Tenipuri 2006 Manga Calendar

Ordered a copy of this calendar from CD Japan yesterday. I didn't buy the manga calendar last year and bought both versions of the anime calendar instead. How fast time flies and it's time to buy calendars again! Actually, I don't buy Japanese calendars but Tenipuri made me break the exception last year. Well, the manga calendar is released in Oct which is slightly earlier than the anime calendars if last year's schedule is applicable this year However, the anime ended in Mar this year, I'm not sure whether there will be the anime version calendar from TV Tokyo. Anyway, the manga calendar can be hung on the wall or put on the table and is a weekly one where there are the classic lines from the various characters on each week. I think it costs much more to have it shipped by Amazon Japan and after that horrendous wait for the books last year, I'm still worried about trying their service again. As such, I decided to go back to my trusted CD Japan again for this. Besides, HMV Japan does not sell the manga calendar. It will be till Oct before I can see the calendar but I just hope that it wouldn't take as long what HMV Japan did last year where it took close to one month from the release date before I received it.

Tenipuri CDs I bought recently

The single sung by the Senbatsu team which includes Atobe, Sanada, Oshitari, Kikumaru, Sengoku, Fuji, Kirihara and Echizen. Too bad besides the cover picture, there are no more photos of the team. Anyway, the song is the ouen song for the movie and it's quite nice. Actually, I bought this because of the members so the song isn't that important to me ^__^ but I know for sure that if the song sucks, I won't probably buy it anyway.

The soundtrack for the movie but I've not finished listening to this yet. I only ran the theme songs sung by SCRIPT and Aozu & Cap to Bin to test the CD and the booklets in this 2-CD set feature some scenes of the movie.

I've more or less finished listening to this album and am kicking myself for not buying this earlier. I would have managed to get the first press gift if I bought it at the beginning of the year. Anyway, it's all thanks to Rajipuri that I actually got the motivation to buy Tezuka's album and it sounds much better than I expected. Now, should I buy his past singles too or even Atobe's album? And will Genichirou release one album since Taka-san is releasing his soon?

DVDs Vol 21 and 42

Received the DVDs last night and this time round, they didn't ask me for the declaration. Can't they just do without the declaration since I'm a regular customer? It makes my life extremely difficult to bother with that declaration process.

I'm very pleasantly surprised to get the first press for Vol 21 since it comes with the photos! When buying the past volumes, I do get some first press editions at time but Vol 21 was released way back in Oct 03 and HMV Japan still has the first press. What does this say? They sold too little units of Vol 21? However, most of the volumes have the first press sold out so this could be one of the few which didn't. This volume contains episodes of Wakato vs Kaidou and Shinjou vs Echizen so it's entirely about Jousei Shonan. I only browsed through it last night since I was more hyped up over finishing Spiral.

As for Vol 42, the cover features Rokkaku and St Rudolph. Episodes include the chibi episode in Hawaii and Christmas as well as the beginning of the school ranking matches between Taka-san vs Oishi, Momo vs Kaidou and Eiji vs Inui. Since next month's cover is Hyotei, I have a strong hunch that Vol 44 would be Rikkaidai before the final volume shows Seigaku. Hopefully, this wish would come true.

And I am seriously running out of space to store the DVDs, CDs and CDRs of the subbed episodes in the same drawer. And I still have more than 15 DVDs to buy in order to complete the collection. To make things worse, the space holding the manga is almost full so there's no way I'm going to put the stuff there. I've got to think of a way soon since the Rajipuri CDs (Sanada & Tezuka, Atobe & Tezuka) and next month's DVDs will be here in a flash...

Vol 29 of the manga and anime DVD covers

I ordered this more than 2 weeks ago and yet HMV Japan has not sent it to me. I got so frustrated that I cancelled the order so I'm probably going to get it directly from Kinokuniya Singapore. Amazon Japan is too expensive just to get one volume of manga and I'm not too interested in buying other stuff from them.

