Prince of Tennis:

Reviewed: Episodes 1-105 (subbed)

Basic Plot:

Echizen Ryoma is an incredibly good tennis player, considered a genius at the sport. He enrolls in Seigaku Jr. High to join their tennis team. By beating two of the team members, he is added to the Regular team of eight players. He amazes everyone each time he plays, especially when the team begins entering tournaments and facing very talented players from other schools. But it turns out that Ryoma isn’t really that interested in tennis at all; he just wants to beat his father at the sport, who happens to have been a famous professional tennis player. This series follows the trials of the Seigaku team as they work their way to the national championship.

Review:

First of all, you do not have to like tennis to enjoy this series. In fact, I hate tennis. I think it’s boring. I ordered the first 20-some episodes after seeing a review for it in Animerica magazine. I was very drawn to Ryoma’s character design (the truth is that he looked identical to a real person I was in love with at the time ^^;;). Upon watching the series, I began to adore all of the Seigaku members equally, and even most of their opponents on the opposing teams. That’s the biggest draw of this series. It has so many wonderful male characters. It’s a fangirl’s dream come true! But then it also has the competitive sport angle, which can easily draw in males (in fact, this is a shounen anime, which means it was made to be directed at males anyway).

Aside from that, tennis is portrayed in a way I never thought possible. It’s exciting! It’s fast-paced! It’s dangerous! I’m being serious here. People get seriously injured in this anime, and 99% of the action/violence in this series is directly linked to tennis. Each player has their own set of techniques and moves, and they grow in skill along the way. It’s like Flame of Recca, only with rackets and balls. I was actually surprised at how exciting this show is. There were points where I was actually squealing in anticipation as I fast-forwarded my way to the next episode. If a series can get that sort of reaction from me, I have to love it. Also, it has a healthy dose of humor, mostly stemming from the way such different characters interact with each other.

The animation is very attractive, though not as fluid as it should be. But the creators are clever, using eye-catching pans across stills and neat arrangements of images to distract you from the flaws. Voice acting is nice. The music is great too. So are there any flaws? I’d say the only one I can come up with is the lackage of good female characters. I don’t really hate any of them, but I don’t particularly like any of them either. Female lead Sakuno would be all right if she stood up for herself more often (but I can’t hardly blame her for being backward, since every time she takes a stand, she ends up humiliated and heart-broken). Overall, this is a series I can’t recommend enough. I can’t think of a single audience that would dislike this series.