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NEWS: The Prince of Tennis Manga Gets Theatrical Anime Film




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ZipZapZopTitania



Joined: 18 Sep 2010
Posts: 132
PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 1:14 pm Reply with quote
Huh. I really should check out this anime---I don't see that many about tennis, and I've pretty much grown up with the sport, anyhow~ I've heard that the sports genre isn't the most popular, but I'm glad they're making a movie. Good luck to...erm...the people making it? I dunno. o_O
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Redlinks



Joined: 14 Feb 2010
Posts: 496
Location: America
PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 1:32 pm Reply with quote
ZipZapZopTitania wrote:
Huh. I really should check out this anime---I don't see that many about tennis, and I've pretty much grown up with the sport, anyhow~ I've heard that the sports genre isn't the most popular, but I'm glad they're making a movie. Good luck to...erm...the people making it? I dunno. o_O


Actually, sports manga is one of the most popular genres in Japan. Not too sure about America though.
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PurpleWarrior13



Joined: 05 Sep 2009
Posts: 2024
PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 5:45 pm Reply with quote
Sports manga/anime usually fails in America. I'm not sure how successful the Prince of Tennis manga is, but the anime was a major bomb in the US. Only 50 out of 178 episodes have been released in the states, and none of the movies or OVAs have been released, meaning it's extremely doubtful that this movie will be released here. Sad.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 6:30 pm Reply with quote
Will the movie have Tezuka killing the dinosaurs? Because if so, that would be so epic. Epically fail, I should say. Hopefully it will be a movie about actual tennis and not about making galaxies explode with the power of your forehands.
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Banken



Joined: 29 May 2007
Posts: 1280
PostPosted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 10:26 pm Reply with quote
I read the first few chapters of New POT, and the level of insanity has only gotten worse.

At this point it's pretty much an insult to real tennis players and tennis fans.
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dollssoulkirie



Joined: 05 Feb 2005
Posts: 77
Location: Newport News, VA
PostPosted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 10:49 am Reply with quote
I'm kinda iffy on this news.. as much as I love PoT (more of the original and not the new series -- but still reading it because my love for the characters ><), I don't know if this is good news or bad. -_-; Guess I'll just wait and see what new information comes out, like story-wise and whatnot. The first movie wasn't too grand and the TV show was decent.. Haven't watched the Chinese live action yet. XD
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maxxjulie



Joined: 09 Mar 2005
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 4:19 am Reply with quote
There's also 2 season's of Prince of Tennis live action tv series. Way to do your research.
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
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Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 12:25 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
Will the movie have Tezuka killing the dinosaurs? Because if so, that would be so epic. Epically fail, I should say. Hopefully it will be a movie about actual tennis and not about making galaxies explode with the power of your forehands.


Banken wrote:
I read the first few chapters of New POT, and the level of insanity has only gotten worse.

At this point it's pretty much an insult to real tennis players and tennis fans.


OK, while I will agree that PoT chose a really odd place to go fully over-the-top (after 30-some volumes of being mostly exaggerated style with only one or two real over-the-top pieces it definitely was a little odd to suddenly get tons of over-the-top style), that's just the direction Konomi wants to go in. Also, anyone who wasn't expecting PoT to get even more over-the-top in New PoT was just asking to get annoyed. Finally, the whole "Tezuka killed the dinosaurs!" moment is solely the creation of Trans-Arts, the company that made the anime; that's what happens when the original mangaka tells the animation studio to just make stuff up so that viewers aren't watching the same thing they're reading. It's called filler, so get over it.

And is it really a crime to have some fun with a sport in anime & manga? Does it always have to be realistic and if if isn't it's an insult to the sport, its fans, and the people who play it? There really can't be both sports titles that are realistic and sports titles that take certain liberties so that they can be entertaining in their own way? Do they honestly have to be thought of and treated the same exact way solely because they both involve sports? That would be like me having to think of and treat Samurai Champloo the same way as I would think of and treat Shigurui, simply because they both involve swordsmanship or think of and treat Dragon Ball and Kazuya Minekura's Saiyuki the same way because they both use the Journey to the West story as their base.

