anime episode summaries

Kevin and Ryoma are about to fight each other but Tezuka stops them. Ryoma won’t listen to Tezuka so Tezuka slaps him. Kevin is pissed when he learned that Ryoma won’t be playing in the invitationals. Ryoma is frustrated about not being selected and not being able to play against Kevin. Ryoma visits Tezuka and begs him to let him play. Tezuka sees Ryoma’s passion for tennis rekindled so he tells Ryoma that he can be part of the national team as a substitute.

The Camp comes to an end. Sakaki announces the members of the National Team. They are: Atobe Keigo (Hyotei), Sanada Genichirou (Rikkaidai), Oshitari Yuushi (Hyotei), Kikumaru Eiji (Seigaku), Sengoku Kiyosumi (Yamabuki), Kirihara Akaya (Rikkaidai), and Fuji Syuusuke (Seigaku).

Akutsu challenges Kevin to a match. Yamabuki’s Dan rushes towards Akutsu but runs into Seigaku, who are on the way home from camp. Echizen goes to where Akutsu and Kevin are, with Kawamura and Tezuka behind him. Kevin reproduces Echizen’s match with Akustu, move by move. Kevin is able to do Echizen’s twist serve, drive A, drive B, split step, etc. Akutsu loses, and Echizen and Kevin face each other.

Still at the Tennis Camp. Everybody tries hard to get selected although Tezuka feels that Echizen is not taking things seriously. Since Echizen is hell-bent on playing a match against Tezuka, he doesn’t seem to be too interested in what’s happening right now. After Seigaku and Hyotei, Kevin causes trouble at Yamabuki, Fudomine, Rokkaku, St. Rudolph, and the other schools as well. The truth about Kevin Smith is known. Apparently, he’s the captain of the American team they will be facing next. Kevin Smith’s dad was somebody Nanjirou defeated a long time ago and Kevin is in Japan to seek revenge. Echizen doesn’t seem to care about Kevin though. The coaches submit their recommendations. Tezuka recommends just Kirihara and Sengoku from his team, to the surprise of the two other coaches because he didn’t submit Echizen’s name.

Kevin, a brat from America, goes around the different schools, challenging them to a match. First he goes to Seigaku looking for Echizen but since Echizen is at the camp, Kevin fights Arai instead (who incidentally was bossing the remaining members around, pretending to be Tezuka). The cocky gaijin defeats Arai and goes to Hyotei next where he beats whoever was there, too.

Meanwhile, Tezuka makes Kikumari and Ootori play against Oishi and Shishido in a doubles match (Tezuka intentionally split up the famous pairs to gauge each player’s ability). Because of Kikumaru’s mood-setting skills (whatever that is), Tezuka recommends him to be part of the national team. Kikumari and Ootori win by the way.

Who is the true king?Tezuka returns as the substitute coach for Ryuzaki’s group. Non-Seigaku members of Ryuzaki’s group underestimate Tezuka so Tezuka challenges them and they end up getting beaten pretty badly by the Tezuka zone (the Seigaku members just sucked up to him). A welcoming party is thrown for Tezuka (Horio was the emcee, wearing a big funny red bow tie; some of the players sang him a song… PoT boyband!, Inui and Fuji performed a magic trick; Oishii did a skit; they didn’t serve food though, just juice). Tezuka’s return inspires Atobe and Sanada to practice harder (is it just me or does Sanada look like Kaidoh without his cap on?). Atobe and Sanada hold a match to see who between them is Tezuka’s true rival. The others skip practice just to watch Atobe and Sanada’s match. Because of their excellent play, Sakaki-sensei (Hyoutei’s coach) stops them at the middle of the match (they were tied) saying they have been selected for the Invitationals.

Sengoku Kiyosumi, Reborn!

Ryuzaki-sensei is confined at the hospital. Seigaku regulars visit her but she shoos them away because they should be practicing instead of wasting their time on her.

Sengoku: "Boxing opened a path for me to
change my tennis."Back at the camp, Ryuzaki’s group holds practice matches. Sengoku challenges Momoshiro. As Sengoku takes off his jersey, everybody admires his muscles. They notice that Sengoku has gotten faster and more powerful. Apparently, he took up boxing after the Kantou Tournament that’s why his brand new spanking moves are reminiscent of boxing. All their games are finished in approximately 3 minutes, the length of one round in boxing. Even Momoshiro’s (Sengoku calls him Omoshiro, which means interesting) Jack Knife and Dunk Smash could not faze Sengoku and in the end, Momoshiro gets pounded and Sengoku wins. After the match, everybody decides that although his playing style changed, Sengoku’s happy-go-lucky personality hasn’t.

Fillers for the first half of the episode (*rolls eyes*). Sengoku-san and Bobby Max start their match. Bobby is this huge ugly muscled guy who looks like a blond gorilla. At the beginning of their match, Bobby tells Sengoku, “Hey sissy, I’m gonna beat you flat” (in English). Sengoku pretends he doesn’t understeand but he does. Sengoku starts with his super spinning serve but Bobby returns it effortlessly. Tezuka is coaching for the Japanese team. Sengoku is unable return any of Bobby’s powerful shots. US leads, 1-0.

Bobby serves but Sengoku returns. Sengoku uses his fancy boxing-inspired footwork. Sengoku looks for the enemy’s weakness and assumes that the enemy’s lower body must be weak because of his muscular arms and torso. Sengoku aims for that weakness but Sengoku’s proven wrong since Bobby was able to return Sengoku’s shot. Game reaches 2-0 and Sengoku still hasn’t scored a point. Seigaku admits that Bobby is amazing. Inui tells them why Sengoku is at a disadvantage (because of the difference in physiques and because Bobby has an unorthodox playing style). Baker contemplates how Bobby was an all-around athlete in high school in the States. Game Max, 3-0. Change court. Bobby provokes Sengoku some more and tells him, “Scared, aren’t you? Go home to your momma.” Sengoku just smiles and says thanks (what a man!). Eiji asks Echizen to translate; Echizen explains; Eiji gets frustrated. Game continues. Sengoku slips and thinks he made a mistake but the ball actually hits the top of the net and drops to Bobby’s side. Point for Sengoku. Lucky! Bobby gets pissed, grabs the net, and howls (very much like a gorilla), “No count!” He starts arguing with the referee but the referee just tells him to go back (what? no technical foul?). Sengoku smiles (did he think of a plan?).