Ranked #300

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

"Mada Mada Dane"

Once upon a time in Japan, a manga artist by the name of Takeshi Konomi came up with a manga by the name of Prince of Tennis, and it quickly became one of - if not the - most popular sports manga of all time, doing for tennis what Slam Dunk did for basketball, it caused a massive boost in popularity for the sport in its native country. To this day, it's hard to really say that Japan ever got past Prince of Tennis fever, one look at the various pieces of Prince of Tennis merchandise like the musicals or even the live-action film, makes it instantly clear just how big of a thing this is for them.

Naturally, such a popular manga was bound to be subject to an anime adaptation, and so in October 2001, an anime version of the mega-hit was released by none other than...J.C Staff? Wait, seriously? Someone thought that that was a good idea? I mean, J.C Staff, a company that is well known for messing up and/or butchering adaptations of great works? (I'm looking at you Spiral) This is a company that for the most part, seems to have very little in terms of "great" budget, and suddenly they're expected to animate 178 episodes of such a huge hit? All of a sudden, Prince of Tennis the anime sounds like it's going to be a disaster.

You know what though? It's not; in fact, Prince of Tennis is actually pretty good.

That's not to say however, that this is the best sports anime out there - indeed, there are definitely flaws with PoT, mostly to do with the animation, which I'll cover later on - and if you've had any animosity towards sports anime in the past then you can immediately forget about liking Prince of Tennis, as it most definitely won't change your mind about them, it's possible that it may make you dislike them even more actually; even sports anime fans that I've talked to have dismissed PoT out of hand calling it "ridiculous" "a joke" and "an insult to the actual sport itself", and whilst I can certainly understand why people dislike certain ridiculous elements of the show, I find comments about it being a joke and an insult to be quite puzzling, because personally, I found that once PoT hit its stride, it was a huge barrel of fun and enjoyment.

The story is typical sports anime fare: Team wants to become the best. Team goes up against many strong opponents and becomes stronger after each match. Team wins some games, team loses some games. It's a tried and trusted formula which, while not really turning any heads in terms of how things play out, provides decent enough motivation for the characters to at least keep you emotionally invested in them for a while.

What's interesting about the story is that, whereas other sports shows would immediately opt for making the main protagonists team a group of underdogs, going up against impossible odds and coming out better for it, the tennis players of Seigaku are actually rather strong by comparison. We're presented with players who are already known at the national level, a player that's regarded by practically everyone as a tennis prodigy, and Jesus himself, Captain Tezuka. These are character archetypes that, in nearly every other sports show, would be reserved for the opposing teams, their sole purpose to make the protagonists team stronger and stronger after every single match, and we're meant to watch them playing for the home team.

So how then does that make the matches interesting?

As mentioned before, Seigaku is constantly going up against stronger and stronger teams, with players that are just as equally strong as them (with the exception of Captain Jesus, who I'll talk about later on), this means that even though there are main characters who are ridiculously powerful, the players are almost never really in a position in which they can just sit back and take the match easily, meaning that it successfully maintains a feeling of excitement and tension, despite the several curb-stomp matches that do occur throughout the series.

One major stand-out of the original PoT's storyline, rather funnily, is the filler. Now obviously, in an anime this long filler is bound to be expected - this could range from anything to funny filler episodes to outright filler arcs - but what's interesting to note is that, well...the filler is actually pretty damn good.

No seriously, I mean it, I wouldn't joke about this even if you paid me.

After about 125 episodes, PoT goes off on its own route because the animators decided that they wanted to give the audience a different Prince of Tennis experience than that of the manga, and it actually pays off rather well, I'm sure the whole Junior Selection Camp thing served in some way as the basis for what would eventually form the plot of New Prince of Tennis; in reality I suppose these filler episodes are nothing more than a clever way for J.C Staff to fully exploit the huge cast of bishonens that exist in PoT, and create new pairings for its ever growing fanbase of yaoi fans (heck I'm a straight male and even I supported some of the pairings). Nonetheless, these filler episodes are at times more entertaining than the actual matches from the proper storyline, they're a strong example of how to do filler, and more importantly, how to do filler well - the fact that I was able to marathon through the final 78 episodes in the space of about two weeks is a testament of how good I personally found the filler.

However, regardless of how good everything else is in Prince of Tennis, there is one factor that threatens to nearly derail the viewing experience almost completely. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Prince of Tennis's utterly woeful animation.

Artistically speaking, the series fares well, Takeshi Konomi's numerous bishonens translate well to the screen, enough so that that was the deciding factor in why the score isn't less than 5, it's when it actually comes to animating that Prince of Tennis utterly falls down.

You will see stock footage, a lot of it, I lost count of the amount of times I saw the same footage for Ryoma's Twist Serve or Fuji's Higuma Otoshi repeated again, and again, and again. Static images are abound in the anime. It's not often that animation in an anime is so bad that it's actually detrimental to the viewing experience, but in this case, it most definitely is. For whatever reason - perhaps due to J.C Staff's lack of funds - simple shots are repeated in little boxes that suddenly appear on the screen, so you're subjected to the same footage you saw not two seconds ago; randomly, a character will take a shot and the anime decides that for whatever reason, it's going to show the same shot again in a spiral that suddenly bombards your screen. I could quite literally turn this review into a complete list of faults with the animation of the show. The animation is meant to be a medium that conveys the manga format effectively, and it seems as if somewhere along the line, J.C Staff forgot about that little detail, as such, we're presented with matches that, in the manga, would only take about 3 to 5 chapters (I bothered to use the Seigaku VS Yamabuki match as a reference for this) and in the anime, take roughly the equivalent of about 4 episodes by comparison.

