The Prince of Tennis

is a Japanese manga series created by Takeshi Konomi. The manga was first published in Japan in Shueisha's "Weekly Shōnen Jump" in July 1999. The publication ended on March 3, 2008. A total of 379 chapters were published into 42 volumes. As of volume 40, the manga has sold over 40 million copies in Japan. The new manga series, called "New Prince of Tennis", began publication in the "Jump Square" magazine on March 4, 2009. The story in the new manga series takes place some months after the end of the original manga. Viz Media got the license to distribute the series in English in North America.
There is an anime series based on this manga. It was directed by Takayuki Hamana and animated by Trans Arts. It was co-produced by Nihon Ad Systems &amp; TV Tokyo. The anime aired across Japan on Animax and TV Tokyo network from October 10, 2001 to March 30, 2005. It had a total of 178 episodes, as well as a movie. In April 2006, an original video animation (OVA) began to be released on DVD. The beginning of the second OVA series was released on June 22, 2007. It was released almost 3 months after the end of the first. The second OVA ended on January 25, 2008. The third and final OVA started on April 25, 2008.
"The Prince of Tennis" anime came in twenty-seventh place in a survey done by TV Asahi. They also conducted an online web poll, in which "The Prince of Tennis" placed eighteenth. Almost a year later, in another online poll conducted by TV Asahi the anime came in eighth place.