Heartwarming / The Prince of Tennis

• During the National Finals Fuji finally beats Niou, who had been spending the match imitating Tezuka and Shiraishi. Fuji asks Tezuka right after if he can play a match with him. Tezuka accepts without hesitation.
• The whole episode with Fuji and his little Fangirl with emotional problems was adorable. Nice Character Development, Fuji.
• And once Eiji wins his singles match against Kai? He immediately goes to Oishi, all smiles and telling him "you say how much I've grown, Oishi?"
• Tezuka and Fuji's scenes as first graders. And the end of their anime-only duel. 'Nuff said.
• Anytime Yuuta shows up to one of Fuji's matches.
• The whole second part of the "Karupin's adventure" episode is a huge moment of heartwarming for Ryoma, who may be socially inept but simply can't withstand the thought of having his kitten away from home. Even more when Momoshiro, Tezuka, Oishi and Eiji bring Karupin back home and Ryoma almost cries in happiness.
• The last minutes of the final OAV are one Crowning Moment of Heartwarming after another. Seeing Ryoma blush and smile happily as he and his teammates celebrate their final victory is priceless, and so is seeing Yukimura comforting a crying Kirihara, and then have Sanada giving him a towel and comforting him.
• We can't forget Kawamura's return after being injured in the march with Kabaji, huh? And it's not exactly a return to tennis action, but him coming to cheer on Tezuka, who was this close to collapsing due to his injury. He does so by grabbing the Seigaku flag and waving it, despite his fomer injuries.
• The first time we heard Kabaji say something aside of "Usu". He said "Thank you". It' because Atobe organized the whole Festival to cheer Kabaji up, after he falls into depression when his beloved older sister announces her marriage.
• When Shiiba finally gets her Cool Big Sis ID with her adorable Kirk Summation towards a depressed Sakuno at the end of the Yamabuki arc.
• The relationship between Fuji Shuusuke and his brother Yuuta starts out a Tear Jerker, but slowly becomes more of a CMOH as the series progresses. After Fuji wipes the floor with Mizuki for having no consideration for Yuuta's wellbeing, the latter slowly becomes less bitter towards the former, finally reaching the point of genuine admiration when he loudly proclaims that his older brother is "awesome" after Fuji develops his Final Counter in the match against Shiraishi.
• Tezuka telling Ryoma that he'll always be Seigaku's Pillar of Support, no matter where he is. made even more heart-warming by the way they were smiling at each other
• In chapter 127 of Shinpuri, Ryoma gets pretty much kicked out of the camp for defending his doubles partner and new Big Brother Mentor Tokugawa, therefore breaking the rules. The chapter finishes with him finding Sakuno of all people, and the next one (128) is all about them trying to unwind. After many shenanigans, including Ryoma grabbing Sakuno by the hand and running away after breaking some stuff in a tennis court and her trying to give him some "good luck" papers from a temple (despite all but one saying 'bad luck')...
  Ryoma: "You know, Ryuuzaki... (tiny smile) Thank you".
  • Much later, Sakuno travels alone to Australia to cheer on Ryoma during the World Tournament.
    • Ryoma finds Sakuno when a gang is trying to take advantage of her, and saves her, but when they are about to unleash a pack of hungry dogs at them, they are saved last minute by Ludovic Chardard, who arrives on a horse. Ludovic gets infatuated immediately with Sakuno and is willing to fight Ryoma for her. Ryoma keeps denying that she is his girlfriend, but looks a bit jealous, so he accepts having a tennis match on horse.
    • Despite Ryoma breaking the news that he is going to play for the USA team, Sakuno still declares that she will cheer for Ryoma no matter in which team he plays. Ryoma sincerely thanks her.
• Everything about Momo and Kaidoh's interactions during their doubles match in the Kanto Tournament Finals. Momo telling Kaidoh that he'll be waiting when Kaidoh's having a Heroic BSoD, Kaidoh giving Momo his bandana to bandage his knee after he injured himself going all-out to cover for him, Momo pulling Kaidoh in to discuss strategy...
• After Seigaku beats Rikkai in the Kanto tournament, they're celebrating while the Rikkai players are waiting for news about Yukimura's surgery. Coach Ryuzaki receives a call during the party to let them all know that Yukimura made it through, and everyone is thrilled— despite none (or at least, very few, from other tournaments) of them knowing him before, they saw what he meant to his team, and respected it. Later, when Yagyu is faced with a group of boys talking trash about Yukimura and his illness, Kaidoh overhears, and IMMEDIATELY leaps to Yagyuu's aid and Yukimura's defense.
• In New Prince of Tennis, Yukimura gets some bloodwork done in preparation for a second surgery. The results come back that he's completely cured, and the second surgery is unnecessary. Yukimura collapses to his knees, crying in shocked, cathartic relief, and goes on to play one of the hardest matches of his career against Tezuka. It's an absolute showstopper of a match, and Yukimura goes into it determined to teach Kirihara that he doesn't need to achieve Echizen's and Tezuka's tenimuhou state in order to keep playing tennis. While Yukimura ultimately loses, he is the loosest, most relaxed, and joyful he's ever been throughout— by playing Tezuka, he's finally exorcised his ghosts from his loss to Echizen. During the match, the others are told about his prognosis, with reaction shots for Yanagi, Sanada, and Marui. Yanagi and Sanada are shocked, but Marui tears up, and snags Yukimura in a hug after his loss.
