Tennis no Ōjisama - Futari no Samurai

Infobox_Film
name = The Prince of Tennis - The Two Samurai: The first game


caption = Prince of Tennis - Futari no Samurai movie poster
genre = Shonen/Sports
director = Takayuki Hamana
producer = Tetsu Kawaguchi
Susumu Matsuyama
Tomoko Takahashi
writer = Original story:
Takeshi Konomi
Screenplay:
Jun Maekawa
music = Cheru Watanabe
cinematography = Hisashi Ezura
editing = Junichi Uematsu
distributor = Shochiku
released = January 29, 2005 (Japan)
runtime = 60 min.
language = Japanese

nihongo|"The Prince of Tennis - The Two Samurai: The First Game"|テニスの王子様 二人のサムライ The First Game|Tenisu no Ōji-sama Futari no Samurai The First Game is the first "Prince of Tennis" film. It is probably set after Ryoma returns from the US Open proven by him saying that he had been on a cruise during the Open hinting he had already been there.

Plot

Synopsis

The Seishun Academy Middle School tennis regulars are invited on a cruise by Sakurafubuki Hikomaro to play a match with his own tennis team. All seems well at first, but then a new character steps in. A character introduces himself as Ryoma's big bro, Ryoga Echizen. Everybody is flabbergasted, including Ryoma himself. Then an even bigger challenge presents itself. The team find out that they are actually part of an illegal gambling plot. If they purposely lose their matches the next day, Sakurafubuki will rake in a lot of money from people that have betted on Seigaku winning. But, should they choose to win the matches, the team faces not returning to Japan in one piece. Tezuka refuses to give in and lose, as does the rest of the team.

Summary

The Seishun Academy Middle School tennis regulars are invited on a cruise by Sakurafubuki Hikomaro to play a match with his own tennis team. All seems well at first, but then a new character steps in. A character introduces himself as Ryoma's big bro, Ryoga Echizen. Everybody is flabbergasted, including Ryoma himself. Then an even bigger challenge presents itself. The team find out that they are actually part of an illegal gambling plot. If they purposely lose their matches the next day, Sakurafubuki will rake in a lot of money from people that have betted on Seigaku winning. But, should they choose to win the matches, the team faces not returning to Japan in one piece. Everyone on the ship are either gamblers or SakuraFubuki's henchmen. Therefore, they have to rely on each other while managing to save SakuraFubuki's hired tennis players too. The Seigaku team refuses to give in, and instead forms a plan to escape. The players held hostage who had finished their matches managed to escape, leaving Fuji, Tezuka, and Echizen behind temporarily. Echizen plays last, against Echizen Ryoga while Fuji and Tezuka go to find the rest of the team. Echizen Ryoga decides to betray Sakurafubuki in order to play a match against his brother to see who's the better player. Echizen wins the match in the end. Sakurafubuki is arrested as are his henchmen, and the Seigaku tennis players are seen on a boat taking them to safety. Echizen Ryoga says goodbye to Ryoma, saying he's off to find his grand dream.In the movie, Yuushi is seen with Gakuto calling Atobe, complaining about why they weren't invited for the cruise ship. Atobe later finds out for himself that it was all a scam.

Characters

Ryoga Echizen

nihongo|"Ryoga Echizen"|越前 龍雅|Echizen Ryōga is the antagonist turned protagonist in the film. Ryoga is the adopted son of Nanjiro Echizen, a former professional tennis player. He bears a strong resemblance to Ryoma with his hazel eyes and black-green hair. While the Echizen family were in America, Ryoga was taken in by Nanjiro and lived with them for a time. His tennis technique is modeled on that of Nanjiro. When he left the Echizen's home, he just wandered around until the evil billionaire Sakurafubuki Hikomaro hired him. In the flashbacks, it showed that he was rather close to Ryoma. At first he said that Ryoma's tennis was awful (which was true when he was about five or so). It was shown that Ryoga's skills were far superior, but as Ryoma continued to improve, Ryoga began spending more time with him. It is unknown why he ran away, possibly that he was just bored with home. Ryoga is voiced by Yuuta Yamazaki.

Trivia

trivia|width=full|date=April 2008.
* The movie premiere aired after another short movie spun off from the series, "Atobe's Gift - Tennis no Ojisama Movie Special".

* Ryoga Echizen is said to be Ryoma's older brother by adoption.

* This movie is the first time weapon violence was ever used in the Prince of Tennis series. There is usage of guns and knives, and Eiji Kikumaru is even shot at (luckily he dodges just in time).

References

External links

* [http://www.shochiku.co.jp/tenipuri/index2.html Official movie website] at Shochiku ja icon
* [http://www.tenipuri.com/main.html Official Tennis no Oujisama website] ja icon
* [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=4433 The Prince of Tennis: Two Samurais, The First Game] at Anime News Network en icon
*
* [http://www.ochibi.webs.com Unofficial English Prince of Tennis Site]

Production I.G