DVD Vol 45 received today

Received the final DVD from the series which contains 2 episodes and special content. I've not finished watching the special clips yet so I'll just give a review of the contents for this package before posting further details in a few days' time. The freebie for the first press limited edition is a set of 3 photos as usual but I am extremely happy to see this volume's selection. That's because out of my top 3 characters, 2 of them have solo photos! Tezuka is featured in a potrait-format photo when he extended his hand to Echizen at the end of their final match. With sunset as the background and a full body shot of Tezuka, I nearly screamed when I saw this. And...there's Atobe-sama in an extremely cool pose when he was informed of the news that Hyotei gets to go to the Nationals as a special participant from Tokyo and said, "Follow Ore-sama to the Nationals!". It's no use rambling about this now until I scan the photos and post them here.

As for the special clips, they are divided into 2 sections. The first consists of a selection of 7 OPs and EDs from the various titles meant as remembrance. I was actually hoping for the first OP and ED to be included though but they were not shown. Actually, I'm quite happy with the list of songs featured although it might be better to show all the songs together as a continuous clip. In my opinion, that feels more like a complete recap of the songs in Tenipuri's history.

The second section features the 9 seiyuus from Seiyuu. I've browsed through the first section which they have to answer what their characters mean to them. I'll post a more complete review when I finish watching the DVD.

Of course, the poster for this volume is definitely Seigaku and there's a section on the leaflet where the 9 seiyuus' signatures are displayed as a parting message. Last but not least, there's an interview of them with regards to the final match between Echizen and Tezuka.

The Imperial Match in Winter 2005 - 2006

There's a new Tenipuri musical featuring Hyotei this winter. Of course, the seiyuus will not be the cast for the musical. Instead, stage actors are selected to play the various roles. Given that past musicals have never been released on DVD, I have never seen the past productions. However, according to what I know, there are soundtracks of the musicals on CD format. Well, I don't have much interest in the musicals though but I like the flyer for this musical on the offical website so decided to share it here.

New Tenipuri merchandise at Mekke!

Browsed the Mekke! shopping pl@za which is where you can buy official merchandise of Tenipuri and there are new updates after a long time. There are new mousepads, keychains, wallets, book cover and tote bags in the selection so I'll put some of the pictures here. The first picture is the mousepad featuring the Seigaku members. Being the featured school, it is understandable most if not all of the merchandise will focus on them. And among the rival schools, Hyotei is always the first to release the goods.

Next would be the book cover featuring Fuji Shuusuke and his famous Higuma Otoshi. A Tezuka Zone book cover would be nice to have though but I guess they should have other versions which could have sold out during Jump Fest so they are only selling selected versions on the website. Otherwise, it's difficult to get Jump! Fest merchandise through channels other than going to the event personally.

Here's the Seigaku keychain where we have Tezuka, Fuji and of course our lead character, Echizen. I guess due to personal popularity, we usually see these 3 characters having all sorts of merchandise developed with their images like the foldable umbrella. I have no complaints on it though but it's just kind of sad that the other characters don't get to appear unless the merchandise features the whole team.

Likewise, in Hyotei's case, we would see Atobe, Oshitari and Kabaji most of the time. Well, I'm not sure whether Kabaji qualifies as one of the Top 3 when it comes to individual popularity but when Atobe-sama is around, Kabaji usually appears so I'm fine with that. Actually, I see Mukahi appearing with the No.1 and No.2 of Hyotei more as compared to Kabaji though like what happened for the Hyotei umbrella. I guess the No.3 slot is more flexible as compared to Seigaku.

This is the Seigaku wallet where the front shows Echizen and the reverse shows Aozu. I'm kind of surprised that this is in full colour since a lot of these images are not shown with colouring like what you will see with the tote bag at the end.

Last but not least, the tote bag is shown here. Well, although these items are available for sale online, apparently they do not ship to overseas addresses. As such, I wonder if I should sign up with Vpost Japan so as to shop with this website because I'm dying to get the Rikkai T-shirt or the Seigaku or Hyotei jerseys. Even if the shipping issue is settled, the thing is whether they recognise overseas cards for payment. This defeats the purpose of online shopping which should not be restricted to certain countries.

