The Prince of Tennis, テニスの王子様 (Tenisu no Ōjisama)
Genre: Coming-of-age, Drama, Sports

Written: Takeshi Konomi
Published by Shueisha
Original run: July 19, 1999 – March 3, 2008
Volumes: 42

Story Plot

The series is primarily set in Tokyo, and centers around Ryoma Echizen, a tennis prodigy who attends Seishun Academy (青春学園, Seishun Gakuen), or Seigaku (青学) for short, a school that is known for its strong tennis club and talented players. Shortly after the entrance, Ryoma quickly defeats numerous upperclassmen, securing himself a spot as one of the team’s regulars.

In pursuit of their ultimate goal of winning the National Middle School Tennis Championship, members of the team make new friends while learning and mastering increasingly complex techniques. Ryoma also begins to develop his own style of tennis and eventually realizes what the sport really means to him.

The Prince of Tennis (Japanese: テニスの王子様, Hepburn: Tenisu no Ōjisama) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi. The manga was serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump from July 1999 to March 2008, with its chapters collected in forty-two tankōbon volumes. Viz Media licensed the manga for English release in North America.

A 178-episode anime television series adaptation animated by Trans Arts, co-produced by Nihon Ad Systems and TV Tokyo, was broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 2001 to March 2005. A sequel of three original video animation (OVA) series, totaling 26 episodes, were released from March 2006 to January 2009. In North America, the anime series was first licensed by Viz Media and later by Funimation.

The Prince of Tennis developed into a media franchise, including a long-running radio show, numerous video games, well over 250 soundtracks and CDs, and other merchandise. Since 2003, more than fifteen stage musical adaptations have been produced. An anime film premiered in January 2005. A live-action film premiered in May 2006. A 3DCG film premiered in Japan in September 2021.

A sequel to the manga, titled The New Prince of Tennis, began serialization in Shueisha’s Jump Square in March 2009, with the story taking place several months after the end of the original manga.

As of November 2019, The Prince of Tennis manga had over 60 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series.