The Prince of Tennis: Match! Tennis Juniors

I won't lose. Lu Xia always says that. He's almost always right.

PoT is a 2019 release that is rated 8.4 on MDL. It is 1 season consisting of 40 45-minute episodes, and is based on the Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi. It's also an anime... A movie... A musical! ...It's a HIT.

A Chinese show that is based on a Japanese manga invariably makes a tennis club seem more like a martial arts sect. That's the spirit, the vibe, the plot, and the appeal. The characters are the show's strongest assets. They are likable, being written and acted out well. Moon ascend volley. Snake ball. Twist serve. The Australian Formation. Celestial Drive. The vibrating Ball (it's an optical illusion). Their signature super-shots have amazing names. Some of these balls don't even bounce up, but spin on the court like they will bore a hole through the clay. One team works so hard to be able to defend the Snake Ball ~🐍~ only to be hit with the /boomerang/ snake ball!

Peng Yu Chang (I Am Nobody) is ML, Lu Xia. His father was a tennis star - a stratospheric one. All he wants is to beat his dad. He's the only freshman to make the starting team. His father appears to be a cheerful goof and their relationship is intermittently competitive (more on Lu Xia's part than dad's) and supportive. Ireine Song (Ever Night, Different Princess) plays a girl, Qi Ying, who's infatuated with him. She is a tiny, adorable thing. He doesn't seem to mind her presence around him at all.

Dong Li (Arsenal Military Academy) is Qiao Chen; Zhang Yi Jie (Scent of Time) portrays Zhuo Zhi; Xie Bin Bin (Please Be My Family, The Code of Siam) is Mu Si Yang; Zhu Zhi Ling (The Sleepless Princess-9.1) portrays Chi Da Yong; Xu Ke (The Last Immortal, A Love So Beautiful) Plays Tang Jia Le; Wu Xu Dong (The Eternal Love) is Zhang Bai Yang; Herman Li (Detective Samoyeds) portrays Yan Zhi Ming; and Fan Lin Feng (Good Bye, My Princess) plays He Xing Long. Their personalities are all over the place. One is a sweetheart until he picks up a Racket. Some are morose, others dutiful, cheerful, coldly analytical, playful, angry, aggressive... They are a team of distinct individuals. In addition, Xiang Yun Long (My Roommate Is a Detective) makes an impressive appearance as Tian Zi Long, an anger-riddled competitor with dramatically white streaked hair.

TPoT reinforces teamwork and individual achievement. It asks competitors to reflect on their motivations. It incorporates a cycle of mini-dramas set around tennis matches. The soundtrack and soft spoken Mandarin seem to be designed for a peaceful effect. I found the characters likable yet I had trouble focusing as the show went on. Halfway through the show I had involuntarily stopped giving it my full attention. I think if I just watched an episode or two a week I would have been able to stay with it better, but It was leaving Netflix and I had to watch one or two episodes a day. It's lots of cyclical plotlines where each match and story arc looks quite a bit like all the others, so it started feeling redundant.

They ramp up the drama and the players' special skills. As it's based on manga, that is to be expected. For a team with near super-powers, however, the show still felt slightly pedestrian. Viewers who prefer realism should take their ball to another court. Actually, viewers who prefer realism aren't apt to like nearly anything that China puts out; they may have to avoid the country altogether. Viewers who like manga, sports- tennis in particular, relaxing soft-spoken voices, low drama, and Chinese shows to begin with, will likely enjoy this show.

QUOTES📢

Someone who doesn't want to admit their weakness can only show their evil side to the whole world.

Losing is not a frightening thing. What's terrifying is that we can't learn a lesson from it.

〰🖍 IMHO

📣6 📝7.3 🎭7.5 💓5 🦋3 🎨5 🎵/🔊6 🔚? It goes on... 🤗3 ▪ 🌞5 ⚡4.5 😅3 😭2 😱1 😯2 🤢1 🤔4 💤5

Re-📺? I couldn't give it 100% attention the first time.

Age 9+ Language: d@mn

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I quite like the show. It follows the same story as the anime for which it was based off of. For someone who watch the anime when they was younger I feel like this show did it justice. It has the same quirks and appeals that the enemy had. So if you are a fan of the anime or just looking for a comedic dramatic sport series then I would highly recommend watching this.

I don´t play tennis but I watch a lot of tennis. I don´t watch any manga show. I love the serie and it´s very good. The show have it all and it´s quite fun with many funny moments. I love Lu Xia one of the main cast. He doesn´t say much but some how he expression in how he plays in good. After watching this I look at the original serie and the cast here is all good. I don´t know how to put this but I want all the cast to be in the second show. I wanted more.

Overall I somewhat enjoyed this series, but...

This is a 16 episode comedy/drama done in 40 episodes. I've seldom seen such a long, drawn-out, repetitive show.

Some of the characters are semi-engaging, but remain 2-D throughout. This isn't exactly a one-joke show, but it's a dozen sub-themes repeated every episode. The story theme was so extremely repetitive that by the 20th episode I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue watching this. By the 30th I was absolutely sure of it, but by then I had vested so much time in it I had to see how it ended.

The humor is droll. In the entire 40 episodes I think they got 3 laughs out of me (and I enjoy comedy). Even tennis fans will likely be put off by this highly-fictionalized representation of tennis . By the end, some viewers will probably not care whether the team wins the Nationals or not. Just get it over with! (I got sooooo tired of "boomerang snake" moves.)

Had this been 12 to 16 episodes long with the story properly compacted to keep the viewer engaged, this might have been tolerable. But at 40 episodes it just drags on. Okay we get it: personal relationships and one's viewpoint of life is important. Never quitting is important. We know, we know... especially by the 40th episode... we get the point.

Decidedly NOT "binge-worthy"; about halfway through many will wish they'd never started watching. The series overall doesn't disappoint as far as overall story line goes... it just takes a very long time to get there. Can't put this is on my top-ten list of Asian series. There's just too much plot repetition to make it a truly enjoyable watch.

I really liked this series, it's really addicting and I got this recommended from a friend. I don't regret watching all 40 episodes on Netflix. Each character has something about them which makes them special in a way and at the tender parts, I cried. I have no shame saying that. I recommended to my friends and they also fell in love with the series and actors. I just wish that the female main would've had something more interesting about her. Overall 10/10 It was great, unrealistic but good and I wish that there would be a season 2 :)