Man, if that isn't a case of taking things way too seriously then I don't know what is. I'd recommend taking a few steps back, think about what a title like Prince of Tennis is aiming for, and simply calm down. Not everything has to be "serious business".
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 1:09 pm Reply with quote
Making up a sport which is unrealistic is one thing; take Beyblades and Yu-Gi-Oh! for example. Every knows that spinning tops cannot be controlled with the power of the mind and that trading cards are not representations of magical spells and monsters from ancient Egypt. A Manga-ka can make up various attacks and strategies without having to justify them. And fictional games means fictional rules.

But when a Manga or Anime is made about a game that exists in real life - i.e. tennis - the story and action cannot be as fantastical. That is, unless it's a work of parody like Yakitate!! Japan. It just comes with the territory; real world game means largely real-world physics. There is no such thing as the "Tezuka Zone" in real life, because if there was Roger Federer would be using it.

Certain liberties are almost always taken to make a story more interesting. And viewers put up with them because we want to be entertained; it is an implicit contract. But there's a line where people stop willingly suspend their disbelief, and it differs from person to person. Some people can tolerate tennis stadiums being trashed, while others roll their eyes and move on. Do not be so quick to criticise people like myself who don't like it when certain stories (Prince of Tennis, Air Gear et al) become so outlandish and so detached from their roots that we lose interest.
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 5:27 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
Making up a sport which is unrealistic is one thing; take Beyblades and Yu-Gi-Oh! for example. Every knows that spinning tops cannot be controlled with the power of the mind and that trading cards are not representations of magical spells and monsters from ancient Egypt. A Manga-ka can make up various attacks and strategies without having to justify them. And fictional games means fictional rules.

But when a Manga or Anime is made about a game that exists in real life - i.e. tennis - the story and action cannot be as fantastical. That is, unless it's a work of parody like Yakitate!! Japan. It just comes with the territory; real world game means largely real-world physics. There is no such thing as the "Tezuka Zone" in real life, because if there was Roger Federer would be using it.

Certain liberties are almost always taken to make a story more interesting. And viewers put up with them because we want to be entertained; it is an implicit contract. But there's a line where people stop willingly suspend their disbelief, and it differs from person to person. Some people can tolerate tennis stadiums being trashed, while others roll their eyes and move on. Do not be so quick to criticise people like myself who don't like it when certain stories (Prince of Tennis, Air Gear et al) become so outlandish and so detached from their roots that we lose interest.


Oh please, there's a reason why it's called "fiction". I bet you don't like Rocky IV either, since there's no way in reality that Rocky could beat Ivan Drago. Yeah, Rocky IV doesn't go to the same extent as the titles we've brought up, but that movie easily breaks reality the most out of the 6 Rocky movies, which are normally known for being somewhat realistic. Also, what makes you knowledgable as to know PoT's roots were. The main objective was that Ryoma Echizen joined Seishun Academy so that he could join the tennis team and play the game that he loves playing and even become national champions. Again, I already admitted that PoT does have a weird way of transitioning from exaggeration to fantastical, but it's not exactly like PoT was super-realistic to start with. Also, Air Gear was using a made-up "sport" from the start with Air Treks, so your complaint about that one kind of loses merit... Though I do agree that Air Gear certainly has become an entirely different beast than when it started.

In fact, you do realize that most of the popular and/or legendary sports anime and manga break reality often: Ashita no Joe, Ring ni Kakero, Captain Tsubasa, Hajime no Ippo (yes, it breaks reality often, and especially in more recent years), Eyeshield 21, Prince of Tennis, etc. Not every sports title has to be a Slam Dunk, Touch, Big Windup!, etc. because they offer different takes on the sports. Also, the creators of these reality-breaking titles are usually just as much fans of the sports that they are so-called "insulting". They just want to add their own touches to the sports that they love.

You're the one who's putting your own barriers up on what is considered acceptable or not and trying to defend it like it's word of law. I've personally grown to really hate the whole "It can only be fantastical if it's parody" idea that is commonly used in America, as it really just makes us all look like we can't tell the difference between reality and fantasy. Captain Tsubasa inspired people all over the world to take up soccer, even though that title does go to reality-breaking measures as time goes on (Tsubasa's Drive Shot, Hyuga's shot training by trying to kick soccer balls through ocean waves, etc.), much like how Slam Dunk helped make basketball popular in Japan again or how Prince of Tennis made people take up tennis. Yeah, you can't do something like the Tezuka Zone in real life, but who's to say that you should try to? Also, though it wasn't mentioned here, another common complaint I've seen is "They're doing things that not even the pros can do, yet they're only kids!" Well I say "Well, if the kids are like this, then just imagine what the pros can do!"

