Shin Tennis no Oujisama

New Prince of Tennis. A sequel which should not have been born.

Don't get me wrong. I absolutely loved the series and am still reading the manga. But I am not here to rate and talk about the whole series. I am here to talk about this particular season, I am going to review the 13 episodes I watched.

The story starts off where the last one ended. Seigaku became national champion and almost all of its regular members have left. But where are we now? Now we suddenly are at a U-17 training camp for tennis. And this U-17 camp is for the representatives of Japan. ...

I was really disappointed by this set-up. It would have been interesting to see Tezuka, Fuji and the rest fade to the background while Arai and others become regulars and face a hard time trying to defend their title. Instead we get this. A clusterfuck of characters where each of them get 5 minutes of actually playing tennis and not creating a single good match. I am here to watch a lengthy exciting tennis match, damn it!

Like I said, the characters getting about 5 minutes of screen time each is disappointing. Another thing which was quite Prince of Tennis like was a training camp. Oh wait, again? Yes, again. And to be honest it isn't even exciting, there is not some kind of big challenge ahead. And the only thing we see them doing is run around saying "I can't accept this training" and then "I finally understand the meaning of this."

What I am saying with this is; a good build up is wasted without a (proper) story. In the case of New Prince of Tennis it might be different, this time around they only got 13 episodes to air and for such a slow paced anime which likes to take its time to create amazing matches. It has been far too little.

Art. There is not a lot to say about it. It is as good as it was in its prequel. Which may sound disappointing, but certainly is not. The faces of the characters seem alive and lots variances in their faces.

Animation is also superb like it was. The actual tennis has lots of moving around and nothing sloppy for me to criticise.

Sound is a part of the review which never is heavy for my final score. Because frankly there is not too much to talk about, the opening was not to my tastes. It doesn't fit a usually action packed anime like Prince of Tennis. The voice actors didn't change from the previous series as far as I noticed.

The one problem Prince of Tennis always had is: Characters. It had way too many of them. And it also unnecessarily revives supporting characters over and over again too give the already big bunch of main characters even less screen time. Not saying any of them really sucks, but they are unneeded. I think if it cut back on the characters used for this 13 episode anime. There would have been a lot more actual action and tennis matches.

Though I will say this. Even though it always had way too much characters. All of them were entertaining too watch when put them up against each other and the "evil" team was actually seemingly a bit malicious.

Overall I didn't enjoy this. The plot wasn't what I would have liked it to be. And the characters were in to many numbers and little of them contributed to the plot.

Strong points:
- The variety of characters were not similar and all of them had their own little thing.
- The goal for the protagonist was set high and was not overcome with "resolve".
- The comedy was quite good.

Weak points:
- You need not look further than the characters page, it has way too many and created for little plot.
- Cut-off matches. Only small portions of a tennis match were shown and far too less happened.
- The opening song did not fit for its theme: Tennis.

So if you loved the prequel for its characters and was not a too big fan of the action, you will probably dislike this one.

Life lesson learnt: Quality over quantity.

Overall review: 4.15

Story: 3

The reality is that Tennis no Ouji-sama has become the fruit you want to continue squeezing, even when you have already extracted all the juice and you end up settling just by tasting the seed. It is no longer what it used to be in its previous seasons, the plot itself of this new adaptation is very basic and simply happens for the convenience of the show and wants to extend something more than necessary.
This time we are introduced to our Seigaku team to attend a special invitation training camp of the U-17 national team. At first glance one could say that ... the proposal is striking and interesting, however when following the show with 2 or 3 chapters you will realize that this premise is too superficial and monotonous, it does not really seek to put a clear objective within it and the line That it traces history is very evident, bringing Ryoma to the top of the national team, which is not a problem because we know it beforehand at this point in history. The real problem is everything else, the reuse of characters from their previous installments for the obvious convenience of the show and that they also do not provide too much dynamism and occupy necessary time, continuing with the typical execution of "arrival to a new environment, fail, train and return to beat them all. "
Finally, the matches, that if they had already been a topic that in the national championship only lasted 1 chapter per match, imagine now that there are only a few matches and most of them are not very flashy and do not last more than about 10 minutes?
In short, there is little to rescue and I am sorry to give it such a low score, but there is no way to save it.


Art: 8.75

Animation, designs and colors is undoubtedly the only thing that saves this adaptation and far surpasses its predecessor deliveries, since by having the collaboration of "IG Productions" it gains great strength both in fluid character movements and very striking colors for the viewer to see.


Sound: 4


As for the sound section, the good thing is that some very pleasant and identifiable OSTs with the series that remain despite the seasons and that do not abuse their reuse constantly compared to some of their prequels, Unfortunately both the OP / ED overshadow the background music work, with some very unfortunate openings and closings and little thematic for the occasion, you can really come to think that you are about to start a series of music or dance rather than relate it to tennis


Characters: 3

Here it is similar and at the same time it goes hand in hand with the story that mentions the reinsertion of most of Seigaku's rivals to put them in this more as a support and companions in the same situation, but the reality is that of the many schools who attend high school as Seigaku who are 50, only 1 or 2 characters per school are really interesting to appreciate and see how they develop in the most difficult situations. The rest is simply to take minutes in the program and extend it as much as possible. While of the new high school characters that make up the U-17s are only striking in appearance and some not even that, they are not given too much emphasis or shown to have a predominant role within the plot, it is as if they simply need to fill those vacancies .


