| Sasuke Tsubaki | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| 椿 佐介 Tsubaki Sasuke | ||
| Age | 16 (chapters 1-86) 17 (chapters 87-present) | |
| Birthday | November 11, 1992 (manga) November 11, 1994 (anime) | |
| Gender | Male | |
| Blood Type | AB | |
| Height | 170 cm | |
| Weight | 56 kg | |
| Eyes | Amber | |
| Hair | Black | |
| School | Kaimei High School | |
| Class | 2-F (chapters 1-209) 3-C (chapters 210-present) | |
| Likes | Illustrated encyclopedias, making designed t-shirts | |
| Dislikes | Those who cause disorder | |
| Affiliation | Student Council | |
| Relatives | Haru Kirishima (biological mother) Ryōsuke Kirishima (biological father) Yūsuke Fujisaki (twin brother) Doctor Tsubaki (Adoptive father) Adoptive Mother Adoptive Grandfather | |
| Manga Debut | Chapter 10 | |
| Anime Debut | Episode 1 | |
| Seiyū | Takahiro Sakurai (Drama CD) Hiro Shimono (anime) | |
Sasuke Tsubaki (椿 佐介) is the former vice-president and current president of Kaimei High School's Student Council. He is generally referred to by his last name, Tsubaki, only.
Backstory
Tsubaki's biological parents were Haru and Ryōsuke, who were both involved in separate car-related accidents on the day of his birth. His mother's car was hit by a doctor, who immediately rushed both Haru and her friend Akane to his clinic. Haru died shortly after Tsubaki and his twin brother Yūsuke were born, and elsewhere his father died to save a child in the street. As Haru knew that her friend Akane would want to try and raise both children without the means to do so, she asked the doctor to find some way of preventing it from happening. He and his wife ended up adopting Tsubaki and raising him as their own child, without Akane knowing that twins had been born.
When he was 15, Tsubaki happened to look at medical records for his parents and discovered that they were both blood type O. As he was type AB, he realized that they couldn't be his biological parents. Additionally, on the day of his 15th birthday, he was hassled by some upperclassmen but saved by Bossun. As a result of the encounter, Tsubaki decided to change and become a stronger person. As a result of his glasses falling off during the fight, he never saw Bossun's face and neither of them seem aware that it was their first encounter.
Appearance
Similar to Bossun, Tsubaki also has messy black hair, though it is considerably shorter. He is usually seen wearing the standard Kaimei High School uniform in a neat and proper manner. He also wears a Vice President armband on his left arm. He has noticeably long eye lashes, which he seems to have inherit from his biological mother, Haru.
When he was saved by Bossun two years prior, his hair was quite long, similar to Bossun's hairstyle and wore glasses.
Personality
He has a strict personality when it comes to people abiding to the rules. He is also strong when fighting especially in close combat, but only displays such brutality when needed. He takes great responsibility for his actions, has a great sense of justice, and is shown to dislike foul play. Though he has a stiff attitude, he is also shown to be very caring especially towards his friends. Like his brother, he has inherited the will to help people. This was triggered when somebody saved him from being hassled by upperclassmen. His stiff composure can be interrupted when others teased him and when he competes with Bossun.
Major Story Points
Kindergarten Performance
Tsubaki threatens to disband the Sket Dan, declaring it to be a useless club that only serves to attract delinquents like Momoka and her followers. When Yabasawa shows up with a request to perform a play for a local kindergarten, it turns into a contest between the Sket Dan and the Student Council. The Student Council gains the assistance of the Theater Club by promising them additional funding. However, when Kitaōji, the head of the Theater Club, sabotages the Sket Dan's props and costumes to ensure their loss, Tsubaki is so enraged by the foul play that he punches Kitaōji, knocking the latter unconscious. As a result, Tsubaki takes on Kitaōji's role of Peter Pan - learning the entirety of his lines in a very short span of time.
Though Tsubaki is at first irritated by the improvisational nature of the Sket Dan's puppet show, he ultimately admits that the children enjoyed it and gives up on disbanding the club for a while.
Gachinko Vivage Battle
17th Birthday
Tsubaki learns the truth of his birth from his foster father, as well as the fact that he is a twin. As a result, he is absent from school on the day of the culture festival. He comes to realize that Bossun is actually his twin brother and turns up at the end of the festival. The two decide that their relationship won't change simply because of their newly discovered blood ties, but Bossun does invite Tsubaki to come to dinner at his house sometime.
Principal's Bust
Tsubaki is seen starting the Student Council meeting with his usual uptight demeanor. Initially, he is rejected and ignored by everyone which prompts Tsubaki to nag about how a student council should act and show a good example. With that, everyone started the meeting properly, with Michiru Shinba being the first one to report. Stating that the Sket Dan had broken a light bulb whilst playing football in the corridor, Tsubaki wants nothing more than to go scold them but is cut short when Agata has something to report. Apparently, a student came apologizing to him for accidentally crushing some flowers with the reason being that he practiced Shiranui-Style sumo entrance by the flower bed and tripped over in the process. In the end, they realized that the culprit was Bossun since the description that Agata gave matched him exactly. After that, Daisy reported that the doorknob to the girl's changing room broke; initially Tsubaki blamed Bossun for it but instead the culprit was Daisy herself which shocks Tsubaki. Lastly, Mimori reports that she had completely reconstruct the girl's bathroom as a request from a student which prompts another outburst of words from Tsubaki about how she should not go reconstructing things. Asking Agata for advice about the situation, Tsubaki finds him asleep and wakes him, only to find him ending the meeting to Tsubaki's surprise.
