The Prince of Tennis II

*Disclaimer: I've already written a detailed review of Prince of Tennis. This is more or less an analysis of New Prince of Tennis, as it pertains to the original anime, so it's less structured and doesn't go in-depth on anything that isn't being compared to the original Prince of Tennis.* To say that I had high hopes for New Prince of Tennis would be, you guessed it, an understatement. The original Prince of Tennis was not just an anime, it was THE anime, to me. It was that enigma that, despite seeming to be "just a sports anime," managed to capture my heart and rose aboveall other anime in my favorites list. That's not to say that it's better or even that I like it more than any of my other favorites, it is simply "above," because it's the one anime that I feel the closest connection to, it's that anime where I feel most centered. So yes, I had very high hopes for New Prince of Tennis! I started out skeptical, and this skepticism quickly grew in its intensity. The opening song didn't really match well with the visuals, the setting had switched from the comfort of Seigaku to a never-before-mentioned hardcore high school training camp that seems to be all sorts of hostile, and worst of all, it felt like the people making this anime were just trying to pander to long-time Prince of Tennis fans by over-using the shallowest aspect of each character, rather than allow them to act naturally. I dare you to find more than 2 consecutive lines from Inui that weren't just stating some arbitrary percentages. I felt anything but at home with this anime at the beginning, and this lasted for about 7 episodes. But after that, everything was right again. They actually had matches that took up whole episodes (you just don't get that same emotional impact when the matches are short enough to fit 4 or more into a single episode), the characters weren't stale any more, finally, FINALLY it felt like Prince of Tennis again! I was prepared to dismiss this entire anime as a failure, but I'm very pleased that I stuck with it, because the second half or so is quite good. If you are a Prince of Tennis fan, you certainly should not miss New Prince of Tennis. The weird mismatched opening sequence even started growing on me after a while. However, despite how good it got at the end, the first half should not be overlooked. The writers are partially to blame for the bad pacing and shallow, well, everything about those episodes, but I attribute most of the sense of awkwardness to the fact that this anime is only 13 episodes long. A Prince of Tennis story of this magnitude should not be confined to so few episodes, and from what I remember of the manga, a LOT is left out in this anime, and that just doesn't work as well as one would hope. This is the only thing that's keeping me from adding this to my collection of "perfect 10" Prince of Tennis arcs/seasons on MAL. But what can I say, it's Prince of Tennis. It's a good time, you should watch it if you liked the first anime.

I highly suggest that you watch Prince of Tennis and its National Tournament OVAs before watching New Prince of Tennis. I loved the original Prince of Tennis (and National Tournament OVAs) and finished it in about three weeks a while ago. The New Prince of Tennis is had a completely different atmosphere that I didn't expect. Story [7]: The story was acceptable. 50 middle school representatives from the national champions go to the U-17 Japanese representative camp against high school students. I thought it was interesting at first, except when that started to change further in. Then, the story started going downhill from there. I nearlydropped it because it had nearly nothing to do with tennis. There were barely any tennis matches in the second half and I started to lose interest, but then regained it in the last episodes. The comedy wasn't as great, but it was there to an extent. Of course, I think that New Prince of Tennis would have been better if it had more episodes to work with. Most of the matches weren't that bad but it would have been more climatic if it were longer. Art [8]: Nothing much to say.. the art is much more modern, brighter and sharp, which is an improvement. Sound [6]: To say the least, I didn't like the opening and ending themes to New Prince of Tennis. I thought that it didn't fit properly at all, even though I had listened to them multiple times. (I absolutely loved most Prince of Tennis' opening/ending themes). The seiyuus' did their job but they weren't superbly brilliant. Character [7]: It was nice to see the old characters back with some development and not just Seigaku's. However, others were almost completely left out. A lot of characters just said a few sentences. New characters weren't that intense either since they didn't show up all that often. Enjoyment [7]: Overall, it was an arguable anime. I did enjoy it but it didn't live up to my expectations. Overall [7]: I can't give it a higher score for New Prince of Tennis since it screwed up a bit at the midpoint of the story, and it didn't have an overload of tennis. (What would you expect? "New Prince of 'Tennis'"). New Prince of Tennis is worth watching if you want more material, but don't get your hopes too high if you think it'll be as good as the original. To me, it definitely is a let down and it didn't have a huge impact on me.

