The Prince of Tennis (film)
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| The Prince of Tennis | |
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| Directed by | Yuichi Abe |
| Written by | Story: Takeshi Konomi Screenplay: Yuichi Abe Daisuke Habara |
| Starring | Kanata Hongo Yuu Shirota Hirofumi Araki Hiroki Suzuki Osamu Adachi Yoshikazu Kotani Masaki Kaji Kousuke Kujirai Ryuuji Sainei |
| Music by | Taro Iwashiro |
| Distributed by | Shochiku Films |
| Release date(s) | May 13, 2006 (Japan) |
| Language | Japanese |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Prince of Tennis (テニスの王子様 Tennis no Ōjisama?) is a 2006 live-action movie directed by Yuichi Abe and based on The Prince of Tennis manga series by Takeshi Konomi. It condenses the storyline from when Ryoma arrives in Japan to the Hyotei Academy arc. The film was released in Japan on May 13, 2006.
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[edit] Synopsis
Ryoma Echizen, a tennis prodigy, attends Seishun Academy (also known as Seishun Gakuen or Seigaku, for short), a school famous for its strong tennis club and talented players. Ryoma quickly defeats numerous upperclassmen shortly after entrance to secure himself a spot on the regulars team.
[edit] Plot
- Further information: The Prince of Tennis
Twelve-year-old Ryoma Echizen is the tennis prodigy from America who has the personal history of winning four consecutive American Junior Tennis tournaments. His father, Nanjiro Echizen, a tennis player of legendary status, calls Ryoma back to Japan to attend the distinguished Seishun Academy Middle School. Ryoma, a first year, has his eyes set on being on the regulars team of the tennis club, for which the school is famous.
Then, there is the lone girl who watches Ryoma from the audience. Her name is Shioin Higaki, whose parents had died in accident. She is mute due to traumatic shock of her past. She first meets Ryoma when he helps her on the train from a loud group of high school boys.
Ryoma arrives at Seigaku, and is immediately challenged by Kaoru Kaido, a second year, known as "the Viper," whose perseverance is daunting and is known for his Buggy Whip Shot, nicknamed "Snake Shot". The members of the Seigaku regular team come watch the match. One is the vice-captain, Shuichiro Oishi, who has a calm and rational sense of playing sense, compliments the acrobatic plays of his double's partner, Eiji Kikumaru, making them the Golden Pair. Then there's third years Shusuke Fuji, a formidable player known for his tactical skill on the tennis courts, making him the "genius" of the team; Sadaharu Inui, whose tennis style relies on collecting info on his opponents' playing style called "data tennis"; and Takashi Kawamura, whose personality instantly changes when he grabs his tennis racquet. The other second year is Takeshi Momoshiro, known for his power plays. Ryoma surprises everyone by making Kaido's reaction slower and then pulling off the Snake Shot himself, but says it's just the Buggy Whip. Kaido and Ryoma's match is interrupted by Kunimitsu Tezuka, the nationally-ranked captain of the tennis club. Tezuka makes Kaido run laps for playing a match without an approval and begins to take an interest in Ryoma.
Ryoma arrives in time for the monthly campus ranking tournament, but at first, due to his youth and his cool attitude, some club members do not take him seriously; however, during the ranking tournament, Ryoma is quick to prove his skill and become the only first year on the regular team, just in time for the regional preliminary rounds.
While in a crucial match against Fudomine Middle School during the prefecturals, Ryoma injures his eye by accident, but his determination to finish the match with his Nitouryuu helps bring victory to Seigaku as they can advance to the Kanto Tournament as prefectural champions. Tezuka is deeply troubled by Ryoma's style; it's an exact copy of his father's. He is also worried about his own arm, which is injured and will add on injuries when using his Zero Degree Drop Shot. Tezuka plays a secret match with Echizen, and utterly defeats him using the Drop Shot, disregarding his physician's advice. He tells Ryoma to develop his own style of tennis and become the pillar of Seigaku.
As the regional Kanto Tournament draws near, Seigaku learns of their first opponent, Hyotei Academy, their strongest rivals. All the regulars are chosen for the tournament except for Momoshiro, as Echizen is chosen over him. However, Echizen says he has to represent in the Youth Cup and is going back to America. Momoshiro is angry of Ryoma's choice and refuses the jersey Ryoma offers him. Egate Mcleod Higaki of Hyotei comes to the courts and tries to provoke the players until Tezuka tells him to leave. Echizen goes to the park to think about his decision, and Shioin, Egate's little sister, comes by and plays her flute. The music reaches Echizen's ears, and he makes his choice.
