There are plenty of sports manga and anime whose fictional teams’ paraphernalia can be purchased in the real world. The teams might be fictional, but our love for them is as real as that which we may have for any flesh-and-blood sports team, and if you’re a Prince of Tennis fan the good news is that you’re about the get the chance to subtly express your meta fandom by wearing one of these brand new jackets inspired by the clothing seen in the show!
Thanks to a long-running manga, multiple seasons of anime, drama CDs and a number of musicals, there are scores of Prince of Tennis fans out there all over the world. The lovable characters at Seishun Acadamy have formed amazing relationships and rivalries with a lot of other schools in their fictional tennis universe, and while protagonist Ryoma Echizen is still a firm favorite, fans have come to identify with other clubs’ members as the series has developed. It’s quite rare for secondary characters to build as big a fan base as the main characters, but Prince of Tennis seems to have achieved it pretty easily.
Now, online retailer Oath Labo is giving fans of the series a chance to wear the school colors of their favorite tennis clubs from Prince of Tennis. While there are a lot of different schools in the series, the initial run of jackets will feature five of the schools.
▼ Seishun Academy
▼ Hyotei Academy
▼ Rikkai University Junior High Department
▼ Higa Junior High School
▼ Shitenhoji Junior High School
The best thing about the jackets is that the school crests and names don’t appear on them, meaning that you can pass off your fandom as a random jacket that goes perfectly with your outfit, when in reality, you’re declaring your love for a fictional team and character. No one is going to judge you if you decide to broadcast to the world what you like, but there is a little bit of secret fun when you happen to make a random connection with someone as you bond over your mutual love of Prince of Tennis.
Fans can order the jackets online starting from October 23 at 12 p.m. JST. Each jacket will cost 5,800 yen (US$48.36), so it wouldn’t be out of the question to get one for each school and wear a different one each day. Just make sure you’re always carrying around your tennis racket in case someone challenges you to a match as you’re walking down the street.
Source: Nijimen
Top Image: YouTube/龍ヶ崎愛美
Featured/inset Images: The Prince of Tennis Site
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