In short, it's pretty much total butchery, and something that wouldn't be fixed until the National Tournament OVA's in which it was then animated by the far more capable hands of Production I.G.

Musically speaking, PoT fares significantly better, one of the many things that defines a sports anime - or long running anime in general - is the soundtrack; without a good soundtrack, quite a bit of the effect is lost whenever something dramatic happens, and what PoT lacks in the animation department is something that the sound department makes up for. Cher Watanabe composed an absolutely awesome soundtrack, the opening themes are, personally, among some of the best and really get you in the mood for Prince of Tennis, seriously, just try and listen to "Driving Myself" (by far the best of the opening themes) and not get pumped.

The rest of the soundtrack is also pretty good, I remember plenty of moments when the music was the best thing about the show, particularly when tracks like "Mission", "Hangeki" and "Koutekishu" were playing, it's hard to not at times feel a big goofy grin appear on your face when the soundtrack is at its best.

Voice acting is equally strong, there are plenty of arrogant characters in Prince of Tennis, not least Ryoma, Atobe and Kirihara, and the voice acting is able to pretty much hit all the right notes when it comes to performances, whether it be one of the arrogant characters or one of the softer characters, or perhaps one of the stoic characters - it's hard to fault the voice acting, with the exception of the really annoying little kids that pretty much form Ryoma's fan-club, their voices grate significantly and any attempt at humour with these characters falls flat down on its face.

Also, a word of advice, avoid the dub at all costs, they never did dub the entire show but what the did dub was pretty poor; it seems as if practically no one was taking the anime seriously enough to bother contributing something that can actually be considered a performance.

As you will no doubt know, sports anime and manga are usually not reliant on their story (even if, in this case, it's actually pretty good), the sport is usually the lifeblood of its respective anime or manga, but it's the characters that really make it stand out. If you were, for instance, to try and watch Eyeshield 21 without Hiruma, you would be stuck with an anime that, while having its moments, doesn't have a strong enough cast for you to keep yourself interested in it. Thankfully, PoT's characters are strong enough to keep your interest, you will definitely find at least one character among this cast that you can actually bring yourself to like. Like yourself a cocky, confident main protagonist who knows what he's doing? Then you'll probably quickly find yourself fawning all over Ryoma. Do you like relaxed, composed characters with strong poker faces? Fuji's the one for you. Do you fancy unbelievably arrogant, king-like characters? Look no further than King Atobe himself.

Of course, those are just the base character traits, over time, the characters (especially Ryoma) develop into more than that, becoming much more likeable, more sympathetic and much more worthy of you rooting for them. Gags that originally weren't funny, such as Inui's special juices or Kawamura's Engrish, gradually become chuckle-worthy, heck even downright funny, and that's because of the way the characters develop.

Unfortunately, the characters aren't quite perfect, and that's due to the fault of one character: Captain Jesus - I mean, Captain Tezuka.

Tezuka is, hands down, the worst character in the show, so naturally, he's one of the most overpowered too. He's bland, dull, has practically no emotions whatsoever and is just completely uninteresting as a character, and as the team captain; Kabaji had more character development than Tezuka, and the only thing he said was "Yes"! Of course, this also makes him practically unbeatable, with only really the best of the best standing a decent chance against him. The only thing that Tezuka is good for is providing Ryoma with at least some motivation to start getting better, and even that's only a small catalyst.

Despite its faults - and woeful animation, which it should be noted, does actually start to improve in the last 8 episodes - I thoroughly enjoyed Prince of Tennis, it was a fun ride with some excellent filler, a strong cast of likeable characters and a great soundtrack. It most definitely won't change your mind about sports anime if you didn't like them to begin with, especially when it starts bringing in elements that take it from almost believable to downright Super Saiyan, and I wouldn't really recommend it if you're just starting to get into sports anime either, perhaps after you've seen something much more realistic like say, Hajime no Ippo and fancy something that isn't as bothered by the laws of physics. Still, it's a great ride once it gets going and well worth the time you put into it, especially as you're rewarded by Production I.G's glorious animation in the Nationals. read more

Story: The Prince of Tennis has a very unique plot but logical with a few "suprise" episodes along the way (eg. Tenipuri). I enjoyed watching the Prince of Tennis but once you watch it a few times over, it will eventually get really boring.

Art: For me, the art is quite average. What makes it seem so exciting is the background, Fuji (wuhoo) does one of his special moves and there's this dark swirly background and some bright lights on the end of the raquet so that's an extra point or it will be a 7. But that just makes the bishies even hotter. (fangirl squeal).

Sound: Not the best songs though, I can't remember but some are really really really good, like wonderful days. Esp. when in one episode when 8 bishies acually SING it. I'm not sure what to do for sound? Where there are Sound effects at the right moments (woosh, thud, nya) but some are overexagerated (Bang, Kaboom, woah...).

