Prince of Tennis: All About
Oct. 9th, 2005 01:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandrootSo, what's it all about?
Well, yes, besides tennis.
Actually, I'm of the opinion that Prince of Tennis isn't much about tennis per se. It's a fight anime. It's a samurai story, only the swords look like tennis racquets.
What it's about is pride and struggle and determination.
If it were really about tennis there would be none of this business with players seeming to have anti-grav devices in their shoes, or casting visible auras. And there certainly wouldn't be something like Kikumaru's one-person-doubles-pair in his first National match. The hang-time and the auras can be explained as visual metaphor; the doubling act has no possible explanation in nature.
It strikes me that one of the major things PoT is also about is what great talent means in a culture like Japan. It puts you out of step, and most of the characters don't really cope well with that. All the really, extremely talented characters are really, extremely odd, with the exception of Echizen who just has Attitude.
Fuji is disconnected. In his own way, so is Tezuka, though he's managed to do it in a pattern more likely to let him slide through life with the strangeness unnoticed. Akutsu is a freaking psycho. Atobe has problems of his own, while we're discussing destructive tendencies, and so does Kirihara. Sanada seems to cope by clinging to the forms of tradition. And Yukimura appears to maintain two very different sides, a gentle and cheerful one for social purposes, and a steel-edged ruthless one for tennis purposes.
The contrast and similarities between Akutsu, who has never had limits of any kind, and Echizen, who has always had the limit of his dad, is... pointed. Echizen takes "always someone better" for granted; he's grown up with a living, breathing, fantstically annoying example. For him, it's simply one more thing to hone himself against. That seems to be what makes him stable. I took it as a measure of Akutsu's desperation that a single encounter with a limit is enough to let him relax against it.
And, you know, it really is clear (most especially in light of the contrast provided by the tradtionalist on the filler-ep staff) that Echizen, Our Hero, the view-point character in most ways, is set up as unsocialized. At least, un-Japanese-socialized. He's terminally blunt, and has no idea what gestures to return to, say, a social apology. He refuses the forms of self-denigration that are so much a mainstay of junior-senior interaction. And he invariably looks people dead in the eye, especially if he has any reason to think they might be competition. The first couple episodes really go out of their way to emphasize this--he even manages to rub Momo, who is far and away the easiest-going senpai he meets, a bit the wrong way. Momo, being a sweetie, doesn't make a big deal of it but does take note of it.
Which only increases my tendency to consider the filler eps of the anime, especially Senbatsu Etc., as a completely different continuity even than the anime main storyline.
Hashira. Reflections on how the concept of a central support gets applied to a tennis player.
Strength. Thoughts on the idea of strength in Tenipuri, and how it is nurtured.
In-group Violence. This is my take on what lies behind Sanada's physical discipline of his teammates.
Tidbits. Little snippets of facts and figures to fill in the characters' backgrounds, many stumbled across while looking for something else entirely.
Tournament Dates. My best guess, graphed out, at how tournament dates are set, and when everything happens in relation to everything else.
Niou and Yagyuu. An attempt to untangle and perhaps explain these two chracters.
Sanada. Theories about Sanada's personality and history.
Rikkai Raw Material. Annotated list of all Rikkai's appearances in the manga.
If, of course, you just want to move right along, have some links.
Tenipuri Wiki. Hoping to evolve into a centralized all-info-site. If you don't find what you were looking for, try adding something you know.
FET. For basic profiles, team names and other match info, go to FET.
Prince of Tennis Community. For fan interaction, fanworks, and occasional media posts, check the LJ comms. This one is a good place to start from.
Minus Zero. This site leads to sites for Hyoutei and Rikkai, and also All Stars, with decent translations of fanbook material.
Seigaku! Has profiles for Seigaku, Fudoumine, St. Rudolph and Yamabuki, as well as some media rotation.
Ryu's Seiyuu Info. Has Prince of Tennis seiyuu. Note that the names are in given-surname order, and not organized by team or alphabet.
Brand New Days. And excellent archive of fic focusing on Shishido, Ohtori and Hiyoshi.
Fleeting Fancies. Has a more widespread range of fic recced and linked.
