It’s tournament time and now Seishun Academy deal with St. Rudolph and their master strategist Hajime. The conclusion of the doubles matchup between Seigaku and St. Rudolph in the eighth volume of “The Prince of Tennis”. Recommended!
© 1999 by Takeshi Konomi. All Rights Reserved.
MANGA TITLE: The Prince of Tennis vol. 8
STORY AND ART BY: Takeshi Konomi
FIRST PUBLISHED IN JAPAN: SHUEISHA, Inc.
PUBLISHED IN USA BY: VIZ Media, LLC/Shonen Jump Manga
RATED: A for All Ages
RELEASE DATE: July 15, 2005
As far as winning strategies go, no effective game plan can be carried out without one essential factor – stamina. And when Seishun Academy’s Eiji succumbs to exhaustion, their chances of securing the crucial win over St. Rudolph’s fades with each drop of their hard-earned sweat.
Then, Seishun’s setback turns into an even more daunting situation when their team equalizer, Ryoma Echizen, treads unfamiliar waters in his match against the infamous lefty killer Yuta. With Yuta’s impressive win-loss record of 16-0 against left-handers, Ryoma’s in for one tricky match…
The tournament continues as the final eight teams must battle and the winner moves on to Nationals.
And for Seishun Academy, Momo and Kaoru have finally let their differences go and focus on their matchup against St. Rudolph’s Atsushi Kisarazu and Shinya Yanagisawa. Meanwhile, Hajime Mizuki, the brilliant strategist for St. Rudolph decided to use his best singles player Yoshiro Akazawa as a doubles player along with Ichiro Kaneda to take on Seishun’s “Golden Pair” Shuichiro Oishi and Eiji Kikumaru. And the result, they found a way to deplete Kikumaru’s stamina. With Kikumaru dead tired, can Oishi pick up the slack or will they lose their doubles matchup?
And for the first singles matchup begins, as Ryoma Echizen takes on St. Rudolph’s Yuta Fuji (younger brother of Shusuke Fuji).
Find out in “The Prince of Tennis” Vol. 8!
What is “The Prince of Tennis”?
In 1999, tennis player and manga artist Takeshi Konomi created a series known as “Tennis no Ojisama”.
Published in Shueisha’s “Weekly Shonen Jump” in July 1999, the series became one of the most popular sports manga series created and would eventually lead to an anime series adaptation by Trans Arts and Nihon Ad Systems & TV Tokyo.
Suffice to say, the series became an incredible hit and popular media franchise which would lead to video games and more!
In volume 7, Seishun Academy and seven other teams make it into the final eight and are now closer in reaching the Nationals. But their next opponent will be their most difficult as they take on a team with a strategist that rivals Innui. Hajime Mizuki has observed Seishun Academy and has predicted how the scores would be.
In the first two doubles matches, he plans Ichiro Kaneda along with his singles player Yoshiro Akazawa to take on Seishun Academy’s Golden Pair and Atsushi Kisarazu and Shinya Yanagisawa to take on Kaoru Kaido and Takeshi Momo (two players that don’t get along).
Both matchups pits Seishun’s strategy against St. Rudolph’s strategy. Which strategy will work best in the matchup?
With the seventh volume of “Prince of Tennis”, it’s a battle of strategy as Hajime Mizuki of St. Rudolph feels his data is flawless and even has the score outcome as long as his players follows his plans.
And Seishun Academy’s goal to counter St. Rudolph’s Kisarazu/Yanagisawa is to use Kaido and Momo, two singles players with very different techniques. The problem is that they are two teammates that don’t get along. But they managed to put their differences aside and show how they can be an awesome doubles pair.
But the most interesting matchup is St. Rudolph’s strategy to use their best singles player Yoshiro Akazawa along with doubles player Ichiro Kaneda to go up against Seishun Academy’s “Golden Pair” Shuichiro Oishi and Eiji Kikumaru, a team who has never lost but last year’s final. But what happens when St. Rudolph’s Hajime employs a strategy in which they target Kikumaru’s stamina, they literally deplete his stamina, leaving Oishi to carry the load.
But with St. Rudolph employing a brilliant strategy, can Oishi and Kikumaru make a comeback and win the match?
Meanwhile, Yuta Fuji, the younger brother of Shusuke plays for St. Rudolph, for the reason why he hates people talking about his older brother all the time that he made his own brother his rival. But for this matchup, Hajime uses Yuta as part of his strategy to take on Ryoma as Yuta is known as a “Lefty Killer”.
But will it work on a person who can play with both hands?
An exciting doubles matchup is what readers can expect with volume 8 of “The Prince of Tennis”. It’s probably the most vulnerable one will see of “The Golden Pair” as St. Rudolph definitely came up with a strategy that is effective. But of course, you can never count Oishi and Kikumaru out! This is the conclusion of the two doubles matchup but also the beginning of Ryoma vs. Yuta.
Character design by Takeshi Konomi are always well-done, the storyline manages to capture the excitement of tennis and strategy especially for the two doubles matchups.
Overall, an exciting eighth volume of “The Prince of Tennis”. Recommended!