In the OVA Another Story's "Prince of Naniwa" Part 1 and 2, the Seigaku tennis club minus Ryoma, travels to Osaka to have a joint training session with Shitenhoji's tennis club during the summer after the National Tournament.
Ryoma is shown to be in New York noticing his adopted brother practicing tennis on a wall with a ball filled with hard rocks.
Ryoma is interested and is seen walking towards his brother.
Some time later, he is seen arriving in an airport in Japan, most likely Kansai International Airport because Ryoma is next shown meeting Tooyama Kintaro in Osaka.
They have a 'match' after Kintaro tells Ryoma that the loser will be treating the winner with takoyaki- their match actually being a rally of a ball through the city of Osaka wildly going over rivers and bridges.
Ryoma and Kintaro are rallying a ball through on an overpass when Oishi, Kikumaru, and Kawamura notice Ryoma and are surprised that he is in Osaka.
Ryoma and Kintaro's rally is stopped when Kikumaru catches Ryoma's returned ball with his hand.
When the 3rd year regulars plus Coach Ryuzaki and Kintaro question Ryoma back at the inn at night as to why he was in Osaka, Ryoma replies that he just wants to eat some real takoyaki.
While some of the 3rd years suggest that they tell Momoshiro and Kaidoh that Ryoma is in Osaka, Tezuka replies that if they told the two 2nd years the news, they would never realize what they had to realize.
Later on, after Momoshiro and Kaidoh realize that they needed to work with the 1st and 2nd years of Seigaku as a team, they decide to hold their delayed training matches with Shitenhoji.
Just when Ishida Gin hits a 108th degree Hadoukyu to Mizuno and Arai, Ryoma shows up and returns the ball, surprising everyone who thought Ryoma was in New York.
Momoshiro and Kaidoh ask Ryoma why he was in Japan, and Ryoma tells them because he was worried about his senpais, much to the two 2nd year's dismay.
Ryoma and Kintaro end up playing a match, the result unknown.
After the training session ends, the Seigaku tennis club heads back to Tokyo on a train from Osaka.
Inui Sadaharu says that Ryoma was on an airplane back to New York already.
In the ending credits, Ryoma is seen in a cab in New York, only to see Ryoga outside the window.
Ryoma opens the cab door and smiles seeing Ryoga and the song ends with Ryoma on a street tennis court serving a ball, most likely to his brother.
Ryoma is shown to be in New York noticing his adopted brother practicing tennis on a wall with a ball filled with hard rocks.
Ryoma is interested and is seen walking towards his brother.
Some time later, he is seen arriving in an airport in Japan, most likely Kansai International Airport because Ryoma is next shown meeting Tooyama Kintaro in Osaka.
They have a 'match' after Kintaro tells Ryoma that the loser will be treating the winner with takoyaki- their match actually being a rally of a ball through the city of Osaka wildly going over rivers and bridges.
Ryoma and Kintaro are rallying a ball through on an overpass when Oishi, Kikumaru, and Kawamura notice Ryoma and are surprised that he is in Osaka.
Ryoma and Kintaro's rally is stopped when Kikumaru catches Ryoma's returned ball with his hand.
When the 3rd year regulars plus Coach Ryuzaki and Kintaro question Ryoma back at the inn at night as to why he was in Osaka, Ryoma replies that he just wants to eat some real takoyaki.
While some of the 3rd years suggest that they tell Momoshiro and Kaidoh that Ryoma is in Osaka, Tezuka replies that if they told the two 2nd years the news, they would never realize what they had to realize.
Later on, after Momoshiro and Kaidoh realize that they needed to work with the 1st and 2nd years of Seigaku as a team, they decide to hold their delayed training matches with Shitenhoji.
Just when Ishida Gin hits a 108th degree Hadoukyu to Mizuno and Arai, Ryoma shows up and returns the ball, surprising everyone who thought Ryoma was in New York.
Momoshiro and Kaidoh ask Ryoma why he was in Japan, and Ryoma tells them because he was worried about his senpais, much to the two 2nd year's dismay.
Ryoma and Kintaro end up playing a match, the result unknown.
After the training session ends, the Seigaku tennis club heads back to Tokyo on a train from Osaka.
Inui Sadaharu says that Ryoma was on an airplane back to New York already.
In the ending credits, Ryoma is seen in a cab in New York, only to see Ryoga outside the window.
Ryoma opens the cab door and smiles seeing Ryoga and the song ends with Ryoma on a street tennis court serving a ball, most likely to his brother.
He is greatly admired by his classmates (although he falls asleep in his English classes).
Sport other than tennis that he is also skilled in is Table Tennis (Tennis vs Ping Pong), bowling (Prince of Bowling), and billiards (The Prince of Billiards).
His abilities in beach volleyball, however, may be questioned.
When the Seigaku students go to the beach during the anime series, Ryoma plays well when paired with Kaidoh (Cheap Housing Beach Volleyball).
However, he plays quite poorly in the OVA when paired with Tezuka.
In the same event in the manga, Ryoma, paired with Rokkaku's Kentaro Aoi, plays decently only after activating Muga no Kyōchi.
It is possible however, that the second time, they were using a beach ball, which was too light for any tennis related moves.
Ryoma faces Tanishi Kei in Singles 3, and shows his souvenir from America - the COOL Drive.
