It was my younger brother, Jan, who got me interested in sports anime. Back when I first started watching anime actively, one of my cousins had turned me to the world of mahou shojou or magic girls via Magic Knight Rayearth and, more memorably, Card Captor Sakura. But it was my brother's interest in sports that would eventually make me watch a different genre. For the most part, I was just really curious why my brother laughed so hard when watching Slam Dunk and The Prince of Tennis.
I can no longer remember when my brother first got a copy of The Prince of Tennis, but since we shared a room back then, I ended up watching the anime adaptation of the manga by Konomi Takeshi with him. I do remember that when he got the copy, the series was still ongoing and it was a pain to find the newer episodes. I say a pain, because it was frustrating having to wait to find out what happened next to the members of the Seigaku tennis club.
The Prince of Tennis introduced us to Echizen Ryoma, a tennis prodigy who joins the Seigaku tennis club, beating out upperclassmen to gain a spot as a regular. He joins team captain Tezuka Kunimitsu, genius Fuji Syusuke, the golden pair Oishi Shuichiro and Kikumaru Eiji, "Burning!" Kawamura Takashi, data tennis expert Inui Sadahara, "Viper" Kaido Kaoru and power player Momoshiro Takeshi. The original anime chronicled the Seigaku tennis club's journey to the nationals, defeating increasingly powerful teams along the way.
It didn't take long for me to become a fan of The Prince of Tennis. Never mind that aside from Echizen, nobody looked like a middle school student. Never mind that everyone had a special move that defied the laws of physics (and potentially illegal in real world tennis). The anime series worked because it featured exciting matches, great humor and a great story of a talented but still struggling team that's trying to reach the goal of becoming national champions.
The New Prince of Tennis continues the story of the Seigaku tennis club after they became the national champions. The team is invited to participate in the famed U-17 Japan Representative Training Camp. It is the first time that middle school students are invited to join the rigorous program, and they are joined by players from the rival middle school teams they competed with before. While they were able to qualify for the program, the middle school students find out that there are very strong players among the high school students who can easily defeat them. They soon find themselves following an unforgiving training regimen and competing to get into higher ranked courts, as well as trying to retain the right to keep training in the camp.
Unlike the original series where matches took several episodes to finish, The New Prince of Tennis fitted a whole lot of events in a span of 13 episodes. Matches took half to one episode, with some relegated to quick updates on who won. There isn't much time to get to know the new characters, such as the different trainers (except for the drunkard Coach Nyudo) and the high school players.
For the most part, The New Prince of Tennis felt like a quick refresher on what the players were capable of doing and it continues to showcase the original series's brand of humor. The main draw of the series is in showing how they strove to become stronger and better players, even if they did have to go through hellish training. Those who trained under Coach Nyudo in particular were subjected to tasks and living conditions that would be considered child mistreatment in many countries, but their eventual progress was satisfying to watch in the end. There are players, however, who received a bit more screen time. Tezuka's lesson from his previous captain regarding his dedication of becoming Seigaku's pillar was probably my favorite part in the too short series.
Since the manga of The New Prince of Tennis is still ongoing, it's understandable that they could only animate chapters up to a certain point. Although I do wish that they took their time with what they had to work with and didn't make everything feel so rushed. In the words of Echizen, "Mada Mada Dane."
Yet, the latest installment in the franchise was still enjoyable to watch and fans of the original series will find it interesting to find out about the new adventures of the Seigaku tennis club.
Happy viewing!!Labels: Adaptation, Anime, Comedy, Drama, Must-Watch, Prince of Tennis, Sports, TV
