Thread: Prince of Tennis: Beyond Reality

The title tells everything, but there are some points I'd like to focus on.
In the beginning of the Manga, everything was just normal stuff, I think the wirdest shot was the zero shiki, but since that point all shots and techniques have become everything but tennis. I mean Kawamura being sent out of the court!? That's impossible! and there're tons of examples, I mean you just have to see the way they hold their raquets!. In the way they're playing in the nationals, Ryoma could surely beat Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal! What do you think?

I really don't think that the mangaka wants POT to be realistic. If it was I'm sure that its popularity would decrease. Besides DBZ was unrealistic and it was great. POT is also unrealistic and it is a great manga.

It's a great manga, I know, but don't compare it with DBZ 'cause there's huge difference between the type of story. I mean they're supposed to be playing tennis, a normal sport, and don't tell me that Konomi didn't want it to be realistic, remember that in the beginning he even mentioned real players like Pete Sampras or Marat Saffin.

This thread is kinda obvious. We've kinda brought up the idea that PoT is completely unrealistic.

I kinda have to disagree with you. The zero shiki is not the weirdest shot. Kikumaru's Split Step is definitely weirder.

You didn't get it right, I meant that the zero shiki was the weirdest at the beginning, but now that all Muga stuff is just stupid, maybe it's because I like real tennis, there'r nothing better than watching a Nadal vs. Federer, or Djokovic, Chela, Murray, all those players. Another thing, I don't know if you've seen a real doubles match, but it last only two or three shots, not the 1000000000000 shots of one point in PoT

PoT is not a great manga. It's the second biggest pile of shit I've ever seen (Inuyasha being the first).

And as for the reality-breaking moves and so on? We've all learned to deal it with one way or another. Some people just ignore it, some people read it just for the sake of it and some people quit reading it (I chose this path). And some choose to make fun of it (I took this path, too). You want PoT to the extreme? Just check out the Believable Storyline thread. There's an arc where Tezuka and Ryoma engage in a match that takes 6 volumes.

Besides, what bothers me more than the reality-hopping is the main character ass-kissing. Konomi is so lame.

Originally Posted by Eudor16

You didn't get it right, I meant that the zero shiki was the weirdest at the beginning, but now that all Muga stuff is just stupid, maybe it's because I like real tennis, there'r nothing better than watching a Nadal vs. Federer, or Djokovic, Chela, Murray, all those players. Another thing, I don't know if you've seen a real doubles match, but it last only two or three shots, not the 1000000000000 shots of one point in PoT

I don't think so. If we're talking about the beginning, Fuji's counters were definitely weirder than the Zero Shiki. Even Tezuka Zone is weirder than that.

Real tennis is fun to watch, but PoT is interesting, too. ^.^ I'm still very sad that Agassi retired. ;_; He was my favorite.

At this point, it's obvious that Konomi is only using tennis as a venue for the typical SJ story; archetypal characters rising up as underdogs through increasingly extravagant confrontations. Konomi and the editors knew that keeping things realistic wouldn't always be feasible--but instead of trying to keep the excess to a minimum, they embraced it and went fucking ape-shit.

Once that becomes clear, it's impossible to take PoT seriously anymore. In fact, the schlock is all I read the manga for, in spite of the amateurish art and writing.

That's the weird part, though. Seigaku weren't really the underdogs to begin with. It was more "they're really good but they have to beat Rikkaidai." Weren't the seeded second or something? Seigaku was known to be good already. That's probably why they had to keep making all the opponents to unrealistically good.

thats true. All the matches they had, Seigaku's opponents were really strong, and they had to evolve during their games.