Ryoma continuously uses Drive C which everyone believes to be his COOL Drive, but he reveals that his COOL Drive has twice the spin of Drive Cs.
However, Tanishi's Big Bang Serve allows him to win all of his service games, while Ryoma manages to win all of his, forcing a tiebreak.
It is there that Ryoma manages to return the Big Bang Serve.
Ryoma had not let on to the fact that the serve had been weakening in power as the games progressed; as such, Tanishi was unaware of his own weakness, allowing Ryoma to get a return ace.
Finally showing the true COOL Drive, Tanishi attempts to return it before it can land, however, when the ball hits Tanishi's raquet the amazing spin he puts on it forces the ball to greatly hit Tanishi's face.
Ryoma takes the first win for Seigaku.
Ryoma usually slides up near the net and then jumps to perform the Drive B.
However, during his match against Aoi Kentarō, Ryoma also uses a Drive B when he is still sliding on the ground.
He then uses the force made by the ball to go even faster.
Though it grants him more speed, this version lacks the regular Drive B height; due to the topsin, it curves towards the ground instead of going out.
It may be defeated by direct smash.
This is Ryoma's first original shot (as opposed to moves he copies from other players), and is first used in his match against Fuji Yūta.
Besides the twist serve, it probably is his most notable shot, In the English dub, it has been renamed Drive V.
However, after throwing the ball up into the air to serve it, the body jumps forward to hit the ball, resulting in a fast serve.
It's not his serve at all, Matsudaira Chikao, who is in Court 10, used his 'best and fastest' serve, which Ryoma, in return, commented how slow it was, and used it after letting Matsudaira enjoy his 10 minutes of fame.
Echizen Ryoma
Kanji -
越前 リョーマ
Romaji -
Echizen Ryōma
Nicknames -
Prince of Tennis
Samurai Jr.
Super Rookie of the East
Super Freshman
Seigaku's Pillar of Support
Ochibi (by Kikumaru Eiji)
Chibisuke (Ryoga Echizen)
Brat (by Akutsu Jin)
Koshimae (Kintarō Tōyama)
Tennis No Ojisama (by Keigo Atobe)
Seishonen (by Nanjirō Echizen)
Samurai (by Ken)
Heralded Newcomer (by Arai Masashi)
School and Class -
Seishun Academy (1st Year), 1-2 #4
Height (cm) and Blood Type -
151, O
Birthday -
December 24
Notable Relatives -
Nanjiro Echizen (Father)
Rinko Echizen (Mother)
Ryoga Echizen (Brother)
Nanako Meino (Cousin)
In the OVA, Ryoma tried to use the twist serve in a slanted court, which resulted in the bounce of the serve being too weak and making it easy to return (basically, it failed
Ryoma then adjusted his grip to make the twist serve bounce as it would normally in a court, and when used in a regular court, it became an irregular bounce.
He uses it on Sasabe - the older brother.
*It only appears in The Prince Of Tennis OVA Episode 27, which most known as The Prince Of Tennis OVA: A Day On Survival Mountain
He played in Singles 3, beating Yuuta Fuji 6-4.
It was during this match that he invented Drive B, his first original signature shot.
He also utilized the Super Rising, but it was not perfected.
In the semi-finals, Ryoma did not get to play as Ginka forfeited because of a "stomach ache" (they were afraid of Seigaku's regulars).
In the finals, against Yamabuki, he played in Singles 2, beating Yamabuki's Jin Akutsu 6-4, leading his team to the Kanto tournament.
It was in this stage that Ryoma perfected the Super Rising and invented a new shot, Drive A.
It was here that Ryoma had his revenge (Akutsu had come to Seigaku and served rocks at Echizen and cut his face).
Ryoma was placed in Singles 1, as Tezuka had played in Singles 2 against Kabaji Munehiro.
Both teams get two matches a piece, and Ryoma's opponent was Atobe Keigo, and very soon he proved a tough nut to crack, as Muga no Kyouchi did not work on such a high level player who could handle most techniques like Atobe.
Atobe took the first 4 games with his World of Ice but Ryoma countered it with his "Samurai Zone", forcing the ball towards him.
The game gradually turned into a tiebreak.
They both went all out, and soon the score was 117-117.
Both players had collapsed to exhaustion.
Atobe stood up first, but in the last 12 seconds of the service time, Ryoma manages to stand up and hit 2 twist serves, winning the game 7-6.
After that, Ryoma jumped over the net to shave Atobe's hair (from a bet they placed earlier), but Atobe shaved his own hair despite Taki Haginosuke's objections.
Ryoma uses Drive Cs which everyone believes to be his COOL drive, but he reveals that his COOL drive has twice the spin of Drive Cs.
However, Tanishi's Big Bang Serve allows him to win all of his service games, while Ryoma manages to win all of his, forcing a tiebreak.
It is there that Ryoma manages to return the Big Bang Serve.
Ryoma had not let on to the fact that the serve had been weakening in power as the games progressed; as such, Tanishi was unaware of his own weakness, allowing Ryoma to get a return ace.
Finally showing the true COOL drive, Tanishi attempts to return it before it can land, however when the ball hits Tanishi's raquet the amazing spin he puts on it forces the ball to greatly hit Tanishi's face.
Ryoma takes the first win for Seigaku.