English Dub Review: The Prince of Tennis II: U-17 World Cup “Chess King”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Team Japan continues their match against Australia with #1 doubles. Atobe and Fuji take on a super offensive doubles pair with big serves.

Our Take:

In what seemed to be one of the biggest surprises in the U-17 World Cup, Neo and Atobe performed a shocking switch in positions thanks to the former’s illusion technique. I was pretty sure that this would be illegal in real-world doubles tennis, which shows that there’s nothing ordinary about the world of Prince of Tennis. Aside from that, we last left off with the second doubles match between Japan and Australia, which offers some players with incredible offensive skills and the captain’s sibling with a fondness for chess.

“Chess King” continues the thrilling match, with Atobe and Fuji using their heads and powerful techniques to outsmart the opposing team’s offense in a tie-breaker match. The two eventually won over Team Australia thanks to Fuji returning the mach serve and Atobe’s glass-shattering serve. However, their win in the doubles matches is just the beginning of their turnaround.

The singles match pits Japan’s Kintaro against the captain of Team Australia, Dogeous. With the two of them being hotheads, this seemed like a perfect match for them to express their tempers, mainly Dogeous. The singles match is surprisingly better than the doubles match’s conclusion due to its characters.  

Kintaro is keeping his promise to Ryoma that he’ll be the best tennis player ever despite being upset with Ryoma for leaving the team behind, which helped him win the round. However, the attention immediately shifts to the Australian team, where they share a surprisingly touching moment or two. Despite Dogeous’ rude behavior on and off the court, the group supports him until the end, especially his brother Noah, who came to watch his big brother play. The captain also has a soft spot for the bird he accidentally hit with his return. While it’s good to see each member of Team Japan have their shining moment, the episode did a decent job making sure the opposing team gets the same treatment.

“Chess King” is also the first time we finally see Ryoma play in the match. After seven episodes of sitting around and practicing, the main character finally gets to show his skills in the World Cup. It was only for a brief moment after Japan’s match, but at least it’s something. After all, the show is called The Prince of Tennis, not “Team Japan’s World Cup Quest”. Next week will see Team Japan facing off against the #2 team in the competition, Switzerland. Based on the result in the doubles matches, it looks like they know why Switzerland earned that position.