Character: I HAVE to give a 10 for this one. I mean, ther are SO MANY cute bishonen. All of the characters are boys excluding a few girls, so far I think four , excluding sisters, women and a couple in the background. Everyone has unique personalities and signiture moves. Takeshi Konomi must have spend a LOT of time create each of them, I mean around 11 teams/schools and 8 per team, that is a LOT of characters. That guy must have one heck of an imagination. Oh, and I gave it 10 coz THERE'S JUST SO MANY BISHIES!

Enjoyment: I fell in loved with it in the very first episode I watched, the suspense, drama...etc. But because I loved it so much, I rewatched it and I wish I didn't as I knew watch is going to happen next and that ruined the whole show and experience. The best part of the Prince of Tennis is the tension, who is goin to win that match, what will he do next, what does to opponent have up his sleeve? It's that that makes it so enjoyable but once you know, it's not that good.

I love that show, man, however much silly and kiddish that sounds, I love it. Humor, Suspense, action, that show has it all (even some violence too! Bashing up with tennis balls) . Here's a tip, only rewatch an episode a couple months after you last seen it. read more

Story - 10
The story is very original, where the protagonist comes from America to Japan as a well-developed tennis player. His father has him enroll in Seigaku Tennis Club, where he plays opponents who can challenge his skill, while the team seeks to reach the National Tournament. Although the story sounds simple, there are many episodes that get more in depth by revealing more of the characters and the storyline, which I would rather not spoil.

Art - 9
The art in this anime is spectacular! However, it is a long series, so some frames are repeated throughout games, yet it is still well done to the point where it will not bother. There is a large cast of characters, and each of the players have there very own original moves, yet the art is detailed so well it is easy to distinguish between all characters. Even the comedic and chibi episodes were truly amazing and had detailed art.

Sound - 8
The sound in the anime was mediocre. The opening and ending themes sounded like karaoke songs, and they were not real catchy... However, some of them were really good, in my opinion. The sound effects throughout the anime were fine, however, so the music does not really take away from it overall.

Character - 10
This is one aspect of the anime that truly made it one of my favorites. There is a huge amount of characters in the anime, and all of them are original and well-designed of course. There will definitely be many characters you can connect to, as there are many types of personalities amongst them. The characters also develop throughout the anime, so a character you may not have liked may become your favorite. Amazing set of characters in this anime!

Enjoyment - 10
I most certainly enjoyed this anime, as anyone else who's seen it has. The great plot, good art and characters play a great part in this animes success. Everything from the action packed episodes to the comedic chibi episodes were truly enjoyable!

Overall- 10
This anime will not disappoint! read more

The Prince of Tennis, or テニスの王子様, is very highly rated here at MAL. It's rated so highly, in fact, that I hope to bring a bit of a fresh perspective in the midst of reviews that seem to be simply singing its praises.

Story: 5
There's really nothing exceptional to be found here. The show follows youngsters of the Japanese tennis world, specifically those of Seishun Gakuen middle school, the "Prince of Tennis" being Echizen Ryoma, a freshmen. Sure, it was a bold move in 2001 to make an anime about tennis, which is not exactly the biggest thing in Japan, but just that fact alone does not guarantee much of a show. The plot is generic, relatively predictable, and most importantly: too long. A normal one or two season show will use a three episode time-frame to put out many new plot developments and possibly character introductions, while The Prince of Tennis would use 3 episodes for a single match. This show, even though it is supposed to be about a sport, suffers from the "power spiral" complex. They label characters as a certain strength and then have them perform completely different come game time. The other real problem I had with this show is the heavily overused surprise comeback. Sure, if a match is one-sided, there's no suspense; but when an unbelievable comeback is happening almost every match, it just gets annoying and tedious. I might have seen the story in a better light if this series was closer to 30-50 episodes (And it easily could have been). At any rate, the pitfalls of this show are typical of a long shounen anime. It's hard to write an excellent story that lasts and stays engaging for almost 200 episodes.. although Prince of Tennis didn't have the change of scenery that tends to help similar shows stay refreshing. It's just 50+ hours of the tennis court. You could watch over 20 movies in that time.

Art: 7
I don't have any real complaints here. The art is far from spectacular, but there's nothing particularly wrong with it.

Sound: 7
The same could be said for the sound as the art. The voice acting was pretty typical, the music was fine.

Character: 7
The characters in Prince of Tennis were many, all of them with their own backgrounds and styles. I felt that there was almost too much character development here, because with every new character came a story that contributed to making this show too long.

Enjoyment: 3
I really don't understand how people could find much of an enjoyment factor in Prince of Tennis. Every ~10 episodes is basically a copy of the last ~10 episodes, but in a new tournament against a new school. It gets extremely repetitive, and I found myself skimming through the matches later in the series, eventually dropping it at episode 162. There are a lot of special moves that are used to spice up the matches; but they're just ridiculously unrealistic and don't really serve the purpose of making things interesting. The use of injury to create drama gets old, as if they're trying to pass tennis off as a contact sport.

In the end, I can't see myself giving this show anything higher than a 5. I recommend watching the first set of matches, and then dropping the show, because there's not really anything new to see after that point. For a show given such a high rating, it really was a disappointment. read more

Story:
Your typical sports anime, but with a twist. Right from the start, the main character is pretty AWESOME at the game. There comes it being VERY predictable. 'Ryoma's going to win' especially when it relates to tennis. If an enemy is winning, one of Seishun's students (usually a regular) will make an *unexpected* comeback. Could have been much shorter and better without the 'filler' episodes (filler, as in when Seishun isn't playing in a tournament).

