🌸 Favorite school team(s)? ↳ Hai Guang. ~  🐝

🌸 Favorite coach(es)? ↳ I.... I forgot his name....... ;~;

🌸 Favorite supporting cast member(s)? (characters who aren’t regulars, aren’t on tennis teams etc.) ↳  Tan Yi Tai.

🌸 Favorite original character(s) in the adaptation? ↳ A lot !! ~

🌸 Favorite singles match? ↳ Lu Xia vs Tian Zi Long.

🌸 Favorite doubles match? ↳ Qiao Chen & Zhang Bai Yang vs Jin Wen Tai & Ke Jie.

🌸 Favorite story arc? ↳ Hai Guang arc.

🌸 Most amusing tenipuri scene(s)/moment(s)/running joke(s)? ↳ Ep9.

🌸 What did you like most about the adaptation? ↳ “The Prince of Tennis” is one of the best dramas I’ve ever watched. ♡

🌸 What do you think the adaptation could have improved on? ↳ Hmmm.... ~ Anything was fine. 😊

1. Favorite character(s)?

Qiao Chen! He was my original fave when I first watched the Chinese dub of the anime, and this show reminded me why again. He’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’s probably one of the most friendly Yuqing kids, and he’s smart in different ways. E.g. finding ways to win over tricky opponents, being flexible enough to play doubles with LU XIA, bonding with Lu Xiangqian. Also 70% of what he says ends up being a joke whether on purpose or not LOL.

I like Zhuo Zhi and Xinglong as well. Of course if we’re carrying over sentiments from the original, my faves list is full of Rikkai/Haiguang so...

2. Favorite school team(s)?

Yufeng. I’m not particularly fond of the individual characters except Xu Ziping, but their story was quite interesting. They had a more legitimate claim as protagonists than Yuqing to be honest. It was fun to see their rivalry turn into friendship over time. 

Haiguang. You can see the URL for obvious reasons. They are Not Always Nice and are ruthless about victory, but that’s kind of why I like them as well. 

3. Favorite coach(es)?

Qi Na. She was more involved in the boys’ issues here, and she gave them the guidance they needed. She has to deal with so much sh*t and drama in this adaptation. Looking at you Golden Pair.

4. Favorite supporting cast member(s)? (characters who aren’t regulars, aren’t on tennis teams etc.)

Lu Xiangqian. Best dad. It’s not easy raising Lu Xia on his own (interesting how they chose to make him a single dad here), and he gives Lu Xia advice and cares for him without being overbearing. 

5. Favorite original character(s) in the adaptation?

Don’t really have one? Huang Jing and Xiuwen were fun, but they had too much secondhand embarrassment so not a big fan. 

6. Who do you think enacted their role best?

Zhuo Zhi and Ji Jingwu. I also love the translation of their names which I’ll write a post about someday...

7. Favorite singles match?

Mu Siyang vs Ji Jingwu! I’ve never watched this before in the original so it was really intense and exciting. Also gratuitous amounts of Haiguang as audience. 

8. Favorite doubles match?

Regionals D2 - Qiao Chen, Baiyang vs Wen Tai, Ke Jie. You could really see the strengths of both pairs. Qiao Chen and Baiyang are more similar to Yaren and Lü Sheng, where they have a more fluid distribution, while Wen Tai and Ke Jie have fixed roles. Qiao Chen and Baiyang tried changing strategy and tactics, which worked for a while and helped developed their skill. And yet Haiguang crushed them almost effortlessly, highlighting the power difference between the two teams.

9. Favorite story arc?

Training camp with Yufeng. Siyang’s really trying to get his team working together and they all learnt a lot, but also they’re still stupid teenage boys acting their age and doing dumb stuff. 

Runner-up: Haiguang arc, just because I get to see more Rikkai I suppose?

10. Most amusing tenipuri scene(s)/moment(s)/running joke(s)?

Lu Xia and Dayong helping pregnant women and thus being late for matches. Yan Juice and Zhuo Zhi being immune to it. Lu Xiangqian being bribed by Xiao Sha. This show managed to keep the comedic elements of Tenipuri intact and it turned out quite well. 

(+) good

they were established well as the biggest antagonist here - with the other teams coming to support yuqing and show solidarity. plus their winning streak and watching xingyao’s matches made it seem like they weren’t just coming out of nowhere.

their uniforms are just as dumb as rikkai’s. excellent.

the show was pretty clear that haiguang is victory-driven and Not Nice™ with the violent plays in D1 and S2. Yuan Chi (Kirihara)’s bloodshot mode is also more terrifying in live-action.

but at the same time, unlike the manga, we aren’t shown Tian Zilong (Sanada) slapping his teammates or otherwise using violence against them.

the hospital scene with Bai Shiting (Yukimura) was very cute.

(personal preference but) i felt the translation of the names was done very well - the chinese names are very similar to the chinese pronunciation of the kanji. the best ones are probably Wang Yaren 王雅仁 (Niou) and Yuan Chi 袁驰 (Kirihara).

they also had the most varied cheers. not that there’s much variety in the cheers to begin with. 

(=) neutral

the alpha pair dynamic changes with Tian Zilong (Sanada) and Bai Shiting (Yukimura) only being friends in high school (3 years) instead of childhood friends (10 years). personally i find it harder to believe Zilong and Shiting would be so close after only 3 years, but it’s not entirely a bad change.

the height dynamics changed.

(-) could be improved on

the producers racebent Ke Jie (Jackal) so he isn’t half-Brazilian. not entirely surprised, but still disappointed.

Wang Yaren (Niou) and Lü Sheng (Yagyuu) didn’t do the Switch. understandably it would be hard to pull it off with live-action + the actors not looking that much different, but still feels like a missed opportunity.

OKAY AS A RIKKAI STAN I HAVE OPINIONS CARRIED OVER FROM THE ORIGINAL SERIES.

Haiguang should have won regionals. It’s unrealistic for Lu Xia to suddenly beat such a strong opponent and come back with 6 games in a row.

i put off watching the last 2 episodes for a week because i was not ready to see Haiguang lose.

okay, you give us the Haiguang triple threat of the big three. yes, nice. but why do we get so much gratuitous alpha pair and not troika?? if you’re not having Zilong (Sanada) and Shiting (Yukimura) be childhood friends, it’s not impossible that they could have met Liu Lian (Yanagi) in first year of highschool as well. why are we supposed to believe the big three is an empty title and in reality it’s 2+1?

alright, maybe they wanted to focus on the Yan Zhiming (Inui) - Liu Lian friendship, but wouldn’t it make it more interesting to include his role as ⅓ of the Haiguang triple threat? conflicting loyalties during the S3 regionals?

okay sorry. rant over.

also wish we had seen a bit more of Yuan Chi (Kirihara) interacting with his seniors, since he’s in a similar role as Lu Xia (Echizen) and Zhuo Yu (Fuji Y.) w.r.t to junior ace status.