Seeing the anime DVD covers, I see that Vol 43 is Hyotei's picture so if my hunch is correct, Vol 44 should be Rikkaidai while Vol 45, the final should be Seigaku. And the whole anime DVD series will be released by Oct. I still have more than 15 volumes of DVD to buy from the earlier releases.

And I still have the Gather single to buy. Genichirou's new single will be released in Sep!!! Lots of things to buy but not enough money...

Sanada Genichirou (Kusunoki Taiten)

Name: Kusunoki Taiten (楠大典)
Date of Birth: 18 Mar 1967
Hometown: Tokyo
Blood Group: B
Height: 173 cm
Weight: 62 kg

I'll be doing a series of features on my favourite seiyuus/characters from Tenipuri.

I have to admit because of the fact that I simply adore Sanada Genichirou, I am featuring Kusunoki-san first but I will feature Okiayu-san later since Tezuka and Sanada are both important to me. ^__^

Noted some similarities between me and Kusunoki-san:
-We are both of blood type B
-We are born in the same month

According to his official website http://www.sawas.co.jp/prof_kusunoki_daiten.html, he does take on a lot of seiyuu and narration projects but I have not seen his projects before. That is why I am not familiar with his name or picture until Gen-chan came along.

And there will be a new single from Sanada i.e. Kusunoki-san on 14 Sep. I've already pre-ordered it and am looking forward to receiving this with Gen-chan's first single.

Theatrical Feature Prince of Tennis Memorial Edition

Wow, I got this premium edition yesterday and I'm simply bowled over by what I'm getting. I'm extremely satisfied with the contents even though I paid so much for it.

First of all, I was SO SUPRISED to see a Hyotei handphone strap as one of the freebies!!! This is what the fans could buy at the screening of the movie and I never thought I could own one of this. Although I would have gone delirious with joy if I had got a Rikkai strap, I'm already jumping for joy at the sight of Hyotei's strap.

Secondly, the extremely refined and beautiful packaging of the box and the cases which hold the DVD! Well, I think it's quite difficult to get the DVD out of the packaging but the box's cover is simply cool. We have the faces of the Seigaku regulars and Ryoga on the main feature while on Atobe's feature, we have him, Oshitari and Mukahi on the front while Kabaji and some of the other schools' members are on the back. Why isn't Genichirou on the cover?! And in each case is a pretty thick booklet featuring a detailed explanation of the plot with pictures. There's also another booklet separate from the cases which has info on the movie on the whole plus interviews with some of the seiyuus.

Thirdly, the reflective board on the back of the box which shows Ryoma or Ryoga depending on the direction you view it from. They look so similar that it's quite hard to get a distinct view of the two. Somehow, I think Ryoga is the Ryoma a few years later and he really looks more like it. In fact, Konomi-sensei said that he had plans to put Ryoga into the manga but the anime beat him to it but Ryoga will appear in the manga in the near future. Maybe we will get to see who he really is.

Last but not least, the additional contents in the DVD itself. Well, the making clips differ since there's the premiere party and seiyuu meeting at the cinemas which are not in the single DVD editions I posted earlier. HOWEVER, the main highlight is the commentary by the seiyuus where you turn off the main track and hear their comments. I heard the double bucchou commentary on the Atobe feature by Okiayu Ryutaro-san and Suwabe Junichi-san and they were so funny! I'm going to watch the main feature which has two sets of comments i.e. by Aozu (Echizen, Fuji, Oishi and Tezuka) and Cap to Bin (Kaidou, Momoshiro, Kawamura, Inui and Kikumaru) before I make further comments.

I'm really glad that I got this special edition. Although it's extremely expensive, it's definitely worth it. ^__^

Futari no Samurai

I'm at a loss for words. Really.

