Volume 36: A Heated Battle! Seishun vs. Shitenhoji
Author: Takeshi Konomi
Genres: Manga, sports, shonen, contemporary
First published January 1, 2007
Book description: The semifinals of the National Tournament begin! Seishun is pitted against powerhouse team Shitenhoji. The first match is No. 3 Singles, with Shusuke up against the Shitenhoji captain, Kuranosuke Shiraishi. Shusuke may be Seishun's resident "genius," but the mysterious Kuranosuke is rumored to play "perfect tennis," a game with no flaws.
Review:
Shusuke has been portrayed as a genius the whole series. His only limitation is his lack of interest of making his mark or staying in his comfort zone as he has not been pushed beyond his current level. But the match against Kuranosuke makes him meet his equal. The perfect tennis and worse still the prediction of how many plays for the point to be reached was a psychological pressure that would break anyone. This was a very interesting one.
Volume 37: The Terror of Comic Tennis
Author: Takeshi Konomi
Genres: Manga, sports, shonen, contemporary
First published 2007
Description: Seishun's semifinal matches against Shitenhoji continue, and now it's Kaoru and Momo's turn in No. 2 Doubles. Their opponents, Koharu Konjiki and Yuji Hitoji, are highly skilled players but have a style that's a little...unusual. Next, two power players step onto the court for No. 2 Singles: Taka and Gin Ishida, the originator of Taka's Hadokyu shot. In this match of Hadokyu vs. Hadokyu, it's the last player standing who'll win!
Review:
So let me just say that their rivalry has been portrayed as hilarious and healthy. Both of them look down on the other and yet continue to strive to improve more than the other. The origin of that rivalry was never made clear. My personal favorite is Kaoru (just want to say it's so weird to read their first names, I'm so used to everyone calling each other by their last names in the whole series that I find it odd to use their given names now even after spending who knows how many hours in this world).
This episode of comic tennis was meant to be hilarious, but it felt too forced. I thought it was too ridiculous so once it was done I was just happy to have it over with.
We do have some stupid references that will probably be funny for other people- pretending to impersonate people, the use of wrestler masks to trick the other team.
What I did NOT appreciate was the way homosexual tendencies were used as insult or humiliation. I assume this is due to the culture or something. It just made me dislike this more than I expected. Maybe that's the whole reason why this was my least favorite volume.
Volume 38: Clash! One-Shot Battle
Author: Takeshi Konomi
Genres: Manga, sports, shonen, contemporary
First published 2007
Quick description: Seishun's semifinal round against Shitenhoji continues with the No. 1 Doubles match, and now it's captain vs. captain as Kunimitsu and Senri square off for a fight. They're backed up by their partners Sadaharu and Hikaru... or are they?! Later Ryoma steps onto the clay against Shitenhoji's seventh-grade prodigy Kintaro, and this time neither of them are holding anything back.
Review:
It was a surprise to have Tezuka participate in a doubles match. It felt like it was a twist meant to blow our minds off. It came close really. In reality, this was an example of bad double tennis games. Both of the team's captains decide to totally ignore their partners except in specific plays, and they had zero communication or chemistry with their doubles partner. After all, they're both really not meant for doubles matches.
The official match was ok, it gripped while it was happening but afterward, it was forgettable.
After the match is decided and the winner determined, the freshman prodigies of each team decide to have their anticipated match. Again the only purpose of this was to make Ryoma realize there are always people out there who have the potential to best him. And to show him how to adapt to a very different tennis style.
These books are used to complete challenges:
Follow/ complete series
Translated works
Around the world - the author is from Japan
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