prince of tennis, take 2, short version

[piranha]

episode 25/26 was impressive, ok. i am totally not swayed by "i'll bring the balls", but now there is something between tezuka and ryoma. am highly amused that the "pillar of support" bit actually has a couple of pillary towers in it. *cackle*. made a userpic from that, but like this one better.

episode 27 did nothing for me (my cats are cuter), except that suddenly kaidou was adorable.

episode 35 somehow magically opened the vortex to sucking me in inexorably.

i've pretty much lived for fuji opening his eyes. finally got plenty of that in the last two episodes.

"i've faced much stronger lefties than you." "i am aiming much higher." ha! yeah, don't we know it.

also, mizuki's seiyuu is ishida akira, i think. mmmh.

now that i've seen young-ryuuzaki with young-nanjirou, i like her better than before. she's the only worthwhile woman in this show, *sigh*. luckily we also got tachibana an! a girl who is not a worthless squealer/blusher/ignoramus, but who stands on her own two feet and is outspoken and knowledgable to boot! woohoo, two, count 'em, two decent female characters. there is so totally no gen fic i ever want to read about this show, unless that changes in a major way.

i can see why people ship tezuka / fuji.

this bloody show is growing on me like a fungus. but horio / sakuno / tomoka must still die.

Comments

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

Episode 30? *check* I'll remember that. Fuji can do what few others can, to be sure. ;)

I was going to mention An earlier when you were talking about the lack of strong female characters, but didn't want to spoil anything if you hadn't met her yet. I love An. Everyone does. Ryoma's mother is also pretty badass, but sadly we only really get glimpses of her. There's another great female character whom I initially hated but whom I now love, coming up later on, who I suspect you will hate too, haha, because she's sort of the female equivalent of Nanjiroh - and then in the manga, (300-some issues in), there's another pretty awesome character whom the OVAs have only just finally introduced.

But personally? I love Tomo, I think she's as strong a woman as An in her own way. She's loud, yeah, but she's also *a cheerleader*, and they're supposed to be loud. She's the first person to cheer for Seigaku when no one else is. She's strong, takes no shit, defends Sakuno against girls twice their age (why is Sakuno so pathetic, why), she actually plays tennis and is good at it, unlike Sakuno who just wants to play to get closer to Ryoma; she cooks, she sews, sne cheers, and she's the only person who can shut Horio up. TELL ME THAT'S NOT A WOMAN TO LOVE.

I can't really see the Tezuka/Fuji anywhere before ep 173. They never talk to each other. Then again, I was completely sold on Tezuka/Ryoma by the end of 25-26, and everything else from then on only confirmed that rather than minimized it for me. I was completely stunned to come to the fandom when I first started to dip my toes in, and discover that Tezuka/Fuji was the primary ship, and that TezuRyo wasn't really anywhere on the radar, at least in the English-speaking fandom. It still baffles me. Maybe, if you see more of it, you can help me understand it. :D

Though really, neither of those ships should be a focus. You have INUI/KAIDOH AHEAD! And of course a constant onslaught of Momo/Kai, and soon you will have Silver Pair (one of my favorites!!!) and Atobe/Tezuka, and...!!! Oh. So much fun to come. I AM EXCITED. I HOPE YOU KEEP WATCHING!

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

i am with you on tezuka/ryoma -- i think it's the r'ship with the most dramatic tension, by far. i mean, slash totally aside, that's what it is. and i tend to gravitate towards those (in fiction; in real life i tend to move away from them, *heh*). because oh, the fun that can be had with that tension, the rollercoastering, the anticipation -- and the smallest resolution will feel so good because of the build-up.

yeah, while trawling for fics and DJs i have just discovered that this ship is hardly on the radar in fandom. how weird is that! maybe the age thing is a major cause of that. there is more ryoma/sakuno gen (*shudder*).

i do completely understand tezuka/fuji. you really think they don't talk? i feel they talk all the time! (i mean, as much as tezuka talks to any of his team mates "all the time"). hey, it's not like tezuka actually talks WITH ryoma, he talks AT him. :) it has a strong "mentor" vibe for me. fuji and tezuka do talk WITH each other, which has a "friend" vibe. they stand next to each other a lot, and there are little moments fairly consistently. and the talk, while short, is emotionally meaningful, even ... intimate. (as intimate as any talk here gets so far). fuji is pretty well tuned in to tezuka, but it's not all one-sided either; tezuka clearly knows about fuji's feelings re yuuta. fuji's can make tezuka do double-takes: he "somehow" knew that tezuka had played ryoma secretly, and asked him after that practice game he had himself with ryoma whether it had felt like that. man, hat packed some emotional wallop, that tiny scene. and they're not even on-screen for most of it; we just see the equipment room from the outside -- awesome (towards the end of ep 40).

oh, i like fuji a lot. he's kind and friendly, with a strong sense for fun, and a layer of mischief underneath, but completely fierce when somebody he cares about is threatened. tezuka had me automatically because i have an (unfortunate) romantic streak for the type. fuji got to me much more slowly, but now i *heart* him; he's such a beautifully complex character. and if i wanted to pair him, tezuka is the immediately obvious choice at this point because these two know and appreciate each other. the pairing doesn't have huge dramatic tension, no, but it has a lot of appeal for me because of the friendship and relative comfort level (which is what i go for in real life).

and yeah, none of the potential slashy r'ships are a focus for me. the characters individually are, and their general r'ships with each other. they really are astoundingly good for a sports anime.