History Manga / ThePrinceOfTennis

* PetTheDog: Kalpin, Echizen's cat, serves to humanize Echizen as he's shown to genuinely care for the animal. Kaidou, who's got the InUniverse nickname "The Viper", is the one who finds Karupin when it wanders off and can be seen playing with it.

Okay, but seriously, folks... the story's about this kid named Echizen Ryoma, a pre-teen tennis prodigy who transfers to Seigaku (a shortened form of Seishun Gakuen, used by everyone in the series), a school renowned for its rich tennis tradition. In the intra-school ranking tournament, he beats some of the best players in the school and secures himself a spot on the club's starting lineup. From then on, the series follows the Seigaku tennis club's progress towards the middle-school National Championship, facing a new rival team in each [[TournamentArc new story arc]]. The characters develop their own styles of play (complete with [[ArtisticLicensePhysics increasingly bizarre and complex shots]]). Even the sometimes hard-to-approach Echizen eventually learns what the game means to him as time goes on.

* CanonImmigrant: Echizen Ryoga, originally created for the film, makes his canon debut later on ''The New Prince of Tennis'' manga. His background story is {{retcon}}ned to be Ryoma's older half-brother.

* PetTheDog: Karupin, Echizen's cat, serves to humanize Echizen as he's shown to genuinely care for the animal. Kaidou, who's got the InUniverse nickname "The Viper", is the one who finds Karupin when it wanders off and can be seen playing with it.

''The Prince of Tennis'' is a [[LongRunners long-running]] sports anime and manga series, and has spawned a live-action movie, video games, and over a dozen musicals. What's it about? Well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "boys playing tennis"]] ...[[CaptainObvious duh]]!

* BeachEpisode: Episode 90, when Seigaku and Rokkaku play beach volleyball. A whole OVA is also dedicated to this. And it's bloody ''[[CrowningMomentOfFunny hilarious]]''.

* {{Filler}}: An interesting case. The anime has quite a bit of filler throughout, but much of it results in [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Crowning Moments Of Funny]].

* TheIdiotFromOsaka: Kintarou (who's naive and seems to have problems when reading kanji, as well as having [[CloudCuckooLander a very... *special* imagination]]), parodied/subverted by Hitouji and Konjiki (who ''play up'' the dumb stereotype to their advantage in the courts). HilarityEnsues [[CrowningMomentOfFunny when they try it with Momoshiro and Kaidou]].

Okay, but seriously, folks... the story's about this kid named Echizen Ryoma, a pre-teen tennis prodigy who transfers to Seigaku (a shortened form of Seishun Gakuen, used by everyone in the series), a school renowned for its rich tennis tradition. In the intra-school ranking tournament, he beats some of best players in the school and secures himself a spot on the club's starting lineup. From then on, the series follows the Seigaku tennis club's progress towards the middle-school National Championship, facing a new rival team in each [[TournamentArc new story arc]]. The characters develop their own styles of play (complete with [[ArtisticLicensePhysics increasingly bizarre and complex shots]]). Even the sometimes hard-to-approach Echizen eventually learns what the game means to him as time goes on.

** And 12 years ago, Nanjirou was TallDarkAndHandsome ([[TallDarkAndSnarky and snarky]]). Now he's not ''that'' ugly, but he looks like a hobo.

%%* LightningBruiser: Unlike FragileSpeedster Kamio, Kenya Oshitari has the speed ''and'' the stamina.

** Fuji allows Mizuki a ''5–0 lead'' before wiping the floor with him. Never mess with the people Fuji cares about.

* EagleLand:

* AllThereInTheManual: Some of the most interesting, funny, and quirky data bits on the characters are in the fanbooks, especially the 40.5 one, which are later exploited in official anime material or ''Houkago no Oujisama,'' such as Ryoma wanting a UsefulNotes/NintendoDS, or [[{{Bloodknight}} Kirihara]] [[{{Tykebomb}} Akaya]] still believing in old St. Nick.

** And then there's [[UpToEleven the sequel series]], where some of the high schoolers outclass the middle schoolers by far. One of them plays -- almost literally -- like he's from ''another dimension.''

* BlandNameProduct: Echizen drinks ''Ponta'', however, the Viz translation of the series, averts it by just going with "Fanta".

* CanonImmigrant: Echizen Ryoga, originally created for the film, makes his canon debut later on ''The New Prince of Tennis'' manga. His background story is retconned to be Ryoma's older half-brother.

* ChickMagnet: Echizen (who barely notices), Atobe (who notices and LOVES it), Wakato (likewise) and Oishi (who ''hates'' it).

* [[PetTheDog Pet The Kitten]]: Karupin, Echizen's cat, serves to humanize Echizen as he's shown to genuinely care for the animal. Kaidou, who's got the InUniverse nickname "The Viper," is the one who finds Karupin when it wanders off and can be seen playing with it.

