Twenty-seven years of impossible matches and
gravity-defying powers have finally hit the net. The legendary work known in
our region as The Prince of Tennis, written and illustrated by the
incombustible Takeshi Konomi, published its long-awaited final
chapter on August 4 through the September issue of Jump
SQ magazine, marking the definitive closure of its sequel The
New Prince of Tennis. In an emotional farewell message, the author thanked
the community for all the support and joked that they would
finally let him take a well-deserved break.
The original manga began its
serialization in the pages of the legendary Weekly Shonen Jump back
in July 1999, introducing us to Ryoma Echizen, a true arrogant prodigy who came
to the Seishun Academy team to revolutionize this sport. Although it all
started as a traditional competitive shonen, Konomi knew that in
order to stand out from the fantasy stories of the magazine, he had to take
tennis to absurd limits. This is how the exaggerated techniques that became a
hallmark of the franchise were born, with matches that went
from simple rackets to incorporating pirates, riders on horseback and even the
ability to create black holes on the court, always under the excuse that they
continued to respect the rules of tennis.
The enormous impact of this little gem exceeded
60 million copies in circulation and inspired a successful animated
adaptation, live musicals and live-action films over the course of almost
three decades. To give the work the monumental farewell it deserves, the
magazine included a special 48-page chapter with color illustrations, as well
as an exclusive compact disc with the musical theme "Memories Packed Into
the Racket", performed by more than 143 voice actors and theater artists
linked to the work. Knowing the madness that this last set would unleash, the
publisher increased the magazine's circulation by 165 percent, an unprecedented
event in its nineteen-year publishing history.
Considering that Ryoma's journey went from
basic technique to battles that seemed to be taken from a space fighting anime
