Customer Reviews

The Prince of Tennis, Volume 1

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have just come home and read the Prince of Tennis and am still on a high from the story. I skirted around getting it for awhile before my curiosity got to me. Ryoma is a great character, perhaps reminding me a tinsy bit of Akito Hayama fromm Kodocha but with more spunk, fight, and occasional humor. Fairly serious, unresponsive, and blunt nature but with so much more to him. I find him an endearing main character and enjoy every match he wins. I just love characters that beat the odds.

The couple of other 7th graders that pal around a bit with Ryomo in the club are enjoyable side characters, and I'm quite intrigued by the team of the highest players of the school. This book humored me so much and got me helplessly addicted to the story. Another anime you might compare to this could be Princess 9(though I haven't yet watched it). I highly recommend this series! I think if you like series such as One Piece and Naruto, even though they're very different, you would like this.

Tennis anyone?

Ok, I honestly love Prince of Tennis. It's my favorite anime of all time, so I'll try to stay neutral in this review :D

The story is very simple:
Echizen Ryoma is a young boy with superb tennis abilities. He enrolls at Seishun Gakuen (or Seigaku for short), a school that has one of the best tennis teams in the region. He is quicky accepted into the team and becomes famous because he's the only freshman who was ever accepted (besides Tezuka). The story goes through 178 episodes of learning about teamwork and spirit (and you get to learn about tennis too!). His father is the well-known Echizen Nanjirou (also known as Samurai Nanjirou). He plays singles, but has also playes doubles.
Special moves: Drive A, Drive B, Twist Serve, Split Step, Nitouryuu,
Twist Spin Smash, Buggy Whip Shot, Cyclone Smash, Super Rising (from Yuuta), Buggy Whip Shot (from Kaidou), Spot (from Shinji), Deep Impulse (from Shinjou).

Seigaku's team is made up of 9 members:

Tezuka Kunimitsu: the captain of Seigaku's tennis team. A complete genius both on and off the court, Tezuka is very mature for age (some even doubt he's a 3rd year student). He was also a freshman when he was accepted into the team. He has a small problem with an arm injury that was caused by a jealous team mate back when he was still a freshman.
Special move: Tezuka Zone (kinda like a black hole. Can't give too much away here ;))

Fuji Syuusuke: Noted as the "prodigy", Fuji is an oppenent you do not want to face. He is constantly smiling and that helps to confuse friends and rivals alike. The only times he stops smiling is when he get serious in a match (like against St-Rudolf's Mizuki and Rikkai Dai's Kirihara). He cares deeply about his brother, Yuuta. He generally plays singles, but has also played doubles.
Special moves: The three reverses: Tsubame Gaeshi, Higuma Otoshi, Hakugei.

Oishi Shuichirou: The vice captain of the team, Oishi is also known as the "mother of Seigaku" because he worries a lot about his teammates. He plays doubles, and is one part of the national-rated Golden Pair team.
Specail moves: Moon Volley, Australian Formation

Inui Sadaharu: The "Data-man" of Seigaku, Inui's tennis style is what Ryoma once called "annoying". Able to tell which way and where the ball will go, Inui is an unstoppable player (not that he's never lost). He has a book which he writes down data in about anyone he encounters. He is also the one who makes the infamous "Inui Juice" which can knock out even the toughest people. He's kinda like a mad-scientist.
Special Move: Data tennis, High speed serve.

Kikumaru Eiji: The second part of the Golden Pair, Eiji is not someone you'll ever find standing still. Highly energetic and a happy-go-lucky kinda guy, Eiji is best known for his accrobatic tennis stlye. He also has the tendancy to end most sentences with "Nya" which is why he's portraid as a cat in some of the chibi epsisodes. He usually plays doubles.
Special moves: Acrobatic Play, Australian Formation, Kikumaru Beam

Momoshiro Takeshi: Tall, lean, powerful and muscular, Momo-chan is also known as Mr. Passion because when he get serious about tennis, you don't want to be on the other side of the net. He loves to eat and you can probably see him and Ryoma (which he has a close relationship to) pigging out at the local burger restaurant. He plays both singles and doubles.
Special moves: Dunk Smash, Jack Knife, Bullet Serve, Super Dunk.

