“You Still Got A Ways To Go!”
“From the masterpiece Japanese sports manga created by Takeshi Konomi, with more than 60 million copies sold over 22 years, RYOMA! THE PRINCE OF TENNIS is a new feature film about tennis prodigy Ryoma Echizen. Inspired by his tennis champion father, Ryoma is determined to take his game to the next level and train in the US. But in the middle of an intense tennis battle to save his classmate Sakuno from dangerous villains, they somehow find themselves transported back to the past, just as Ryoma’s father is about to undertake his final championship match at the US Open – when he was mysteriously forced to retire.” – Eleven Arts
‘Ryoma! The Prince of Tennis’ handles its premise with care, but what worries me the most is this weird appeal to go full 3dcg in these animation films, but that speaks to the time that I am used to, nowadays kids might love this integration and even love it compared to 2d animation which is fair and it does speak to the reason why it has been growing in use within the popularity. With all that said, I would be lying to say this creative choice distracted me a little from the story.
Like I said earlier ‘Ryoma! The Prince of Tennis’ handles its premise with care. Something as out of left-field like time travel in a movie about tennis. You wouldn’t think it would work, but it does and that is thanks to the Hiroshi Kôjina and his team. ‘Prince of Tennis’ doesn’t get too hung up that it is a time travel movie but more so on the relationships. Like Ryoma/Nanjirō and Ryoma/Sakuno.
There was one more thing that bothered me personally, but I feel that others would enjoy and that is the “Sing, Dance, and Play along with the innovative 3D digital animation.” I understand the reason is to keep the audience engaged and this is purely focused on kids so it makes sense and I like the initiative of doing something different than most movies. This will have kids engaged at all times like other shows such as ‘Barney,’ ‘Sesame Street,’ and ‘Dora.’
With that said what about Prince of Tennis anime and manga fans? To me, I love the anime and manga I feel that there was a sacrifice with impact and gravitas of the tennis matches to focus on a specific group, now was that a smart idea? Probably; the specific group is a larger group than actual ‘Prince of Tennis’ fans, but don’t underestimate the core group. ‘Prince of Tennis’ has a decent following that manga has curated more than 60 million copies in manga sales also add the fans strictly for the anime, it could have done good numbers, but then again as a fan that’s just me being optimistic.
I might be a little hard on this movie but I have seen other films produced by Eleven Arts and I would say some are freaking amazing. ‘A Silent Voice,’ ‘Millennium Actress,’ and ‘Gintama: The Very Final‘ Whereas Prince of Tennis is not bad it’s really good there are just some elements in the film that were different. I can’t recommend this movie to everyone but this will be a great movie to see your kids have fun with if you are a parent.