Entertainment: 2

Honestly, it was a terrible pass this season, it was literally more fun to see the ceiling, since all the events are manual, and we do not get anything flashy or captivating that generates a good expectation, let me explain. In previous adaptations there was always a clear objective or reasons to catch the viewer, in the first season, we have the formation of the team, better developed matches, very good comedy chapters, characters that we are getting to know, etc., While in the adaptations of the "championship national "is the expectations placed on whether they could achieve the title and see that new rivals could give Seigaku a fight (although most of the games were summarized). But here there really isn't an engine to wrap you up in the show and it fails miserably.



En español:



Reseña general : 4,15

Historia: 3

La realidad es que Tennis no Ouji-sama se a convertido en el fruto que quieres seguir exprimiendo, aun cuando ya le has sacado todo el jugo y te acabas conformando con solo saborear la semilla. Ya no es lo que supo ser en sus anteriores temporadas, la trama en si de esta nueva adaptación es muy básica y simplemente sucede por conveniencia del espectáculo y quiere extender algo mas haya de lo necesario.
En esta ocasión se nos presenta a nuestro equipo de Seigaku para asistir aun campo de entrenamiento por invitación especial del equipo nacional sub-17. A primera vista uno podría decir que es llamativo e interesante la propuesta, sin embargo al seguir el espectáculo con 2 o 3 capítulos te darás cuenta que esta premisa es demasiado superficial e monótona, no busca realmente poner un objetivo claro dentro del mismo y la linea que traza la historia es muy evidente, llevar a Ryoma a la cima del equipo nacional, que no es un problema por que lo sabemos de ante mano a este punto de la historia. El verdadero problema es todo lo demás, la reutilización de personajes de sus anteriores entregas por conveniencia obvia del show y que tampoco aportan demasiado dinamismo e ocupando tiempo necesario, prosiguiendo con la típica ejecución de "llegada aun nuevo entorno, fracasar, entrenar y volver para ganarles a todos".
Por ultimo los partidos, que si ya venían siendo un tema que en el campeonato nacional solo durasen 1 capitulo por match, imagínate ahora que solo hay unos pocos partidos y la mayoría son poco llamativos e no duran mas de alrededor de ¿10 minutos?.
En fin poco que rescatar y me da pena darle una puntuación tan baja, pero es que no hay por donde salvarla.


Arte: 8,75

La animación, los diseños y los colores es sin dudas lo único que salva a esta adaptación y supera con creces a sus entregas predecesoras, ya que al contar con la colaboración de "Produccion I.G" gana gran fuerza tanto en movimientos de personajes fluidos y unos colores muy llamativos para la vista del espectador.


Sonido: 4


En cuanto al apartado sonoro lo bueno es que algunos OST muy agradables e identificables con la serie que se mantiene a pesar de las temporadas y que no abusan de su reutilización constantemente a comparación de algunas de sus precuelas, Desgraciadamente tanto el OP / ED opacan el trabajo de la música de fondo, con unas aperturas y cierres muy lamentables e poco temáticas para la ocasión, realmente podes llegar a pensar que estas por comenzar una serie de música o baile antes que relacionarla con el tennis


Personajes: 3

Aqui es similar y ala vez va de la mano con la historia que mencione lo de la reinserción de la mayoría de rivales de Seigaku para ponerlos en esta mas como un apoyo e compañeros en la misma situación, pero la realidad es que de las tantas escuelas que asisten del secundario como Seigaku que son 50, solo 1 o 2 personajes por escuela son realmente interesante de apreciar y ver como se desenvuelven en la situaciones mas difíciles. El resto simplemente esta para tomar minutos en el programa y extenderlo lo mas posible. Mientras que de los nuevos personajes de preparatoria que integran el sub-17 solo son llamativos en apariencia y algunos ni siquiera eso, tampoco se les da demasiado énfasis o muestran tener un papel preponderante dentro de la trama, es como si simplemente necesitasen rellenar esas vacantes.


Entretenimiento: 2

Sinceramente la pase pésimo en esta temporada, literalmente era mas divertido ver el techo, ya que todos los sucesos son de manual, y no obtenemos nada llamativo o atrapante que te genere una expectativa buena, me explico. En anteriores adaptaciones siempre hubo un objetivo claro o motivos atrapar el espectador, en la primer temporada, tenemos la formación del equipo, partidos mejor desarrollados, capítulos de comedia muy buena, personajes que vamos conociendo, etc, Mientras que en las adaptaciones del "campeonato nacional" esta la expectativas puestas en si podrían lograr el titulo y ver que nuevos rivales podrían darle pelea a Seigaku (aunque la mayoría de partidos fueses resumidos). Pero aquí realmente no hay un motor que te envuelva en el espectáculo y falla estrepitosamente.