It's extremely exaggerated especially that part when Tezuka Zone was at work. I know it's a magnificient trick but to the extent of an explosion on Earth seems to be overdone. And when the ship was sinking, what on earth are Ryoma and Ryoga thinking? Playing tennis while submerged in water? And why must Ryoma's clothes disintegrate and do a smash in that state? It is good for laughs and I do enjoy it but they could have toned down with regards to this aspect.

Ryoga seems like an older version of Ryoma and in the end, I still don't get to know what is his identity. I don't think Nanjirou has another son and he seems to be like a tennis student of Nanjirou who lived with his family for a while. And according to the childhood flashbacks, it seemed that he was on good terms with Ryoma. Besides, he was picked up by Sakurabuki to join the team to play fake matches so his family background needs more probing...

In the end, I'm not sure whether Atobe was the one who initiated the rescue operation since he found out that Sakurabuki is not a rich man. He's that resourceful to know those in the same social status...Sugoii ne, Atobe!

Generally, this main feature was fine but please, if they do another movie, maybe they can do something about the exaggerated storyline. I want to see more tennis scenes and the private lives of those characters...

Atobe kara no okuri mono ~ Kimi ni sasageru Tenipuri Matsuri

It's been some time since I updated the Tenipuri blog. Well, new found motivation since I received the movie DVDs yesterday. I didn't have time to watch the longer part about Seigaku and watched the Atobe short film first. I'm still waiting for the deluxe edition which I got from CD Japan. What is taking them so long?!

All I can say that it was hillarious at various points and it's truly a fan service feature where we see all characters appearing regardless of whether they speak. It was quite obvious to see that Atobe's motive for holding the event was for Kabaji. However, I thought that the girl he was eyeing would have been the girl of his dreams but who knows it turned out to be his elder sister who is getting married soon? ^__^ And Atobe actually got Kabaji's birthday wrong since he meant to hold the event on his birthday. Well, I do remember that Kabaji's birthday is in Jan and yet everyone was in summer wear so I was trying to reconcile these two contradicting facts. Until Atobe knew he got the wrong day, it was funny to see how he reacted to save himself face. However, that plane concept was so exaggerated. Is Atobe really that rich?!

Some of the other interesting points in the short feature film:

-Atobe saving Tezuka at the end of the race when the signboard fell down. Oh my god, are they trying to provide more material for the yaoi fans? Oh please...

-Sanada and Yukimura finally standing together in a place other than the hospital ^__^ Oh my Genichirou in a singlet...

-The haunted house scene where Yanagi was hanging upside down to scare Marui while Shinji was going on and on about being arranged to play a ghost in the well. And I think Yagyuu was scared stiff but still pretended to be fine so as to maintain his image.

-The game where they had a group of guys and girls with the ladies asking questions and picking the guy they liked best. It was such a big surprise to see Shishido winning all the votes and Sengoku dissed him by saying that the outcome was due to the system's problem and the computer did crash after that. Haha! Shinjou and Hanamura-sensei...those two are ayashii...

As what Suwabe Junichi-san says, this is something which all Tenipuri fans should enjoy since we get to see so many characters at one sitting.

By the way, this version's DVD has a series of stickers which looks like a film negative plus an insert on the story's plot. Inside, we have pictures of all the characters in the anime.

Will go home and watch the long feature film of Seigaku tonight...

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Genichirou!

Today is my darling, Sanada Genichirou's birthday! Otanjoubi Omedetou!



Well, I can't say for sure when I started liking him but I guess after his appearance slightly before the Kantou finals when Inoue went to interview Rikkaidai, I was struck by his power, his charisma and the awe he commands...I could go on and on about why I like him. ^__^ I seem to have a penchance for guys who look stern but may actually be very gentle and kind on the inside. He rarely smiles but I can feel that he's a very nice guy. My perfect type of guy? ^__^ Anyway, he's ranked as No.1 in my personal ranking together with Tezuka and I can't seem to decide to date whom I like more.

