This is my Prince of Tennis Pimp Post.
Because I have free time and chychaai wanted one. \8D/
OKAY SO. This pimp post is going to be just as unorganized and horrible as my HunterxHunter pimp post BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER because there aren't any other PoT pimp posts in existence that I know about. :| IF THERE ARE, TELL ME because I want to see them. 8D;;
Quick note: As I have not watched most of the Prince of Tennis anime (I have watched the American team arc and other episodes here and there), I will be referring to "reading" the series in this post. There's no real reason for my doing this other than because I haven't watched PoT, my mind is set on using the verb "to read" in reference to PoT, and I'm too lazy to type "/watch" every time. If you're an anime person and are influenced by this post, feel free to watch the anime (though it really kinda sucks in terms of art quality but most of the fandom seems to love it so idk), or if you're a manga person, read on. :)
ON TO THE PIMPING~:
PoT is: The story of Ryoma Echizen's, one of Seishun Gakuen's star tennis players, experiences on the tennis team, from practices to tournaments to partnerships to facing off against rival schools. Like any other sports manga, the plot sounds horribly boring, but PoT just draws you in once you start reading. (Or watching.) Don't let the boring storyline influence you, because PoT is about so much more than tennis.
Reasons To Read The Prince of Tennis:
1. The Characters
The characters are probably the best thing in this series. I guarantee that even if you hate Seigaku (the main school in PoT), you will find at least one or more characters you will adore. The reason I can guarantee this? There are over sixty characters in this series. Probably over seventy, maybe even eighty, but I'm really not sure. I've never attempted counting before. Oh, and they're all boys. Yaoi fangirl? This will be your favorite series. As you can see from this chart, which has 69 characters on it, 90% of the characters have some sort of weird relationship with another.
Not a yaoi fan? Right on. This series also has a few girls, not nearly as many as there are boys, but it's still got 'em. You have your two Seigaku fangirls, your Seigaku coach, some rival school's coach, the Fudomine's captain's little sister who is actually pretty kickass, Fuji's sister, Ryoma's cousin, and maybe some other girls I'm forgetting. The only two you'll probably want to put in a romantic situation are Tachibana An and Ryuuzaki Sakuno since they're the least annoying. (And not adults.)
The best thing about PoT's characters is that they all have some sort of personality. While some, like Tezuka, may have a boring personality, (which actually IS their personality, being boring.) most of the characters have some little quirks about them that just makes you love them. Of course you'd expect the protagonists of the story, Seigaku, to have the most developed personalities, the rival schools also have characters with personalities and traits about them. While not all of the characters from a school have a personality, (Fudomine, for example, only really has three developed characters) the characters that do really shine.
Another good thing about having all these character is that you will never get bored with fanfiction. Tired of reading Yamabuki fics? Read some Fudomine fanfiction! Or hell, try some for Hyotei. Or even Rikkai. Go back to Seigaku for a bit if you really need to. Then when you've finished all that, you still have St. Rudolph! (Yes, there is a Catholic rival school. How awesome is that?) Oh, and did I mention there's Rokkaku after that? Higa, too! It really never ends.
Okay, I think I have rambled enough about characters now. :| Sorry guys.
2. The Music
PoT has an incredibly large amount of music. The series has released well over 100 (I think it's actually 200 now, though I'm not sure) music CDs. With all those characters comes a helluva lot of character image songs. You have characters from Seigaku and rival teams with their own singles, and even albums, you have random characters grouped into bands, and you have other characters doing duets or even trios. While I haven't heard nearly as much as there is, from what I have heard, the music is actually pretty good. There are multiple versions of different characters singing a popular Japanese 80s song, Valentine Kiss, which is extremely amusing, and catchy. I think there's even a song of one of the smarter characters reciting pi for the entire time.
