KJ

In addition to marathon-ing the anime, I also speed ran the manga. I reread the entirety of the original Prince of Tennis manga this week, and I want you to know that nobody should do this to themselves. It is bad, and I feel bad. I will not be reading the sequel.

The beginning of the manga is about tennis. The end of the manga is about superpowers and pseudo mysticism and being willing to die on the tennis court. It is very very stupid.

(It's all on the Jump app 😂)

Anyway, thoughts on the anime inc. changes, more thoughts on the manga, etc.

• Well it turns out the reason I remembered nothing about the Midoriyama matches is because they were pretty boring, but the jousei shonan matches that replaced that in the anime go on longer and are even more boring.


• I forgot that thing where Ryoma's dad called kids toys to play with, what a douchebag.


• I hate Rikkai ahahaha. Sanada beating people just makes him a douchebag.


• The manga is funnier and more ridiculous than I remembered. The bowling episode comes straight from the manga!


• I like Kaidoh's match with young Rokkaku guy in the manga, but I actually like Ryoma's match with him in the anime even more, it's fun and they seem to be having fun. That's probably the only adaptation change the anime makes that I actually like, though.


• Fuji has his eyes open so much more in the manga. Also, I like temporarily blinded Fuji in the manga more but the selfless state nonsense is so dumb. What is with all the pseudo mystical nonsense?!?


• Kaidou and Yagyuu dressing as each other to play doubles! And I just started the Nationals OVAS, and they did adapt that, yay!


• It well and truly jumps the shark during the Shithenhoji matches. That boring doubles comedy duo comprised of homophobic stereotypes? They're not even funny! The pinnacles of mastery or whatever the fuck it was is so dull. I know it was slowly going that way, but it stopped being about anything remotely like real tennis, and started being about super powers and pseudo mystical nonsense. Inui and Tezuka doubles but it wastes the chance to be interesting about their partnership because Tezuka turns it into a singles game. Why?!? WHY?!?


• The Rikkai matches were also so boring.


• And like, remember early on when Fuji forfeits a match because Taka is injured and it's not actually good for adolescents to play injured? By the end Taka is like 'I am willing to die in this tennis match' and bleeding from every orifice and this is just how tennis works now in this world... The number of games where Seigaku players are bleeding all over the place by the end... I feel like by the end the mangaka forgot he wasn't supposed to be writing about superpowered samurai fighting each other to the death. It's only school sports! 🤣

I reached the bit towards the end of the anime where Ryoma's jetted off to America and Tezuka and Fuji have a match which, if I shipped them, would probably delight me, but as I don't... I'm mostly like, why is there so much exposition?! Well, because they haven't interacted much in the anime but the anime wants to sell this as a super intense relationship you just haven't been seeing so there has to be endless voice-overs about how this is so intense actually! I think it would work better if there had been more interaction between them throughout and there wouldn't have to be so much info-dumping. Also, LOL at the writers having to get Ryoma out of the country first, because realistically both Fuji and Tezuka have been way more intense at him than at each other. And why is this match three entire episodes long??

I feel like this is a writing issue - if there had been better set up long term there wouldn't need to be so much effort put into this 'no it's totally so intense you guys' thing now. I'm happy for the TezuFuji shippers, though, they must have loved this.

Also, LOL at the coach being like "tennis is like a game for him" about Fuji. Okay, but tennis is actually a game though?

Also, 12 year old Ryoma being invited to the US Open is A BRIDGE TOO FAR for me. NO! That is too stupid! And it sort of warps everything around it in the anime, which means that a bunch of scenes which were about Tezuka and people's relationships to Tezuka in the manga become about Ryoma in the anime but without the same emotional heft.

I am finally on to the Nationals OVAs, though, and I am enjoying myself. Even though Eiji basically cloning himself is so much stupider in the anime somehow. But I love Taka and Fuji's doubles match; they're nice boys who are friends and they enjoy tennis and bring interesting things to the game and that's really all I want.

I'm looking forward to seeing the Hyotei rematches animated. Those were basically the last bits of the manga I enjoyed, but also I really enjoyed them, so let's see if the anime lives up to that.