Kaidoh Kaoru: Known as "viper" (not only in Seigaku, but in most other schools) because of his tendacy to hiss whenever possible, Kaidoh has been Momo's rival since they first met. He is a very serious competetor and hates to lose, though seems to have a soft spot for cats. His training regime is 3 times harder than most of his team mates, curtesty of Inui, and he can usually be spotted jogging before and after school and sometimes before matches. He playes singles, but has also played doubles with Inui and Momo.
Special moves: Snake, Boomerang Snake, Hadoukyuu Boomerang Snake

Kawamura Takashi: You think you have a split personality? Meet Taka-san who, when holding a tennis racket, becomes one of Seigaku's most destructive forces. Probably the most poowerful member on his team, you would know it because of the kind, thoughful person he is without a racket. His father owns a sushi restaurant and Taka-san plans to quit tennis after he finishes school. He plays doubles as well as singles.
Special moces: Burning Serve, Burning Shot, Hadoukyuu, Dash Hadoukyuu

Now, that's only Seigaku's team, but there are 8 more teams you'll meet throughout the series:
Fudomine
St. Rudolf
Yamabuki
Hyotei
Jousei Shounen
Rokkaku
Rikkai Dai
The American Team

I've read some of the manga, but I prefer the anime (mostly because of the art). Though Konomi Takeshi aimed this manga at boys, it wound up with an enourmous female-based fandom. There are a lot of guys in this anime ;)

All in all:
Character design: 9/10
Music: 8/10
Story: 8/10

Really, I'd give more like 3 1/2 stars, but since that option's not available, I rounded up. This is the first volume of the series Prince of Tennis. The story opens by introducing the main character Ryoma Echizen as a 12 year old entered in 16 & under tennis competition. Disqualified by showing up late, Ryoma enters a "friendly" match with another player he met on the subway. During this match, we find out Ryoma just moved back to Japan and is a tennis prodigy. The story then moves on to Ryoma's first day of junior high and his showing off to the members of the boy's tennis club.
Prince of Tennis is a really good story and I recommend it to everyone. My only problems with this volume (and the series so far) is some obvious typos and the transliteration of Ryoma's cat's name. Other than that, I hope you enjoy.

I'm actually the biggest TeniPuri fan in my circle of friends, so it saddens me to have to give a "ehh" rating to such a vital part of the overall series. D:

First off, VIZ. Their translations--urgh. They tend to either go too far, losing everything that the original dialogue conveyed, or they barely do anything, basically leaving it at the "Engrish" level. I've found that, except for a few shining moments here and there, it's a near-complete butchery. Additionally, and this is really my biggest gripe, VIZ has the kids refer to each other by their first names instead of their last ["Kaoru" v. "Kaidou," "Takashi" v. "Kawamura," etc.] To born-and-raised dub fans/Americans/whatever, I suppose that this could make sense. But these kids are not American. Or British. They're not anything other than Japanese. The dropping of suffixes I can forgive, because that's still a fairly common thing to do, but to completely change the form of address like that... Call me picky, but I just can't find it acceptable at all. D:

Now onto the manga itself! XD;
I've...never really been a fan of the manga. Reading the first chapters or so was enough to get me interested in TeniPuri, sure, but I never picked them up again until now. [With the end of AniPuri...]
It's the art, honestly. If you're a better person than I, and can read a series without worrying about the artist's abilities, congrats to you. XD But there's just something about the way Konomi draws joints that gets to me after a while. And Echizen's eyes creep me out. *laughs*
Before I start complaining about Kaidou's lack of pretty or Kawamura's uber-monkey face, I'll end on a positive note.

