Why I (Really) Fell in Love with Prince of Tennis : An essay by kat
A tennis magazine.
Ironically enough, that was the first place that I heard about Prince of Tennis. I had been playing on my school's varsity tennis team for two years at the time, and I had been a fan of anime for nearly five years. But I had never heard of PoT until one of my tennis magazines wrote an article about how the series was having a huge impact on the Japanese tennis community, encouraging more and more students to become interested in playing the sport. Needless to say, I was intrigued. What kind of series could be so popular in Japan that it actually encouraged kids to start playing the sport? I made a mental note to check the series out, but I didn't think much of it after that.
That might strike some people as strange. However, I did not look any further into the series for two basic reasons: one, the series hadn't been released in America at the time, and two, it is what is called a "shonen" series. The first reason was very important to me a few years ago; as a high school student, I usually had only very limited access to series that had not been translated into English, and I didn't think it was worth the effort. The reason I didn't? Well, that was because of the second problem: Prince of Tennis was a shonen series, which means the type of manga/anime that is geared toward a male audience, and I am a fanatic reader of shojo manga, or series aimed at girls. Needless to say, I don't really care for most action series, and so I figured PoT wouldn't spark my interest outside from being a series about tennis, which I love.
Of course, I was dead wrong, and I now love PoT more than any shojo series I've ever touched.
How did I finally come into contact with Prince of Tennis? Well, of course, Viz eventually released the first volume of the manga in the very beginning of 2005. My friend purchased it and let me borrow it, and I read it from cover to cover during a lunch period. I thought it was quite interesting, and resolved to read the rest of it as it became available, but it hadn't really sparked my obsession. However, as time went on, I started researching the series online and discovered a huge supply of information, fansites, fanfiction, and who-knows-what-else. I was surprised at how big the English-speaking fanbase for PoT already was, and as I kept surfing, I found myself becoming more and more excited about the series. But in the end, what clinched my obsession for PoT, if the first manga volume had not?
Well, that is probably best summed up with two little words: Golden Pair.
It doesn't take long for the manga to mention that the two characters Oishi and Kikumaru play doubles together. And while I was instantly drawn to the character design of Kikumaru, the eccentric redheaded volleyer, the same could certainly not be said for Oishi. And as far as pretty boys went, the captain Tezuka Kunimitsu was definitely more to my taste, as I declared from the beginning. So what does the Golden Pair have to do with my love for PoT?
Basically, the Golden Pair was my first taste of the unique quality of character relationships in the series.
As anyone who knows me can tell you, I am a huge lover of relationships in the manga and anime series that I enjoy. And as I started watching the subtitled PoT anime and continued to read the manga, I found myself falling in love with that one-of-a-kind friendship that Oishi and Kikumaru share as doubles partners. Being a doubles player myself, I couldn't help relating to their experiences. And as I became more involved in the online fandom, I also found myself appreciating the dynamic the two have when they are paired together as a couple, though I was a newbie when it came to shipping a series outside of canon romance. And when my sister chose Kikumaru as her favorite character, it was a given that I would count Oishi as one of my favorites, and as it happened, he grows on me more and more with every passing month. In some ways, Oishi is a kindred spirit for me. And having two favorite characters (both Oishi and Tezuka) only meant more love for a series that I was already quickly becoming obsessed with.
But this essay isn't really about how I gradually became more and more obsessed with PoT. It's about WHY I just can't get enough of this series. And this has to do with several important things, which I have only just begun to explain.
Basically, this series is a treasure, and it is the only series that I have ever seen like it. So why is PoT so lovable?
First of all, the relationships and the characters are a huge part of what makes PoT fans become so passionate about it. If you ask any PoT fan, that is probably what they will mention first, as I have in the above explanation. But as true as that reason certainly is, that is only just scratching the surface of the ultimate value of Prince of Tennis as a series, in my humble opinion.
Prince of Tennis is so much more than a sports manga or anime. It is hard to explain why, though, without referring to a key moment in the series. So I will try to summarize what that moment meant for me, as a PoT fan, as best as I possibly can...
"Echizen, become Seigaku's pillar of support."
When the captain, Tezuka Kunimitsu, says this to Ryoma, the protagonist of PoT, it is a defining moment in the plot that keeps finding its way back into the storyline in one way or another. But it is also a defining moment for PoT fans. It is in this moment, I think, that Prince of Tennis changes from a simple sports series to something much greater. It is at this point that PoT becomes a series about fulfilling a goal, realizing your own potential, and learning to support and love the people in your life. This probably sounds like an exaggeration of a series that, on the surface, is really just about hitting a tennis ball back and forth inside a court. But it's still true. Prince of Tennis isn't just about tennis.
In fact, I think that this is something that people tend to forget, and this is probably the reason why many complain that PoT is just unrealistic. When all the characters have a tendency to defy gravity and the general laws of physics, and when the protagonist can't seem to do anything but win, it is predictable that the series will have its share of cynics and naysayers. And while it's understandable, I will personally never make that complaint, because to me, PoT is about a lot more than that yellow tennis ball. And I do say that as a passionate tennis enthusiast.
PoT is about the journey of an atypical protagonist, who goes from being a sassy, undisciplined kid to becoming a ambitious young man with a "never say die" attitude (even if he never really loses the sass!).
PoT is about self-sacrifice, and a noble captain that put the dreams of others ahead of his own, and in doing so, gained something through his own personal loss that could not have been attained in any other way.
PoT is about a tennis team that not only dreams big, but goes out onto the court and realizes those dreams, whether it is through defeating the opponents that they face or learning from the difficulties they encounter.
PoT is about other teams as well, outside of the protagonist team, and their own dreams and ambitions, and what happens when their world collides with Seigaku and is, more often than not, changed for good.
PoT is about all those things, and others, too. What's more, the world of PoT is both like the one we live in, and in some ways, better. It is a world where rooting for your team is more than just noise, but something that actually has the power to change the outcome of a match. It is a world where your opponent comes at you with everything he's got, but in the end, when the two of you have finally finished the match, you are no longer enemies but friends with something in common. It is a world where cheaters never prosper and honor is more than just a word, where titans collide on the tennis court and seem to turn the world upside down with just a tennis racquet, where laughing and crying sometimes feel like the same thing and you aren't sure which one is more appropriate. Ultimately, the way PoT manages to be all of these things, and the emotions that it inspires in the process, is the real reason why I love it more than any other series I've seen.
In the end, though, PoT is probably impossible to describe in a way that will do it justice, because it is a series that is different for each and every person who watches it. So the reason to love PoT, when all is said and done, can only be the reason for which YOU love it, whatever that is. I do know why I love it, though, and I have tried to express that here, as best as I could.
In the end, that is all I can do, apart from saying that PoT will forever be my favorite of the dozens of anime shows that I love.
And if you still don't understand why that is? Watch it, read it, and discover for yourself all the reasons to love PoT, both the funny and the serious ones. It is one series that is definitely worth all the time that you give it.
This essay was written on June 1st, 2006, by kat, webmistress of thesevenlines.com. Please do not reproduce or re-post anywhere, in full or in part, without the author's written permission.
