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FalconX578

  • Pennsylvania, USA
  • Joined Jan 26, 2018
  • 19 / M

The Prince of Tennis

Aug 24, 2020

This review will only cover the 178-episode series.

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The Prince of Tennis is an interesting anime with interesting reviews about it too. People seem to either love it blindly or hate it religiously. As for me, I can understand both of those perspectives, and I'll explain both of them since there's a lot to this from my experience.

Recently after finishing both Shokugeki no Souma (which I believe is a very similar anime to this one) and the popular sports anime Haikyuu!! I had decided to rewatch The Prince of Tennis… for the third time. Years later, and after watching many other popular titles, I came back to this very special show. I loved this anime when I was younger, and back then I had considered this my favorite show ever. I had watched everything I could to this series because I was hooked at how fun and interesting the tennis was. The crazy superpowered tennis matches—and the phenomenal characters that made them possible—had made this show god-like for me. After rewatching it in an effort to compare it to Haikyuu!! I've come to a realization: The Prince of Tennis was not as good as I remember.

The Prince of Tennis has many flaws. That's not to say this show is bad however; this show was still enjoyable for me to watch. Being able to see such amazing characters interact with each other was fun. Seeing them bond struggle after struggle, and seeing them pull through together was heartwarming for me. Even the filler episodes for this series were enough to make me smile and laugh.

While the tennis superpowers are fun, the power scaling is all over the place, and going into this show without knowing this may leave you very confused. As a kid, I remember thinking that these tennis teams could survive in a war with nothing but a tennis racket and a few tennis balls. These middle school students can jump six feet in the air and hit a tennis ball with enough force that it can break the strings of a racket and zoom right through it. The tennis players in this show can pull off stunts that no one could in the real world, and it's important to know that these abilities are meant to be fun (some even being metaphorical).

As for the story, it's very predictable. No matter what the odds, the Seigaku team will find a way to pull through. The main character, Ryoma Echizen, seems to overcome any obstacle not through any deep motivation or because of his overwhelming tenacity and his strong desire to win, but just because he's the main protagonist that has to win. If there was anything that bothered my about this show a lot, it would be the thousands of layers of plot armor Echizen wears as the show goes on. That said, the fact that he is such an overdog (as opposed to underdog) protagonist is what makes this story unique, but it was overdone here. There are still other amazing characters in the show however, each with well-crafted motivations and personalities that are explored, but for the main character, he doesn't really have any of those.

The animation is old, which may turn some folks off, but it still fits, as bad as it is by today's standards. It simply works, but it does get better as the show goes on. As for the sound, the sound effects are really nice and enjoyable, and while some of the music themes are overplayed a lot, they are still really good. They fit this show perfectly.

TL;DR

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While I would still say this show is good, it certainly is far from perfect, and isn't something that I'd recommend for many people to watch, purely because 178 episodes is quite the commitment that not many people would be up for. The average anime viewer would get probably get bored of this show; story-wise, it's nowhere near the level of Naruto or Attack on Titan. This is a great anime I would show to younger kids; I think they would have an easier time getting invested in the story and the characters, and would love the ridiculousness of this show.

Even though The Prince of Tennis still has a spot on my list of favorite anime, it's something that's there because of my childhood. The franchise as a whole has a lot of hidden gem-like moments that are amazing, but for someone who doesn't have that much time on their hands, having to sift through tons of episodes just to get there isn't worth it for everyone. Not everyone would have the patience to get hooked on this show, and I would instead recommend a show like Haikyuu!! instead for a good sports anime with amazing character development, and Shokugeki no Souma for a well-done story with an overdog protagonist.

This show isn't the kind of gold that everyone will see value in. It's more like an antique that will be seen as junk by a lot of people for a lot of valid reasons. Even so, this show will still be treasured by some, and will certainly still hold an important place in a handful of hearts like mine that grew up loving this show through all its faults.

If you do end up finishing this, I would recommend the 26-episode National Tournament OVA arc. Even though certain events don't line up with what happened in the original series, the story and its pacing were much better and made up for it. The matches were also far more interesting as well, so at least give it a try. Even the Another Story specials that go with it were fun to watch. As for the New Prince of Tennis sequel, it isn't worth watching.

6/10 story
6/10 animation
9/10 sound
9/10 characters
7/10 overall

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