At the Kanto Tournament, Momo still has decided not to come. Oishi and Eiji play Doubles 2. They begin a losing streak until Momo reveals himself in the cheering crowd for Seigaku. With new confidence from their returning teammate, the Golden Pair make a comeback, but lose to Hyotei 5-7. In the crowd, Kaido finds Echizen, who decided to stay. Kaido and Inui begin their Doubles 1 match. Kaido continually takes all the shots and uses his Boomerang Snake, while Inui stands and watches. Finally, he tells Kaido he has their opponents' data and they win the match 7-5. Kawamura plays Singles 3 and tries his Hadokyuu, but his big opponent copies the move. They both keep using Hadokyuu until Kawamura does the unthinkable: the dangerous one-handed Hadokyuu. His opponent copies, and both keep hitting until both of them drop their racquets, their hands and racquet handles covered in blood. The match is considered a No Game. Fuji, playing Singles 2, borrows Kawamura's racquet, and amazes his opponent with his Disappearing Serve and Triple Counters; he wins 6-0. Tezuka plays Singles 1 against the popular Atobe; Echizen comes and takes his place as bench coach, and, despite some of the other Seigaku players, Tezuka allows him to rejoin the team.
Atobe seems to gain the early lead, but Tezuka comes back with his Tezuka Zone and Drop Shot. Tezuka gets to match point, but as he tries to serve, his arm gives out. Tezuka continues to play as Echizen takes off his jacket, revealing his Seigaku uniform, and goes to practice. Tezuka loses in the tiebreak, 6-7. Because both teams have two wins, their reserve players will determine the winner. Echizen faces off against Egate, and wins the first game using his teammates' moves. However, as an eclipse passes over the court, Egate uses his brutal tennis form and injures Echizen's leg. Remembering his vow to become stronger, Echizen surprises everyone by using the COOL Drive attack to come back, break the eclipse, and win, and Egate's sister, Shioin, breaks her muteness and cheers for them. Tezuka rewards Echizen with his Seigaku jacket he kept for him.
As Echizen looks up in the stands at their future opponents, his only reply to them is, "mada mada dane" ("simply not there yet" or "a long ways to go").
[edit] Cast
[edit] Original Soundtrack
The soundtrack is composed by Taro Iwashiro and was released in Japan on May 12, 2006. It also features music from the group, Yellow Cherry.
The track listing is as follows:
- Mada Mada Dane (まだまだだね?)
- Ryōma vs Kaidō (リョーマVS海堂?)
- Soko Made Da (そこまでだ?)
- Ano Ko wa Samurai Jr. (あの子は侍Jr.?)
- Seigaku Ranking Ikusa (青学ランキング戦?)
- Chiku Yosen (地区予選?)
- Ryōma vs Ibu (リョーマVS伊武?)
- Hyōtei Fight (氷帝ファイト?)
- Echizen Omae wa Tashikani Tsuyoi (越前お前は確かに強い?)
- Ryōma no Omoi (リョーマの思い?)
- Higaki Tōjō (檜垣登場?)
- Oboete Okeyo (覚えておけよ?)
- Kantō Taikai (関東大会?)
- Oishi, Kikumaru vs Oshitari, Mukahi (Acrobat Shōbu) (大石・菊丸VS忍足・向日(アクロバット勝負)?)
- Inui, Kaidou vs Ōtori, Shishido (Data & Tairyoku Shōbu) (乾・海堂VS鳳・宍戸(データ&体力勝負)?)
- Kawamura vs Kabaji (Power Shōbu) (河村VS樺地(パワー勝負)?)
- Kono Racket Tsukawasete Morauyo (このラケット使わせてもらうよ?)
- Fuji vs Akutagawa (Tensai! Fuji) (不二VS芥川(天才!不二)?)
- Tezuka Shutsujin (手塚出陣?)
- Tezuka Zone (手塚ゾーン?)
- Atobe Hametsu e no Rondo (跡部 破滅への輪舞曲?)
- Tezuka e no Omoi (手塚への思い?)