I'm not trying to say that you should like these kinds of titles, but insulting them for not following your own personal restrictions on acceptability isn't exactly the way to go either. If it's not your kind of title, then that's all you have to say. There's no need to insult these titles just because they don't appeal to you. At the same time, though, it's not impossible to like both variations and understand that they deliver different experiences.
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dtm42



Joined: 05 Feb 2008
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Location: currently stalking my waifu
PostPosted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 1:36 pm Reply with quote
Lord Geo wrote:
There's no need to insult these titles just because they don't appeal to you.


I was not insulting them. I was pointing out problems that people such as myself have with these titles. When a work uses a real-life sport then it should use the appropriate level of physics. This even applies to sports such as in Air Gear that could well exist in real-life but for a few minor technology improvements.

Imagine tennis being played in space, and players could teleport around the "field", and they used lightsabres to hit a energy ball of some description. At that point, why even bother calling it tennis even more? Why not just invent a new sport? Now yes, that is an extreme example, but it shows how in every story there is a line. Where that line is no-one knows, and it differs from person to person, but once that line is crossed its location is obvious.

I don't have the same tolerance for Sports Anime as you do, and you probably don't have as high a tolerance for Mecha Anime as I do. And hey, that's cool, no-one is more right or wrong than the other. But it is not in any way insulting for me to explain why certain Sports Anime are just not my cup of tea.
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 4:19 pm Reply with quote
dtm42 wrote:
I was not insulting them. I was pointing out problems that people such as myself have with these titles. When a work uses a real-life sport then it should use the appropriate level of physics. This even applies to sports such as in Air Gear that could well exist in real-life but for a few minor technology improvements.


OK, when you're including sports that aren't even around yet, like in Air Gear, in your argument, then I'm just going to call that being picky and that you're trying too hard to impose your own restrictions on it.

Quote:
Imagine tennis being played in space, and players could teleport around the "field", and they used lightsabres to hit a energy ball of some description. At that point, why even bother calling it tennis even more? Why not just invent a new sport? Now yes, that is an extreme example, but it shows how in every story there is a line. Where that line is no-one knows, and it differs from person to person, but once that line is crossed its location is obvious.


Yes that is an extreme example, but now you're missing the point. All that's being done in Prince of Tennis is that the moves they do are now over-the-top, highly exaggerated, and "fantastical". The rules of tennis are still being enforced, the same equipment that is used in real life are still being used, and at least most of these over-the-top moves are still being explained in terms of how they work. To bring up the Tezuka Zone again, it has an explanation about it works: Tezuka hits the ball with a specific type of spin on it so that the ball will always come back to him. Yes it's a little vague in hw it works and yes it's not realistic to the point that it can be recreated in real life, but it's not like Konomi just gave the move to Tezuka and said to the readers "I'm not going to explain how it works because I don't feel like it; just accept it and move on." Now there are some moves that are completely not possible in real-life, like spoiler[Keigo Atobe's World of Ice], but these are more the exception to how these moves work than the rule. It's like in Hajime no Ippo where early on Ippo fought Hayami, who had a special move called the Shotgun that was pretty much the equivalent of the Hokuto Hyakuretsuken/Hundred Crack Fist from Fist of the North Star. It in no way is possible in real life to perform the Shotgun, but at the same time it was still explained as simply being a flurry of punches and was in no way breaking the rules of boxing.

Honestly, you're treating it like they aren't playing tennis, but in reality they are... There's just playing it like in a more extreme, shonen-stylized fashion, which makes sense since it ran in Weekly Shonen Jump. Yes, not every sports title in a shonen manga is done like that, but that just means that there is variety in how they are handled. Your argument seems to have transferred from simply having the use of altered physics to not even being the same game in terms of the rules being enforced. Whereas you had a point with the use of reality-breaking physics, you don't have a point when it comes to following the rules of the game. There might be usage of a loophole in the rules at one point or another, but that's it really and it shows that the creator actually does know of the actual rules and restrictions of the sport that is being used.

Quote:
I don't have the same tolerance for Sports Anime as you do, and you probably don't have as high a tolerance for Mecha Anime as I do. And hey, that's cool, no-one is more right or wrong than the other. But it is not in any way insulting for me to explain why certain Sports Anime are just not my cup of tea.


