From the back cover:
Seishun Academy is in the finals of the District Preliminaries and the only player standing in their way is mean, violent, and ill-tempered Jin Akutsu of Yamabuki Junior High! Ryoma desperately needs to toughen up mentally, as Jin has figured out a way to punish him with his powerful shots. Meanwhile, Seishun holds more intra-squad games, and this time someone loses his spot on the starting team…!
Review:
Looking at individual elements in this volume, it makes me wonder why I like this series so much and can’t wait to have thirty-plus volumes to reread and wallow in. Ryoma is quite snotty, and in his match with Jin, I was rooting for him to lose (as I have trouble remembering outcomes of matches from the anime). Then there was a rather pointless chapter where Ryoma beat a basketball player in a free-throw contest by whacking a tennis ball with a broom…
I enjoyed the intra-squad chapters a lot, though, particularly Inui and Tezuka’s match. Inui is alright, though I think his tennis style is a little cheesy, but Tezuka’s my favorite character, and I’m always glad when he gets to be all badass.
So, kind of cheesy, yes, but oh so totally addictive.