Art/Animation:
The art is great, far from being spectacular. I find nothing wrong with it, but it isn't spectacular. As for the animation, I've been seeing a lot of clips used over and over in matches and it's a little iffy sometimes.

Sound/Voice Acting:
(Japanese dubbed, English subbed)
The music isn't really impressive, just fitting for this type of anime. Nothing really that goes into your head, though. As for the sound, some sounds are over-exaggerated and some are perfect. The voice acting was okay, though some of the voice actors, especially Seishun's regulars, weren't very fitting.

Characters:
Amazing, wide variety of characters with their own unique personalty that develops little by little as you watch more episodes. This is definitely this anime's strong point because they all have their own styles. However, as each new character is introduced, the show seems to has to go longer for character development and exploring more of his or her personalty.

Enjoyment:
An interesting anime to some, a repetitive and tedious anime to others. To me, Prince of Tennis is an uninteresting, repetitive anime. Sure, there's a lot of special moves, but they're quite unrealistic and fails to want me to watch any more episodes. read more

I am not a tennis person, I never even saw a single game before I watched The Prince of Tennis, I was a bit reluctant to watch it at first because I only watched it because my friends were. I was only planning to watch 3 and that 3 turned to a 5 then a 8, a 10, to a 13 in ONE DAY. It was really interesting, it's not actually that bad at all. Afterwards, I 'tried' playing tennis...but failed. Overall, it is an AWESOME anime, with a bit of humour and tennis it is the perfect combination for a successful anime. Why else would there be 178 EP plus over 40 OVA's? If you are considering to watch this, then do it, you won't be disappointed. read more

Prince of Tennis, in my opinion, is like .. superpower tennis. Not in a bad way, but that's what makes this show enjoyable. Ryoma is your typical tennis prodigy who overcomes players more skilled then he is. Story overall was good, with some bumps and twists along the way. The episodes that contain side-stories and stories where the characters are chibis are hilarious. Best I thought was bowling and Snow White.

Art was good, though when in tennis matches, you'll notice repetitions such as their special techniques and missing the ball. That's okay, unless you don't like the moves. The good thing is the art's pretty consistent. I'll give my opinion that the English dub mixed with the animation is such a pain to watch.

Sound? Yeah, it gets a thumbs up. Music is good too, especially Wonderful Days, where it's sung by some of the characters. Dream Believer, love that song!

Characters, haha there's A LOT. I'm not talking 20, there's got to be somewhere around 50 or more. Plus they're pretty all unique. Well, except some players that use their wit. They just look different. You'll love some, you'll hate some, that's a possibility. Sometimes it's hard to believe they're only in middle school. Shocking right?

Enjoyment, I enjoyed it. The show is really funny. I mostly remember it being funny just because of Inui. Him and his special drinks.

Overall, the show gives a lot. Maybe not romantically, though you get Sakuno crushing on Ryoma, who, of course, doesn't notice. If you want to get a good laugh, watch the special episodes that don't really correspond to the storyline. So stop reading and GO WATCH!
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The Prince of Tennis. I'd have to say this is one of my most favorite anime yet, So I do strongly recommend it if you haven't seen it. It really gave me that sad, but happy and satisfied feeling after I finished the series. It includes comedy and sports, but yet humorous at the same time. The Prince of Tennis mainly focuses on Seishun Gakuen's Tennis team (Seigaku) trying to reach for the nationals and become pros one day, while Ryoma Echizen, the protagonist, has his own dream of winning against his father, the former pro in the tennis world. Also, a few of the episodes include the Tenipuri series, when Seigaku and everyone else are chibified. Those times are Hilarious and yet cute.

This isn't just normal tennis you see everyday. There are lots of strange, but yet interesting techniques they use while they play, such as the invisible ball and the Tezuka zone, You have to use your intelligence and stamina in order to win a game. You may find their games somehow deeply move you, as they get more intense, serious, and dramatic at the same time.

The art and how the characters are drawn are pretty amazing. Their expressions and body movements are so realistic when it comes to moving around a lot while playing a tennis game, Everything is drawn neatly and in funny ways.

I have nothing to complain about the Seiyuu's in The Prince of Tennis, they all did a wonderful job and I love how they all sound! I'd say their voices really suit the characters personality very well. I'm especially impressed with Minagawa Junko, ever since I found out Echizen was voiced by a girl. Shes so talented so have such a manly voice ^-^ Although I haven't been paying much attention to the background music sounds of the anime, I do think that Little Sky was sung very well. Dream Believer was also pretty good, since the members of Seigaku sang it. Some of them will even result you in going crazy looking for the name and who the artist is.

Characters...each and every one of them has their own different personality and look, which I find very unique and entertaining. Sometimes you can find the complete opposite personality from a character. I turned out to love all of them, even though my first impression was that they all sounded strange. I like it how all the schools first start out as rivals, but as the series slowly develops, each and every one of them start to change and become friends and allies with eachother, this is one of the most heartwarming things about this anime.

Well, I really enjoyed The Prince of Tennis, and I'm still sulking at the fact that it ended. Each and every one of the episodes captures a memory into your mind. The funniness really sticks in your head when you think about it, and the characters too, you can never forget about them.

