English Dub Review: The Prince of Tennis II: U-17 World Cup “Absolute Away Game”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Team Japan’s #2 doubles players, Yukimura and Sanada, face a daunting match as the crowd is overwhelmingly filled with supporters for Australia, the home team.

Our Take:

It looks like Team Japan is in hot water again in the World Cup. After fighting their way to victory against Team Greece, Japan is now taking on the team from the land down under, Australia. Unfortunately, this could be their biggest challenge yet, aside from Team Germany and dealing with Ryoma’s decision to play for Team U.S.A.  

Team Australia has some tough players for Japan to beat, but that’s not the only issue we’re facing. Australia has an overwhelming crowd filled with the country’s fans that could mess up their away team’s focus. Even worse is that the Australian players are experts on playing on the defensive. Thankfully, Yukimura and Sanada have plenty of tricks up their sleeves to combat the opposing team’s defense.

One of those tricks, in particular, is Sanada’s Double Black Dragon Smash ability, which allows him to control the ball’s trajectory. However, it didn’t take too long for Australia’s team captain and Chris to outsmart Sanada’s unstoppable technique, resulting in Japan resorting to defensive measures. Shortly after Team Australia lost concentration, Japan’s #2 doubles team successfully won the match.

As usual, the first match between Japan and Australia isn’t without a couple of thrilling moments to overshadow its repetitive structure. More importantly, it also represents a brief yet sweet flashback to how Yukimura first met Sanada and how they inspired each other to continue playing tennis. It’s still a welcoming addition that showcases some depth in the characters amid the sports action, even for people who haven’t gotten into the other Prince of Tennis shows.

This now brings us to the second doubles match, with Neo and Fuji playing against another Australian doubles team. However, Australia’s #1 doubles players are insanely fast, with one of them having a powerful mach serve, causing trouble for Japan’s #1 doubles team. Fortunately, it was later revealed that Atobe was playing with Fuji the entire time, thanks to Neo’s illusion ability. So it looks like things will start to heat up in next week’s exciting continuation of the match between Japan and Australia.