Twelve-year-old Ryoma Echizen, the uncrowned Prince of Tennis, has proven much already at Seishun Academy. He's defeated some of the school's best eighth- and ninth-grade tennis players, but has yet to qualify for the prestigious city tournament. To do that, he'll need to win two more matches: against eighth-grader Kaoru Kaido and ninth-grader Sadaharu Inui, legends at Seishun Academy whose skills sets are almost as opposite as could be. To earn the respect of the school's team and a leading position on it, Ryoma must extend his undefeated streak to include these two young tennis stars. It will be his toughest test yet.
Ryoma's arsenal of weapons on the tennis court is fully stocked, but Kaoru is confident in his own biggest weapon: the snake, a shot that clears the net and then veers back into the bottom of it, virtually a guaranteed point every time. Kaoru's long reach and prodigious strength allow him to use the snake, but Ryoma is still a small kid. What hope does he have of counteracting Kaoru's specialty shot? Sadaharu, on the other hand, is a studious observer, and has been taking notes on Ryoma's play since the younger boy's first match at Seishun. After analyzing the data, he can predict nearly every shot Ryoma takes, a clear advantage when they play each other for the first time. Defeating a shotmaker like Kaoru and a cerebral athlete like Sadaharu would prove that Ryoma not only deserves to make the Seishun tennis team, but to be its most celebrated member. Can Ryoma come through against the older kids when the pressure is on?
Kaoru and Sadaharu are skilled perhaps beyond credibility, but I like the video game vibe of the story, pitting Ryoma against harder "bosses" as he moves up the ranks. A video game doesn't have to be realistic to be exciting and challenging, and that's true of the first two Prince of Tennis volumes. There's a lot more story to be revealed, and I'm sure the series will grow thematically as that happens. I might give this book one and a half stars, and I'll be back for the next one. Ryoma Echizen is an interesting lead character of impeccable visual design, and I want to see what happens to him next.