I've grown to really like this show, and recommend you to watching it too. 178 episodes + The OVA's and specials, You'll regret it if you don't! read more

Prince of Tennis really opened my eyes to the genre of sport in anime, I never really took any attention to sport-like anime but I had some free time on my hands and decided to chek out Prince of Tennis since my friend recommened it to me a while back.

Anyway, the first episode got me hooked and made me watch the next one and so on...

The basis of the storyline is that a young tennis player has come to Japan and has moved to a new school and decides to check out the tennis club there, after he is seen there he has a match with one of the players and everyone sees that he is really, really good. and eventually becomes a regular on the team. blah blah blah

So basically we see him grow and compete in tournements to get to the nationals.

Now thats the storyline out of the way. This anime has alot of funny moments in it which is always a good thing for an anime, thought too much in a sport-like anime can be a downside but this anime gets the right balance for me.

The animation can be a little iffy sometimes during the matches and sometimes I notice some clips over used in the tennis matches, but thats not an issue for me but it might be for you but im not sure.

Each character on the team as their own personality and set of special moves which I really like, the characters each bring their own style to the matches and its very interesting to watch and see the relationship grows between certain characters.

Overall this is a very good sport-like anime in my opinion, it has great characters and a good solid storyline, though the animation can be a little iffy at times but I still recommened seeing it, Prince of Tennis gets an 8/10 from me.

Thanks for reading. read more

I personally had played tennis before, and I can notice throughout both the manga and anime that each aspect had something to do with the real life tennis, with a pint of exaggeration. As we recognize, Prince of Tennis is about a first year student in a tennis club, who was the son of a famous player. Now inside the tennis club were multiple players, each having certain moves while playing against each other during tennis. In matter of fact, each special move that they make rely to real moves that are done during the real life tennis, but with just a lot more exaggeration in it. For example (spoiler) a player in the team had a very fictional and impossible move called "snake", curving so awkwardly it will always hit the side of the corner on court. Yes, this was actually a real move developed before by some player I don't remember right now. The snake ball's starting action, if you have not realized was very similar to that famous tennis player, resulting into a new exaggerated move to exist in the anime. Most amazing is the author was able to make a ton of moves, and I believe many otakus may have decided to play tennis after watching this :D

Art and Sound don't really have any major flaws in my opinion, at least I don't think so :O

Character development was actually a flaw in the series, considering the fact there were quite a lot of main characters, and each of them need to resemble different characteristics. Unfortunately, the author emphasized the characteristics on only a couple of the main characters, not all of them. I am curious to see what other character traits the other players on the team have, because all we saw were their physical traits and tennis skills :D

I definitely enjoyed this anime quite alot, and I figured Inazuma Eleven probably imitated the Prince of Tennis series, other than that the moves resembling Inazuma have nothing to do with the real life moves we do everyday.

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Prince of Tennis, a sports anime and one of the few sports animes I've watched and happened to enjoy watching. I won't waste time here with the synopsis, I'm sure you can look it up yourself if you really wanted to.

Story: I think the story progressed nicely as you watch the rise and fall, the hardship and the many lessons our main star endures to reach his goals. Many sports animes tend to focus on the main character working from being a total clutz with zero talent into the world's greatest *insert sports here* player. This anime moves slighly away from that and we start to understand that, life doesn't end when you become great, there are many more lessons in life one can learn, lessons from many different areas. This series mixes fantasy well with reality, making it both informative (learning about the rules and regulations of tennis) but at the same time entertaining with the various skills and attacks observed throughout the series. Another great feature of this series is the use of fillers to the right amount. Unlike other series that tend to have fillers to no end and bores the audience, Prince of Tennis actually uses just enough fillers in between matches for comic relief, contrasting it nicely against the seriousness of the matches.

Art: Not really much to say about art. It's pretty hard to keep coming up with new things, so you find certain frames etc. being repeated. However, they are used in repetition well, so you can't usually tell if you doesn't watch it too carefully.

Sound: Same as for art. But I found certain areas, the sound didn't match too well with the situation being presented, it was either too serious or not serious enough. Hence the given rating.

Character: I would have to give credit to the characters in this series. It would been really difficult trying to come up with so many different characters and be able to make it so that the audience can distinguish between each based on looks, personality, playing styles etc. It was great watching better, stronger, more skilled players being introduced all the time, and it keeps you entertained with the different playing styles. Also, although the characters do not seem to age greatly as the story progresses, however they do develop and become more mature, learning the lessons and achieving their goals. It's nice watching them grow up as the story progresses.

Enjoyment: The series is very good. Other than sound, which pulled it down a little, overall you can learn a lot from watching this series. I enjoyed every episode and I find that none of the episodes are a waste of time. They come together nicely to make the story whole.

Overall: The series is great and highly recommended.
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___________________________________________ Review the 1st

Chihuahua Review(short&sweet): A fun, addictive shounen(bunch of guys and action) filled with more unique characters than probably any anime out.

