Gunpei Shoji

Gunpei Shoji
Character information
Rōmaji	Shōji Gunpei
Kanji	庄司軍平
Alias	Shogun
Gender	Male
Status
Affiliation	Ojo White Knights
Position	Head coach Trainer
Team	Ojo White Knights
Debut
Chapter	9th Down
Voice actors
Japanese	Tetsuo Komura
Image gallery

Gunpei Shoji (庄司軍平, Shōji Gunpei), nicknamed Shogun, is the head coach and trainer of the Ojo White Knights.

Appearance

Gunpei is a Japanese man in his later years with a muscular build, short white hair and bushy white eyebrows. He has slightly drooped eyes. He is usually seen wearing a short-sleeve shirt with the Ojo pattern/logo on it. On occasion he can be seen wearing a hat that bears a resemblance to a look sported by legendary NFL headcoach Tom Landry.

Personality

Gunpei is a harsh but fair coach and he firmly believes that victory can only be achieved through ultimate defense. He had immediately recognized Shin's potential and had instructed the upper classmen of the team to make certain that Shin was not recruited by any other clubs.

Gunpei has been known to have a knack for using unconventional language, such as declaring that Otawara is not erotic while dressed in a maid uniform as part of a penalty game. He also shown to be very popular among women during his younger days.

History

Young Gunpei.

During his years in university, he had been an ace player for his football team, along with Deimon's trainer Doburoku. Together, they were known as the Twin Japanese Blades. Unlike his former teammate, Gunpei had avoided seriously injuring himself during the Death March Training.

Plot

At present, he believes that the current team of White Knights is the strongest ever. This was proven true as Ojo White Knights toppled the Ojo Silver Knights, with their Golden Generation, using Takami's new tactic, the Ballista (20-3). They managed to scores a clean sheet from touchdowns during that game, and during the tournament up until they get defeated by the Deimon Devil Bats.

Though he and Doburoku are now on opposite sides of the field and are now facing each other as rivals, both still hold great respect toward one another. The two meet on the field prior to the game, in which their teams will face each other in the semi-finals, and both reminisce on their past and how far the Devil Bats and the White Knights have come to get to this point. With the Devil Bats becoming more tenacious in the 2nd half of the game, Gunpei changed the defensive patterns and player assignments in order to prevent Deimon from gaining more points, but the White Knights were being hard-pressed to keep their lead. Near the end, Gunpei commented that Doburoku had raised a good team, whereby his old friend denies this, stating that the Devil Bats had grown all on their own, and that he was just in the way. This statement proved true as the Devil Bats came from behind to win with the Killer Hornet tactic and Sena getting past Shin.

With the White Knights' season over, and Shin being elected as the new team captain, Gunpei approves of his star players goal to surpass Sena in the following year as this will make him stronger.

He is extremely talented. Had he been born in America, it is hinted that he could have possibly played in the NFL. But he did not get to play or expose himself to scouts because he was born and played in Japan. He did not get to play in the NFL like Sena, Seijuro Shin, Hiruma and Yamato and others. There is evidence he still holding his own against the younger guys. He was apparently also popular with women in the old days.