Actually I absolutely love mech anime. Real robot, super robot, based in reality, completely insane and crazy action, I generally enjoy mechs. And part of the reason why I like the mech animes that go over-the-top and unrealistic, even for mecha standards, are for the same reason why I enjoy the over-the-top and exaggerated sports animes: Because they are fun to watch and deliver a different experince than their more realistic "cousins".

I'll agree with your "no one is more right or wrong than the other" feeling, but you're trying to say that these titles aren't actually using the sports they they are based on when they actually are. Maybe if you can just ignore the "galaxies" being thrown out, which are generally used for flair and looks and aren't actually there in the first place, and look at the actual move being used, then you can see that what they are playing is actually tennis, or any other sport being utilized; it's just not the 100% same exact thing you can watch on TV or the internet.

Air Gear, though, is a different story entirely as it went from being an sports-action title involving a futuristic form of skating to being an insane shonen-fighting title. That's not so much being unrealistic to the sport as it is a change in genre, which brings with it a completely different set of rules.
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Banken



Joined: 29 May 2007
Posts: 1280
PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 9:30 am Reply with quote
The scene in New POT where the guy plays and beats Momo with a racquet that only has two strings was pretty much the straw that broke the donkeys back for me.

First of all, it's impossible to string a racquet that way... for several reasons.

1. There is no hole in the middle of the racquet, so you would have to use a minimum of four strings.

2. The strings would almost certainly break the first time you hit the ball with any strength.

3. If the string didn't break, the racquet probably would.


And that's not even mentioning that even the best of the best pros can NOT hit the racquet in the dead center every time. Even Roger Federer is going to miss it by probably a few centimeters. So there's no way in hell you should expect me to believe that a Japanese high-schooler can do that, and beat a national-class middle-schooler (technically a 9th grader) while doing so.
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Lord Geo



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PostPosted: Fri Dec 03, 2010 9:53 am Reply with quote
Banken wrote:
And that's not even mentioning that even the best of the best pros can NOT hit the racquet in the dead center every time. Even Roger Federer is going to miss it by probably a few centimeters. So there's no way in hell you should expect me to believe that a Japanese high-schooler can do that, and beat a national-class middle-schooler (technically a 9th grader) while doing so.


OK, now that is really taking it a bit far, I'll admit. But I'll also admit that PoT is going a little too over-the-top too fast. Ryoma's match against Keigo Atobe really made me go "OK, I'm fine with over-the-top, but this match is really pushing it."

But, again, I think you guys are thinking the wrong way. It's not so much, "How can these "kids" do things that the pros can't even hope to do?" as it is "If these "kids" are this good, then just think about how amazing the pros are in PoT!" Remember, PoT already made up a pro in the form of Nanjiro Echizen, Ryoma's father, and he was considered to be one of, if not the best tennis players in the world, yet we never read about Nanjiro facing off against someone like Roger Federer... So it's fair to say that PoT isn't necessarily using the same cast of pros that there are in real life.

It's like if you watched the Hajime no Ippo anime up through New Challenger and thought "Why didn't we hear about Bryan Hawk beating any of the professional boxers that exist in the world, or at least North America, when this guy was introduced?" Easy, just ignore the presense of real-life pros when watching the show. In fact, Ippo should be tougher to accept, as Ippo himself was inspired to take up boxing by watching tapes of Mike Tyson matches, and in terms of story only a few years have gone by since the beginning. Therefore, Tyson should still be boxing at that time, not to mention the likes of Evander Holyfield and others, yet they are not mentioned one bit when it comes to who is competing around the world.

Considering how Takamura is going through the different weight classes to becomes World Champion at each of them, you would think that he'd meet up with one of those pros at some time. But he never does. You just have to ignore real-life pros in sports anime & manga, unless theyre brought up for some reason, like explaining how a move someone heavily used or invented works.
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Banken



Joined: 29 May 2007
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 2:47 am Reply with quote
Previously I just pretended like the kids weren't nearly as good as they're portrayed to be; they just simply appear to be more impressive than pros because of the point of view of the story; close up, by people who suck at tennis (everyone around them, especially the 1st Year Trio). This theory makes sense when you consider that tennis is a niche sport in Japan, and there are very few male Japanese pros competing in the top 500 (you can count them on one hand). The fact that the average Japanese man is 5'7" does not help them as a country in international sports.

But NPOT just upted to ante, so I stopped reading it altogether.
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