3. The Musicals
Like any good anime series, PoT has its own live action musical. Or rather, series of live action musicals. There are around nine musicals and four Dream Lives, which are basically live concerts of past musical songs. These are commonly referred to as Tenimyu because we all know how the Japanese love to merge their titles. Remember the whole over sixty characters point? Well, now you have over sixty pretty Japanese men/boys dancing and singing on stage with tennis rackets. There's really nothing NOT to love. The music is actually pretty snazzy too, and definitely better than the music in other anime musicals I've seen. But I'm biased, so whatever. Oh, and there's also been three "generations" of the Seigaku cast, meaning there's been three separate casts for Seigaku, meaning even more pretty boys. There's soon to be a fourth generation, the cast list being released just recently.
Along with seeing your favorite characters in musical form, the Tenimyus focus a lot on the actor's personalities, too, through backstages and Tenimyu Supporter's DVDs (which are possibly the greatest things in the world, being basically just hours of backstages on one DVD *___*). And because Japan wants your money bad, there are idol DVDs and photobooks and various dramas these boys appear in. One of the actors has been in about three boys love movies* already (all co-starring with other Tenimyu boys), so that's an added bonus if you like that kind of thing.
*I'm pretty sure that this last one is a BL movie, but I can't really tell from summaries I've found from google and I can't find the post that has all the Navigate DVD screencaps. So just correct me if I'm wrong here.
The Trading Cards
Regularly, PoT comes out with sets of a LOT of trading cards which have pretty pictures of characters and most of the doubles partners being gay with each other. Someone happens to buy these cards or finds pictures of them on Yahoo Japan auctions each time and posts them. So there is regular fangirling with this series.
The Prince of Tennis - The Two Samurai: The First Game
This movie is just so unbelievably cracked out. There are just no words to describe it. I mean, Tezuka killed the fucking dinosaurs.
Because Since I've Run Out of Reasons Already, PICSPAM:
Yes, I fail at picspamming. I can never find that many pictures. :|
If you want to read the manga, you can read it online it at MangaRun.com. If you want to watch the anime, you can watch it at Youtube or TV Links. :)
AND SO ENDS MY (PATHETIC) PIMP POST. \8D/
OKAY SO. This pimp post is going to be just as unorganized and horrible as my HunterxHunter pimp post BUT THAT DOESN'T MATTER because there aren't any other PoT pimp posts in existence that I know about. :| IF THERE ARE, TELL ME because I want to see them. 8D;;
Quick note: As I have not watched most of the Prince of Tennis anime (I have watched the American team arc and other episodes here and there), I will be referring to "reading" the series in this post. There's no real reason for my doing this other than because I haven't watched PoT, my mind is set on using the verb "to read" in reference to PoT, and I'm too lazy to type "/watch" every time. If you're an anime person and are influenced by this post, feel free to watch the anime (though it really kinda sucks in terms of art quality but most of the fandom seems to love it so idk), or if you're a manga person, read on. :)
ON TO THE PIMPING~:
PoT is: The story of Ryoma Echizen's, one of Seishun Gakuen's star tennis players, experiences on the tennis team, from practices to tournaments to partnerships to facing off against rival schools. Like any other sports manga, the plot sounds horribly boring, but PoT just draws you in once you start reading. (Or watching.) Don't let the boring storyline influence you, because PoT is about so much more than tennis.
Reasons To Read The Prince of Tennis:
1. The Characters
The characters are probably the best thing in this series. I guarantee that even if you hate Seigaku (the main school in PoT), you will find at least one or more characters you will adore. The reason I can guarantee this? There are over sixty characters in this series. Probably over seventy, maybe even eighty, but I'm really not sure. I've never attempted counting before. Oh, and they're all boys. Yaoi fangirl? This will be your favorite series. As you can see from this chart, which has 69 characters on it, 90% of the characters have some sort of weird relationship with another.
Not a yaoi fan? Right on. This series also has a few girls, not nearly as many as there are boys, but it's still got 'em. You have your two Seigaku fangirls, your Seigaku coach, some rival school's coach, the Fudomine's captain's little sister who is actually pretty kickass, Fuji's sister, Ryoma's cousin, and maybe some other girls I'm forgetting. The only two you'll probably want to put in a romantic situation are Tachibana An and Ryuuzaki Sakuno since they're the least annoying. (And not adults.)
