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Prince of Tennis Manga Franchise Gets New Anime Film in Early Spring 2020
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
A stage presentation at the Jump Festa '19 event revealed on Saturday that Takeshi Konomi's The Prince of Tennis and The New Prince of Tennis manga are inspiring a new anime film. The film, titled Ryōma! Shinsei Gekijōban Tennis no Ōji-sama (Ryōma! Rebirth Movie The Prince of Tennis) will open in Japan in early spring 2020. The film will feature a completely original story that will take place in the three-month time period between the events at the end of the The Prince of Tennis manga and the start of The New Prince of Tennis manga.
Konomi himself drew the teaser visual below.
The film's logo below has a stained-glass motif that features theme colors of each school in the franchise.
Takeshi Konomi serialized The Prince of Tennis manga's original run in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1999 to 2008. The manga followed middle school tennis player Ryōma Echizen as he battles rivals to reach the national tournament. That original manga already inspired a 2001-2005 television anime, two anime feature films and a theatrical short, various video anime projects, a live-action film, a live-action television series in China, and a popular stage musical series.
Konomi then launched The New Prince of Tennis manga series in Shueisha's Jump Square magazine in 2009. The story picks up after the national tournament, when Ryōma joins a select group of middle school players at Japan's top training camp for players under 17. Shueisha published the 24th volume on September 4 and will publish the 25th volume on January 4. This ongoing sequel manga spawned its own 2012 television The Prince of Tennis II anime series. The Prince of Tennis II OVA vs. Genius 10 series then ran for five volumes from October 2014 to June 2015.
Most recently, the franchise has inspired the Tennis no Ōjisama BEST GAMES!! original video anime (OVA) project. The project retells the story of the franchise's top matches. The first OVA began its limited two-week screening in Japan in August, and shipped in Japan on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on October 26. The second OVA will get a two-week event screening in Japan starting on April 5, and then will ship on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on June 25. The project will also have a third OVA.
Viz Media published the 42nd and final volume of Konomi's original Prince of Tennis manga run in North America in 2011. Crunchyroll streamed The Prince of Tennis II television anime into several countries as it aired in Japan, and it then streamed the spinoff original video anime projects.
Update: Added better image of teaser visual from film's website.
Sources: Comic Natalie, Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web, Jump Festa '19 livestream
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