The story is compelling--even if you think Echizen's a stupid brat, there are several other characters with mini-plots that you can care about. There are really a lot, so many it's almost scary. XD And even if the characterization seems superficial in the beginning, it expands tremendously as the series progresses. I actually found myself tearing up over Kawamura at one point, and I've only cried with one other series in my life. *laughs* The matches are also handled well; I rarely found myself getting bored or frustrated with the length or ZOMG COMEBACK aspects of some of them. Even if some of the moves are ridiculous and there are the prerequisite showdowns of power, tennis is really made interesting. There are even plenty of random interactions and slice-of-life moments to tide those over who aren't in the fandom for the tennis. [Although I can practically guarantee that you'll want to try watching a real match or two after a few story arcs. >D]

Basically: give it a try, see if you find yourself interested. :D However, I'd recommend that you hunt down some fan-translations/scanlations if you're set on following the manga.

I'm a big fan of tennis so anything that has to do with the sport interests me... what got me reading the manga is the anime. So far the manga seems good and follows closely with the anime itself, there is some bit and pieces that the anime kinda expands on, but it didn't really hurt the story... the story mainly revolves around Ryoma Echizen, his development and Seigaku's quest for a national championship. But the story doesn't just concerntrate on one character, we see a lot of other characters and their development. as the story goes on, we see that they're not just sidekicks but actually quite important to the whole story.. there's just one thing I kinda don't like about the story, it's that it makes you think that Ryoma is invincible and can win every match, i'd like to see him lose in a match or so.. but overall, i strongly recommend this manga...

This is one of those manga that grows on you. At the beginning I found the main character to be too cocky for my taste, but I soon got around to liking him more. This is because Ryoma Echizen, the twelve-year-old tennis prodigy, has reasons for the way in which he behaves, and as the volumes of the manga progress, we slowly get to understand him better. Besides, some of his opponents are so obnoxious, that Ryoma's attitude does not seem all that out of place.

The story starts with Ryoma arriving at Seigaku, a high school that counts with one of the best tennis teams in the nation, and fighting to make the team, or as they are call it in the manga, regulars. This is not an easy task, and no freshman has done it in the past, but Ryoma counts with an unparalleled confidence and an impeccable lineage, his father was one of Japan's best tennis players until an injury forced him to retire. Will he be up to the challenge?

The author of the manga is an ex-tennis player and coach, so it is clear that the misplaced players in the court are intentional, but it still bothered me a little bit, since I do not understand the need for this. Also, there is the recurring theme of Ryoma playing with his weak hand, which gets old quickly. Nevertheless, the rest of the aspects are very good, and make this a sports manga worth trying out. The drawings are extremely detailed and convey the action scenes efficiently. As is common in the sub-genre, there is a fair amount of humor, which in this case is executed well. Also, there is a hint of romance in the air and there is definitely more to come.

Even though I would not say that this is one of the best sports manga available, Hajime no Ippo definitely takes the top spot in my list, it is a product that is good enough to deserve a chance. The good thing is that once the competition starts you are hooked, wanting to know what will happen next. Luckily, in this sense, this manga does not commit the error of having matches that last too long, which helps move things along and keep it interesting.

The Prince of Tennis is one of my favorite anime series. Many people say the manga is superior. This may be true, but this publication butchers the translation to the point where I can't stand reading it. I've only seen a friend's copy, and it was enough to make me not want to get it myself.

What bothers me the most is how lazy the translators seem to be. The anime has a large following in america. You'd think they could get someone knowledgable in the common terms used, or how characters address each other. Any Tenipuri fan could have caught the dozens of errors prior to publication.

It baffles me that the same company can do a stellar job with the publication of Death Note but completely butcher this one.

I just finished reading this book today and found it to be wonderful. Apart from some of the more terrible swearing.

The book is about 12 year old Ryoma Echizen. He came to Japan to visit his family after a competion in America. The moment he arrives he is underestimated by ever foe he faces. Just cuz he is quite and on the short side. Even though he is a boy of few words he is an excellent temmis player.

Just by reading this it has given me a new light on the game of tennis and i will try out for it.
Good Luck to me and enjoy:)