------------------------------>In Depth Review:<------------------------
STORY: You definitely dont have to be a tennis fan or player to enjoi this anime. This could be like any other action anime but, with tennis as the medium. Story is about a young tennis star who joins the infamous tennis club known as Seigaku. Through his time there he and his teammates play through tournaments to become Japan's best team. This may seem boring but with the most hilarious fillers i've seen and experiencing unexpected players(probably over 50 and all different) using unexpected strategies with unexpected endings (main characters actually lose). This anime easily is one of the best sport animes to date. Which is proven with the ova(National Tournament) that continues today!^_^

ART: This was unexpectedly well drawn. The specials each player had looked cool and smooth. Again even with the plethora of characters none of them were that similiar. In the early episodes the characters were a little fugly but soon they become more likeable as animation quality developed. The chibi episodes(best fillers ever)>_< were fun to watch.

SOUND: Not to fond of the english dub version but, probably a result of hearin the japanese version which was voiced decently well by the seiyus.
OP's , ED's, and backround music fits well but doesnt really enchance the experience so most of the time i skipped the opening and ending. T_T

CHARACTER: There was alot of character developement. Just about every character and alot of the supporting characters CHANGED. It may not have been drastic but they changed. They werer all pretty enjoyable in their own way wether it be their lame jokes or their own tennis style that makes them become ur favorite. Other than an unamed female (who never changes)>_< U will probably wont hate anybody since even the" badguys" become somewat likeable after seeing their backrounds.

ENJOIMENT: Very fun anime and since matches lasted two or three episodes and a tournament around 13eps i usually marathoned(ALOT of episodes at a time 24 a day) and like i said again u dont have to be a tennis fan to enjoi. Great fillers and fun characters who EVOLVE will keep ur face glued to the t.v. or computer until ur done. ^_^ And if u do become a hardcore fan ova's are still comin out!

OVERALL: The soundtracks may sound boring but there is a fastforwad button. Art may start unappealing but with 178 episodes it improves with the times. Story may get repetitive with tournament after tournament but with the fresh characters u cant not be excited for the next episode.

Recommendation: If you like tennis(u dont have to) or a superpowered sport with great quality then watch this. If you like this watch Law of Ueki or Hajime no Ippo there also great.

If you dissagreed OR agreed fully with me on anything feel free to message me and discss it. Always fun. @_@

WoofWoof
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This series was one of the very first that I’ve seen when I was younger and one of the reason why I fell in love with animes.

There’s a very long review coming as it was one of the longest series…………….

About the STORY
Because it is a story about a genius tennis player, the storyline becomes somehow predictable. They lose at the start then after that you know they will win amazingly. I guess the only thing unpredictable is how they will win amazingly as it is of course, done differently every game. The opponents are made ridiculously irritating to make the winnings of the main characters really great and so cool. That kind of storyline was really a hit before and sometimes even till now but seeing it for the first time now when that kind of storyline was so used so many times over the years, it really becomes quite cliché. One of the things that I like about sports series is that you can learn a lot about the sports that they’re featuring. That being said, most of the moves and techniques in the series are so fictional and can’t be used in real life. Players are burning with fires, players are flying and doing some exaggerated moves in mid-air, people are even disappearing, balls are going around poles, balls making a B sign, disappearing balls, and there are even cyclones created by players; these are only few of the countless magical-like moves during games. Some of the drama and lines can still be effective but some can really be cliché and cheesy.

About the CHARACTERS
It is given that there is a long list of characters as it is one of the still on-going series out there. And so there’s enough time to explore particular character’s background. And are these kids really middle school students? That can be quite far-fetched if I may say so. It can be considered cliché but it really feels genuinely great when the protagonists are winning against the extremely irritating and cocky opponents. That is the very reason why that kind of storyline is still often used nowadays even if it’s been already used so many times. It is something to look forward to every single game. The opponents are completely different from one another. They play differently which make every game a lot more exciting but all of them are the same with one thing, every single one have their different version of cockiness, pride, and arrogance. And what’s with this series? I honestly think that 90% of the characters are extremely overconfident. I’ve never seen a series with characters with overflowing cockiness, arrogance, and overconfidence. Sometimes, it just feels too much. And they get nastier and a lot more arrogant as the series progresses. Well, as they get nastier, their defeat feels a lot greater that way. But I honestly like Atobe’s arrogance. It is very king-like which can really be cute and funny.

About FUJI SYUSUKE
My favorite among the team is of course, Fuji. I just love enigmatic characters because they are so mysterious. Whenever he changes his attitude from being calm with closed eyes to being serious or mad with opened eyes, he can be really scary. And among all the characters who had been Ryouma’s opponent, Fuji is the best. Their game is one of the best in the series. Fuji can even make Ryouma lose his cool. Though he’s one of the geniuses in the series, it is quite ironic that his technique is also one of the most fictional. He also cares so much about the welfare of his friends and family, particularly his younger brother. He has this own way of avenging the people that he cares about which is very admiring.

About ECHIZEN NANJIRO
Fuji might be my favorite among the team but my number one in the whole series is none other than Echizen Nanjiro. He’s the only one Ryouma’s arrogance won’t work and actually losses his cool. The father and son have a unique and sweet relationship. Nanjiro’s roundabout way of teaching his son about tennis and life is just so admiring and interesting. And let’s not forget that he’s the main source of comic relief in the series which make him a lot more interesting. I just wish he has a lot more air time.

