The Prince of Tennis

Most anime feature a prodigy destined for greatness. The series would then follow the exploits of that character to his or her final quest. Yet most of those characters start off weak and in desperate need of a mentor, friends (who at first were enemies) and perhaps even a love interest who will inspire him or her to do great things.

Ryoma Echizen is a tennis prodigy, but he certainly does not start off as a weakling who needs practice and experience badly. Unlike most characters of his type too, he is not loud, obnoxious and someone you could easily make fun of. For those qualities alone, I consider Prince of Tennis the best anime I have seen to date.

The 42-volume manga was created by Takeshi Konomi. His work inspired a 178-episode TV series, animated and live-action movies, musicals (Tenimyu), more than a hundred songs, radio drama (Rajipuri) and video games. Whoever thought that a sport such a tennis that involves almost no physical contact with opponents and fast matches can be turned into a series like this one?

Ryoma has the makings of a great tennis player. The son of the legendary Samurai Nanjiro, he came to Seishun Gakuen to enhance his skills. The series started off slow at first and viewers might be blown-off by Ryoma's personality. It got more interesting when he meets Seigaku tennis club's regulars and defeated most of them. The story takes a turn as it becomes apparent that it is not just about the kid's journey to greatness but Seigaku's journey to the National Middle School Tennis Championship.

The Seigaku regulars, led by Tezuka Kunimitsu, have national-calibre talent. Tezuka himself is one of the the most feared and respected by his peers. Each one has a special skill that sets him apart from the rest. But will those skills be enough to take them to the Nationals?

The rest of Seigaku are listed below:

From left: Tezuka, Momo, Oishi, Kaidoh, Taka-san, Eiji, Fuji and Inui.
Front: Ryoma

1. Tezuka Kunimistu - team captain of Seigaku and considered by everyone, including their opponents, as the man to beat. His personality is quite similar to Ryoma in some ways. He is also a brilliant student.
2. Fuji Shusuke - considered a genius but he lacks the passion and purpose for playing tennis. He often goes into court to avenge a friend or teammate who lost.
3. Oishi Shuichiro - considered the 'mother' of Seigaku because he worries a lot about his teammates. This vice-captain is the other half of the famous Golden Pair and is known for his excellent ball control.
4. Kikumaru Eiji - the very athletic doubles partner of Oishi. Although bubbly and hyperactive on court, he has a weakness for long, endurance matches.
5. Kawamura Takashi - called Taka-san, he's the power player of Seigaku. He is very shy off-court but when he gets hold of a tennis racket his personality changes. Near the end of the series, Taka-san reveals that it's his last year as a tennis player.
6. Momoshiro Takeshi - considered as Ryoma's closest friend. Momo is also a power player and the rival of Kaidoh. He's very loud and often gets into silly fights and like Ryoma, he has a huge appetite.
7. Kaidoh Kaoru - passionate and often too serious, Kaidoh is an imposing presence on and off the court. He's also the most hardworking and physically fit in the team. Kaidoh is also the future team captain of Seigaku.
8. Inui Sadaharu - considered the brains of Seigaku, he uses Data Tennis to find the weakness of opponents. He also terrorizes fellow prayers from time to time with his deadly concoctions. He  also has an air of mystery in him because he never takes his glasses off.
9. Coach Ryuzaki Sumire - she's also the former coach of Echizen Nanjiroh. Grandmother of Sakuno who has a crush on Ryoma.

The other supporting characters will help the viewers understand the matches and the techniques used by players on the court. The reporter Inoue fills in that role when Inui or Fuji are not around to comment during the matches. The players on the court themselves do not talk about their techniques often unlike other series that involve matches or fighting.

Three freshmen are also among the supporting cast. Ryoma's mother will also be introduced in the series later. It featured her meeting with Nanjiroh.

The series is divided into different arcs according to Seigaku's progress towards a spot for the National tournament. The following is the list of arcs from each season of the series:

Season 1
1. Intraschool Ranking Arc
2. Tokyo District Preliminary Arc
3. Seigaku Training Arc
Season 2
4. St. Rudolph Arc
5. Seigaku Training II Arc
6. Tokyo Preliminary - Yamabuki Arc
7. Intraschool Ranking II Arc
Season 3
8. Kanto Tournamennt - Hyoutei Arc
9. Tezuka's Deaprture Arc
10. Kanto Tournament - Jyousei Shounan Arc
Season 4
11. Kanto Tournament - Jyousei SHounan II Arc
12. Recreation Arc
13. Kanto Semifinals - Rokkaku Arc
Season 5
14. Training to Defeat Rikkai Dai Arc
15. Kanto Finals - Rikkai Dai Arc
Season 6
16. Receartion II Arc
17. Junior Selection Camp arc
18. Junior Selection Team VS US Coast Team Arc
19. Recreation III Arc
Season 7
20. Intraschool Ranking III Arc
21. Start of Nationals Arc

The best players of the opposing teams helped improve Ryoma's skill. Among the most important players he faced was Akutsu Jin from Yamabuki. Their match spanned 4 episodes and Akutsu also plays a big role in easing Ryoma's doubts prior to the match against Rikkai Dai's Sanada Genichirou.

