Ep 173 (Samurai New York) and Love Game Fan Disc

This week's episode is only on Ryoma. It's not as bad as I thought especially the part when he and Kevin teamed up to play doubles. Those two are so individualistic that it's hard to imagine them working well together but they did so everything worked out fine. Apparently, they are going to show Ryoma in his first match for the US Open next week but the highlight would be Tezuka vs Fuji's match.

I don't know if they will show the whole match in one episode but I'm really looking forward to the two of them fighting it out. I'm rooting for Tezuka but then I know Fuji would most probably give him a hard time since he's going to go all out. What a mouth-watering match!


Besides that, I got the Love Game Fan Disc which is full of Rikkai-goodness!!! Well, I'm so excited over this mainly because of Genichirou and his solo song was made into a PV. Well, why is that Yukimura is appearing so frequently in that PV? I do like Yukimura but then it seems like the anime is playing up their relationship towards the BL tendency like the funny skits in chibi characters last year. I'm not a fan of BL so for me, Genichirou and Yukimura's relationship is more of a buddy relationship just like what is between Genichirou and Renji. They address each other by first names instead of surnames so they should be very good friends.

Anyway, this fan disc is very much Rikkai-centric with a bit of Rokkaku. I was looking forward to seeing more of Renji but then he appears at least for the match highlights. Frankly speaking, Rokkaku is quite a fun team where you see that they play tennis because they enjoy it rather than see it as a competitive sport. They are the exact opposite of Hyotei which focuses a lot on competition within the team but I can't say that Hyotei's members are not on good terms with each other. It's just that among all the teams, Rokkaku has the most relaxed approach towards tennis. And Rokkaku has really funny characters like Davide and Bane-san, It-chan, Saeki, Kentaro and Kisarazu Ryo who has yet to appear in any of the formal matches.


This month's DVD Vol 37 has Genichirou and Atobe on the cover!!!! As I rewatch that match, those two are an interesting pair but too bad, the concluding episode of their Doubles 2 match is in the next DVD.


Vol 38's cover is Oshitari and Eiji and the cover is so cute with Eiji hugging Oshitari from behind. Well, not exactly hugging but rather has his arms over his shoulder. That volume would cover Genichirou and Atobe, Oshitari and Eiji as well as half of Sengoku's match. Tanoshiimi!!

By the way, I happened to see a group of girls at Dhoby Ghaut MRT yesterday doing a cosplay of Tenipuri characters. Well, although I could see that the T-shirt vaguely resembles Hyotei, I am sorry but I can't identify which characters they are playing although a number of them were in uniform (white shirt, blue pants). I doubt that uniform is Hyotei but should be either Rikkai or Seigaku. Two of them had their hair tinted (playing Gakuto or Jiro??) too. Well, I saw quite a bit of cosplay photos before from people in Japan and HK and some of them really copied the characters to the finest details like the hair of Niou (yes, somebody actually painted her hair greyish white). Anyway, it was a pleasant surprise to see fellow Tenipuri fans around because most cosplay groups usually do animes with more elaborate costumes. I'm planning to get the Rikkai T-shirt once I sort out the Vpost Japan issue and see if I can buy it from Mecha Market.