» If Elvis was Japanese and played tennis . . . :: The Pop Diner

Sep202006

If Elvis was Japanese and played tennis . . .

Filed under Uncategorized by teresa santoski at 8:17 am

They sing, they dance, they play tennis - and all at the same time. Another musical stage phenomenon, courtesy of Japan.

You wouldn’t think that "Prince of Tennis" would work as a musical. It started off as a manga chronicling the dramatic struggles and humorous misadventures of the tennis team at Seigaku. Japan, especially the female population thereof, was completely taken with these unbelievable junior high schoolers (this guy is supposed to be 14 years old), which spawned an anime, a radio show, live appearances for the voice actors and more merchandise than you can shake a stick at. So naturally, a musical was the next logical step.

The musical basically follows the manga and translates the powerful and oh-so-slightly impossible tennis matches into song and dance. We’re not talking Rogers and Hammerstein here - we’re talking disco, early 90s techno, and Elvis impersonations. Sounds a little ridiculous, right? That’s exactly why it’s tremendously fun to watch.

In honor of Tenimyu’s (Prince of Tennis + Musical = Tenimyu) third cast change and upcoming musical based on the matches against Rokaku, I present you with some of Tenimyu’s more awesome moments, courtesy of YouTube. Safe for work, providing you don’t laugh too loudly or get up and dance along.

Atobe (played by Kazuki Katou), the captain of Hyotei’s tennis team, sings about how awesome he is in the disco anthem "Ore-sama no Boogie-Woogie" (roughly, Fabulous Me’s Boogie Woogie) and makes everybody be his backup dancers.

Momo (played by Kaji Masaki), Seigaku’s resident hothead, tells everyone how freaking awesome *he* is in "Yappa Saikou" (roughly, After All, I’m Outstanding). Team captain Tezuka (Shirota Yu) gets annoyed and makes everyone run laps.

The Jimis (played by Hayashi Iori and Yazaki Hiroshi, slicked-back hair and puffy hair respectively), outstanding doubles pair from Yamabuki, sing about how ordinary they are and nobody ever pays attention to them in "Oretachi Jimis" (roughly, We’re Pretty Ordinary).

And last but not least, one with subtitles. This is from Dream Live 1st, which is more of a musical revue of songs from past musicals than a musical itself. Here, the first cast joins Taka-san (played by Abe Yoshitsugu, who also does serious theatre) in "Burning Now". Taka-san is very mild-mannered until he gets his hands on a tennis racket, at which point he kind of goes insane and starts screaming nonsense phrases in Engrish.

Enjoy the cheese. :)

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Teresa 3 years ago 1 point
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Thanks for the correction - that was one of the titles I hadn't seen in Japanese, so I made a guess based on one of the more common phrases in the song. :)

The actors definitely do put *a lot* into these musicals. Poor Kazuki looks exhausted in the Hyotei winter backstage clips, but he was still so polite to the camera - even when Araki dodged the camera and passed the buck to him. :)

I still can't believe they're on their third cast - it feels like we barely had time to get to know and appreciate the second cast, and now we're transitioning to a new group of actors all over again, even a new Ryouma. It'll be so strange not to see Endo or Yanagi up there. I'm sure the new cast will do an excellent job, though.

In my mind, though, no one will ever be able to replace Kimeru as Fuji. He had the closed eyes and delicate air of menace downpat. ^_^

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Peanut Butter Spread 3 years ago 1 point
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Momo's song' actually called "Power Up de Ikou"! ^^ He sings it to get himself ready for his match between Tezuka.

The actor that plays Tezuka, Shirota Yuu, has an amazing voice. There's a youtube clip of him singing "Yudan Sezu ni Ikou" and his voice is similar to the Phantom of the Opera's.

As cheesy as the musicals are, they're not too bad one you get used to lots of guys dancing on a stage with tennis rackets. The actors have all worked really hard on them and that's why the fans love not only the musicals, but the actors even more.

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