** ''And theeeen'' New Prince of Tennis gives us a "Pick-Up Girls competition", where the Highschoolers and the Middleschoolers would compete to see wich group can flirt succesfully. Each loser would have to eat onigiris made by [[LethalChef Inui, Renji and Akuto]].

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Toyed around, inverted, played straight, etc. in a case by case situation with the doubles players.

* ShoutOut: In ''The New Prince of Tennis,'' [[GeniusSweetTooth Marui]] nicknames [[SmugSnake Kite]] "[[Manga/KiteretsuDaihyakka Kiteretsu]]."

* ThreePlusTwo, TwoGirlsToATeam: The Seigaku First-Year {{Tagalong Kid}}s, consisting of [[ThreeAmigos Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo]] and [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl Tomoka and Sakuno]].

* WildcardExcuse: Ryoma's excuse for being late: "I was helping a pregnant woman to the hospital." Later in the story Oishi makes the same excuse, [[HarsherInHindsight but he was actually telling the truth.]]

** [[BagofSpilling Instead of returning to normality]], ''The New Prince of Tennis'' series wastes no time on physical limits with X-ray vision, ball-duplication, and other-dimensional shots.

** The OVAs have been praised by lots of fans for re-telling situations from the manga in quite a better light and portraying some characters more sympathetically. A clear example is the resolution of the [[spoiler:Atobe vs. Ryoma]] match in the Nationals, where [[spoiler:Ryoma's borderline {{Jerkass}}-ish behavior is quite toned down and Atobe even gets to cut his hair himself]].

** A favorite tactic of Atobe. His match with Tezuka ends up in a 37–35 point tiebreak (tiebreaks usually are to 7 points), and his match with Ryoma later in the series goes to 117-119. This tactic gets reversed on him by Irie in Shin Prince of Tennis, [[UpToEleven where their tiebreak goes to 187–187]].

** Fuji allows Mizuki a ''5-0 lead'' before wiping the floor with him. Never mess with the people Fuji cares about.

** A favorite tactic of Atobe. His match with Tezuka ends up in a 37-35 point tiebreak (tiebreaks usually are to 7 points), and his match with Ryoma later in the series goes to 117-119. This tactic gets reversed on him by Irie in Shin Prince of Tennis, [[UpToEleven where their tiebreak goes to 187-187]].

* TigerVersusDragon: In the anime episode 176, Tezuka vs Fuji match. Tezuka's shot is briefly compared to a dragon, while Fuji's return is compared to a tiger. Blink and you'll miss it.

* MindControlEyes:
** Eiji and Oishi appear to have them [[spoiler: when they "synchronize" in the courts.]] It gets parodied when Koharu and Yuuji appear to do it as well... only to end with their [[spoiler:"synchro swimming" joke]].
** ''The New Prince of Tennis'' introduces Tsukimitsu Ochi, nicknamed "The Mental Assassin," who has an ability where he can control his opponents with his eyes. His eyes shake up Atobe so much that he begins to fault uncontrollably.

* GargleBlaster: Inui's juices.

Okay, but seriously, folks... the story's about this kid named Echizen Ryoma, a pre-teen tennis prodigy who transfers to Seigaku (a shortened form of Seishun Gakuen, used by everyone in the series), a school renowned for its rich tennis tradition. In the next ranking tournament he beats some of best players in the school and secures a place on the regular tennis club. From then on, the series follows the Seigaku tennis club's progress towards the middle school National Championship, facing a new rival team in each [[TournamentArc new story arc]]. The characters develop their own styles of play (complete with [[ArtisticLicensePhysics increasingly bizarre and complex shots]]). Even the sometimes hard-to-approach Echizen eventually learns what the game means to him as time goes on.

The manga has ended in Japan (where it was wildly successful), with over 40 volumes and 40 million copies sold in that country alone. The sequel, ''Shin Prince of Tennis'', is currently ongoing and now also has the anime airing. A LiveActionAdaptation Movie was also made. Two animated movies have also been released in cinemas: The Two Samurai: The First Game, co-released with short movie A Gift from Atobe (2005) and The Battle of the British City (2011).

** Not to mention Momoshiro in the anime, who sees Nanjirou following Ryoma and Sakuno around and ends up calling him a {{lolicon}}. "He must be following ''her''!"

* ShesAManInJapan: The SoBadItsGood Latin-American dub flips the gender of Jousei Shounan's Tanaka twins. Yeah, ''both'' of them are [[DudeLooksLikeALady very girly looking]], but...

* ClingyJealousGirl: Tomoka, in regards to Ryoma.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Several characters--more specifically Ryoma, Atobe, post Yamabuki matches Akutsu, Shishido, Mukahi, anime!Kirihara, Kevin and Kaidoh (though the latter can be argued to be a male {{Tsundere}}).

