Ryoma Echizen-The Cocky Freshman

Ryoma Echizen

School:Seishun Gakuen Jr.High(1^st year class 2)

Date of birth:24^th December

Height:151cm(shorter than me!I’m 153..^.^)

Blood type:O

Special skills:Twist serve

Favorite food: Egg sandwiches, Chawanmushi, fried fish, Japanese food

Favorite brands:Fila(shoes), YonexBRIDGESTONE(racket)

Favorite phrase:Mada mada dane(Meaning:You still have a long way to go)

Personal view:Finally it’s Ryoma-sama turn^_^ He is not only my most favorite character in this series but also my crush of all time.How I wish he is real…v.v But now let’s not being biased,I supposed to talk about him just the way I talk about the rest of the characters in the series.He is a freshman in Seigaku who amazed everyone with his tennis talent especially when he became a regular after defeating two regulars in Seigaku tennis team. He is the son of Nanjiro Echizen also known as Samurai Nanjiro who was a professional player before.Although Ryoma actually is a left-handed,he usually played with his right hand to attack his right-handed opponent with his twist serve.He won the American Jr. tournament four times in a row at the age of 12.However,Tezuka his captain has noticed that all his techniques are a copy of his father’s and thus helped him to find his true tennis style.Although he is very talented in tennis and known as a prodigy,he is also a very cocky person and usually provokes his opponent at the start of a match making him to be equally dislike by his opponent.His obsession in tennis is shown in the series as he beats his opponents as he is evolving and developing his own tennis style.He is also a librarian in his school and he is good in the English subject since he used to stay in America.He didn’t really has a close friend due to his attitude of always doing things at his own pace and often seem not to care about others.However,this is not entirely true.Although Ryoma is seen as someone who didn’t care about others, he actually do care about the people around him in his own way.For example when Kachirou,one of the freshmen trio is showing protest towards Arai-senpai who was happy when Tezuka left the team to treat his injured arm.Ryoma also tried to find Momoshiro at the street tennis court when Momoshiro didn’t come to the club activities after being dropped from the regulars.Why I like him?I like everything about this chibi(kid)^_^ His cocky attitude,his provocation towards his opponent and his determination to beat his opponent with his own skills and also the fact that he is so blur when it comes to girls!=))Ryoma-sama,mada mada dane!

Things That I Like About The Prince of Tennis

I just thought that I should do a post about this since I like this series so much.There are actually a lot of reasons why I like Prince of Tennis(lol,I feel like I'm writing a school essay,haha,whatever).But I'm just going to put it generally though.And you can compare my reasons with yours too.^_^

Cool tennis techniques
        This is probably among the first reason why I like this series since the beginning.The authors,even from the start have introduced a few cool techniques in tennis at the beginning of the series.And with every new episodes,there are a lot more techniques being introduced and there are also improvement in the existing techniques.So it makes me interested to see all those middle-schooler performing various kind of cool techniques in tennis.It's also because of this series I've grown a fond in tennis.But I've never really try it.I hope one day,I can play tennis although I'm not going to be as good as the characters.In the series,the techniques I like the most is Ryoma-san's twist serve.Although it's a pretty basic technique for an advanced player,and it can be returned,I still think it's cool.This techniques will make the ball to curve towards the opponent's face instead of curving away from the opponent.This can be done by using Eastern backhand grip.Besides Ryoma,there are also other characters who can use this technique really well.However,this technique varies slightly according to the players who use it.Other character who also use it is Akaya Kirihara from Rikkaidai Fuzoku Middle School.

Ryoma Echizen
       Lol-ing at myself.Can this be considered as the reason as well?Come to think of it,perhaps this is the main reason why I stick to Prince of Tennis until the end and until OVA,National Tournament and all the mini stories inside it.Ryoma is a 12 year old freshman at Seishun Gakuen Middle School.Despite his young age,he's so talented in tennis and is able to defeat most of the other tennis players in the school although they are older than him.He'd also defeat Seigaku's regular such as Momoshiro,Kaidou,Inui and Oishi.However,most of the techniques he's used are copies from his father,a former professional tennis player.With the help of the other regular members and the captain,Tezuka,Ryoma soon developed his own tennis style and have the chance to perform in the American Tournament.So what I like about him?Too many things,so I'll just say he's a the kind of character I'll like.Haha..so annoying,right?

Awesome Characters
      Besides Ryoma,the other characters are great too.In fact the author has took detailed studies in creating each characters in the series.Everyone is unique in their own way.There are the quiet Tezuka,the mother-like Oishi,the childish Eiji,the strong Takashi,the data-wise Inui,the straight-forward Momo and the shy Kaidou(I said he's shy because he blushed when people praise him).There are also other recurring characters from other schools which become their opponents during tournament.Among the most outstanding characters are Atobe Keigo(Hyotei Gakuen),Akaya Kirihara(Rikkaidai Fuzoku),Tachibana Kippei(Fudomine) and Mizuki Hajime(St.Rudolph).

Passion for tennis
       This is shown throughout the series.All of the characters have a strong passion to keep playing tennis.Although they are constantly being tested with so many problems,their strong will not to give up and to be the best tennis team in the Japan and also in the world,make them persistence.They are willing to sacrifice their times and energy to make their dreams come true.Tezuka and Oishi are among the fews who have risk their own health in order to play in the tournament.Despite his long-term injured of his elbow,Tezuka still played and gave it his all in the tournament.This is also true for Oishi,the vice captain who accidentally injured his wrist.

Interesting plots
       You may think that since this is a tennis-based series,there should be matches and tournaments non-stop.Well,that's not entirely true.There are also a few episodes where there are no tennis matches and the characters are merely slacking around.And yet it still an interesting episode.This is probably because of the charm of each character  that you can never really get bored when you watch this series.Even during matches,the plot is built so nicely that you couldn't wait to know what would happen next.