"Serve It! : Prince Of Tennis..."

"Serve It! : Prince Of Tennis..."

Prince Of Tennis Gang

The Prince of Tennis (テニスの王子様) is a popular Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi. The title is often shortened to TeniPuri (テニプリ), a portmanteau of the two parts in the Japanese pronunciation of the words "Tennis Prince".

The manga was first published in Japan in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump in July 1999, and ended publication on March 3, 2008. A total of 379 chapters were serialized, spanning 42 volumes. As of volume 40, the manga has sold over 40 million copies in Japan. News that a sequel to the manga series was going to be developed was announced in the December issue of the Japanese manga magazine Jump Square. The new manga series, entitled New Prince of Tennis, began serialization in the Jump Square magazine on March 4, 2009, with the story taking place several months after the end of the original manga. Viz Media acquired the license to distribute the series in English in North America.

Prince of Tennis Manga Cover

The manga was adapted into an anime series directed by Takayuki Hamana, animated by Trans Arts and co-produced by Nihon Ad Systems and TV Tokyo. The anime aired across Japan on the anime satellite television network Animax and the terrestrial TV Tokyo network from October 10, 2001 to March 30, 2005, spanning a total of 178 episodes, as well as a theatrical movie. In April 2006, an original video animation (OVA) continuation of the anime began to be released on DVD. The beginning of the second OVA series was released on June 22, 2007, roughly 3 months after the end of the first. The second OVA ended on January 25, 2008, and the third and final OVA started on April 25, 2008.

"This Is Where The Game Begins!"

Ryoma Echizen

Taking place in Tokyo today, it follows the journey of Ryoma Echizen, who is a a tennis prodigy. He enrolled to a school called Seishun Academy Middle School (Seishun Gakuen), or in short Seigaku, a school famous for its strong tennis club and talented players. Because of his cool and apathetic attitude, upperclassmen challenge him to play tennis. However, Ryoma had won the American junior tennis championship tournaments four times in a row, and easily defeated the upperclassmen.

The Seigaku Tennis Club

Making new friends and learning new tennis tactics, Ryoma and the Seigaku tennis club strive to win the All-Japan junior high tennis team championship tournament.

source: Wikipedia.org and Minitokyo .net (Article), Google Image Search (Pictures).