Ranked #181

Prince of Tennis

The Prince of Tennis - a sports-driven anime that debuted back in 2001, depicts the story of Echizen Ryoma and his experiences in the world of tennis. Along with Hajime no Ippo, the Prince of Tennis helped start the rave with sports-driven anime craze, and its not really a wonder why a lot of those anime use many of the elements from the Prince of Tennis - its so good that its still being animated (in OVA form) this very day.

Normally, with sports anime, you see the rise of a certain young star from not being a very good player to being the ace of their sport. The Prince of Tennis pulled something out of the ordinary and made Echizen an amazing tennis player right from the start. Now you're probably thinking, "Well, where's the fun in that?" Well, Echizen is always going up against top-notch opponents and throughout the show, you'll witness him going from a cocky, immature kid to one who actually respects his opponents (well, sort of anyway) and development of new, exciting skills. Echizen join the Seigaku high school tennis team and participates in tournaments with them. And of course, the overall theme is to aim for the top of the tennis world.

The art is pretty good. It starts off so-so, but before you know it, it gets to that level where you're impressed by it. As for the animation, you'll see a lot of repeated frames throughout the show (as usual with sports anime), but the way they animate all of the new skills and tennis matches is just so amazing, that after some of the matches, you just stare in awe at its magnificence.

The sound, I would say, is probably the weakest point of the show. Although the music presented in the Prince of Tennis does suit the mood and is pretty upbeat at times, there really isn't a score that will stand out to you, where you'll be saying, "Ah!! I need that on my computer/ipod." Nevertheless, its relatively enjoyable

Since the stories are pretty much the same throughout all sport anime (overall), in order for an anime to be amazing - especially the case with sport ones - characters and unique personalities need to be there. And Prince of Tennis does not disappoint in that category. This show unveils so many different memorable characters, that you'll undoubtedly have trouble picking your all-time favorite one from the lot because they are so unique. And the best part about it is that the creators were able to somehow give each character a unique way of playing tennis. With the amount of characters and opponents they present, you'd think that they would have to repeat somewhere. But that's definitely not the case.

With amazing tennis matches, a plethora of unique and lovable characters, and a cocky main protagonist that will get on your nerves at times but you'll respect out of necessity because of his skills, the Prince of Tennis is an amazing sport anime. The best part of this anime is that you will have a hard time knowing who will win matches. Surprisingly enough, all the main characters experience losses matches at times, which makes it interesting to see how each one responds to the agony of defeat.

If you are looking for a sport-driven anime and are in for the long haul - meaning 170+ episodes, the Prince of Tennis is exactly what you're looking for. read more

I just finished the whole series (not totally though, there are still nationals awating ^^), so i decided to write my first review for one of the most outstanding tv series I have ever watched...

------->Story<-------
First of all, id like to correct a general mistake about the plot this anime has, ok i accept the fact that most of the the parts of the anime focus on ,the protagonist, Ryoma Echizen, nonetheless; it is not just a one-man show. I will mention about the characters lengthily in its section anyway, so for the plot i can say that it doesn't have a complex or complicated stroyline, starting with a shounen's dream of beating his once-a-world's best dad in tennis but then, it turns out to be the goal of Seigaku tennis club's being the best in Japan. This can be said as the main plot, and for the side dishes, every single player has some goals they want to fulfill... Additionally, some episodes(not much though) are composed of the chibi forms of the players and their lives as a family or something similar to that, and i warn you, they are extremely cute and way too funny ^^ Plot; absolutely not bad but not good enough either, so; the result: 7/10...

------->Art & Visuals<-------
If we take the timeline of the broadcast of the series into consideration, it has pretty damn good visuals, and towards the end, it gets better and better. However, sometimes it might tire your eyes and even hurt^^. Character drawings are one of the best aspects of the series as well. Every character's movements and the way their limbs move is quite realistic. It becomes clear when two players start to play a tennis match; it gives you the feeling that the players consist of flesh and bone like in reality, hence, this series never fails to meet the expectations regarding arts and visual effects. I believe that they also made a very good job in character designs, it is pretty important to me, because a number of anime fails to create characters which can overlap with their traits... The result: 9/10

------->Sound & Seiyuu<-------
One of the weakest parts of PoT is the music it has. Most of the sound you hear when a tennis match is being held is very realistic, so there is no problem in it... But I can say that, excluding one or two Opening songs, PoT lacks good music, same goes for the music it has in an episode... On the other hand, Seiyuus are just great, for Ryoma, Kikimaru or any other player, well, it doesn't have to be a player though, all of the characters are done amazingly by the seiyuus, so we can say that the producers made some very good choices... The result: 8/10...

------->Characters<-------
It consists of many unique characters that you will encounter throughout the series, and i can easily claim that you will most likely be addicted to them, fond of them, and obsessed with them =] PoT has a variety of players, and serves at least one character you will feel close to. There is not much to say, since it is the best in the diversity and uniqueness of characters among the ones I have seen so far... The result: 10/10

------->Enjoyment<-------
Ahh... Here is another gorgeous point PoT has. I can easily say that, there are a wad of series which can entertain you, have you spend enjoyable times, but PoT offers some unforgettable moments which will definitely crack you up. I don't even mention about the "chibi" episodes out there, the show itself is a great fun even if you don't like to watch tennis, don't just give up on this series just because it's about a kind of sports you dislike,,, keep watching, i believe you will also have a great time! In conclusion, be ready for the utterly hilarious show, that being said, the result is just way too obvious.. 10/10

------->Overall<-------
I strongly suggest you watch this series even if you dont like tennis, or anime whose genres are sports. As it happened with me, you will also want to have more of it even though it is already 178 episodes. In a nutshell, in its genre, POT IS SECOND TO NONE ^^
The ultimate result: 9/10 ^^ read more