for them when others are looking down on them. This can be seen in his early encouragement of Kakeru for him to return to soccer.

Relationships

Kakeru Aizawa

Old friends facing off against each other.

Yusuke and Kakeru are close friends from Kamakura Middle School. He was one of the few who acknowledged Kakeru's potential as a forward in the very beginning. Like Suguru, he wanted Kakeru to return to football instead of being a manager and sitting on the sidelines. After Suguru's death, he became the captain of the football team and was well aware of how much effort Kakeru had put in to overcome his weakness. He along with Kunimatsu tried hard to convince Coach Kumagai to let Kakeru play. During the match, he saw Kakeru hesitating to appeal against the coach and decided to open his eyes. Yusuke began passing the ball to empty areas on the field as if a forward like Kakeru would definitely receive those passes and convert them into goals. After Kakeru went on the field, they worked well together and scored two goals. When Yusuke found out that Kakeru was transferring to another school, Yusuke expressed that he would be lonely and sad that Kakeru could not receive his passes anymore. Later during Enoshima matches, Yusuke can always be seen cheering for Kakeru and his team.

The two friends and ex-teammates finally faced off against each other in the regional finals. During their face-off, both Yusuke and Kakeru voiced their admiration and the importance of each other in their own growth as soccer players. Yet because of this, they both refused to lose to the other, demonstrating their friendly-rivalry.

Suguru Aizawa

Yusuke looks up to Suguru as a senior and role model. When he was depressed for unable to pass Kunimatsu's defense in a match, Suguru cheered him up and told him that it would be difficult even for him to steal the ball from Yusuke. From then on, Yusuke aspires to become the same person who can inspire younger players to play football. Nana noted that Yusuke is the same type of player as Suguru and would observe him closely so he can mimic Suguru's techniques.

Position

Defensive Midfielder

Stats

Technique		9
Passing		9
Shooting		8
Physical		7
Dexterity		9

Etymology

• The name Yusuke means "help, assist" (祐) (yuu) and "forerunner, herald" (介) (suke).
• Yusuke's surname Saeki means "help, aid" (佐) (sa) and "count; eldest brother; chief official" (伯) (eki).