You should be watching: Prince of Tennis Chinese Drama
The Chinese drama adaptation of Prince of Tennis started airing last week. I'd been looking forward to it but not sure what to expect. Now I know. It is SO good. I recommend it highly.
The series is 22 episodes long and even though only a few eps have been on TV, they all seem to be available from DVD or some such. (The aired episodes are cut-down versions of the DVD episodes.) I have watched the first five, three with translations, two without.
It's different from the manga or anime. The characters are older -- they're in the "Youth College" but I haven't quite worked out if it's an actual university or a high school or something like CEGEP. There are dormitories, which leads to some lovely scenes. (But as they're packed in four to a room, it's an unlikely spot for romance.) And it feels a lot more realistic. The characters have more depth -- and flaws. And, of course, it's set in China, so there are cultural differences.
The characters are based on the manga characters but they can be quite different too. This will probably annoy some people but I really love getting a whole new interpretation. It's like Battlestar Galactica, or something. (Also, I think Tezuka is in love with Kaidoh. ♥) They have Chinese names and non-crazy hair, so it took me a while to figure out who everyone is.
I LOVE THIS DRAMA. Five episodes and it is already breaking my heart. (And not just because of the Inui-Kaidoh-Tezuka love triangle.) Please hurry up and watch because I really need to post about episodes 4-5.
If you still need a reason to watch, the boys are very pretty. And they touch each other a lot.
Resources
* Want a taste? Opening and ending sequences -- lots of scenes from the whole drama. And I love the opening song. (The avi files are encoded from rmvb, so the quality isn't any better.)
Opening: RMVB / AVI (SS)
Closing: RMVB / AVI (SS)
* dramapuri - join the comm for downloads, translations, subs, and squee
* Cast photos and names, courtesy of rokakujin
♥♥♥
The series is 22 episodes long and even though only a few eps have been on TV, they all seem to be available from DVD or some such. (The aired episodes are cut-down versions of the DVD episodes.) I have watched the first five, three with translations, two without.
It's different from the manga or anime. The characters are older -- they're in the "Youth College" but I haven't quite worked out if it's an actual university or a high school or something like CEGEP. There are dormitories, which leads to some lovely scenes. (But as they're packed in four to a room, it's an unlikely spot for romance.) And it feels a lot more realistic. The characters have more depth -- and flaws. And, of course, it's set in China, so there are cultural differences.
The characters are based on the manga characters but they can be quite different too. This will probably annoy some people but I really love getting a whole new interpretation. It's like Battlestar Galactica, or something. (Also, I think Tezuka is in love with Kaidoh. ♥) They have Chinese names and non-crazy hair, so it took me a while to figure out who everyone is.
I LOVE THIS DRAMA. Five episodes and it is already breaking my heart. (And not just because of the Inui-Kaidoh-Tezuka love triangle.) Please hurry up and watch because I really need to post about episodes 4-5.
If you still need a reason to watch, the boys are very pretty. And they touch each other a lot.
Resources
* Want a taste? Opening and ending sequences -- lots of scenes from the whole drama. And I love the opening song. (The avi files are encoded from rmvb, so the quality isn't any better.)
Opening: RMVB / AVI (SS)
Closing: RMVB / AVI (SS)
* dramapuri - join the comm for downloads, translations, subs, and squee
* Cast photos and names, courtesy of rokakujin
♥♥♥