I find that he looks more handsome in the anime where in the manga, he does not look too nice sometimes. Is it due to different people drawing him? Anyway, I look forward to seeing him play again in the Nationals but that has to be realised through the manga which is only at Vol 28...A long wait ahead?

Now, I'm trying to find the apparrel that he's using i.e. the Babolat racket and the Yonex shoes. Hopefully, they are not too expensive or not out of stock like those belonging to Tezuka...

Once again, otanjoubi omedetou, Gen-chan!

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Jiro!

Today (5th May) is the birthday of Jiro, the sleeping bishonen from Hyotei. Is this a wrong word to describe the kawaii Jiro? Well, he doesn't appear a lot in the anime and he was easily beaten by Fuji. Even though he seems such a dangerous fellow in the beginning when Atobe called Sakaki to get Jiro to take part in the consolation match for the Tokyo round, his play style and character doesn't fit that description. Although he seems to be rather casual about playing, he derives great joy from playing with strong people like Atobe, Fuji and his source of inspiration is Marui who is also a volley specialist. Too bad he was not in the Senbatsu arc but then if he was in, he would have ended up sleeping his way through. ^__^ One of the funniest scenes I remembered from Jiro was when he poked fun at Kaidou for being rude to him at Karuizawa even though Jiro is older by one year. Kaidou was pissed off by Jiro's nonchalant attitude towards the practice match. Apparently, he was sleeping right to the final moment before that match and didn't seem to have done any warming up. That's why, to a player like Kaidou who takes tennis seriously, he would be happy with Jiro's way of doing things. Anyway, Jiro got knocked out by Kaidou with his boomerang snake so it was hillarious to see such an end to that match.

Now that Hyotei is through to the Nationals, I hope to see Jiro again in the manga and hopefully, he can play against Marui to see who's the better volley specialist. ^__^ I doubt so since Marui seems to be doing doubles most of the time but I'm still hopeful.

Finally bought the remaining volumes of the manga

Hehe...should have posted it on Friday but no time to do that... Anyway, I finally got the last 12 volumes of the manga up to 28 so Vol 29 should be out in June. Looking forward to it ^__^ That's another 120 bucks gone but I'm happy with it.

I notice from the manga that Seigaku's 2nd round opponent for Kantou is Midoriyama instead of Jousei Shonan. So that means Jousei won't be appearing in the manga at all? I think that team must be the one I like least. None of their members are particularly appealing except for Kajimoto but he didn't play a proper match yet. No idea of how good he is. Shinjou feels like a puppet of Hanamura-sensei to me and I think he listens to her blindly. I doubt the manga would spend so much time on Midoriyama since there's still Rokkaku and Rikkaidai to go. I'm only at Vol 19 now and reading about one book per day. At this rate, I'll probably be done by next week or early the week after.

There is still Ryoma cum Seigaku-team single to mark the finale of the anime and it's only sold till June. The thing is, I'm still wondering whether to buy this and there's that movie OST due in June. I'm going to be very broke in June given that I have to pay for the movie DVDs and the regular anime DVDs. Thus, I'm still contemplating on whether to click that purchase button for this single...

Otanjoubi Omedetou, Oishi Shuichirou!

Today is the very reliable Oishi-fukubucchou's birthday! He's a very likeable character, so cute when he goes red in front of girls and cares a lot about the people around him. He's definitely going to be a very popular doctor in future if he follows his dad's path... Maybe he should do something about that two strands of the fringe which makes him look quite comical. Whatever came over him to do that since his hairstyle was pretty "normal" when he was in Sec 1 and 2? ^__^

Anyway, it's going to be May tomorrow and there's only 8 weeks to get the movie DVDs. Can't wait for that to come soon! Vol 40 of the DVD is all about Ryoma... I don't dislike him but that match with Kevin is too exaggerated. I'll probably run through that DVD to check only... Somehow, I feel that for the Senbatsu arc, the matches get more boring as it progresses. The Atobe-Sanada match was simply the best, Eiji and Oshitari were good too, Sengoku was fighting well and even Fuji showed his skills even though he sort of won easily. Akaya was doing fine until they had to pull him off to make way for Ryoma...sigh...

