Prince of Tennis
Reviewed by Dan Peterson |
| Synopsis |
| My first sports anime! As an avid tennis player and anime fan, I thought to myself “Wow! What could be greater than an anime about tennis?” Unlike chocolate and peanut butter, however, these seem to be two great things that don’t make each other better when combines. Prince of Tennis follows Ryoma Echizen, the title “prince,” as he…plays tennis. A lot. He plays on the high school team as a first year, which is supposed to be really impressive, and then shows how impressive he is by whooping up on almost every player he faces. That’s really all the plot summary you need to understand the entire series, which, for some reason, has run for over 130 episodes though I have seen only 10. |
| PLOT: 70% |
| Somehow, tournaments seem a lot more intriguing when a character’s life is on the line, not when they’re hitting a bright yellow-green ball back and forth across the net. Predictably, Ryoma wins every match that there’s “no way” for him to win, and he looks like a badass doing it. Is it an entertaining plot? Marginally. It is one that you should spend any length of time on? Nope. |
| CHARACTERS: 65% |
| Ryoma is a badass, of course, but most of the other tennis players are too. One guy in particular, Momo-chan, seems to be a lot of fun, but the rest of the tennis team seems overconfident in the style of Dragonball Z, which just seems absurd when you apply it to tennis and not world domination. Ryoma’s fan club is also extremely annoying, as is Ryoma’s perverted father. |
| ART: 60% |
| Actually, not bad art, but the scenes of tennis matches are atrocious! You don’t actually see much movement except a person swinging mightily against a green background while screaming. Once again, very Dragonball Z for something so mundane. Good for comic value, though I’m sure not that’s not what it was intended as. |
| SOUNDTRACK: 80% |
| Actually, the soundtrack for this isn’t the worst I’ve heard. It’s pretty decent, and the music creates the mood well. Probably one of the only redeeming qualities of the show, except for pure humor value. |
| CONCLUSION: 69% Overall |
| Good for killing brain cells, but watch it on your own in case kids on your hall start making fun of you. |
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