Creative Staff
Story/Art: Takeshi Konomi
Translation/Adaptation: Joe Yamazaki/Gerard Jones
What They Say
Ryoma Echizen, the Prince of Tennis, has just enrolled at Seishun Academy after spending several years in America winning 4 consecutive US Junior Tournaments. His cool confidence raises the hackles of a few older students on the tennis team, and they challenge him to a game–but none of them even comes close to his skill and level of play. Now intramural matches to determine the starting members of the team for the upcoming city tournament are about to begin, and even though the rules don’t allow 7th graders to play in tournaments, the captain has arranged for Ryoma to enter the ranking matches. Does he have what it takes to truly deserve the title Prince of Tennis? Find out in this amazing tennis manga!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The second volume of this long-running sports manga focuses mainly on two matches, as Echizen takes on two famed Seishun starters, Kaoru and Inui, for a shot at the city tournament. Echizen is technically too young to compete in the city tournament, but that doesn’t stop him from testing his skills against Seishun’s best.
Similar to the first volume, the matches in this second volume are compelling. The stakes are high, even for intramurals, and the rivalries are strong. That said, much of what I thought about the first volume still carries to this one, and ultimately I just can’t seem to fully dive into Prince of Tennis. The story just isn’t hooking me, even despite the strong matches — and some of the techniques are really interesting, as a tennis newbie — but the story just isn’t there for me. Echizen is a mostly bland character so far, and while we know there’s “someone” he needs to beat, we don’t know much else about him, thus making his character hard to relate to and root for. The various Seishun top runners he battles this volume feel somewhat interchangeable even with their individual special techniques. The bursts of energy from the matches aren’t enough to pull the series along for me, — especially into the 40+ volume territory.
Art-wise the series has improved some in the second volume but that could be because of most action related focus, as opposed to day-to-day character shots, where Konomi’s proportions get a little wonky at times. I’m sure this is far from the most realistic portrayal of tennis, but the art and the action looking better this volume.
In Summary
Overall, though, Prince of Tennis is looking like it just isn’t for me. I can see the appeal given the large and obviously soon to be varied male cast, but story wise it seems pretty bare. Perhaps if Echizen becomes a bit more relatable in later volumes I’d be willing to revisit it, but otherwise, I’ll be giving this a mostly guilt-free pass.
Content Grade: C
Art Grade: B-
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade A
Age Rating: All Ages
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: June 16, 2004
MSRP: $7.95