I've finally bought the remaining volumes of the manga so I can continue my "love-affair" with Tenipuri in this form now that the anime has ended...Hopefully, Konomi-sensei will finish the Nationals arc properly before ending the series. I'm still looking forward to Seigaku vs Rikkaidai where Tezuka can fight head-on with Yukimura or maybe a Hyotei vs Rikkaidai match sometime where Atobe and Sanada can finish their half-done match during the Senbatsu. Eh, is there even a Senbatsu arc in the manga? Vol 28 is their preparation for the Nationals so from then on, the actual matches should begin...

DVD 39 and 24 finally received

I went through so much to receive this month's DVD...It's all the courier company's fault for causing so much delays. I could have received them on Friday but only got it yesterday! Chikusho!

Anyway, this month's DVD has photos of Ayaka and Niou, the Senbatsu team plus Tezuka minus Fuji and Tezuka, Sanada and Sengoku. That's why I'm feeling better since I get to see so much of Tezuka and Sanada... ^__^

It will be another two months before I receive the movie DVDs. Now, it's another long wait till next month when Vol 40 comes. I'm already running out of space to store the DVDs. Have to think of something soon...

Rewatched the Sengoku match and Fuji & Eiji's match with Rokkaku just to test the DVDs. Simply no motivation to see Kevin even though Akaya was awesome with his Phantom ball...

And I finished the first 16 volumes of the manga in its original Japanese version. I want to buy the remaining 12 volumes since the vol 29 would most probably be out only in June but no $$. Have to work harder and hopefully switch jobs before June. I can't stay any longer in this hell...

Thoughts about Atobe's single

Yeah! Finally got a chance to hear the single. I like Riyuu but the song E Kimochi is so "childish" and more of an Eiji-style song so it makes me cringe when imagining Atobe-sama sing that. *shiver* Anyway, there are also two voice messages from Atobe-sama and I'm swooning from his voice... Too bad it's not in the singles chart anymore after that No.9 debut...

Vol 39 of the DVD would be coming next Friday! Banzai!!! Now, I have to work even hard to cover the costs of Vol 41 and the movie's DVDs in June... So little money to spare...

I came across a site which had some comments on some of the anime episodes. Although I think that the webmaster is a bit too critical on some parts, it sure made me see things which were not so logical in the anime. Anyway, I'm busy with watching the new season dramas, Monster and Yakitate these days so it would be some time before I rerun Tenipuri for the third time. I'm watching random episodes as and when I feel like it and some of the matches like the Atobe-Tezuka match, I must have watched it at least 3 times...I'm hopelessly addicted to some of the matches and yet there are some I don't feel like watching like the Sanada-Echizen match. I only watch the earlier portion when Sanada wallops Echizen like crazy but skip the conclusion before it was such an unconvincing loss for Sanada. Till today, I still feel this way and it's highly unlikely that I'm going to change my view on this.

Rikkaidai poster, yeah!

Happened to come across a Rikkaidai poster which I bought without hesitation. Besides the two calendars on my wall, there is this new poster... Am I going bonkers with my Tenipuri addiction? Anyway, that's not the point I'm trying to make today.

I wish I could upload that pic here but the poster is too large for my flatbed scanner so I'll just describe it. All the members are shown in the poster and I think Genichirou and Yukimura look absolutely cool here. Marui is winking with one eye closed and tongue stuck out (kawaii!!!), Renji has his eyes closed as usual, Akaya looking cute and relatively "harmless", Yagyuu has his shirt unbuttoned and revealing a little flesh (sexy!!!), Niou and Jackal as usual. They are wearing their jerseys so I can't see their legs (chikusho!!) but I'm quite content. It's rare to find posters of Rikkaidai where the main focus is only on Seigaku or Hyotei. There was another poster of the various bucchou(s) but not all of them are of interest especially the Rudolf and Yamabuki ones. If there's a poster featuring Tezuka, Atobe and Genichirou, I'll grab it the moment I see it. ^__^

Eagerly anticipating the DVD release on next Fri...and 2 months to receiving the movie DVD...Tanoshimi desu ne!