Tenipuri Calendar delayed and Ryoma's mini-album

Received news from CD Japan today that the release date of the Tenipuri Calendar from Try-X has been delayed till 19 Nov. I'm not sure what's the reason for that delay though. Maybe they need to produce more units or something went wrong with the printing? Anyway, as long as I receive my copy in good condition, I'm not so concerned about the release date. Based on my past experience with CD Japan, I'm more interested in knowing whether they can send it to me within 2 days (over the weekend in Hachikuro & Shueisha's Tenipuri calendar's cases) like what they have managed so far.

In addition, HMV Japan has listed Echizen Ryoma's mini album to be released on Christmas Eve which is his birthday. Judging from the price of 2000 yen, it definitely won't have as many songs as a full length album but it should exceed what is in a 700 yen single like what I got for Sanada and Tezuka. A track list of between 4 to 6 songs should be reasonable. I'm not sure whether I will buy this title though. I'm pretty neutral about Echizen so I do not have that strong desire to grab anything from him. Besides, I still have lots of other stuff to buy so by the time when I finally decide to get it, I guess the title would be gone by then since this is a limited edition item.

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Yagyuu Hiroshi!

Since it's rather difficult to find a solo picture of Yagyuu, I have decided to use the DVD cover for this post. Yagyuu is the personification of a gentleman and takes pride in his refined mannerisms. In fact, the way he speaks makes him stand out from the rest since he usually uses "watashi" instead of "boku" or "ore" for guys. Just like Inui, we can't see his eyes too since the spectacles he wears are opaque. Although it's obvious from the rest of his facial features that he should be a handsome guy, it's a pity that we don't get to see his eyes.

The first time when I saw him should be before the actual Kantou final. That was a rainy day so the match was postponed to the next week. Since Yagyuu didn't appear for a long time and I can't even remember whether he spoke, it did not leave a deep impression on me. Only when he made his first official debut in the Doubles 1 match against Oishi and Eiji, it made me take notice of him for the first time.

During that match, he seemed very calm initially where the attacks were led by his partner, Niou. It was only when the odds were starting to go against them, Yagyuu then finally showed that he can also be passionate and heated up to ensure victory for his side.

Yagyuu's entry into the tennis team was actually due to an invitation from Niou when he was still in Rikkai's golf team. Can you imagine having a junior high golf team?! Anyway, Niou felt that Yagyuu was more suitable for tennis instead of golf and sort of got him into the team by saying that he should be able to use his talent to excel in tennis like what he did in golf. And that's how he became partners with Niou who even feels that Yagyuu is better than him even though Niou started to play tennis earlier than him. The interaction between the two of them is quite unlike those displayed in partnerships like Shishido-Ootori, Oishi-Kikumaru or even Jackal-Marui where they have friendship as a basis and know that their partner can cover up for them and vice versa when they make mistakes. In Yagyuu and Niou, they don't seem to rely on each other and feels more like a combination where individualism is the keyword. However, this can also be explained as they know each other so well that there's no need to look out for each other. That was also what Fuji and Eiji did when they paired up for the semi-final against Rokkaku.

In the manga, Yagyuu and Niou actually exchanged identities so as to fool Oishi and Eiji but this wasn't done in the anime. Subsequently, before the Nationals began, Yagyuu actually did this again with Kaidou when they met some people who were mocking at Rikkai and Seigaku. This was because they didn't see the need to let those people see their real skills and they actually managed to copy each other's skills to fool those idiots. I was surprised to see them together in this side story of the manga since they didn't play together before so it was unexpected to see them pairing up for their teams' interests.

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Yuushi!

Today's the birthday of Oshitari Yuushi, the Kansai-ben genius from Hyotei! He's one of the few characters who wear spectacles and thankfully, his spectacles are not opaque so that we can see his beautiful eyes. Well, although he's not in my top 3 favourites, he's definitely in the next tier of my favourite characters though.