* AerithAndBob: In the 2011 movie, most of the Clack Team have suitably Western sounding names like Keith and Peter... apart from Xiu. Though in his defense, he is implied to hail from a different foreign country.

* AdaptedOut: All the female characters are not included in the [[Theatre/ThePrinceOfTennis Musicals]]. Partially averted in the Shitenhouji Musical, where Sakuno does appear... ''played by one of the actors in drag''.

* BigFancyCastle: Clack's hideout in the 2011 movie, [[ContrivedCoincidence which was previously one of Atobe's mansions.]]

* MrFanservice: Comes with the Fanservice.

* {{Fangirl}}: Tomoka Osakada and Sakuno Ryuzaki in Seigaku, An Tachibana in Fudomine. Subverted with Kotoha Kitazono from Tsubakikawa: [[spoiler: she ''pretended'' to be a fangirl to spy on Echizen and Atobe, but they weren't fooled and either ignored her, or called her out on it.]]

* GenderReveal: [[spoiler: Tezuka]] mistakes [[spoiler: Miyuki]] for a guy at first. Then, she drops her NiceHat...

* HeavySleeper: Jirou. Also Akaya Kirihara, in his very first appearance (he fell asleep on the bus while going to school and woke up near Seigaku). This is notable because Seigaku is in Tokyo, and Kirihara ''doesn't even live in Tokyo''.
* HeroicRROD: Tezuka.

* InactionSequence: During tennis matches.
* InstantFanclub: Subverted. Tomoka and Sakuno are the only stable members of the "Ryoma-sama Fan Club" and played straight with Atobe's, Wakato's, Oishi's and the Rikkai team's cheerleaders.

* SeriousBusiness: Who knew the world of Japanese middle-school tennis was so competitive? Taken to even more serious extremes in the sequel, New Prince of Tennis, where the strongest of the strongest players use what is called "Inter-Dimensional Tennis," a surreal, unexplainable style of play which revolves around shots that can literally shatter walls, summoning illusionary creatures such as pirate demons, creating black holes, and using an infinite number of tennis balls. And all this in a series where, at one time, the most dangerous thing to worry about was a kid who can take away your five senses.
* SixthRanger: Chitose for Shitenhouji, Hiyoshi for Hyoutei, Kirihara for Rikkai and Ryoma for Seigaku (although both Kirihara and Ryoma are completely assimilated, with Ryoma obviously being the DesignatedHero).
* {{Shorttank}}: Tomoka and Kurumi in the anime. Rinko was one when she was younger.

* ThreePlusTwo, TwoGirlsToATeam: The Seigaku First-Year {{Tagalong Kid}}s, consisting of [[ThreeAmigos Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo]] and [[TomboyAndGirlyGirl Tomoka and Sakuno]].

[[quoteright:255:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ryomaechizen.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:255:Mada mada dane!]]

The manga has ended in Japan (where it was wildly successful), with over 40 volumes and 40 million copies sold in that country alone. The sequel, Shin Prince of Tennis, is currently ongoing and now also has the anime airing. A LiveActionAdaptation Movie was also made. Two animated movies have also been released in cinemas: The Two Samurai: The First Game, co-released with short movie A Gift from Atobe (2005) and The Battle of the British City (2011).

Also! Characters/ThePrinceOfTennis Character sheet has just been added. '''PLEASE''', if you've got new tropes for the characters of the series, add them ''there''.

!!Tropes found in The Prince of Tennis:

** The OVA's have been praised by lots of fans for re-telling situations from the manga in quite a better light and portraying some characters more sympathetically. A clear example is the resolution of the [[spoiler: Atobe vs. Ryoma]] match in the Nationals, where [[spoiler: Ryoma's borderline {{Jerkass}}-ish behavior is quite toned down and Atobe even gets to cut his hair himself]].

* TheObiWan: Tezuka's grandfather towards his grandson. Tezuka himself towards Echizen because he's always telling him to become Seigaku's pillar of support (particularly dramatic after [[spoiler: his potentially career-ending injury in the match against Atobe, which forced him to temporarily leave his team to get treatment]]. Also, Tezuka towards Miyuki, and possibly the Rikkai Troika (Sanada, Yukimura, Yanagi--specially the latter) towards Kirihara.

* BlondGuysAreEvil: Kevin, to some degree. He's more of a JerkAss than a true evil, then evolves into a JerkWithAHeartOfGold.

* WaxOnWaxOff: In ''The New Prince of Tennis'', Mifune sends [[BigThinShortTrio Tanishi, Kenya, and Ryoma]] on a "special mission" to get more sake for him, which seems completely irrelevant to tennis. Kenya later reflects that navigating the cave and maneuvering through the laser tripwires during the errand actually helped improve his terrible balance.