Atobe's single, Riyuu/E kimochi No.9 on Oricon!!

I happened to see this when I was surfing the NEC website which shows Tenipuri CD releases. Apparently, Atobe's single being the 100th CD release from Tenipuri was a special item and they mentioned something like the track number being shown as 99 on the CD player and it's a deliberate thing. Don't know what they mean but might probably get the CD to hear for myself. Anyway, what was very interesting and surprising was the fact that this CD got No.9 on the Oricon singles chart for this week (11 Apr). In terms of sales figures it's quite far from No.1's BoA (66749 vs 15988) but I think it's a major achievement since Atobe-sama is in fact not a real-life person but an anime character. It's very rare for anime character CDs to get such high sales figures so I'm very happy for Atobe-sama.

To be frank, I've not bought any of the character CDs even though my favourite characters like Tezuka, Sanada, Atobe have released a number of CDs among them. Tezuka has a number of singles and one album this year, Sanada has one single and Atobe has countless of singles and albums. However, the problem I have with these is the fact that sounding well when you speak is not equal to sounding well when you sing. Take for example, Sanada's solo single, Meisei, the song is OK by itself but Kusunoki-san's voice is so deep that the song sounds very sad and boring. Besides, the cover of the single is not too nice (makes Sanada look so weird and fierce) so I'm still undecided till this day about buying this. Likewise for Tezuka, Okiayu-san sounds good when he speaks (bravo for Tezuka and Mitsui) BUT some of the songs don't sound too nice to me. As for Atobe, I think Suwabe-san sings pretty well and I must say that he has better songs to sing.

Actually, among the many songs I've listened to, I would think that Shishido and Ootori's combined single, Brand New Days sounds the best. It's somehow quite Chemistry-style and the song is very soothing to the ears. Besides, the voices of Shishido and Ootori match very well. That should be the song which has left the deepest impression on me. Will plan to buy this single once I'm done with the manga and pay for the movie DVDs in June.

Finally decided to get the digipaks i.e. the separate units for the movie instead of the box set. Paying more than 3000 plus yen for the premium version may not be worth it since there's no much mention of it on the Shochiku site. That's not sufficient motivation to make me pay 9000 plus yen for that. Besides, since it's so expensive, I can go back and buy the first press more easily as compared to the digipaks which is likely to run out first if the box set really has something which is so irrestible.

Gekijouban Tenipuri DVD out in June!!!

This is really long-awaited news! I would have thought that the DVD would only be out in mid summer i.e. July or Aug but it turns out that it would be released in late June!!! However, this DVD is released by Shochiku and it's getting hard to choose what I want... The website doesn't update June DVD releases yet unlike Bandai which already has the picture for Vol 41 due in June.

First of all, there is the memorial box edition which has The First Game and Atobe's SP together with a booklet. There's no mention of the other goodies so I'm not sure whether it's worthwhile to get this version which costs a whooping 9240 yen! And if that box is going to be real bulky, I'm going to get charged quite a bit for the shipping.

On the other end, Shochiku is releasing the two parts of the movie in two separate DVDs which would only cost less than 6000 yen together. Again, no mention of the goodies or specials other than it comes in digipak (easy to store). Aargh, why can't they release more details on the items sooner as I really want to place my order ASAP?! I have a hunch that the box edition should contain more than a booklet for the extra 3000 plus yen it's charging as compared to the individual versions but as to whether it's worth paying so much, I really need more details to judge.

June's going to be a month when I'm going broke. Besides the usual Bandai DVD release, now comes the movie... Have to save up and work harder to pay for that...

