I went to this Japanese Library today. I discovered it a few weeks ago and borrowed 3 volumes of Hikaru no Go and 2 volumes of Bakuman. I returned those today, and took out 5 random volumes of Prince of Tennis manga. I didn’t read the regular PoT manga – just the last few chapters (before the anime came out) and the New Prince of Tennis manga that they have out now.

Anyways, I watched a random PoT episode during dinner and it happened to be a Junior Invitational Team episode. And then I randomly remembered…that the Junior Invitational Team is usually based on the members that make it to the Nationals right? It was just filler in the anime and done before the Nationals in the anime….but supposing the Junior Invitational occurred after the Nationals?

My original dream team (of the players up until the Nationals was already described here): Prince of Tennis : My Dream Junior Invitational Team + Naruto : Rock Lee VS the Chuunin Exam. This is at their current skill level of the series (before the Nationals).
Yukimura Seiichi (S1)
Tezuka Kuministu (S2)
Echizen Ryoma (S3)
Atobe Keigo & Fuji Syusuke (D1)
Sanada Genichirou & Kirihara Akaya (D2)
Tachibana Kippei (R)

So what if the members were based on all the members from the Nationals too [at the point of skill level just after the Nationals] ?

[Note] : While making my list, I realized that there are only 2 new teams of characters, the characters from Higa Middle School and the characters from Shitenhoji…so the list is actually pretty similar. Tho there are quite a few skilled players from Shitenhoji.

Anyways, let’s start thinking of contenders [15]:
Tezuka Kuministu [Seigaku]
Echizen Ryoma [Seigaku]
Fuji Syusuke [Seigaku]
Yukimura Seiichi [Rikkaidai]
Sanada Genichirou [Rikkaidai]
Renji Yanagi [Rikkaidai]
Kirihara Akaya [Rikkaidai]
Tachibana Kippei [Fudomine]
Kiyosumi Sengoku [Yamabuki]
Akutsu Jin [Yamabuki]
Atobe Keigo [Hyotei Academy]
Oshitari Yushi [Hyotei Academy]
Kintaro Toyama [Shitenhoji]
Shiraishi Kuranosuke [Shitenhoji]
Chitose Senri [Shitenhoji]

I dunno if Akutsu Jin should be there among the rest…probably not, oh well, he gets cut in the next list:
Cutting the guys that I don’t think are as good as the others gives me these [10]
Tezuka Kuministu [Seigaku]
Echizen Ryoma [Seigaku]
Fuji Syusuke [Seigaku]
Yukimura Seiichi [Rikkaidai]
Sanada Genichirou [Rikkaidai]
Shiraishi Kuranosuke [Shitenhoji]
Kintaro Toyama [Shitenhoji]
Maybe – Tachibana Kippei [Fudomine]
Maybe – Kirihara Akaya [Rikkaidai]
Maybe – Atobe Keigo [Hyotei Academy]

I need 8 tho….I think I’ll cut Kirihara Akaya and Tachibana Kippei. I think they’re the weakest of this group.
Now, looking at these 8….who’s S1 to S3 [Singles] and D1 and D2 [Doubles] and R [Reserve]…
Hmmm….okay this is my lineup. I’m not TOO happy about some of the choices though.

S1 – Echizen Ryoma [Seigaku]
S2 – Yukimura Seiichi [Rikkaidai]
S3 – Kintaro Toyama [Shitenhoji]
D1 – Fuji Syusuke [Seigaku] & Shiraishi Kuranosuke [Shitenhoji]
D2 – Tezuka Kuministu [Seigaku] & Sanada Genichirou [Rikkaidai]
R – Atobe Keigo [Hyotei Academy]

I think S1 and S2 are givens. No rational behind that.
I really struggled with S3…Kintaro didn’t really do well against Yukimura, S2. But given the fight he put up with Echizen just before, I think he could have taken Tezuka or Sanada, my contenders for S3. Atobe Keigo fits nicely into the Reserve spot because while he’s strong, Tezuka/Sanada level, I don’t think he’s there yet with everyone else. I’d be curious how he’d play against Kintaro or Shiraishi though.
The real fun is D1 and D2. While I believe that the D2 members, Tezuka and Sanada are stronger than Fuji and Shiraishi individually, I think that Fuji and Shiraishi would have much better teamwork than Tezuka and Sanada, who are both skilled but definitely individual type players.

I <3 Fuji. I think he could beat everyone except Echizen and Yukimura....but I like that his personality could do Singles and Doubles. I think his greatest asset on the team is being able to play doubles whereas everyone else is more of a Singles player. For D2, Tezuka and Sanada is kinda like putting Sanada and Atobe together...except with the latter, neither really respected one another. Atobe didn't respect Sanada's play and Sanada didn't think Atobe was good enough. On the other hand, Sanada knows Tezuka is good enough, and would thus respect him. Tezuka, not one to get careless, would play well with anyone...but his play style is complete, and thus better suited for someone that knows him and is less impulsive [Sanada > Atobe].

I would like a Reserve Doubles to be Echizen and Kintaro cuz I think a double super rookie combo would be awesome. It’s unfortunate though, because Echizen is bad at doubles.

What do you think of my list? Agree/Disagree?

/off to watch something