THE PRINCE OF TENNIS

is a popular manga and anime series created by Takeshi Konomi. The manga was first published in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shonen Jump'' in Japan on July 1999. The manga is published in English in North America by Viz Media. The series was put under hiatus when Konomi was injured in an accident during the Summer of 2006, but publication resumed in September 2006. Publication is scheduled to end at the end of the year in Weekly Shonen Jump Issue No. 52.
The anime series, directed by Takayuki Hamana, animated by Trans Arts and co-produced by Nihon Ad Systems and TV Tokyo, aired across Japan on the anime satellite television network Animax and the terrestrial TV Tokyo network from October 10, 2001 to March 30, 2005, spanning a total of 178 episodes. Beginning in April of 2006, an OVA continuation of the anime began to be released on DVD. A second OVA series has been announced to begin release on June 22 2007, roughly 3 months after the end of the first.
The title is often shortened to ''Teni-Puri'', a portmanteau of the two parts in the Japanese pronunciation of the words, ''Tennis Prince''. This is also evident in some of the Chibi episodes in the anime, where all the regulars of Seishun Gakuen are members of the Teni-Puri family.
The series has produced a half-hour weekly radio show, over 100 music CDs, several games, movies, multiple live-action musicals and a large selection of merchandise. On May 13, 2006 the live-action adaptation film, ''The Prince of Tennis'', was released in Japan. As of volume 35, the manga has sold over 37 million copies in Japan.^[1]
''The Prince of Tennis'' anime has been announced to be a part of Cartoon Network's new online broadband service called Toonami Jetstream. It began streaming July 14, 2006. The anime began airing on Toonami's Saturday night block on December 23, 2006, though some episodes were initially skipped. Beginning on February 24, 2007, the episodes aired, restarting at the beginning, going in order. However, it is now off the schedule as of June 9, 2007.
In the Philippines, ''The Prince of Tennis'' aired weekdays on QTV 11 (now Q 11) (part of its afternoon anime block "Anime Revolution"), but later ended. Although, due to popular demand, The Prince of Tennis was aired back on Q on the same time slot. It later moves to GMA 7, airing on weekdays.
On August 16 2007, Japan's Nikkan Sports newspaper announced that China, which began airing ''The Prince of Tennis'' anime series in the summer of 2006, will be producing a live-action drama of ''The Prince of Tennis'' manga. Shooting of the series will begin in October 2007, and it is expected to begin broadcast sometime around June 2008, just before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.^[2][3]

Contents

Plot

Characters

Players

★ Regulars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Other players ★ ★ : second year in Seigaku's tennis club who will probably end up a Regular his third year. ★ ★ Masaya Ikeda ★ ★ Daisuke Hayashi ★ ★ : Know-it-all first year in the tennis club with "two years of tennis experience". Main source of comic relief. ★ ★ : first year in tennis club who is a voice of reason for Horio. ★ ★ : Basically the same as Kachiro, but Katsuo is not featured as much.

Others

Supporting characters

Manga

Anime

Episode list

DVD

Anime and Manga differences

References

External links

Plot

The series is primarily set in Tokyo. Ryoma Echizen, a tennis prodigy, attends , or Seigaku (青学) for short, a school famous for its strong tennis club and talented players. Ryoma quickly defeats numerous upperclassmen shortly after entrance to secure himself a spot on the regulars team. In pursuit of their ultimate goal of winning the all-Japan junior high tennis championship, members of the team make new friends while learning and mastering increasingly complex techniques.

Characters

Names are in Western order, with the surname after the given name.

Players

Seishun Academy Middle School

★ Regulars

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★ Other players

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★ : second year in Seigaku's tennis club who will probably end up a Regular his third year.

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★ Masaya Ikeda

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★ Daisuke Hayashi

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★ : Know-it-all first year in the tennis club with "two years of tennis experience". Main source of comic relief.

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★ : first year in tennis club who is a voice of reason for Horio.

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★ : Basically the same as Kachiro, but Katsuo is not featured as much.

Rival schools

Main articles: Prince of Tennis: Rival Schools

Others

★ U.S./American Team/Western United States

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Supporting characters

★ - Ryoma's father and former tennis pro. Nanjiro is currently a monk, though he doesn't act much like one. His name is spelled ''Nanjiro Echizen'' in the English manga and ''Nanjirou Echizen'' in Roman characters in the Japanese version of the anime.

★ - Coach of Seigaku's tennis club, as well as the former coach of Ryoma's father.

★ - Sumire's granddaughter and first year who clearly has a crush on Ryoma. A sweet and extremely shy girl who started playing tennis inspired by Ryoma's example and works hard to sharpen her skills.

★ - First year who is Sakuno's best friend. Also is president of the Ryoma Echizen Fanclub. She's a loud, pushy and energetic girl who likes cheering on the Seigaku team loudly and always catfights with Horio.

★ Karupin: The Echizens' mischievous and surprisingly intelligent cat, whose name was based off the popular Japanese drink "Calpis Water"

★ - Reporter for Monthly Tennis magazine who follows the Seigaku team and is a big fan of Nanjiro Echizen.

