By The Blogging Guild
Twelve-year-old Ryoma Echizen joins the Seishun Gakuen Middle School tennis team, known for being one of the most competitive teams in Japan. Freshmen rarely have a chance to actually play during their first year, but Ryoma's cool confidence, combined with a deadly, un-returnable "twist serve," gain him a coveted starting spot. With rigorous and extremely intense practices, the upperclassmen of the team expect the very best from themselves, and expect even more from the new members of the team. He's made the cut but can he survive the intense competition? Join Ryoma and other first year players, as they train hard, make friends, and try to find a place for themselves on the team. Ryoma’s cute but chronically shy classmate, Sakuno Ryuzaki, also has problems of her own as she hopes he will notice her. Ryoma Echizen is The Prince of Tennis. He may be ready for the Seishun Gakuen tennis team, but are they ready for him?
The exciting backdrop of high school tennis serves as the setting for the sports drama and coming-of-age story, The Prince of Tennis, or Tennis no Ōjisama . From creator Takeshi Konomi, the manga and anime depict the life and adventures of Ryoma Echizen, both on the court and off of it. The series has becomes one of the most popular manga and anime titles to hit Japan. In Japan, the manga is published in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump (and is still ongoing), and in North America (and in English), it is published by VIZ Media as a Shonen Jump graphic novel series.
The anime aired its final episode in 2005 on TV Tokyo in Japan. On this side of the hemisphere, The Prince of Tennis anime series is slated to air on Cartoon Network's new online broadband service called Toonami Jetstream on July 17 2006.
Character Profiles
| Name | Echizen Ryoma |
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| Year | 1 |
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| Height (cm) | 151 |
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| Blood Type | O |
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| Birthday | December 24th |
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| Constellation |
|
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| Hand | Left & Right |
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| Cloth | Fila |
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| Shoes | Fila |
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| Racket | BRIDGESTONE (DYNABEAM GRANDEA) |
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| Special Skill | Twist Serve, Drive B |
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| Quotes | Mada Mada Dane (Not yet) |
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| Favorite Subject | Science |
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| Favorite Color | Silver |
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| Hobby |
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| Description | Echizen is the featured tennis player in the show. His father is a famous professional tennis player who retired really early but otherwise could have became the number 1 tennis player in the world. Echizen is the only 1st year regular player in Seigaku, since he short compared to the other members, he's been nicknamed O'Chibi (baby boy) by fellow player, Eiji. Additional info worth noting: Echizen grew up in United States and knows English very well (many classmates admires him for this). |
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| Name | Fuji Syusuke |
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| Year | 3 |
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| Height (cm) | 167 |
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| Blood Type | B |
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| Birthday | February 19th |
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| Constellation | Pisces |
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| Hand | Right |
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| Cloth |
|
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| Shoes | Nike |
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| Racket | Prince (Michael Chang Titanium) |
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| Special Skill | Swallow return |
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| Quotes |
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| Favorite Subject | Classics |
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| Favorite Color | Beige |
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| Hobby | Photography |
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| Description | Fuji is known as a tennis tensai (genius). He's extremely famous among all the tennis players in the region. Fuji's skill is right behind Tezuka's. He also has a brother who goes to a different tennis school, mainly because he didn't want to be compared to his big brother - Fuji, who's already known as the tensai player at Seigaku. Fuji is always smiling no matter in what situation, this gives him a really friendly appearance, although in fact, Fuji is a deadly strong tennis player that most Junior high players should pray to never meet in the court. |
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| Name | Kikumaru Eiji |
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| Year | 3 |
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| Height (cm) | 171 |
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| Blood Type | A |
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| Birthday | November 28th |
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| Constellation |
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| Hand | Right |
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| Cloth |
|
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| Shoes | Wilson (slash DT mid) |
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| Racket | Dunlop |
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| Special Skill | Acrobatic Play |
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| Quotes | Hoi Hoi, Nya |
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| Favorite Subject | Japanese History |
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| Favorite Color | Red |
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| Hobby | Brush Teeth (with his precious toothpaste), tour pet shops. |
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| Description | Eiji is perhaps the most popular character in this anime. He's well known for his acrobatic play, together with Oishi, they are known as Seigaku's golden pair. Eiji has a big teddy bear at home and when it falls, it's always towards left. Eiji was able to use this as a game strategy with Oishi in one game. Eiji has a terrific personality although he loves to tease others as well, this got Oishi, who is a really sensitive person really mad in one occasion and caused the biggest crisis of Seigaku - the breaking up of the golden pair. |
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| Name | Momoshiro Takeshi |
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| Year | 2 |
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| Height (cm) | 170 |
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| Blood Type | O |
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| Birthday | July 23rd |
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| Constellation |
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| Hand | Right |
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| Cloth |
|
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| Shoes | Puna |
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| Racket | Mizuno |
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| Special Skill | Dunk Smash |
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| Quotes | I prefer to be liked by many (girls) |
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| Favorite Subject | Math |
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| Favorite Color | Red |
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| Hobby | Music, Games |
