Shin Tennis no Oujisama Manga Vol 1

Title: Shin Tennis no Oujisama
Price: 500 yen
Date of release: 4 August 09
Published by: Shueisha
ISBN: 4088747240








Comments: Well, I read the first few chapters of Shin Tenipuri through Jump Square so getting this first volume was more of for the sake of collection purposes. The main difference between the book design should be the base colour scheme. In the first series, the base colour was blue. This time, it is red.

I have since stopped purchasing Jump Square primarily because I didn't want to waste money by paying so much just to read a few pages of Tenipuri. Although Jump Square is only published on a monthly basis, it is still expensive to buy it and leave the whole volume lying around. Coupled with the fact that the outcome of Sanada vs. Yukimura made me hopping mad, I think I can tolerate the wait for the manga volume release because I've lost quite a bit of interest. Anyway, that match between Sanada and Yukimura is not featured yet in Vol 1.

I already expected the outcome but I really disliked the way it was handled. That scoreline and how they reacted to the outcome was what left a bad taste in my mouth. I think this is as bad as what happened during the Kantou finals when Sanada lost to Echizen in such an unbelievable fashion. Of course, I don't expect all my favourite characters to win everytime but it is too hard to accept the way things are handled. It's almost a no-brainer that Echizen will win every single match just for the sake that the lead MUST stay in the story. That's boring. Someone should really teach this brat a good lesson.

Although I'm happy to see Tenipuri carrying on (or so claimed by Konomi-sensei that the original series was just a prologue and this is the main story) because that means the chances of having more OVAs or a new anime series are higher, I have mixed feelings as to where the story is going. The techniques are getting more and more exaggerated and the whole story is deviating from what it had drawn me to it in the first place. And that is pure fun from sports. Everyone seems more interested in refining their out-of-this-world skills rather than relish the joy of playing tennis or winning the match. It's getting so bloody and violent.*shakes head* That gratifying feeling of watching a well-fought match where both parties gave their best has been missing for a very long time. Although I won't say that I will stop reading this manga (at least for the time being), I may just do that if it continues to let Echizen have his way all the time. However, if the OVA series is to continue, I think I will continue to support that because watching anime and hearing the seiyuus' voices would probably alleviate the dissatisfaction derived from the manga.