The best thing about PoT's characters is that they all have some sort of personality. While some, like Tezuka, may have a boring personality, (which actually IS their personality, being boring.) most of the characters have some little quirks about them that just makes you love them. Of course you'd expect the protagonists of the story, Seigaku, to have the most developed personalities, the rival schools also have characters with personalities and traits about them. While not all of the characters from a school have a personality, (Fudomine, for example, only really has three developed characters) the characters that do really shine.
Another good thing about having all these character is that you will never get bored with fanfiction. Tired of reading Yamabuki fics? Read some Fudomine fanfiction! Or hell, try some for Hyotei. Or even Rikkai. Go back to Seigaku for a bit if you really need to. Then when you've finished all that, you still have St. Rudolph! (Yes, there is a Catholic rival school. How awesome is that?) Oh, and did I mention there's Rokkaku after that? Higa, too! It really never ends.
Okay, I think I have rambled enough about characters now. :| Sorry guys.
2. The Music
PoT has an incredibly large amount of music. The series has released well over 100 (I think it's actually 200 now, though I'm not sure) music CDs. With all those characters comes a helluva lot of character image songs. You have characters from Seigaku and rival teams with their own singles, and even albums, you have random characters grouped into bands, and you have other characters doing duets or even trios. While I haven't heard nearly as much as there is, from what I have heard, the music is actually pretty good. There are multiple versions of different characters singing a popular Japanese 80s song, Valentine Kiss, which is extremely amusing, and catchy. I think there's even a song of one of the smarter characters reciting pi for the entire time.
3. The Musicals
Like any good anime series, PoT has its own live action musical. Or rather, series of live action musicals. There are around nine musicals and four Dream Lives, which are basically live concerts of past musical songs. These are commonly referred to as Tenimyu because we all know how the Japanese love to merge their titles. Remember the whole over sixty characters point? Well, now you have over sixty pretty Japanese men/boys dancing and singing on stage with tennis rackets. There's really nothing NOT to love. The music is actually pretty snazzy too, and definitely better than the music in other anime musicals I've seen. But I'm biased, so whatever. Oh, and there's also been three "generations" of the Seigaku cast, meaning there's been three separate casts for Seigaku, meaning even more pretty boys. There's soon to be a fourth generation, the cast list being released just recently.
Along with seeing your favorite characters in musical form, the Tenimyus focus a lot on the actor's personalities, too, through backstages and Tenimyu Supporter's DVDs (which are possibly the greatest things in the world, being basically just hours of backstages on one DVD *___*). And because Japan wants your money bad, there are idol DVDs and photobooks and various dramas these boys appear in. One of the actors has been in about three boys love movies* already (all co-starring with other Tenimyu boys), so that's an added bonus if you like that kind of thing.
*I'm pretty sure that this last one is a BL movie, but I can't really tell from summaries I've found from google and I can't find the post that has all the Navigate DVD screencaps. So just correct me if I'm wrong here.
The Trading Cards
Regularly, PoT comes out with sets of a LOT of trading cards which have pretty pictures of characters and most of the doubles partners being gay with each other. Someone happens to buy these cards or finds pictures of them on Yahoo Japan auctions each time and posts them. So there is regular fangirling with this series.
The Prince of Tennis - The Two Samurai: The First Game
This movie is just so unbelievably cracked out. There are just no words to describe it. I mean, Tezuka killed the fucking dinosaurs.
Because Since I've Run Out of Reasons Already, PICSPAM:
Yes, I fail at picspamming. I can never find that many pictures. :|
If you want to read the manga, you can read it online it at MangaRun.com. If you want to watch the anime, you can watch it at Youtube or TV Links. :)
AND SO ENDS MY (PATHETIC) PIMP POST. \8D/