Talented though Seigaku may be, they are not perfect. Even the Golden Pair has lost several matches. Players of different teams will be introduced prior to the matches. They also have special techniques which Seigaku has to match and overcome.

The following is a list of the schools Seigaku has to beat:

The team captains

1. St. Rudolph - their best player is Fuji Shuusuke's younger brother, Yuuta. Their talent scout Mizuki uses data tennis as well.
2. Yamabuki - best player (at that time when they faced Seigaku) was Akutsu whose athleticism and various tactics Ryoma had to overcome.
3. Hyoutei - their tennis club has 200 members. Led by Atobe, the regulars are an even match against Segaku's talents. Among the teams listed here they are considered Seigaku's best rival.
4. Jyousei Shonan - their coach employs coordination training which enhances the players' talent. Ryoma faced Shinjou Reiji and withstood his unusual techniques.
5. Rokkaku - they also have a good freshman and captain, Aoi Kentaro, in their team. They consider Seigaku as their friends.
6. Rikkai Dai - reigning champions of the National Tournament, they are fighting for their injured team captain, Yukimura Seiichi. Their vice-captain, Sanada faced Ryoma in in episode 126.

Hyoutei has matched up against Segaku a few times in the series and it was Atobe who exposed the extent of Tezuka's injury during their match.

The Junior Selection Camp allowed Atobe and Sanada to match up as well as show one flaw in Ryoma's character. Althought the series showed him to be a very talented player who is able to adapt to any situation and defeat any type of player, the weakness he has shown here added a balance to his one-sided character.

One of the things I love about the series are the unforgettable characters the Seigaku team meet on their way to winning the championship. Atobe is probably the most unforgettable of them all because of his personality and his famous line.

I enjoyed most of the filler episodes as well. The chibi episodes in particular were very entertaining. The Junior Selection arcs are fillers too but as I have mentioned above, it helped add a balance to Ryoma's personality.

The series ended with Ryoma's departure prior to the Nationals. Seigaku's matches in the Nationals will be shown in the OVA.

Aside from Ryoma's characteristics, most critics say that Prince of Tennis is boring. It takes more than ten episodes before a viewer can finally see the direction the series is taking. Again, Ryoma's skills seemed a bit too much for his opponents even when he met his seniors from Seigaku for the first time. However, the focus will not be entirely on Ryoma but on the entire team. Viewers will finally see some drama when they realize that this is Seigaku's last shot for the championship together, especially when they realize that six of the players will be going to high school. Now that they have Ryoma, they have a better chance of fulfilling that dream they sought since Tezuka, Oishi and the rest were still freshmen. That part about Tezuka's freshmen years will be shown much later in the series.

Another positive quality of the series is that even if it's more than a hundred episods, the series clearly has a direction and a sure ending. There will be no excuses for having spin-offs that will stretch this into a never-ending series.

The series does not focus too much on women as well. It's one of the things I like about Prince of Tennis. The women, although they played big roles in shaping Seigaku's players, are not annoying and overpowering. There's a hint of romance between Ryoma and Ryuzaki Sakuno but it's not like other series where the protagonist's motivation for winning is a woman. If you're the type who hates cutesy girls who have mice-like voices or violent tsunderes, then this series is perfect for you. If you like an all-men series, I highly recommend this as well.

I recommend to anyone who wants to give this series a try to watch up to 30 episodes before they decide to drop it. It takes time to build up the story leading to the important matches. Also, the intraschool rankings will introduce the rest of Seigaku. It is as important to get to know Ryoma as well as his seniors.

I'm giving Prince of Tennis a 10 out of 10 rating.

A Darkness In My Soul by Dean Koontz

This 1972 science-fiction novel was one of Dean Koontz's earliest works. This book explores the facets of the human mind, its desires, hopes and and its quest for meaning and purpose. The book is divided into four parts: Divinity Destroyed, Humanity Restored, The Incomplete Creation and Man As God.

The protagonist Simeon Kelly is one of the two successful products of Artificial Creation. He has the ability to probe the minds of other people. One day he was asked by AC to explore Child's mind, another creation of AC, to unlock the missing information needed to create the shields that will be used for the pending world crisis. Child, the first supergenius ever created, has been withholding important information from Morsfagen and the rest of AC.

Simeon's tour of Child's mind takes him into strange worlds and forced him to think and reshape his view of things. Different though they were, he realized that they were both looking for meaning and purpose in their lives beyond that of their use to AC. Child however, has created an elaborate system based on myths and religions and trapped Simeon in that strange world. Unlike Child too, Simeon had a chance to get in contact with a lot of people including Harry Kelly, who treated him like a son.