Tsubaki then goes to the principle's room to get ready for the principle's birthday party with everyone else but as they went in, they notice that the principle owns a bust designed from his own face. Everyone agrees that it does not resemble the principle at all with the lack of glasses and this made Agata draw a pair of glasses with a permanent marker pen. Daisy herself drew dots on the eyes with the pen and regrets it soon after. While starting to panic, Daisy suggests that they wipe the ink of by retracing with non-permanent marker ink to counter the permanent marker ink, though this ended with disastrous results. Even more panicked than before, everyone turns to Tsubaki for help. He suggests that they use oil from potato crisps to make it easier to remove. Desperate, they tried his suggestion but to no avail and made it even worse. Agata and Michiru both jokingly tease Tsubaki by saying that this was all his fault but Tsubaki ends up nearly crying and wants to resign his post; to which Agata and Michiru apologize and openly state that he really resembles Bossun. Finally, Agata suggests that the three of them should scrape it all off but end up defacing the statue in the end. At that moment, Mimori comes to the principle's office to tell everyone about the principle's arrival. Tsubaki quickly thinks of a way to stall him by challenging him to a repeated sidestepping contest. While the principle was distracted, Daisy pokes him in the eye while Agata throws a pie that knocks him out. This stalled enough time the Unyuu group to create a new bust for the principle.
Fortune Teller
After hearing about the fake fortune teller Himiko Minakami scamming students and other people alike, Tsubaki agrees to help Bossun in his plan whereby he has to pretend and act like Bossun during Minakami's fortune telling show. As Bossun's plan is set into action, everything goes accordingly when Minakami proceeds to "read" about Bossun's past and telling him that he has a twin brother that he had recently found out. Bossun, who is actually Tsubaki in disguise, calmly tells her that she is wrong as she had "read" about Bossun's past and not his. The real Bossun then shows up telling everybody that the reason why Minakami's "readings" were so accurate was because she does some research on her show's participants before the actual day of the fortune telling show. In the end, the fake fortune teller is defeated and Reiko thanks Tsubaki as well as the Sket Dan for their help.
Quiz Society
Tachi High
Special Abilities
- Martial Arts: Tsubaki is a black belt in both karate and judo. His specialty lies in punching techniques and using his fists, though he also has experience in other martial arts and kendo. When he first entered high school, the boxing club even attempted to recruit him. His punch is strong enough to leave a significant hole in a wall, as evidenced by his first encounter with Shinzō.
Relationships
- Sōjirō Agata: Tsubaki both admires and respects Agata, even continuing to call the latter "president" after he has graduated. Even though they have their differences in opinion, Tsubaki will ultimately always listen to Agata's requests. At one point, when Agata suspects that his sister Saaya has feelings for Tsubaki, he thinks that he would be fine leaving his sister in Tsubaki's hands.
- Bossun: Though they are twins, they view each other as rivals and end up fighting or arguing whenever they meet. Despite this, they do have some brotherly moments and, as others have noted, they are actually more alike than they'd admit. On the boys' 15th birthday, Bossun actually ended up protecting Tsubaki from a group of bullies - ultimately inspiring Tsubaki to become a stronger person. Neither is aware of the others' role in this previous encounter, however. In addition to their opposing personalities, they also have opposing traits. Tsubaki is stiff while Bossun is flexible; Tsubaki is physically strong while Bossun is weak. However, they both enjoy helping others. Their relationship grows strong enough to the point where they work together to solve problems such as stopping a thief. At one point, Agata questions Tsubaki of where did he see them in the future. Tsubaki replies that he wants to be closer to Bossun, though their stubborn personalities often get in the way.
- Kiri Katō: At first, Katō belittles Tsubaki's position as student council president, refusing to take orders from him or act along with the rest of the group. However, after the incident with Kutsuwa, where Tsubaki refused to abandon Katō, the latter became Tsubaki's staunch supporter and self-appointed bodyguard. Katō and Tsubaki's relationship is often juxtaposed with Himeko and Bossun's. Tsubaki is sometimes exasperated by Katō's loyalty towards him because Katō makes him feel as if he can't do anything on his own. There have been occasions where he orders Katō to stop hovering over him, though his is the one order which Katō disobeys regularly.
Trivia
- Tsubaki is left-handed and the first kanji of his name contains the radical 左, which means "left."
- He has poor vision and usually wears contacts. When he was saved by Bossun two years prior, he wore glasses.
- During the Kaimei Rock Festival, he was the lead guitarist in the Student Council Band.
- After an incident involving Chū-san's Hypno drug and a cat, both the manga and later episodes of the anime show recurring jokes about Tsubaki expressing cat-like behaviour when faced with moments of stress - notably using 'nya' like a nervous tic.
- Unlike other characters of the series, his eyes lack highlights, signifying his poor vision.
Quotes
- To Bossun: "Perhaps I would be happier about all this if my long-lost brother were someone else." (Chapter 90, page 8, top panel)
- To Daisy: "I just can't forgive anyone who hurts my friends." (Chapter 119, page 15 top panel)
- To Agata: "I will give everything that I have! For the sake of a better school!" (Chapter 205, page 15, bottom left panel)
- To Katou: "Because I won't abandon you! So don't abandon us!" (Chapter 178, page 9, top right panel)