Ep 162: Memories of the Golden Pair
Ep 163: Kaidoh's Unknown World
Ep 165 (pt 1): Tenipuri Family Goes to Hawaii??
Ep 165 (pt 2): The Tenipuri Family Christmas
Ep 166: Seigaku's Speciality, Once Again
Ep 167: Eternal Rivals! Momoshiro vs Kaidoh
Ep 168-69: Ryoma's Decision, Wavering Feelings
Ep 170: Burn, Echizen!
Ep 171: To My Dear Friend
Ep 172: Goodbye, Seigaku
Ep 173: Samurai New York
Ep 174: Tezuka Kunimitsu vs. Fuji Shusuke
Ep 175: The Third Year's True Heart
Ep 176: Climax
Ep 177: The Unforgettable Promise
Ep 178: Farewell, My Prince (Finale)

character analysis & profile
Atobe Keigo
Fuji Shusuke
Kirihara Akaya

name meaning
Fuji Shusuke
Oshitari Yuushi

song lyrics
Shinjitsu (Yukimura Seiichi single)
Since Last Goodbye (Tezuka Kunimitsu single)

other
Dialects in Anime
Band of Princes: Music Video
My favorite fanart sites

Airs on Wednesdays
Total episodes: 178
Official website
RAWs at l33t
RAWs at Saiyaman

This extremely popular series on junior high school tennis is relatively long-running, with over 170 episodes so far. The story focues on Echizen Ryoma (AKA the Prince of Tennis) and his Seigaku junior high tennis team's quest for Nationals glory.

The young tennis prodigy is the son of Echizen Nanjirou, a former professional tennis player, who taught Ryoma everything he knows. Ryoma has overcome being a mere "copy" of his father's tennis, and has grown into an extremely capable player. He is ambidextrous like his father, but his dominant hand is his left hand. Although his key moves include his Twist Serve, Drive B and Cyclone Smash, he is able to take in his opponents' moves as well - as he demonstrated in his match against Rikkaidai junior high's Vice Captain, Sanada.

Rumors have it that the animated series will be coming to a close at episode 178. This has not yet been confirmed, but if true, then the anime will stop short of the Nationals tournament, just as Seigaku is finalizing its regular members through their monthly ranking matches. Meanwhile, Ryoma has been invited to participate in the US Open, and has just left Japan to pursue his dreams...

I fell in love with this series relatively late in the game. Mainly, I was curious because I wanted to hear Tsuda Kenjirou's voice again (he's the lovely voice behind Kaiba Seto...and he plays Inui in Prince of Tennis). I watched episode 165, a chibi Xmas special, and thought it was so funny, I had to see what this series was about. I also received some of the manga for Xmas, and it's got me hooked ever since! I haven't read all the manga yet or seen every anime episode, so I may seem uninformed at times. But I feel I've got a good grasp of this series so far. In any case, it's become my main focus now for this blog, right behind Yugioh GX!

This series obviously begs to have its share of fangirls, which isn't surprising considering the number of great male characters it features! My favorite character is Atobe, the captain of Hyoutei tennis. But I'm also quite partial to the Fuji brothers, Kaidoh, and of course, Ryoma. I will try to keep my fangirlisms to a minimum. ^_~

Even if this series ends at 178, I hope to keep updating with other stuff - the manga, if I get the most recent issue - and maybe excerpts from the fanbook. I'll be willing to take requests.

Lucy's Anime Journal
tokyo jupiter (archives)

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