Ep 177 & 178 ~ Owari

Mixed emotions after watching the final 2 episodes...Well, I'll get down to the things which I'm not so happy about before I come to the good stuff ^__^

1) Why on earth did they let Echizen come back and WIN Tezuka?
I know if he doesn't win Tezuka, he wouldn't be able to "progress" to greater heights but the way it is done is so unconvincing. It's as if they HAVE to let Echizen win in order to round up the story. What rubbish! To be frank, I still don't think Echizen is that invincible to force Atobe to a draw when they were in Karuizawa, beat Sanada in Kantou Finals or beat Tezuka in this match. No doubt he has improved a lot since the beginning but to be that good in a span of 6 months to beat the top rank players in Kantou? Fusakeruna! Luckily, they didn't state the scoreline or I would have been even more angry. Who cares if it's 7-6 or 6-0? I just don't want Tezuka to lose to such a kid!

2) Echizen winning against Lleyton Hewitt?
This part was really hillarious and well, a bit humiliating to the pros in the tennis scene. If they had just put Echizen against some unnamed player in the final scene, it would have been OK but Lleyton Hewitt? To set the record straight, I am not a Hewitt fan but for his name to be used in such a situation, I'm sure he won't be excited to know about this.

3) The longwinded thanks for all the regulars
Well, I know how grateful he is to the team for helping him in one way or another to get to where he is now but the longwinded "ima made arigatou gozaimashita" was really getting on my nerves. It's not like the forever cool Echizen to be so passionate about such things so the mood is just not so right.

After the issues I have, now comes the good things...

1) Hyotei making it to Nationals!!!!
OK, I heard about it when some websites mentioned that this was in the manga (it's not news anymore) so I can't wait anymore and will go and buy the manga today. Not all the volumes at one go, probably getting 10-15 volumes today. Japanese version is not cheap, about SGD 10 per volume. I would have settled for the Chinese version from Singapore or Taiwan but then...I think it's better to buy the Japanese version. Can improve my Japanese too and besides, I don't like to see Chinese translated names for the characters like Longma for Ryoma. Enough of the rambling on the manga. I'm glad that they made the announcement in the final episode since I think that Hyotei does deserve a ticket to the Nationals. And it was nice seeing the Hyotei team again!!! Fantastic!!! Oshitari seems to be less enthusiastic about the news than the others since he thought that Atobe would not accept this way of entering the Nationals (by a wildcard entry since the Nationals are in Tokyo) but turns out that Atobe is more than happy with this development. When I saw Atobe say "Oresama to tomo ni zengoku e ikou!", I really shared their joy. Banzai, Hyotei!

2) Atobe's ore-sama power zenkai!
There are a number of scenes of Atobe like him working out in the Atobe Sports Gym, running in a red jersey which are so precious footage. It was an unexpected treat to see so much of Atobe even though I thought that it was going to be Echizen all the way for the final episodes. I'm falling in love with Atobe-sama again!

3) Genichirou and Yukimura appearing!!!
I thought I would never see them again after the Senbatsu arc. Although Genichirou didn't speak at all in the two scenes he appeared (one in Echizen's dream and the other at the Nationals opening ceremony), it was enough for me to see him again. And Yukimura chatting with Tezuka was an added bonus. Too bad I won't get to see them fighting it out on the courts. Why am I getting so excited over them? ^__^ I miss Rikkaidai...

Well, now that everything has ended (not the case for the manga and DVD release), what do I think of the chances for Tenipuri to return with an OVA or second season? I really doubt that there would be a second season going by the fact that Nanjiro and Rinko moved back to the US with Ryoma. Without the prince, how does the title stand? They can't be going back to the US if Ryoma is only going to be there for a while. Unless they let Ryoma come back or focus on the Nationals without him (which I do prefer instead of letting Ryoma hog the limelight AGAIN), a second season remains a remote responsibility. Oh my Genichirou, Kunimitsu and Atobe-sama! Or if they are planning to hold the anime until the manga catches up the Nationals arc, they might come back with Season 2 again. Otherwise, I think an OVA or movie might be more likely based on the current circumstances.

