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The Prince of Tennis Franchise Gets New OVA Project
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
A stage presentation at the Jump Festa 2018 event on Saturday revealed that Takeshi Konomi's The Prince of Tennis franchise is inspiring a new OVA project. The project is the second "part" of the theatrical film project announced last year. The Tennis no Ōjisama BEST GAMES!! OVA will reanimate some of the most popular matches from the series thus far. One of the matches will be Tezuka vs Atobe from the Kantō Tournament. The OVA will first screen in theaters in Japan next year.
The stage presentation also revealed that a new official fanbook will launch in 2018, and revealed that the Shin Tennis no Ōji-sama Rising Beat smartphone game has surpassed 2 million downloads.
The first part of the theatrical film project is three runs of "cheering screenings." The first run is screening The Prince of Tennis: Two Samurais, The First Game film and the Tennis no Oujisama: Atobe Kara no Okurimono film on December 3, 10, 17, and 24. A second run of cheering screenings will be held in February to screen The Prince of Tennis: Eikoku-shiki Teikyū-jō Kessen! film, and the third and final run of cheering screenings will be held in April to screen the "Teni Fes All Night" event.
Takeshi Konomi serialized The Prince of Tennis manga's original run in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1999 to 2008. The manga followed middle school tennis player Ryōma Echizen as he battles rivals to reach the national tournament. That original manga already inspired a 2001-2005 television anime, two anime feature films and a theatrical short, various video anime projects, a live-action film, a live-action television series in China, and a popular stage musical series.
Konomi then launched The Prince of Tennis II manga series in Jump Square magazine in 2009. The story picks up after the national tournament, when Ryōma joins a select group of middle school players at Japan's top training camp for players under 17. This ongoing sequel manga spawned its own 2012 television anime series. The Prince of Tennis II OVA vs. Genius 10 series then ran for five volumes from October 2014 to June 2015.
The Hōkago no Ōji-sama four-panel tribute manga by Ken'ichi Sakura launched in Jump Square in 2008. The manga inspired a Flash anime that was included with The Prince of Tennis II OVA vs. Genius 10 home video releases. Shueisha published the third compiled volume of this spinoff manga in 2013.
Viz Media published the 42nd and final volume of Konomi's original Prince of Tennis manga run in North America in 2011. Crunchyroll streamed The Prince of Tennis II television anime into several countries as it aired in Japan, and it then streamed the spinoff original video anime projects.