The first time when I saw him was when he followed Atobe and the rest of the team to the street tennis court. At that time, it was hard to take a good look at him and the first impression I got was that he seemed like a rugged type of character. Subsequently, when he appeared again in the Kantou Round 1 Doubles 2 match, it suddenly struck me that he's actually a refined-looking guy who has a poker face. Atobe keeps saying that Oshitari is the genius of Hyotei just as Fuji is the genius of Seigaku so this strengthened my impression of him. In addition, he looked so cool and collected on the court even when the odds were against him. It's difficult to see through his expressions and guess what he's thinking about which makes him a tough opponent. And it seems like he can notice things which others don't see e.g. how he saw through Atobe's frustration at not being able to finish the match with Sanada during the Senbatsu camp and how he tried to outwit Fuji during their training camp in Karuizawa.

And he's the only character who speaks Kansai-ben which makes him stick out from the rest. Of course, with Kiuchi Hidenobu-san's deep voice, it is extremely appealing to me. I started to have this liking for characters who speak Kansai-ben thanks to Oshitari. Somehow, there is this unexplainable draw to them whenever I hear Kansai-ben even though it may be hard trying to comprehend what they have said since there are differences from what I usually hear.

Sad to say, I've never bought any Oshitari CDs to date. I know he has already released a number of singles and one album but I've not been motivated enough to buy them. I've heard the songs in his singles before though via Rajipuri so I'll probably get them when I have spare cash. ^__^ There are so many Tenipuri CDs released to date and it's impossible for me to buy all. Maybe when I finish the DVD and manga collection, I'll start with the CDs of my Top 3 favourite characters i.e. Sanada, Tezuka and Atobe before I finally get to the rest of the characters.

Taka-san's album cover

Here's the cover of Taka-san's album due to be released next Wednesday as shown on NEC Interchannel. As for the premiums in the first press limited edition, there's an additional CD of descriptions for the songs in the album by Kawamoto Naru, the seiyuu of Taka-san. There's also a postcard used for the lucky draw of a secret event to commemorate the release of this album. Up till today, I have still not decided whether to get this so it might probably be ages before I can make up my mind. I might even buy this months later just like what I did for the Tezuka album when I've heard some of the songs inside the album. It's not really because I have no confidence in Taka-san's vocals but buying an album is not like buying a single especially when the price is concerned. I do like Taka-san but not as much as my top favourites so I'm taking more time to deliberate on this matter.

Taka-san's first album, "Greatest Over"

The track list of the album as announced on NEC Interchannel:

1) Korette
2) Nagisa no Invitation (with Fuji Shuusuke)
3) Tokei wo Modoshite Mou Ichido
4) wow wow wow (with Momo)
5) GOOD LUCK BABY
6) Futari de Hitori Sake (with Taka-san's father i.e. Kiuchi Hidenobu aka Oshitari)
7) DREAMING
8) Shiashin (lyrics written by Minagawa Junko)
9) Itsumo
10) Sotsugyo
11) Suteki na Sushi Time
12) Ano Bassho Made
13) Tanoshiku Ikou yo

Apparently, track 13 involves the producer, the scriptwriter and director of the anime while there may be other guests for the rest of the songs. I don't have the cover picture of this album which is due to be released next week. If I do find it, I'll update it on this blog.

Shueisha's Tenipuri Calendar 2006

Received the manga version of the Tenipuri calendar 2006 published by Shueisha today. It was unexpected since CD Japan sent me the shipping notification on Saturday and I thought the delivery would be delayed till tomorrow taking into consideration that the post office in Japan would not be able to ship this in time. Anyway, I'm not grumbling about receiving this earlier and this was just 1 working day after the release date last Friday! I still have another 2 calendars to be received i.e. Hachikuro's on this Saturday while the Try-X version of Tenipuri's calendar will be out in Nov.

Talking about this Shueisha version, it can function as a table-top and hung calendar. Besides showing the dates in monthly format, there are also weekly formats to be viewed. Of course, we have pictures of the various characters and some of their famous lines on each sheet of this calendar. I'll probably start scanning each sheet from next year onwards. The pictures on the monthly view are in full colour while those on the weekly sheets are not. Another feature of this calendar is the indication of the characters' birthdays which wasn't available in the Try-X calendars I purchased last year. By the way, I've glanced through the calendar and I'm glad to find at least one sheet featuring my top 3 favourites of Sanada, Tezuka and Atobe. Somehow, there's a tendency to include that character's picture in the week where his birthday falls on. I'm quite happy with this purchase and will probably hang it on my wall if I can't find a spot on my desk to place it. Currently, I have the 2 Try-X calendars and a Rikkai poster on my wall. When the new year approaches, I'll be surrounded by not only Tenipuri characters but also that of Hachikuro.