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| Description | Momoshiro Takeshi perfers to be called "Momo-Chan" (chan is a suffix used on Japanese names, usually refers to a really close friend or a kid) Momo is the power house of Seigaku, he plays really powerful balls and his "dunk smash" is beyond regular Junior high tennis level. Momo-chan is also the first Seigaku player to meet the star of the show: Echizen Ryoma, afterwards, the two behind good friends. *** Spoiler alert Unfortunately, after losing to Tezuka and Inui, Momo was dropped from the regular's team after the second regulars match in the series. |
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| Name | Tezuka Kunimitsu |
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| Year | 3 |
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| Height (cm) | 179 |
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| Blood Type | O |
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| Birthday | October 7th |
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| Constellation | Libra |
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| Hand | Left |
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| Cloth |
|
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| Shoes | MIZUNO (WAVE DUAL LITE <>) |
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| Racket | MIZUNO (PRO LIGHT S90) |
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| Special Skill | Drop Shot |
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| Quotes | 20 laps around the around, now! |
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| Favorite Subject | Worldwide History |
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| Favorite Color | Green/Blue |
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| Hobby | Mountain-climbing, camp, fish |
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| Description | Tezuka is the captain of Seigaku. He's well respected by all the teammates and also by the players in other top tennis schools. Tezuka also made it into the regulars as a freshmen, now he's in his third year and is about to graduate. Tezuka sees great potential in Echizen and taught Echizen the meaning of playing tennis by having a match with Echizen despite his arm injury. Even though Tezuka never smiles, he appears to be extremely popular among the female fans. |
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| Name | Kaidoh Kaoru |
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| Year | 2 |
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| Height (cm) | 173 |
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| Blood Type | B |
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| Birthday | May 11th |
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| Constellation |
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| Hand | Right |
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| Cloth |
|
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| Shoes | Puma |
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| Racket | Head (TiS7) |
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| Special Skill | Boomrang Snake |
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| Quotes | zzzzzzzz…… |
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| Favorite Subject | English |
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| Favorite Color | Blue |
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| Hobby | Marathon, gathering bandanas |
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| Description | Kaidoh is nicknamed "the sniper" by his fellow teammates since he is always really serious and is easily irritable. Kaidoh's famous move is the "boomrang snake" which makes the tennis ball go around the pole and back into the court. Kaidoh trains extremely hard, most of the time under Inui's instructions in order to improve his tennis skills. (additional note: he lost to Echizen in the first Seigaku regular selection matches, but he was able to save his regular's position after defeating Inui) |
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| Name | Kawamura Takashi |
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| Year | 3 |
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| Height (cm) | 180 |
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| Blood Type | A |
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| Birthday | November 18th |
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| Constellation | Scorpius |
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| Hand | Right |
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| Cloth |
|
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| Shoes | Asics (Gelstroke) |
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| Racket | Dunlop (Rimbreed XL) |
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| Special Skill | Burning Serve |
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| Quotes |
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| Favorite Subject | Math |
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| Favorite Color | Aqua |
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| Hobby | Monopoly |
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| Description | Kawamura's special feature is that he's in fact a really timid person who changes drastically when he's playing tennis. Kawamura used to tennis and often plays doubles with Fuji in the games. |
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| Name | Ryuzaki Sakuno |
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| Year | 1 |
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| Height (cm) |
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| Blood Type | A |
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| Birthday | January 14th |
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| Constellation |
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| Hand |
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| Cloth |
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| Shoes |
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| Racket |
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| Special Skill |
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| Quotes |
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| Favorite Subject |
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| Favorite Color |
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| Hobby |
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| Description | She's the grand-daughter of Seigaku's coach. The girl also has a crush on Echizen Ryoma. She was introduced in the first episode and first met Ryoma on the bus to a tennis competition. |
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| Name | Inui Sadaharu |
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| Year | 3 |
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| Height (cm) | 184 |
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| Blood Type | AB |
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| Birthday | June 3rd |
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| Constellation | Gemini |
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| Hand | Right |
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| Cloth |
|
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| Shoes | Puma |
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| Racket | Prince |
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| Special Skill | Data Tennis |
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| Quotes | I'm just here to take data |
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| Favorite Subject | Physics |
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| Favorite Color | Black |
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| Hobby | Make vegetable juice |
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| Description | The brain behind Seigaku's team. He takes data for all the games, including personal data for his rivals along with teammates. He's formerly known as Seigaku number 3 (right behind Fuji and Tezuka) - the data tennis man. But due to losing the Seigaku's regular selection matches in the beginning of the series (mostly because of Ryoma's appearance), he played Seigaku's manager for the first 50 or so episodes. |
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