manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
written and illustrated by Ryō Azuchi. Beginning serialization in Mag Garden's ''Comic Blade'' in 2008, Softenni consists of eight volumes. An
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
adaptation by
Xebec
A xebec ( or ), also spelled zebec, was a Mediterranean sailing ship that was used mostly for trading. Xebecs had a long overhanging bowsprit and aft-set mizzen mast. The term can also refer to a small, fast vessel of the sixteenth to nineteenth ...
aired on April 7, 2011 on
Tokyo MX
JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...
and finished on June 24, 2011.
Plot
The series follows Shiratama Middle School student Asuna Harukaze and her teammates, who are all members of their school's
Soft Tennis
Soft tennis is a racket game played on a court of two halves, separated by a net. Soft tennis originated in Japan in 1884. Like regular tennis, it is played by individuals (singles) or pairs (doubles), whose objective is to hit the ball over the ...
club. Their team are intent on winning the soft tennis national championship but must also deal with the trials, twists and turns of their comedic, adventurous school life.
Characters
;
:
:The main protagonist of the series. She's quite enthusiastic about tennis to the point she will sometimes swing around objects (including a pitchfork much to her mother's chagrin). She has a bad habit of misunderstanding certain comments made by others normally taking them as sexual innuendos. Asuna has terrible luck with the tennis court's white lines and continually trips over them as a gag. She joined the team in order to achieve the perfect woman's body and occasionally pictures herself as a much older, lewder woman.
;
:
:A headstrong girl that appears to be the most ambitious one of the group. She dreams big when it comes to the sport of tennis. Kotone has a crush on Mishimagi and tends to compete with Elizabeth when it comes to his affections. Her biggest dream is to play soft tennis at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
, unfortunately she does not know soft tennis doesn't exist in the Wimbledon tournaments.
;
:
:A very busty girl with a penchant for gluttony and current captain of the club. She has been hungry enough to attempt eating an endangered species (ie, The
Japanese Giant Salamander
The Japanese giant salamander (''Andrias japonicus'') is a species of fully aquatic giant salamander endemic to Japan. With a length of up to ,
Mag Garden
is a Japanese publishing company that focuses on manga-related publications and is also involved in the development of anime and live-action adaptations. It was founded on June 5, 2001 by Yoshihiro Hosaka along with former manga artists of Enix ...
's ''
Monthly Comic Blade
was a Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by Mag Garden. It was first published in February 2002 and was sold on the 30 of each month until July 2014. It restarted in September 2014 as a free online magazine titled ''Online Magazine Comic B ...
'' magazine from 2008. The series will be added to legal manga reading site JManga on June 5, 2012.
Anime
An
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
television series was announced in December 2010 in ''Comic Blade'' and confirmed to begin the following spring, with 12 episodes. It aired on Tokyo MX on April 7, 2011 and finished on June 24, 2011. It is produced by
Xebec
A xebec ( or ), also spelled zebec, was a Mediterranean sailing ship that was used mostly for trading. Xebecs had a long overhanging bowsprit and aft-set mizzen mast. The term can also refer to a small, fast vessel of the sixteenth to nineteenth ...
, with character designs by Yūichi Oka, Yoshikazu Iwanami as sound director, and
Ryouki Kamitsubo
is a Japanese director and storyboard artist best known for co-directing ''Hidamari Sketch'' with Akiyuki Shinbo.
Career
Kamitsubo began his career in the anime industry as a photographer and episode director with studios Gonzo (company), Gonzo ...
as director. Two songs are used for the opening and ending themes of the anime, by Ultra-Prism with Shiratama-chū Soft Tennis Club, and by
Kanae Itō
is a Japanese voice actress and singer from Nagano Prefecture.
Biography
After graduating from high school, Ito attended thAmusement Media Academyin 2007. She was a member of the groups and , before they were disbanded between December 16, 200 ...
respectively. The anime has been licensed in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
by
Sentai Filmworks
Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...