Fan Disc: The Best and the Brightest Remix DVD Cover

The cover for the new fandisc DVD in Dec has been displayed on Amazon Japan which is faster than the manufacturer, Bandai Visual. And it's no surprise that the cover consists of the Senbatsu team members since the DVD concentrates on the Senbatsu camp and the matches against the US team. However, I'm disappointed at not seeing Tezuka on the cover though. Although he's not one of the participating members, he is the coach, well, relief coach for Ryuuzaki-sensei so I thought that he might appear on the cover. As usual, Echizen takes centre spot with the rest of the members around him. I believe there is some segregation on the cover where Atobe and Sanada appears in one corner, Oshitari and Eiji at the opposite corner, Fuji and Sengoku at opposing sides and Kirihara also in the centre but slightly higher than Echizen's position. This follows the order of the matches against the US team so that could be the reason why the characters are arranged in such a manner. Well, it will be at least a good two and a half months before the DVD is released so there's some waiting to do in the meantime.

Tezuka's birthday single received

Received Tezuka's birthday single yesterday on his actual birthday. Well, although there wasn't much info on the single from the online merchants and NEC Interchannel, I finally get to see the cover and find out the title of this single. As seen from the picture, it shows a side view of Tezuka at a railway track with the setting sun behind him. The title of the single is Dakishimete shimaisousa which means longing to hug you. It's obvious that this song is a love song and I almost thought that this was a slow ballad because of the intro. However, this turns out to be a mid-tempo number instead of the slow song I was expecting. Anyway, the lyrics of the song do convey love as the central theme so I guess this qualifies as a love song. This is kind of different from his usual songs which mainly talk about victory, perservance and rivalry especially seen from his album released earlier this year but I'm not complaining about Tezuka-bucchou singing a love song though.

The second picture is the picture CD itself and the cover is printed on it in purple. Being a single of less than 1000 yen, there's only one song, the karaoke version and of course the talk section. I read somewhere that this single got Oricon No.19 on the daily charts for its first day of release but I'm not sure how this will actually perform on the weekly charts. I'm expecting this to do better than Shishido's single and I would be quite surprised if it doesn't. Somehow, this single seems to be lacking in quite a bit of publicity and I'm quite surprised that I can't locate this title easily from some of the merchants' sites. Imagine me using prince of tennis as a search phrase and this single doesn't come up. I even had to type Okiayu-san's name in one of the sites just to find this CD.

Now for the talk section, it's very short. At least Sanada's talk segment was very funny when he impersonated Atobe. However, the title of the talk clip "shingoku no jitai" (a serious matter) doesn't seem to fit the contents. Okiayu-san just keeps mumbling a set of numbers and says the title repeatedly but I have no idea what he means. Maybe I need to listen to a couple of times before I know what he's driving at. I'm sure those numbers he said were not random and should have some meaning. The problem is, how do I actually know what he is trying to say? It's not a language problem, it's like trying to decipher a secret code. Tezuka-bucchou, why are you playing games with me on your birthday? ^__^

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Tezuka Kunimitsu!

This is also the second time I am posting a birthday message here on this blog just like what I did for Atobe. These two captains have a number of similarities i.e. they happen to be born in the same month and their birthdays are only 3 days away from one another. They command a lot of respect from their teammates and they are of course, very strong in tennis. Although Tezuka is more on the cool side and likes to keep a low profile, Atobe is the exact reverse when he seeks attention because he knows he deserves it. And taking advantage of the "competition" between Atobe and Tezuka could be the main reason why they have released a number of singles on the same date so as to see who can achieve better results.

Tezuka is the first character I grew to like when I started to watch Tenipuri. I just have a thing for those cool guys who don't speak a lot. Besides, when Tezuka speaks, that aura...that deep voice (all thanks to Okiayu-san) and that strong maturity feel just makes me swoon. Of course, Tezuka looking very good with spectacles is the icing on the cake! I'm actually thankful that Konomi-sensei did not cover Tezuka's looks with those opaque spectacles like what he did to Inui and Yagyuu. These two should look very handsome if we are allowed to see through their spectacles. As the anime progresses on, my passion for him has never cooled down. Of course, when Sanada came into the picture, the both of them have become my joint No.1 favourite characters. Don't ask me to choose between them because I've never been able to do so.