About ECHIZEN RYOMA
As Ryoma is already considered a genius at the start of the series which is quite different from the typical sports series protagonists who start off as very naïve and weak, there’s a different kind of character development for him. As the series progresses, he starts to realize he’s limits and work hard to overcome them. He’s a genius already and really arrogant about it so his character development is whenever he is beaten. Later on the series, despite still being as arrogant and show-off as ever, he becomes more mature. His arrogance becomes a lot more convincing and cooler compared at the beginning. Ryoma is so handsome and cute for his age. I guess, this is what the Japanese would call “Bishounen”. And to think that he’s only 12 years old despite already having a strong personality and attitude. But if you think about it, the most exciting way to beat an extremely arrogant and irritating opponent is for them to be defeated by an equally arrogant main character which really feels so good. After all, princes do have overconfident attitude.

About the ANIMATION
As this is an old series, the animation is not that great compared to those of todays. But I think it was great enough during it’s time. At least, that’s what I remember when I first saw it before, when it was still airing.

After watching animes for so many years now and seeing it now with its original version, with all honesty, it’s no longer that amazing compared before when I first saw it. Without a doubt, there are really other sports series which have very fictional moves and techniques, I just find this series has exaggerated it a bit too much. It can be really over the top. And it is quite ironic that the most exaggerated match is also the most awaited one which is between Ryoma and Tezuka. For some, it can be really “KAKKOI” or cool but for some it can be a bit too much.
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I-- I--- screw everything, I'm gonna write this review my own way.

Prince of Tennis is a series that you could love it forever or you'll gonna call as a trash your entire life. Well, it depends on how your taste is. Whether you like sports anime or not, whether you're willing to accept any flaws in this anime and just enjoy it, whether you just can't accept the unrealistic parts of this anime... there will be lots of answer depending those. As for my case, I am... I just don't know what happened to me but I could accept everything regarding this anime. I could forget those borders of realism and enjoy this series to the fullest.

The main plot is just like the other sport series, a student entering a sports club in his/her school (in this anime, it's tennis club). I think nothing's marvelous about the story, but everything is okay. The main theme is tennis-- a sport called tennis, and none other than that. No romance, no action, no fantasy (well..... some of you might think some of the techniques used in this anime is called fantasy, that's ok), it's all revolving around tennis. And as a tennis series, I think everything is good! I got to learn everything about tennis from this anime. And I began to like tennis even though when I first watched this anime, I barely know about that sport.

Hmm then... plot-wise, it was awesome as well. The matches are never boring and something interesting always happen, whatever it is, to make us enjoy watching it more.

Nothing much to say about the art, but I love how rich the character designs are. They are different from each other and has their own unique appearance. I've watched all of Tenipuri's episodes + side stories, and in all that, the art was pretty stable. I enjoy watching the tennis matches because it was animated neatly.

The sound is also ok, lots of different BGMs and cool seiyuus.

So we're off to the best aspect in this series... which is character!! We have lots and lots of different characters in this anime that we can describe one by one just by mentioning their traits. The characters are so rich, different, unique in their own way, and no character in this series is boring. I could say, no. Why yes, we have an arrogant, cheeky brat as our main character and tons of cool supporting characters like, a data maniac, narcissist king, short-temperament powerhouse, a double-personality, beautiful guys (we have two), trickster troll (can you guess this one? =))), your typical scary guy, a strict leader, timid girls, a cheerful moodmaker, a mother (??), and many more. Each characters are different from the others, and that's what makes me feels like I'm so connected to this series.

Overall enjoyment to me is.... 10 out of 10. Because, this is like, so fun! Aside from stressing matches, we also have some special stories that most of them are gags (srsly) and we also have these Chibi Tenipuri episodes which is to me, really refreshing. read more

Prince of Tennis is probably not the first show on your 'to watch' list, right? Well if I were you, I might want to change that. You don't need any bit of love for tennis to enjoy this anime. The strange tactics and tecniques used in this show could never be in the same category as the sport they are used for unless you know someone who can hit a tennis ball hard enough to knock their opponent into the stands.

It is a tremendously thrilling experience watching Echizen Ryoma advance in his path to defeat his father, who is considered a legend in the world of tennis. Following the characters as they grow mentally and physically is like standing atop your car as you're driving down the highway. If you can live to tell the tale, it will be something that you'll never forget.

The enjoyable characters in Prince of Tennis make this show a difficult one to part with once you've watched a few episodes. The drama and thrill of someone coming back from a 5-0 deficit is priceless. There is not a single episode in the entire series that isn't enjoyable, which is amazing considering the length of the series. Every person that watches this anime finds one character that they like more than the rest and latches onto them, experiencing that characters every moment, good and bad, first hand.

Whatever rumors you may have heard about this show should be ignored. If you miss out on what Prince of Tennis has to offer, you may end up regretting it.

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A bunch of junior high school kids play some tennis with supernatural powers. The main character is Ryoma Echizen, an aloof, unflappable, and rather sneakily cocky freshman tennis player with amazing skill and stamina. He was trained by his father, Nanjiroh, who was an amazing pro and now spends his days living in a temple and reading porn (I can relate to the latter, at least). Echizen joins a team of eccentric players, and everybody has his own special finishing move, which grows more ludicrously overpowered as the anime progresses.

