Anime Review: Prince of Tennis
Anime Review: Prince of Tennis
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.
If you’re interested, my masterlist of anime reviews is here.
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.
If you’re interested, my masterlist of anime reviews is here.