Among all the Tezuka CD releases, I have only managed to buy his solo album and that was months after its release. I wasn't sure whether it was worth buying this album until I actually heard some of the songs inside the CD from Rajipuri. As such, I made up my mind to get this and have not regretted my decision since then. If you count the Tezuka appearances in Rajipuri which I bought, that's another 2 CDs i.e. one with Atobe and the other with Sanada. As some of the past Tezuka CDs are already out of print, I may try to get those which are still selling. Oh, I almost forgot this. I bought his new birthday single which is supposed to be released tomorrow and will be eagerly anticipating to hear Tezuka i.e. Okiayu-san's voice again.

Tezuka's single and Shishido's single

I will be receiving my copy of the Tezuka single tomorrow according to the tracking facility of FedEx. There should be no repeat of the declaration process which I went through for the DVDs since this package only contains a CD so they should deliver it to me by noon. The funny thing is, none of the websites mentioned the title of this single so I will only know what it is when I get it tomorrow which is also Tezuka's birthday. The only thing I know is that there's only one song, the instrumental version and a talk segment. I just hope that the talk segment would be longer than what Sanada's single had. I'll put up a review of the single hopefully by the end of this week.

Another thing to mention is Shishido's single, ALive which got No.15 on the Oricon weekly singles chart. This is better than what Sanada's single got (No.33) so I'm looking forward to what our Seigaku bucchou can achieve for his single officially released tomorrow. And the NEC Interchannel website has yet to put up the picture of this single even though it has been released. I wonder what is going on these days with them because they used to be very prompt when updating the release information.

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Atobe Keigo!

This is the second year in a row to celebrate Atobe-sama's birthday on this blog. How time flies! It's been more than a year since I got obsessed with Tenipuri and started the blog due to my passion for this anime. Although the anime has ended this year, there's the OVA to look forward to next year and Hyotei is still in the Nationals against Seigaku at the moment. Besides, the movie this year focuses a lot on Atobe so I'm quite content to see him and hear Suwabe Junichi-san's voice. Since Atobe has not appeared yet for the Nationals arc and I guess he should be in Singles 1, we'll get to see him again but I was really hoping for him to have another match with Tezuka rather than Atobe possibly facing Echizen in the manga.

Somehow, it's been a pretty quiet year for Atobe-sama in terms of CD releases. I was thinking that he might have a birthday single or album this year but it turns out that Tezuka is the one releasing his birthday single for the first time. In fact, he only released one personal single, "Riyuu/E-kimochi" in March. If you take into consideration the 2 Rajipuri CDs he appeared on with Echizen & Tezuka respectively, that's only 3 titles. As compared to 2004 where he had a Valentine's Day single, "Believe In You" released on the same day as another Tezuka single, Atobe-sama is not exploiting his full potential in the CD market since Riyuu got a very high position in the Oricon Chart, being the 100th Tenipuri CD release. I'm hoping that he will kick off 2006 with a New Year album like Tezuka this year or probably a single for Valentine's Day or White Day. I bet many Atobe-sama fans are waiting to hear from him again.

Rikkai - Last Message

This was scanned from Vol 44 where the seiyuus answer three questions each. The questions are as follows:

1) What was the most memorable thing to you with regards to Tenipuri?
2) What does Tenipuri mean to you?
3) Message to the fans from the character and your perspective

With regards to question 1, here are the answers...

Yukimura: The first day when I entered the studio as a seiyuu
Sanada: Being the monthly personality with Okiayu Ryotaro (Tezuka) on Rajipuri for 1 month
Yanagi: Due to the large number of seiyuus, the studio cannot accommodate everyone at once so we have to stay outside and wait for our turn
Kirihara: Number of characters is so large that we can't enter the studio
Yagyuu: Singing the song "Come On! Let's Go!" with Niou
Niou: The recording for the D1 match during the Kantou final. Although the manga showed Niou and Yagyuu exchanging identities and I prepared for this with Yagyuu's voice actor Tsuda, the anime didn't have this scene in the end
Marui: Lots of memorable things including going for the audition, singing the character song, our CD on the Oricon chart, appearing during Jump Fest, appearing in the movie
Jackal: My first Tenipuri-related work was in the game software. During the recording, I was reminded by the staff that this character is a junior high school student.