He managed to get out of Child's elaborately-built world, taking with him the supergenius' psychic energy, but he failed to do what Morsfagen has asked of him. Confronted and trapped by Morsfagen, he was forced to devise another plan that would ultimately change the world.

This book explores the human psyche - the ego, superego and id, and later on, the concept of God. This is not as detailed as Koontz's later books but I still enjoyed it. He did not choose to focus on the world crisis but instead on the development of Simeon Kelly and how the events taking place around him helped shaped the conclusion of the story. As a fan who was not exposed to his earlier works, I find this really weird and refreshing. It still has the distinguishable characteristics that identifies it as a Koontz book, including a surprising ending. Readers who are not familiar with the concept of the human psyche and Greek mythology might find this a bit confusing but Koontz will explain the former in the later part of the book.

One Door Away From Heaven by Dean Koontz

Once again Dean Koontz has shown that even a life full of despair does not necessarily create a broken, hopeless soul. Micky Bellsong's life was forever changed by one girl she met one day at her Aunt Geneva's house. Like Micky, Leilani Klonk lived with terror all her life but she was able to cope better than Micky did. What sounded at first as some sort of joke turned out to be the grim story of Leilani's life.

Leilani is trapped in a strange family. A stepfather who allegedly killed several people and a mother who calls herself Sinsemilla and who's always high on drugs and self-delusion. He also told Micky about Preston's, her stepfather, belief on aliens and their power to heal deformities. Her brother Lukipela was taken by Preston to the said aliens and was never seen since. As Leilani's 10th birthday approaches, her fated meeting with aliens draws near. She fears that Preston killed her brother and that he would do the same to her.

Meanwhile, a boy tries to outrun his relentless pursuers. He witnessed the murder of his mother and the massacre of a family whose house he had sneaked into to get some money and change of clothes. The family's dog goes with him and together they had an adventure that made their bond as brother and sister even stronger. He takes the identity of Curtis Hammond and at first it was not obvious that he was a shapechanging alien until he encountered Gabby. In Chapter 32, the first hints of his uneathly qualities came when he was described as a boy 'who never slept in his life'.

Koontz did not focus on the two competing alien races but instead on the pursuit of the characters for hope and safety. He also discussed the issue of utilitarian bioethics. It has the elements common to most of Koontz's books: great imagery, characters with traumatic pasts, dogs, and a megalomaniac for a protagonist.

The convergence near the end of the book eventually explained Curtis's purpose on earth and the Gift that he was supposed to each the residents of this planet. What that Gift is has surprised me and I love it for its simplicity and its involvement of dogs. I'm glad he did not choose any superficial technique as the Gift.

Breathless by Dean Koontz

"Within every chaos, is an eerie order waiting to be revealed. " ~ Lamar Woolsey, chapter 44

This tale of hope amidst the challenge of the unknown and the threats of humanity's capability for cruelty and destruction can be considered as one of Dean Koontz's masterpieces. The plot is no different from most of Koontz's books involving science fiction and suspense and yet he still doesn't fail to surprise me.

The book is divided into three parts. The first is called Life and Death in which he introduces the main characters of the story: Grady Adams, Merlin the dog, Camillia Rivers, Lamar Woolsey, Tom Bigger and Henry Rouvroy. How these characters will affect each other was not clear until the final few chapters of the book. Henry was more like a distraction from the main story although it seemed like he will have a huge impact on the lives of the other characters. Tom Bigger also did not have anything to do with the characters I mentioned but his experience, which wasn't revealed until later, provided some light into the strange events that's been going on in the world. Liddon Wallace is one of those characters with megalomania (characters that are common to most of Koontz's books) and provided  the model for the negative side of humanity. Yet he was somehow redeemed when a strange event took place. His last appearance in the book showed him as still the same proud guy but the experience kept bothering him and forced him to reflect about his life.

Koontz's unmatched talent for imagery was showcased in this book. When he introduced the two strange creatures and described them bit by bit as Grady and Merlin were getting to know them, it was easy to picture out what they look like.

Chapter forty-two described what could be the possible origins of Puzzle and Riddle, and also marked the start of the complications that will affect Grady, Merlin and Cammy. Lamar later plays a big role in explaining another possible theory.

Part two is entitled Death in Life. Here the story peaks. Lamar finally met the duo and things started to become more complicated as the government has now taken over the situation. The reader also gets to experience the events through Puzzle's and Riddle's point of view for the first time in chapter sixty-one. Lamar also spoke of the possibility that the duo were new species, not the products of science. Here Koontz shows he has done research about the subjects he discussed.

Part three is called Life in Death. It is aptly named because the message of this book is about hope. Despite people like Henry and Liddon, there's still hope for humanity. We think that because we are able to explain a lot of things because of science, we already know everything. But even those theories that withstood time can't explain certain things in life. They should not be the basis for how we must live and treat each other and all the creatures we share this world with. 

This book gets a 10 out of 10 rating.

Fiddler

Below is the link to my deviantArt. It's a drawing of Fiddler, a character from the Malazan series.

http://fav.me/d42glms