Well, yes, besides tennis.
Not tennis
Actually, I'm of the opinion that Prince of Tennis isn't much about tennis per se. It's a fight anime. It's a samurai story, only the swords look like tennis racquets.
What it's about is pride and struggle and determination.
If it were really about tennis there would be none of this business with players seeming to have anti-grav devices in their shoes, or casting visible auras. And there certainly wouldn't be something like Kikumaru's one-person-doubles-pair in his first National match. The hang-time and the auras can be explained as visual metaphor; the doubling act has no possible explanation in nature.
.
The nail that sticks up
It strikes me that one of the major things PoT is also about is what great talent means in a culture like Japan. It puts you out of step, and most of the characters don't really cope well with that. All the really, extremely talented characters are really, extremely odd, with the exception of Echizen who just has Attitude.
Fuji is disconnected. In his own way, so is Tezuka, though he's managed to do it in a pattern more likely to let him slide through life with the strangeness unnoticed. Akutsu is a freaking psycho. Atobe has problems of his own, while we're discussing destructive tendencies, and so does Kirihara. Sanada seems to cope by clinging to the forms of tradition. And Yukimura appears to maintain two very different sides, a gentle and cheerful one for social purposes, and a steel-edged ruthless one for tennis purposes.
The contrast and similarities between Akutsu, who has never had limits of any kind, and Echizen, who has always had the limit of his dad, is... pointed. Echizen takes "always someone better" for granted; he's grown up with a living, breathing, fantstically annoying example. For him, it's simply one more thing to hone himself against. That seems to be what makes him stable. I took it as a measure of Akutsu's desperation that a single encounter with a limit is enough to let him relax against it.
And, you know, it really is clear (most especially in light of the contrast provided by the tradtionalist on the filler-ep staff) that Echizen, Our Hero, the view-point character in most ways, is set up as unsocialized. At least, un-Japanese-socialized. He's terminally blunt, and has no idea what gestures to return to, say, a social apology. He refuses the forms of self-denigration that are so much a mainstay of junior-senior interaction. And he invariably looks people dead in the eye, especially if he has any reason to think they might be competition. The first couple episodes really go out of their way to emphasize this--he even manages to rub Momo, who is far and away the easiest-going senpai he meets, a bit the wrong way. Momo, being a sweetie, doesn't make a big deal of it but does take note of it.
Which only increases my tendency to consider the filler eps of the anime, especially Senbatsu Etc., as a completely different continuity even than the anime main storyline.
.
Destinations
Hashira. Reflections on how the concept of a central support gets applied to a tennis player.
Strength. Thoughts on the idea of strength in Tenipuri, and how it is nurtured.
In-group Violence. This is my take on what lies behind Sanada's physical discipline of his teammates.
Tidbits. Little snippets of facts and figures to fill in the characters' backgrounds, many stumbled across while looking for something else entirely.
Tournament Dates. My best guess, graphed out, at how tournament dates are set, and when everything happens in relation to everything else.
Niou and Yagyuu. An attempt to untangle and perhaps explain these two chracters.
Sanada. Theories about Sanada's personality and history.
Rikkai Raw Material. Annotated list of all Rikkai's appearances in the manga.
Links
If, of course, you just want to move right along, have some links.
Tenipuri Wiki. Hoping to evolve into a centralized all-info-site. If you don't find what you were looking for, try adding something you know.
FET. For basic profiles, team names and other match info, go to FET.
Prince of Tennis Community. For fan interaction, fanworks, and occasional media posts, check the LJ comms. This one is a good place to start from.
Minus Zero. This site leads to sites for Hyoutei and Rikkai, and also All Stars, with decent translations of fanbook material.
Seigaku! Has profiles for Seigaku, Fudoumine, St. Rudolph and Yamabuki, as well as some media rotation.
Ryu's Seiyuu Info. Has Prince of Tennis seiyuu. Note that the names are in given-surname order, and not organized by team or alphabet.
Brand New Days. And excellent archive of fic focusing on Shishido, Ohtori and Hiyoshi.
Fleeting Fancies. Has a more widespread range of fic recced and linked.
