English Dub Review: The Prince of Tennis II: U-17 World Cup “Beyond the Bible”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
The U-17 World Cup semi-final matches continue with France versus Japan. Can Kimijima and Shiraishi beat the aesthetically-inclined Tristan and Timothee of France in both tennis and charm?

Our Take:
The tournament is nearing its conclusion, with the semi-final rounds currently underway. But, more importantly, Ryoma has finally returned to the path he truly belongs in: playing with his friends in Team Japan. That’s a pretty sweet way to start the show’s last few episodes. However, it looks like Team Japan is still going to keep their guards up as they play against a more formidable team from France.
The entirety of the episode consists of a doubles match between Team Japan and Team France. Kimijima and Shiraishi play for Japan, while Tristan and Timothee play for France. For Japan to overcome France, however, they not only have to deal with Tristan and Timothee’s athletic skills, especially the double fake-outs, but also out-charm them. Spoiler alert: They pull off different poses every time they score throughout the first set. I got to give credit where it’s due. These players do know how to charm their audiences with their poses.
However, the match isn’t the only focus of the episode’s plot. “Beyond the Bible” also places its attention on Shiraishi’s personal quest to find a new balance in his bible tennis style. He originally had an equal balance of speed, power, mind, and technique. Unfortunately, from what he learned, it might not be enough to beat another player with a much larger balance. So Shiraishi formed a new equilibrium by copying the skills and movements of every member of Team Japan. Known as the “Star Bible”, the balance helped Shiraishi and Kimijima lead the team to a tie-breaker match.
Unfortunately, their efforts weren’t enough to claim victory as Kimijima failed to get his ball over the net, resulting in Team France winning the doubles match. But all that matters is that Shiraishi succeeded in forming a new balance to use in his upcoming games. This is another episode that represents a decent character-focused plot amid the tennis action. It might not elevate its repetitive formula by much, but it does have plenty of charming men on the court, which is enough to satisfy (and humor) me.