Customer Reviews

The Prince of Tennis Box Set, Vol. 1

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

 

 

I've been waiting for this one a long time. TENNIS no Oujisama (aka The Prince of Tennis) is an insanely popular series that started as a Manga and then became a 179 episode anime series, as well as an ongoing series of live musicals and even a recent live action movie. Not to mention an unending series of music CD releases. 13 episodes is a great bargain for the price. These 13 episodes barely scratch the surface in this 179 episode series. They won't play their first rival team until the next set comes out. Still, this has its own nice story arc as the main character must earn himself a position on the SEIGAKU tennis team.

The DVDs are both in English and in Japanese with subtitles, which is great because the English dub as seen on Cartoon Network recently is one of the worst I've ever heard. You'd think they could get somebody familiar with the show to at least tell voice actors how the characters names are pronounced. Still, the dub is good for a laugh. The inferior openings and endings that were created for the US airings is used, but that's ok because the original Japanese opening and ending are included as bonus features. I hope they continue to do so, because the Japanese version went through half a dozen or so different openings and endings.

I highly reccomend this DVD. It's hard to go wrong with one of the most popular anime series ever.

The Prince of Tennis is an amazing series. I love it having seen it raw. This box set leaves much to be desired, including unedited episodes. Viz has recut and deleted scenes that were in the original Japanese series. They have also taken out complete episodes, some of which were among my favorite. I was very disappointed. I was also horrified and the horrible dubbing that VIZ did. Luckily they do include subtitling and the original Japanese dialog, which if you're going to watch them I would recommend.

As this is one of my favorite series (along with Naruto), I was very excited to find it and add it to my collection. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that I'll buy the rest of the series since there is such a horrible set of remastering and the Uncut on the title is misleading. These are not uncut complete episodes. I cannot stress this enough, there are MISSING episodes and episodes that have been recut and had scenes deleted. What they have kept is good, but it misses some of its original charm.

Prince of Tennis is one of my all time favorite animes, therefore I was disgusted when this English dub was released. I have never seen a company (Viz) do such a rotten, lackluster job in the voice over department. I wonder if they even watched the raw before attempting the dub. To not even be able to accurately pronounce even the main characters names... someone at Viz needs to be fired. The only thing saving this review from a one star is that you have the option to watch the original subtilted raw Japanese episodes, which I cannot encourage highly enough. If you watch the dub, you will not enjoy the series. It loses all it's humor, excitment and fire. How Viz can take one of the funniest, wonderful and most beloved animes of all time and ruin it is beyond my comprehension. However, if you watch it in raw, I promise you that you will love Prince of Tennis/Tennis no Oujisama.

I found POT Volume 1 to be excellent value for a fabulous show. The subs are high quality generally. If you've heard the original voice acting by the Japanese seiyuus, the dubs are absolutely hilarious. Don't miss Tezuka and Inui in particular. If you're like me, you'll listen to part of the dubbed version and then return to the subs wiser and thankful. Make sure you see the close of Episode 5 for an outstanding moment in translation madness! Lots of eps at a reasonable price and if you like Japanese sports anime, you may love this.

Finding a volume with such uneven quality among the discs is not common. This is an anime that starts out pretty bad, with a main character that is way too cocky, and a series of "bad guys" that are ten times worse. On top of this, there are some aspects of the anime that were changed from the manga and that create inconsistencies. For example, before a match, Ryoma Echizen, our hero, has doubts about his ability to beat his opponent, but when the match starts, he plays with his weaker hand! By the way, this is a concept that is used enough in the manga, and is definitely overused in the anime.

Luckily, the second and third discs improve dramatically over the first one, and that is why I think that I am going to continue watching this series. The story follows the adventures of twelve-year-old tennis prodigy Ryoma Echizen, who has decided to join Seigaku high school and play for its prestigious tennis team. As this volume progresses, Ryoma starts to lose some of his attitude and becomes a little more normal, and his quest for qualifying for the starting team becomes enthralling. The creator did a very good job in creating a myriad of opponents with peculiar characteristics and special weapons, but at times, the action becomes a little too extreme. I would have liked him to pay a little more attention to things like the placement of the players in the court, so as to make the action a little more real. Especially since Takeshi Konomi, the creator of the manga, was a tennis player and coach, and therefore, should know better.

One thing that I liked in the anime compared to the manga is the better development of several characters. For example, in the volumes of the manga that correspond to the anime, the participation of Ryoma's father, a former tennis star, was minimal, but in the anime there are important segments on him. This helps with understanding some of Ryoma's attitudes better. The other factor that helps this series is the humor, which may not be the best around, but which is good enough to get a few chuckles out of us.

Regarding the dub, this does not really affect me, since in all cases in which it's possible I watch this genre with the Japanese audio and English subtitles. In my opinion this is the best way to get a product that is as close as possible to what the creators intended to deliver. I hope that the future volumes are at the level of the last two discs in this set. If that is the case, fans of sports anime will have a delightful time.

I was so happy when Prince of Tennis came to America, but a little wary also. I watched the original Japanese episodes and I was deeply disappointed in the way the dub was created. However, I was happy that they'd be coming out in box sets. I recently bought Volume 2, because I couldn't find Volume 1 at the time, and I was disappointed. I was really looking forward to the great opening and closing music as WELL as the original openings/closings. The subtitles were great, original japanese, but the music? The music is what always made me excited to watch the show and I was sad to see it so butchered.

It's a great buy for people who don't care about the music, but for myself..It just wasn't the same.

Do not be fooled by the title. This anime is just like Naruto. It is very exciting, like in battle field. If you are a fan of anime like Naruto, do not miss it. Besides, it is full of fun in watching it. Absolutely, if you want to learn tennis from it, you will be disappointed. However, if you want the thrill and excitment from anime, you will love it!!