I was rather disappointed with this anime. It’s…kind of ridiculous, but somehow missing the element of, you know, fun that usually accompanies outrageous things like tennis balls that rocket around breaking rackets or are on fire or whatever. It seems like it’s all serious business all the time. And it’s also intolerably slow—up to entire halves of episodes are spent recapping things that went on previously, and it wasn’t hard to understand in the first place. I was watching it mainly for the shipping elements, but even those are kind of rare for an anime where the majority of the cast is bishounen and the symbiotic relationship between two guys playing doubles should be more of a plot focus. My favorite character was Fuji, the soft-spoken, ever-smiling pretty boy with a surprisingly tough core. I wish he’d had more screentime.

I’m also rather disturbed by the portrayal of women in this series. All the girls seem to do, including the cool older female coach (Ryuzaki), is to stand around and watch the boys play tennis. It’s like the girls have nothing else to do with their lives. I mean, there are quite a few male characters who do this, too (like Hyorio and the irritating freshmen fanboy trio), but at least there are many examples of guys doing other things, whereas the females seem to exist to be a squealing audience—and the tennis players don’t even seem to appreciate their fans, which is sad. Some of the girls also play tennis, but it’s not portrayed as something to be taken seriously.

For all my complaining, though, I do feel rather fond of the anime and its characters. Almost everybody is developed to some degree, especially the opponents. And although it doesn’t feel especially rewarding, and I’m still not sure why I care about them since in some cases I’m actively rooting for the main Seigaku team to lose, the anime does leave me in a good mood. read more

STORY: A pretty original story, if I say so myself. Most sports anime that I've seen focus on a newbie that ends up being great at the sport they play - with little to no training beforehand, or at least no real training. This was a bit different in that the main character started training to play the game when he was a toddler. I can't say much more about the main guy's background without spoiling things. In short, Prince of Tennis about a kid named Echizen Ryoma who enrolls in Seishun Gakuen and joins the tennis club regulars to improve his tennis skills - and become more than just a carbon copy of his father. Seems simple, right? Wrong - if it were that simple, there'd be no need for almost 200 episodes. Prince of Tennis is about more than Echizen Ryoma working to become #1 - but I can't get into that without spoiling it.

ART: Pretty amazing, to be honest. I remember other anime from this time period, and their artwork wasn't nearly as good. Sure, there are some repeated frames - but that's almost impossible to avoid in lengthy anime. The character design was done especially well - and with such a large cast, good character design is a must. It's no good to have a large cast if you can't even tell the characters apart, so kudos to them for actually making them distinguishable.

SOUND: Some of the themes seemed like badly done karaoke songs, but some of them were actually pretty damn good. Out of the ones performed by actual artists, I'll be honest and say I only liked the ones by Kimeru and the final OP "Dream Believer" - but I liked the few songs that were supposedly performed by the characters. However, that's the best thing I can say about the music. The sound effects throughout the anime were pretty good as well.

CHARACTER: With such a large cast of characters, it's hard not to find one that you like. It'll also be hard to find one you can't connect to (I personally can relate to Fuji Shuusuke pretty well). They are extremely well-developed, but unless you stick with the show for the long haul - you might not be able to see it. The creators give each character their own was of playing tennis - including the people that mainly copy other players (and that's saying something). It's difficult to give each character their own personality if you have too many, but somehow the creators of this anime managed to do it. Yes, there are some characters that are similar to each other - but that's unavoidable; however, even those similar characters have subtle differences in their personalities that make them easier to tell apart.

ENJOYMENT: The anime is very enjoyable, provided that you can actually sit through 178 episodes. If you don't have the patience for it, then it's not as fun to watch. And when I say patience, I mean sit through the first 10-15 episodes before deciding whether or not you want to watch it. Believe me, when I got to about episode 11 - I wanted to quit watching, but I eventually got through it and once I reached episode 15, or something like that, I couldn't stop watching. Even the filler episodes are enjoyable to watch - and for most anime, you can't say that.

OVERALL: A very good anime overall. It starts off a bit slow, but stick through it - and you'll enjoy it quite a lot in the end. I know I did - working on the OVAs right now, actually. read more

Personally i love this anime because it consists of several tennis tournaments played throughout the whole series where each team holds their own unique special moves and best players held on the team. Althought me playing and also being a fan of tennis loved this anime. I would definantly rank this on my top 5. Not only does it include tennis, but also has alot of other extra episodes that are very enjoyable. Alot of my friends who watched this didn't really love tennis, but enjoyed the anime. Also very cool how the main character progresses through the story.

Coz we can put Tenipuri in 'not very-old anime' category, I won't say anything more about the stories that I'm sure you anime-freak guys already knew ^^

But i have to said, this is the only one japan-anime that kept make my wallet's empty hahahah. I'm talking buy the merchandise, man :p Oh yes it is!
Witihin this year (2010), it will be 9 years for me to become Tenipuri's big fans >.< Never got tired of it!

After the OVAs and more merchandise came out, my happiness came along with the new adv of Tenipuri in manga called SHIN-TENIPURI. New story and new adventure with... the high-school boys in U-17 Camp! Oh boy I really can wait for the vol 3 ^.^
Of course they're also release its fan-book in 5 volume new title + design "SHIN TENIPURI KOUSHIKI CHARACTER GUIDE BOOK PAIR-PURI (PRINCE)" Woow

Plus... I got news this year of June and August, they'll release 2 volumes DVD about pairing-princes! The pairs will be Tezuka-Atobe and Fuji-kyoudai (Shuusuke & Yuuta)
OMG >.< Means I have to saving more money *but how 'bout my cosplay project?*
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