- Ore wa Makenai (オレは負けない?)
- Ryōma Shutsujin (リョーマ出陣?)
- Ryōma vs Higaki (リョーマVS檜垣?)
- Ryōma Kōgeki Kaishi (リョーマ攻撃開始?)
- Ryōma Kakusei (リョーマ覚醒?)
- Last Battle (Sorezore no Omoi) (ラストバトル(それぞれの思い)?)
- Ippome (Tenipuri Edit) (一歩目(テニプリEdit)?)
- Kimi o Omou (君を想う?)
[edit] Alterations from the Anime/Manga
The movie was a condensed version of the manga and anime series, thus a lot of the events that happen were condensed and characters were changed.
- Sumire Ryuzaki's age was changed so that instead of being a grandmother (and Nanjiro's junior middle school coach), she became a year younger than Nanjiro and became a former junior middle school student with him. She says that Nanjiro was her inspiration to play tennis.
- The character of Wakashi Hiyoshi from the Hyotei school was replaced by Egate Mcleod Higaki, who was created as an original character for the movie. His sister, Shioin Higaki, is also an original character that was not in the manga/anime series, replacing Sakuno Ryuzaki.
- In the film, the Seigaku uniforms have a little flap on the back of the jackets, and the blue colors are much brighter. Hyotei's light-blue uniforms are replaced with grey. Also, Echizen's shirt that he wears in the beginning is of a different design and colors.
- In the movie, the Oishi/Kikumaru pair takes on the Oshitari/Mukahi pair, while originally it was the Momoshiro/Kikumaru pair who did so. Also, the results of their match and that of Inui and Kaido are reversed; in the movie, they lose and the Inui/Kaido pair win, while in the manga the opposite happened. Likewise, Fuji wins 6-0 in the movie, while the manga/anime has Jirou Akutagawa, his opponent, take one game before Fuji shuts him out.
- The entire prefectural tournament, along with the matches against St. Rudolph and Yamabuki, are skipped over in the movie.
- In the manga/anime, Echizen faces against Arai, another member of Seigaku's tennis club but not on the regular team, prior to becoming a regular. In the movie, Kaido is the first to challenge Echizen. Because of this change, when Echizen plays in the ranking matches, he faces against Momoshiro and Inui. In the manga/anime, his second match was with Inui, but the first match was with Kaido.
- In the ranking match, Momoshiro has already developed the Jack Knife.
- Just before his match with Egate, Ryoma uses a line from the anime that Fuji said to Akaya Kirihara of Rikkaidai, "A dog that doesn't bite barks the most."
[edit] Schools
- Schools that appear in the movie besides Seigaku and Hyotei are Fudomine Middle School, Rokkaku Middle School, Higa-Chuu, Rikkai Daigaku Fuzoku and Shitenhōji.
[edit] Cast Background
- The whole Seigaku cast is the same as the second cast from the Prince of Tennis Musicals, except Ryoma, whom was recast due to Kotaroh Yanagi's accident, as well as to cast an actor closer to the character's age. However, the only members of another team to reprise his role was Koji Date as Choutaro Ohtori and Shun Takagi as Masaya Sakurai. Every other role in the movie was entirely recast.
- Many former members of the musical cast make cameo appearances in the movie, though not in the roles they played in the musicals (eg. Eiji Moriyama, who played Momoshiro in the first TeniMyu cast, makes an appearance as Genichirou Sanada from Rikkai).
- Many cast members were former and future actors from the super sentai series. Ryuji Sainei (Keigo Atobe) played Banban Akaza/DekaRed in 2004's Dekaranger. Yasuka Saitoh (Shinji Ibu) was playing Masumi Inou/BoukenBlack from Boukenger at the time the movie was released. Hiroki Suzuki (Shuichiro Oishi) and Hirofumi Araki (Sadaharu Inui) will play Jan Kandou/GekiRed and Rio respectively in 2007's Gekiranger.
[edit] Box Office
The movie debuted #10 in the Japanese Box Office.
[edit] DVD Release
The DVD was released on September 28, 2006, in two editions: Premium Edition (9240 yen) and Regular Edition (4935 yen).
Prior to the movie's release at the Japanese box office, a "making of" DVD entitled Prince of Tennis Navigate was also released for fans to purchase.
[edit] External links
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