Characters In Order of Appearance[]
- Sanae Maruo
- Kazuya Maruo
- Eiichiro Maruo
- Kojirou Kageyama
- Yukichi Fukazawa
- Takuma Egawa
- Yusaku Miura
- Natsu Takasaki
- Soji Ike
- Akiko Kosaka
- Masumi Makihara
- Hana Yokoyama
Summary[]
Eiichiro and Natsu watch Ike's debut match as a professional tennis player. This clears Eiichiro's hesitation and decides to pursue a career of becoming a pro as well.
Synopsis[]
During dinner, Eiichiro gives an hypothetical question to his parents regarding to his plan on becoming a professional tennis player. His mother dismisses such question easily but his father seems to think about Eiichiro's question seriously. Eiichirou goes to Kageyama's house after he receives a text from Kageyama regarding on their homework. He also uses this visit to do a thorough research on becoming a pro. During the training at STC, he accepts Natsu's invitation to go and see Ike's pro debut match at Japan Open.
Eiichiro and Natsu checks the stalls outside of the coliseum before settling down for Ike's match. While waiting for the match to start, Eiichiro asks Natsu on how Ike like as a tennis player. Natsu describes Ike as a "dangerous person" - like a predator who hunts his prey. She also tells Eiichiro that she is the one who introduced Ike in the world of tennis. As the match continues, Eiichiro starts to think on how Ike might live - like anything around him is related to tennis - and starts to think on how incredible experience it can be. After the match, Eiichiro asks Natsu regarding on his plan of becoming a pro and from that, he also learns Natsu's reason on her decision of becoming one. Through their conversation, Eiichiro finally decides to become a professional tennis player.
The following day, Eiichiro goes again to Kageyama's house and prints his materials for his presentation regarding on his decision. After dinner, he presents his materials to his parents. However, as expected, his mother is opposed on Eiichiro's decision. After his father's urging, Eiichiro continues to explain how a pro's life will be and his plan for the next year - a year focused entirely on tennis. A condition is also set that Eiichiro has to give up his dream if he loses in the All-Japan Junior Tennis Tournament of the following year. His father permits this as he sees Eiichiro being serious on this case. In the end, his mother permits it hesistantly. Eiichiro also tells this plan to Coach Miura, which is supported by STC.
During the practice, Ike appears together with his own staff. He is welcomed warmly by the STC members. Ike also sees Eiichiro and asks if Eiichiro and Natsu were dating during that time - which causes a (sort of) violent reaction from Takuma. After some persuasion, Ike is allowed by his staff to have a 10-minute light match for each participant. Eiichiro gets the first chance to play against Ike and experiences at first hand on how good Ike is. When Ike realizes that his staff are not present, he tries to convince Eiichiro to have a real practice match against him.
Manga & Anime Differences[]
- The setting of Kageyama's room when Eiichiro visits Kageyama for the English textbook
- Kageyama's room is messy in the manga while neat in the anime.
- The monitor in the anime has a wider LCD screen than in manga.
- In the anime, Kageyama has a wireless mouse and placed near the keyboard. The mouse in the manga is still wired and placed near the monitor. Near the keyboard are garbage.
- When Eiichiro searches the details on how to be a professional tennis player:
- In the manga, the name of search engine is 'Goggl' (succeeding letters are not clear) while in the anime, it is simply named as 'SEARCH'.
- The manga gives more information regarding the processes needed to become a pro than the anime. The anime displays the website of a tennis association (presumably, Japan Tennis Association (JTA)).
- The manga did not show the place where Eiichiro and Natsu meet before going for Ike's debut match.
- Natsu's dress in the manga is short-sleeved while in the anime, it does not have sleeves.
- On Ike's poster for the match, in the manga, it is spelled as 'Ike Souji' while in the anime, it is spelled as 'Ike Soji'.
- Since Ike uses Prince tennis brand, his tennis bag has Prince logo in the manga. In the anime, it does not have any logo. He also wears t-shirt with Adidas logo in the manga.
- After Ike's first win, in the manga, he is being interviewed while in the anime, he gives autographs.
- Eiichiro's printouts used for presentation to his parents were printed at Kageyama's house, as shown in anime.
- When Ike appears at STC courts:
- In the manga, Ike greets Coach Miura first before the members of STC while in the anime, it is the opposite.
- Yokoyama wears a round neck without collar t-shirt in the manga while a v-neck with collar t-shirt in the anime.
- Natsu wears a sleeveless shirt with keyhole neckline in the manga while a short-sleeved sports t-shirt in the anime.
- When Ike convinces his staff to allow him to have practice with STC members, he speaks English in the manga.
Trivia[]
- Japan Tennis Association, indeed, exists and their official site can be found here (in Japanese). Latest details on professional tennis player can be found here.
- The venue of Soji Ike's debut match is at Ariake Coliseum (ææã³ãã·ã¢ã ) which is used for the Japan Open. The map can be found here.
[]
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||