In the meantime, I would have to be content with the monthly DVD releases and try to collect the manga as soon as possible to feed my Tenipuri addiction...

Oyasumi no isshu...

Suffering from "withdrawal symptoms" of no Tenipuri for the week...

Suddenly, I have a premonition that the finale next week is going to sour the entire series BECAUSE Ryoma is coming back. I'm not sure for whatever reason but seems like he is going to have a match with Tezuka. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the anime does not end with Ryoma beating Tezuka because that would be SO predictable. I don't think that he's good enough to beat Tezuka given that the latter has fully recovered and he showed off his potential when he defeated Fuji. If they make Ryoma beat Tezuka, wouldn't this mean that Ryoma > Tezuka > Fuji? This is not logical to me at all and I REALLY hope that things would not come to such a stage. I know they might want to please Ryoma fans BUT if he beats every rival, wouldn't he have no targets to overcome in the future? When they showed Ryoma beat Sanada, I was already hopping mad for the illogical development of events so please leave beautiful memories for me, OK?

Anyway, to think that there would be nothing to look forward to on Wed is such a bore. Although I'm following Yakitate Japan on Tues, it sure feels weird to see Tenipuri go and leave a void in my weekly schedule. According to the TV Tokyo website, there are quite a number of animes ending this month. New beginnings for Spring 05? After I'm done with the full DVD collection, I would probably head for the manga collection next...I'm still not done with Sanada, Atobe and Tezuka...

Ep 176 - Climax

Eh...how should I begin? Although the title is "Climax", most of the views I read and personally, I do feel that this episode is an anti-climax as compared to the wonderful buildup from the past 2 episodes. Well, I'm terribly excited over the fact that I get to hear Tezuka speak so much in a single episode and that we find out about how he feels about his relationship with Fuji but this has made the focus shift from the match. I admit I'm rooting for Tezuka and is very happy that he won but somehow, the producers seem to be in a hurry to settle the match. I can't blame them since the last episode would be on 30 Mar. Although there are lots of other themes to explore, they can't go beyond 3 episodes for just 1 match no matter how mouth watering the line-up is. That's a pity to me though.



Tezuka was the first to notice that Fuji was not as simple as he looked. According to him, the other first year regulars were attention-grabbing and unique in their own ways but Fuji seemed very normal and just like an obedient and nice guy. However, when he saw him play on the court, Tezuka's interest in finding out how Fuji was really like made him agree to the match. Even though he would have asked Fuji to postpone the match due to his injury, Tezuka admitted that he was too anxious to see how good Fuji was at that time and forced himself to play thus making Fuji quite angry then. Anyway, for this ranking match, Tezuka was the one who asked Ryuuzaki-sensei to group Fuji together with him. In fact, even if Tezuka didn't suggest this, Ryuuzaki-sensei would have made the arrangements herself so as to show the team how good those two have become.

It was quite sad to see Fuji crying (not really crying his heart out but tears flow naturally from his eyes) but it showed how much the match meant to him and that he finally tasted the bitterness of defeat. It should be a great learning experience for him which should serve him well in the Nationals (that is if the anime does come back with OVA or the second season like Kyou Kara Maou). I'm praying hard that they come up with OVAs from time to time, it seems like a lucrative business to give up since they are still releasing character singles and the DVD release is still on. The manga is still on but as to when it will start on the Nationals, it depends whether the manga will show whatever they have in the anime i.e. the ranking matches. And I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a summer release of the movie DVD which is more than 6 months from the theatre release.

With the end of the anime, I don't see myself stopping the updating of this blog but the frequency might not be on a weekly basis. As and when I have new thoughts, buy new Tenipuri stuff etc, I might just post when I like it.