+++MANGA INFO::+++

Konomi Takeshi's Prince of Tennis (Tennis No Oujisama) was first released in Japan's Weekly Shonen Jump in July of 1999. The popularity of this manga has made it to be known all over Asia as well as in some western countries like the U.S. It has also sprouted numerous commercial products simple trading cards, music albums, shirts, toys, and other merchandises. It was in 2001, that Production I.G. produced its anime version which was shown in TV Tokyo. The story revolves around a 12-yr-old Echizen Ryoma, a four-time American Jr. Tennis Tournament Champion who has returned to Japan. Due to his will of defeating his father who is a tennis legend, he enrolls at Seigaku, one of Tokyo's middle school with a prestigious tennis club. It was a rule in Seigaku's club not to allow freshmen to join any Ranking tournament in which Ryoma was the only one who gained exception. Ryoma, together with the other Seigaku regulars is now bound to defeat every opponents they meet just to fulfill their very ultimate goal - to become Japan's No. 1 Tennis Team.

))* ANIME AND MANGA DIFFERENCES *((

The anime is slightly different from the manga version. While most of the story and characters (e.g Ryoma Echizen, Takeshi Momoshiro, Shusuke Fuji) are the same, there are small story-changes in the animated version because Konomi thought it would be too boring to watch what fans have already read.

++For example, table tennis scenes and billiard scenes exist in the anime, but not in the manga.

++The anime has already ended while the manga has not. There are 178 episodes and 337+ chapters up currently. A year after the end of the anime, a 13-episode OVA was made to adapt further events in the manga. Another OVA series has also been announced beginning June 2007 titled the National Championship Semi-Finals, though how many episodes this second OVA series will cover has yet to be revealed.

++Some schools are exclusive to the anime (Jyousei Shonan) and others are exclusive to the manga (Midoriyama).

++Some events take place at different times. For example, Kirihara visits Seigaku in the manga prior to the District Regionals, but he doesn't meet them in the anime until after the Tokyo Prefecturals. Inoue and Shiba also visit Nanjirou much earlier in the anime then they do in the manga, and are introduced earlier (in the manga they don't show up until Ryoma's match against Inui)

++Also, the anime starts shifting from the manga starting from the Rokakku arc. In the manga storyline, it is not Ryoma who faces Kentaro Aoi, but rather Kaoru Kaidoh.

++In the anime, Ryoma faces off against Sanada before the Rikkaidai match and gets crushed. In the manga, he plays against Kirihara before the match, activates the State of Self Actualization, and wins.

++The manga shows growth in tennis skill through modes of self-actualization. The anime doesn't, showing Ryoma's skill only extending to his "Cyclone smash".

++The episodes in the anime dealing with Kevin Smith and the U.S. West Coast Team do not take place within the manga.

++While the manga makes an attempt to try and explain how some of the seemingly impossible moves are performed, such as the Tezuka Zone and Kikumaru's Seal Steps, the anime does less and sometimes even exaggerate them to a point where it becomes almost magical. This is possibly also due to the fact that the anime uses animation and naturally some effects are enhanced. But at times it seems that the anime is deliberately exaggerating the effects in order to parody itself. In the animated movie, Tezuka's skill and power has been compared to that of the meteorite which led to the extinction of dinosaurs in a lengthy clip; even the author found it so exaggerated that it was funny.

++The anime (especially the anime-only stories and chibi episodes) sometimes parodies and even makes fun of the story itself, for example, Inui Juice, Tezuka Zone, and Fuji in his open-eye mode. Overall, the manga is more serious and does not tend to make fun of itself to that extent.

***THE PRINCE OF TENNIS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS (OVA)+++

* * *

At last, the day of the Nationals Tournament has arrived. Seigaku is now going to play along with many strong opponents from different Regions all over Japan. The first match was between Rokkaku and Higa Okinawa. It was thought that the match would be tough, but it ends up that Rokkaku is losing pretty badly at Higa to the extent that the Higa team even hit Rokakku's coach on purpose while having a laugh at it. This made Seigaku heat up defending Rokkaku just in time and to everyone's surprise a tennis ball suddenly came from afar hitting the Higa player. .the ball came from Ryoma Echizen, who just returned from America. But Ryoma's true intention on coming back was just to gIve his support on the team but Oishi decided to challenge Ryoma on a match on a condition that if Ryoma defeats him, he'll give up his spot to Ryoma. The game ended with Ryoma's victory. Now with Ryoma and his experience at the US Tennis Open, the Seigaku is ready to beat some opponents and their first target - Okinawa's Higa Chuu, a team who uses martial arts in tennis

+wdays.50webs.com+