★ - Photographer for Monthly Tennis who follows the team with her sempai and guide, Inoue.

★ - Kippei Tachibana's younger sister who supports Fudomine, she gets along well with the Seigaku members especially Momoshiro, whom she helped to regain his spirits when he was dropped off the regulars line. She's a second year player in the Fudomine girls' tennis club.

★ - Ryoma's college-bound cousin who lives with Ryoma and his parents.

★ Rinko Echizen - Ryoma's mother, and Nanjiro's wife. Sweet and compliant, always calm in any situation.

★ - Hyoutei Gakuen's coach. A stern and noble coach, as well as very eccentric.

★ Mikiya Banda (aka Banjii) - Coach of Yamabuki's tennis club, and the coach of a previous school that defeated Seigaku in the past when Echizen's father was on the team.

★ Miyuki Chitose - Tomboyish younger sister of Shitenhouji ace Senri Chitose, has a brother/sister friendship with Tezuka.

★ - The arrogant and stern coach of the U.S./American Team, he seems to believe he owns his pupils.

Manga

Main articles: List of Prince of Tennis chapters

Anime

Episode list

Main articles: List of Prince of Tennis episodes

DVD

''The Prince of Tennis'' volume 1 boxset was released in the United States on April 24 2007.

★ VIZ has also opted to not include the Japanese intro/ending themes (as compared to their other anime box release; Naruto)

★ The intro/ending themes can be found on Disc 3 of the set in "Extras."

Anime and Manga differences

The anime is slightly different from the manga version. While most of the story and characters (e.g Ryoma Echizen, Takeshi Momoshiro, Shusuke Fuji) are the same, there are small story-changes in the animated version because Konomi thought it would be too boring to watch what fans have already read.

★ Table tennis scenes and billiard scenes exist in the anime, but not in the manga.

★ The anime has already ended while the manga has not. There are 178 episodes and 352 chapters up currently. A year after the end of the anime, a 13-episode OVA was made to adapt further events in the manga. Another OVA series is being released currently, from which the first 2 of what are going to be 6 OVAs from the Semifinal Round were released on June/22/2007.

★ Some schools are exclusive to the anime (Jyousei Shonan) and others are exclusive to the manga (Midoriyama).

★ Some events take place at different times. For example, Kirihara visits Seigaku in the manga prior to the District Regionals, but he doesn't meet them in the anime until after the Tokyo Prefecturals. Inoue and Shiba also visit Nanjirou much earlier in the anime then they do in the manga, and are introduced earlier (in the manga they don't show up until Ryoma's match against Inui)

★ Also, the anime starts shifting from the manga starting from the Rokakku arc. In the manga storyline, it is not Ryoma who faces Kentaro Aoi, but rather Kaoru Kaidoh.

★ In the anime, Ryoma faces off against Sanada before the Rikkaidai match and gets crushed. In the manga, he plays against Kirihara before the match, activates the State of Self Actualization, and wins.

★ The manga shows growth in tennis skill through modes of self-actualization. The anime doesn't, showing Ryoma's skill only extending to his "Cyclone smash".

★ The episodes in the anime dealing with Kevin Smith and the U.S. West Coast Team do not take place within the manga.

★ While the manga makes an attempt to try and explain how some of the seemingly impossible moves are performed, such as the Tezuka Zone and Kikumaru's Seal Steps, the anime does less and sometimes even exaggerate them to a point where it becomes almost magical. This is possibly also due to the fact that the anime uses animation and naturally some effects are enhanced. But at times it seems that the anime is deliberately exaggerating the effects in order to parody itself. In the animated movie, Tezuka's skill and power has been compared to that of the meteorite which led to the extinction of dinosaurs in a lengthy clip; even the author found it so exaggerated that it was funny. Another instance is Ryoma's anime-only Cyclone Smash which, unlike many powerful smashes in the series which blows away the opponents racket, blows away Sanada completely.

★ When Tezuka is injured, in the manga he goes to Kyushu for his shoulder. However, in the anime, Tezuka goes to Germany instead. In the OVA, however, Tezuka is also said to have gone to Kyushu to recover his confidence in his shoulder.

★ The anime (especially the anime-only stories and chibi episodes) sometimes parodies and even makes fun of the story itself, for example, Inui Juice, Tezuka Zone, and Fuji in his open-eye mode. Overall, the manga is more serious and does not tend to make fun of itself to that extent.

References

1. Comipress News article on "The Rise and Fall of Weekly Shōnen Jump".
2. ''The Prince of Tennis'' adapted into a live-action drama in China. Anime News Network. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
3. Nikkan Sports article announcing China's plan to produce ''The Prince of Tennis'' live-action drama series. Nikkan Sports. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.

External links

;Official sites:

★ Animax's official ''Prince of Tennis'' website

★ TV Tokyo's Prince of Tennis Site

★ Shueisha's Prince of Tennis Site

★ Official Prince of Tennis Site

★ Viz's Shonen Jump's Prince of Tennis Site

★ ''The Prince of Tennis'' on Toonami Jetstream
;Profiles:

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★ ''The Prince of Tennis'' at Anime News Network

★ ''The Prince of Tennis'' at Animenfo.com

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