New Prince of Tennis. A sequel which should not have been born. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely loved the series and am still reading the manga. But I am not here to rate and talk about the whole series. I am here to talk about this particular season, I am going to review the 13 episodes I watched. The story starts off where the last one ended. Seigaku became national champion and almost all of its regular members have left. But where are we now? Now we suddenly are at a U-17 training camp for tennis. And this U-17 camp is for the representatives of Japan.I was really disappointed by this set-up. It would have been interesting to see Tezuka, Fuji and the rest fade to the background while Arai and others become regulars and face a hard time trying to defend their title. Instead we get this. A clusterfuck of characters where each of them get 5 minutes of actually playing tennis and not creating a single good match. I am here to watch a lengthy exciting tennis match, damn it! Like I said, the characters getting about 5 minutes of screen time each is disappointing. Another thing which was quite Prince of Tennis like was a training camp. Oh wait, again? Yes, again. And to be honest it isn't even exciting, there is not some kind of big challenge ahead. And the only thing we see them doing is run around saying "I can't accept this training" and then "I finally understand the meaning of this." What I am saying with this is; a good build up is wasted without a (proper) story. In the case of New Prince of Tennis it might be different, this time around they only got 13 episodes to air and for such a slow paced anime which likes to take its time to create amazing matches. It has been far too little. Art. There is not a lot to say about it. It is as good as it was in its prequel. Which may sound disappointing, but certainly is not. The faces of the characters seem alive and lots variances in their faces. Animation is also superb like it was. The actual tennis has lots of moving around and nothing sloppy for me to criticise. Sound is a part of the review which never is heavy for my final score. Because frankly there is not too much to talk about, the opening was not to my tastes. It doesn't fit a usually action packed anime like Prince of Tennis. The voice actors didn't change from the previous series as far as I noticed. The one problem Prince of Tennis always had is: Characters. It had way too many of them. And it also unnecessarily revives supporting characters over and over again too give the already big bunch of main characters even less screen time. Not saying any of them really sucks, but they are unneeded. I think if it cut back on the characters used for this 13 episode anime. There would have been a lot more actual action and tennis matches. Though I will say this. Even though it always had way too much characters. All of them were entertaining too watch when put them up against each other and the "evil" team was actually seemingly a bit malicious. Overall I didn't enjoy this. The plot wasn't what I would have liked it to be. And the characters were in to many numbers and little of them contributed to the plot. Strong points: - The variety of characters were not similar and all of them had their own little thing. - The goal for the protagonist was set high and was not overcome with "resolve". - The comedy was quite good. Weak points: - You need not look further than the characters page, it has way too many and created for little plot. - Cut-off matches. Only small portions of a tennis match were shown and far too less happened. - The opening song did not fit for its theme: Tennis. So if you loved the prequel for its characters and was not a too big fan of the action, you will probably dislike this one. Life lesson learnt: Quality over quantity.

oh how I've waited so long for a new season of Prince of Tennis. My wish has come true!!!!!. OMG New Prince of Tennis takes place after the Nationals Tournaments arc. Echizen Ryoma and everyone is back!!!! Yeah!!!! Down to the story- it seems that Team Seigaku and the other teams are invited to this institute U-17 to see who is the best players- Middle school and High School players.My guess the best players would be put into a team later on in the series(guessed based on the OP song) So they are pitted against one another. Player ranks from 1-10. 1 being thebest and 10 and lower weakest. We meet 3 High school players who are the main focus of this series. They are in top 5 court ranks. Prince of Tennis Fan Rejoice!!!!!! 10/10 I love Prince of Tennis !!!