Title: Ace wo Nerae!
Translation: Aim for the Ace!
Broadcast dates: 1/15/04 - 3/11/04
Number of episodes: 9
Genre: Sports
Cast: Ueto Aya, Yoshizawa Hisashi, Matsumoto Rio, Uchino Masaaki
Plot: Hiromi Oka (Ueto) has decided to join the tennis team at her new high school. Despite being her first time playing, she has caught the eye of the new tennis coach.
What is good: You get really caught up in the last half of the series.
What is bad: The beginning is very slow and the outcome is rather predictable.
Letter rating: B-
Overall: I generally don't watch a lot of sports series. I'm just not a big sports fan. However, once we got through the "Hiromi sucks at tennis!" theme that looms over the first half of the series, I found myself excited for the next episode. Unfortunately, since the series is so short, it is filled with predictable outcomes. Even when something surprising happens, it gets 'fixed' so that you end up with what you knew would happen. As a whole, it's not an awful show. It would just be nice if it was a little longer so things could be shaken up once in awhile.