Prince of Tennis (2012)
 

Well, I can't find a thread for this even though it starts next week and Crunchyroll just announced a simulcast, 10:30 AM (PST?) on Wednesday

Cast taken from ANN:


Hiroki Takahashi as Eiji Kikumaru
Junko Minagawa as Ryoma Echizen
Kohei Kiyasu as Kaoru Kaidoh

Kenjiro Tsuda as Sadaharu Inui
Ryotaro Okiayu as Kunimitsu Tezuka
Yuki Kaida as Shusuke Fuji

Akiko Kimura as An Tachibana
Akira Ishida as Hajime Mizuki
Akira Nakagawa as
Kachirou
Karupin

I don't generally like sports anime, but I find myself interested in both this and Area no Kishi -- the latter because it's from the author of Drops of God and Bloody Monday and this because tennis is the one sport I actually enjoy watching.

I managed to watch the first episode today. It looks like its shaping up to be more of the same...which essentially means I've fallen in love all over again. I don't know how well received this franchise is on these forums, but I liked the original series a lot. So I'm happy to see they've brought it back after all this time.

This may be the first example of Dawson Casting in an anime. There is no way those people are in middle school. I'd have a hard time buying them as high school students.

I wish they hadn't blown their budget on CG. That opening shot of the train station made me think we might get Hanasaku Iroha-level animation, but then half the traditional animation consisted of panning across still drawings.

In the original series, Seigaku had the nationals as their goal and that was made clear early on. I have to wonder what this series will be building up towards.

Also, middle schoolers that play at the professional level... I'll have a tough time swallowing that. If they're so good, why haven't they competed in the nationals and why are we just now hearing about them?

I agree with yellowscarves on the part about believability.
POT used to be so good, but it seems the author ran out of moves and started doing fantastic stuff; I dropped it ever since Kikumaru can do bunshin.

Prince of Tennis is obviously nothing more than a cash-in at this point.

I mean, the plot for this is pretty much 'Assemble ALL THE POPULAR CHARACTERS to fight against new enemies.'

Personally, I stopped caring about believability when it comes to PoT. I'm just watching/reading it for the hilarity of it... as well as the fact that despite how one-dimensional some PoT characters are, I'm a fan of some of them. :p

To me POT has already ended at the episode 178 of the first series. Everything released after that became more and more ridiculous to watch. Just how did they come up with those tennis moves?

Pretty much the same reason I still find myself watching this show. There are some characters I care about, and also, those crack-filled episodes in the original series that didn't happen in the manga were hilarious, and I hope the new series has them, too.

I too, have a huge issue with the fantastic tennis. I stopped watching it soon after the nationals started, and after skimming through the national chapters and seeing blood and characters injured to the point where they need to be wrapped in bandages, I decided not to pick it back up. The old PoT really was something special, and it's a shame it didn't stay true to its roots. I'd much rather watch an adaptation of Baby Steps, but thought I'd give this a try on a whim.

Prince of Tennis ( the anime ) peaked for me at the Tezuka vs Fuji fight.

I know it was an original anime take on the Tezuka/Fuji angle, but I thought they captured the rivalry and drama really well and executed a tennis match that didn't rely on a crutch of "My Super Tennis > Your Super Tennis."

But alas, Konomi is too in love with DBZ Tennis.

This. It's one of my favorite matches ever in the show. Or maybe just any matches that has Tezuka in it. The captain just has that big of an influence on his teammates and opponents, including the main character.

Not counting the Tezuka versus Fuji match, the last opening was the highlight of the series for me. Seeing those short clips of Tezuka versus Echizen remind me of how much I love tennis (plus, Dream Believer is an amazing song).

I never watched the first series of this, but I'm not gonna miss this one.
Well, those guy sure were impressive with their skills.
Really nice first episode.

There's no rush, ookamigirl. The first series is the one that should not be missed, and I guarentee you won't regret watching it.

Konomi has a pretty obvious favouritism of Tezuka, even if he tries to downplay it sometimes ( by giving Tezuka tough fights ), but it only shows that he treads carefully when it comes to Tezuka's fights.

Is it just me or dose all those middle schoolers look like there in there 20s

dat dance in the ed, i wonder what type of technology are they using to make that?

It's been played for jokes more times than once... Tezuka being mistaken as a teacher. I'm sure there's been a few jokes about Sanada as well.

The only ones who actually look like middle-schoolers are Ryoma and Kintaro. :p

Oh man, I remember how obsessed I was with the first season, especially around the first 100 episodes or so. Then my love tapered off as the story became repetitive and moves just too ridiculous. I did end up finishing the first season, as well as the manga, but I just couldn't enjoy it as much as I had in the first season. Tezuka and Fuji was my favorite two characters, but Snake and the glasses guy were great characters as well (can't remember their names;; ). Though, maybe I'll watch a few episodes for the nostalgia and drop after I lose even that. :heh:

I liked the show because it was the first tennis anime I had ever seen. I too gave up on the realistic side, partly because when I was younger, I was exposed to Captain Tsubasa. Anyways, I hated some of the characters, like the other clueless annoying first years. I can't believe that Horio kid is back.

First match was pretty intense. The 2-string racket thing was interesting.
Momo doesn't quit easily, that's for sure!
Nice episode!