Manga Review: The Prince of Tennis Volume 3

Manga review of The Prince of Tennis Volume 3: Street Tennis by Takeshi Konomi. Translated by Joe Yamazaki. Adapted by Gerard Jones. Originally published in Japan by Shueisha. Published in US by Viz Shonen Jump, $7.95, Rated A for All Ages.

After putting some bullies in their place on the tennis court, Ryoma prepares for the District Prelims, from which the top two schools will advance to the city tournament, and then to the Nationals. Problem is that not everyone from Seishun can play singles. Some of them will have to play doubles. The prideful and independent Ryoma wants no part of working with a partner, and Tomo doesn't either. So they decide to have a match, with the winner getting to play singles in the tournament. They find a public tennis court but in order to use it for the duel, they have to challenge the doubles team that is already on it. Ryoma and Tomo play together but are unable to mesh their styles or egos and are promptly schooled and beaten. You would think they would swear off playing together after that, but both Ryoma and Tomo are sufficiently intrigued with the challenge of playing doubles. So much so that they volunteer to be partners in the District Prelims!

What I liked about volume 3 of The Prince of Tennis was finding out that Ryoma doesn't know EVERYTHING about tennis...yet. He was getting a little too high on his little hobby horse for me, and he needed to get knocked down a notch in the doubles match.  Ryoma is a bit too rude so maybe this is the beginning of him becoming a bit more social, but I doubt it. He does stand up for the downtrodden in his own way, such as beating the crap out of some dudes that were bullying his friend's dad. And remember how he stuck up for Sakuno in the opening panels of this series. Ryoma can't stand the strong picking on the weak, but he sticks up for them in such a nonchalant way that he comes off as supercool. There's also an underlying tension in that there is already an anticipation that Ryoma is going to have to beat his teammates to rise to the top.

My Grade: A