An OVA Project Set for 2018 is Announced for "The Prince of Tennis"

More than a theatrical project that will be running in December, February and April the “Prince of Tennis” franchise has revealed an OVA project for the following year. It will be part of the second half of the theatrical project and is titled “Tennis no Ōjisama BEST GAMES!!”

The OVA will be featuring a reanimation of some of the most popular matches from the series thus far. One of the matches will be Tezuka vs Atobe from the Kantō Tournament. With the theatrical project, the first half of the work will be three runs of “cheering screenings.” The films are The Prince of Tennis: Two Samurais, The First Game and the Tennis no Oujisama: Atobe Kara no Okurimono ad will be screened on December 3, 10, 17, and 24.

As for the second of the project, it will have a February screening and will be featuing the “The Prince of Tennis: Eikoku-shiki Teikyū-jō Kessen!” film. The final part of the project will be held in April and is to screen the “Teni Fes All Night” event.

“Prince of Tennis” is a sports manga that was written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi. First published by Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump in July 1999 the series had a total of 379 chapters serialized, spanning 42 volumes. Ending on March 3, 2008, the series later received a sequel series on March 4, 2009 titled “New Prince of Tennis.” Serialized by Jump Square magazine, the series is currently running with around 22 volumes.

It was in October 2001 that the anime adaptation for the franchise came out. Directed by Takayuki Hamana, animated by Trans Arts and co-produced by Nihon Ad Systems & TV Tokyo, the series ran until March 30, 2005 with a span of 178 episodes, as well as a theatrical movie> Over time the series turned into a media franchise with a variety of OVAs, films, stage plays and even a live action film.

The story of the series tells of a young boy named Ryoma Echizen, at only 12 years old he has achieved much in the States as a tennis prodigy. Now he has made the decision to return to Japan in order to enrol in Seishun Academy or Seigaku for short and join its formidable tennis team. This is his story as he goes against different rivals in order to reach the national tournament.

Source: Anime Times