My reactions to Shin Tenipuri so far
I've been meaning to start reading the new manga beyond the first chapter for a while now and just now got around to it. I was interested in the Niou/Yagyuu match a while ago and then today, I saw that Sanada and Yukimura played each other so naturally I was all over it like Wakaba glomping Utena. XD;
First off, I found the initial chapters more entertaining than the first ones of Tenipuri but then by this point, we know these characters from the previous story. My thoughts so far are that Konomi's storytelling is improving. I'm not sure how this is going to apply to Das Uberchibi but I thought he weeded out the right characters needed to push the new story forward (though I'm still buu-ing over Gakuto). It looks like Tezuka's role is being redirected which I'm interested in seeing now. I think Konomi's creativity got pretty exhausted toward the end of the first manga but it's looking like he's had a chance to recharge here. It also seems like Konomi isn't going to try forcing his readers to like Seigaku this time. He seems to have gotten the clue that a number of readers Just Don't Care.
Okay, enough criticism. Time for the squee. XD;
Three matches pushed my squee buttons - Niou vs. Yagyuu, Yukimura vs. Sanada, and Atobe vs. Hiyoshi. The first match was just plain fun and I wish it'd been longer. This is the D1 I like, the D1 that's the best of friends and rivals in constant competition to see who's the best. This is why I like D1 and what I want to see in RP and fic and rarely ever do. I wasn't surprised at all by Yagyuu's win. Yagyuu always struck me as the more intelligent of the two whereas Niou's clever and thinks down strange pathways. So Yagyuu outsmarting Niou and unraveling his game with a tiny detail do it gets an A+ from me.
Now Yukimura vs. Sanada. First off, alsijlafjlajlajlASIJIFJAFJAFAILFJ EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. My inner fangirl would've liked four chapters of this stuff but I'll be happy with what I can get. I don't think I'm too far off base with thinking that Sanada's the more dominant of the two. It also seems like Sanada created and enforces most of the club policy which makes me wonder if Yukimura's approach is very hands-off, kind of like Sakaki's coaching with Hyoutei. I've read fic with Yukimura running the club like Hitler but I thought that was a little more extreme for him. He seems more critical than anything else to me but I digress. I thought the match was really sweet and it seemed more like a training session between friends than an actual tennis match. Needless to say, I really liked it and now I'm craving good SanaYuki fic. D:
Atobe vs. Hiyoshi. I wasn't expecting to be as invested in this one as I wound up considering my interest in Hyoutei has dwindled so much. I really enjoyed it a lot. We got to see Hiyoshi as something other as a loser and Atobe as a teacher which was all sorts of awesome. I love it when we get see Atobe in this light as opposed to the standard "worship my awesome" displays we see so much of. This match did a good job of reminding me of why Atobe's still one of my favorite characters and that I really like Hiyoshi. XD
I'll probably have more commentary as I keep reading~
Oh, and Lissliss - Mizuki and Yuuta have been sighted. <333333333