Now for question 2...

Yukimura: Beginning
Sanada: Favourite, losing it would be sad. For example, just as curry rice is taken off my weekly menu
Yanagi: Having the confidence to play a junior high school student role again
Kirihara: University hospital where you have to wait in the lobby for your turn before entering the studio
Yagyuu: A series of surprises like releasing a CD, recording for the game, narration for the CM
Niou: Textbook. It's been some time since I appeared as an anime regular character
Marui: Meeting new people and getting the feeling of "win-at-all-costs" through this anime
Jackal: An anime where I get to play a junior high school student after some time

I guess I'm not going to put the answers for Question 3 here. Just clicking the picture would allow you to see what they said.

Vol 44's inserts

In each volume of the DVD, there's always summaries of the various episodes and highlights from them as seen from the pictures here which I scanned from Vol 44. Since 3 out 4 of the episodes focus on the Tezuka & Fuji match, it's no wonder that we have so many screenshots of their match. Actually, besides the match itself, I like these episodes also because of the fact that they showed the development of Tezuka and Fuji's friendship over the years. From Year 1, both of them had already regarded each other as their strongest rival. If not for the fact that Tezuka was injured when they first had a formal match, we would have known who was stronger at that time since they were already champions in various tournaments since they were kids. Looking at it from another point of view, if that match had gone on smoothly, the anticipation level for the match in Year 3 may not be that high.

Frankly speaking, I'm quite satisfied with the outcome of that match because Tezuka won. Well, it's not really because of the fact that I like Tezuka. He has been said to be the invincible guy like Atobe and Sanada so I expected him to win Fuji given that he's regarded as the No.1 in Seigaku. Moreover, I still feel that his match with Atobe during the Kantou Round 1 may have gone either way if he was in perfect condition. Somehow, I get the feeling that the anime goes too far in emphasizing how strong Echizen had become where the manga doesn't let him win everyone like that. At least I still think that it's kind of ridiculous to defeat Sanada during the Kantou final when he only needed one more point to grab the title. Well, it's no use grumbling over that because I knew from the start that Seigaku would most probably win the title.

I'll probably post the Rikkai members' final message in this volume tomorrow. As for Hyotei and the other schools' messages, I may post them slightly later since there's a number of Tenipuri characters celebrating their birthdays especially next week when we have Atobe and Tezuka's birthdays within a period of 3 days.

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Saeki Kojiro

Oct is the month where there are a number of Tenipuri characters celebrating their birthdays. To start the ball rolling, we have Saeki Kojiro from Rokkaku on 1 Oct.

The first time when he appeared was during Seigaku's trip to Chiba for some training and they happened to meet Rokkaku on the streets. At that point in time, Saeki struck me as a very warm and nice guy which was similar to Fuji who is his childhood friend. However, on the court, he seems to be a different person as he is calm and very observant where he will seize the opportunity to strike like a hunter searching for his prey. That is also kind of similar to Fuji since he won't be dangerous unless you antagonise him. Likewise, Saeki looks absolutely harmless until you actually face him on the court. In his very first match with Icchan against Fuji & Eiji, that was when he made me feel that way. Maybe it's this similarity which made him work well with Fuji against the other childhood friend golden combination of Inui & Yanagi during the Senbatsu camp who excelled at seeing through their opponents' every move.

In the manga, he made a brief appearance in the Nationals against Higa in Singles 1 where he had to face their strong cheering camp alone since Oji was hit by Higa's ball for explaining the trick behind Higa's strategy. Fortunately, he had the backup of Seigaku even though that did not have any bearing on the final results. Anyway, Seigaku will help Rokkaku exact their revenge on Higa but it's just too bad that I'll probably not get to see Saeki again in the manga. There may be a chance that he may appear in the OVA if it's about the Nationals arc.