• New Prince of Tennis: Hyoutei vs. Rikkaidai has a few moments.
  • The whole event happens because Atobe overhears Hiyoshi making plans with Kabaji and Ohtori to improve the club's training program, but is still worried about not having a good practice match with the seniors. Atobe makes the colossal effort to make Hyotei the featured team for the innauguration of the tennis arena built by his parents' company, get Yukimura's phone number and convinces him to have an exhibition match with Rikkaidai.
    • Hiyoshi, Ohtori and Kabaji show that they have a very close bond outside of their usual interactions with the other members of the team, since they are the ones gathering ideas for the team's improvements. Hiyoshi even asks Kabaji if he has any suggestions, despite Kabaji usually being a silent assistant.
  • Since Niou is on a trip, there's a spot open for the exhibition game between both schools, so Yukimura uses the opportunity to introduce the newly appointed "future captain", Tamagawa Yoshio, who is a junior who lacks experience, therefore feeling not worthy yet of playing with the regulars. Turns out that he is appointed as Marui's doubles partner because Jackal insisted, despite his own desire to have a last game of doubles with his best friend as seniors. Jackal trusts that Tamagawa might learn something from this game. And while the start is very rocky for Tamagawa, they manage to catch up with Gakuto and Oshitari. And despite losing the match, the seniors still give Tamagawa assurance that he is going to be a good captain. Even Marui starts calling him by his correct last name, which he has been misnaming him during the whole game.
  • When Tamagawa is sent out instead of Jackal, all of the Hyoutei players are stunned and wonder if something's wrong with him, and comment more than once that Tamagawa isn't the defender Jackal is. Seeing as how Jackal is usually the butt of whatever joke Rikkai has going on, it's nice to be reminded that he is an excellent player that his peers esteem and respect. It's also worth noting that Jackal choosing to sit out in Tamagawa's favor despite wanting a last match with Marui shows a lot of growth on his part. Most of his scenes in The New Prince of Tennis involve him being forlorn and sad about Marui hanging out with other friends or doubles partners— and it's always treated as a huge joke. While it's disappointing not to see another match from him, his decision to step aside and let Marui teach Tamagawa how to be aggressive is selfless and mature, and show that he's made peace with his fear of losing his best friend.
  • During the match, Gakuto feels frustrated because he can't jump high enough for Tamagawa's lobes. And while Oshitari looks more in control of his emotions than Gakuto, he can understand him perfectly, since he is also frustrated with himself. They also have a flashback of the first conversation they had during their first years. Gakuto finds the new guy on top of the water tower, his favorite spot, and while complimenting Oshitari for having the nerve to challenge Atobe on their first day at the tennis club, both end up bonding and becoming best friends ever since. This also became their first onscreen win as a doubles pair since the Prefectural Tournament, as Oshitari helps Gakuto by giving him a boost to jump higher, just what Gakuto always wanted to achieve. He only got to jump higher with his partner's assistance.
  • The second doubles match turns out to be Sanada and Yanagi vs. Ohtori and Kabaji. Despite the visible level difference between both teams, Ohtori and Kabaji manage to give Sanada and Yanagi a good fight, but end up losing to the seniors. While Kirihara is about to mock them, Sanada reprimends him and orders him to respect both of them, since they're the ones who will represent Hyoutei the following year, showing that they also earned Sanada's respect as well.
    • Kabaji is received with a towel on the head by Atobe, who compliments his efforts during the game on his usual cool demeanor. Kabaji then starts sobbing under the towel, which shows that Atobe knows him very well despite often treating him like an assistant.
  • Then the first Singles game is between Yagyuu vs. Shishido, which is the first singles match Shishido has since his defeat against Tachibana Kippei back in the Prefecture tournament, which caused his temporary expulsion from the regulars. At the beginning, Shishido is having trouble with Yagyuu's Laser Beam shots, but eventually manages to counterback thanks to Ohtori's continuous cheers from the bench. He finally beats Yagyuu, telling him that despite playing singles, he still won because he had support from his doubles partner, despite not being on the same court. Yagyuu smiles and thinks briefly of Niou.
  • Atobe and Yukimura spend most of their match trading barbs and taunts, but their inner reflections show a lot of respect for each other. They're both deeply engrossed in their match, view each other as worthy adversaries, and they respect their similarities— they're both prideful, determined players who won't quit until the last point.
  • The match between Kirihara and Hiyoshi, which has a meaningful purpose for Hiyoshi, as a test to prove he has what it takes to lead Hyoutei the following year. He shows that he has developed new secret techniques, which leave Kirihara surprised, and while Hiyoshi ends up losing the match, he still gets approval from Atobe, who urges him to keep his dignity and lead the team.
  • The special ends with both teams happily sharing Atobe's bathhouse, reinforcing that despite both team's competitive natures, they're willing to accept the results and have some good time outside the tennis courts. In the epilogue, even Niou has returned briefly to enjoy them too.
• The first time Eiji and Oishi use Synchro, they end up losing the match to Otori and Shishido. Neither of them can remember exactly what happened, but it looks like Eiji blocked Oishi from returning a shot. Coach Ryuzaki speculates that, due to the synchro, Eiji understood exactly how bad off Oishi's wrist was, and prevented him from taking the swing to avoid injuring himself further. Coach Ryuzaki believes that Eiji sacrificed this one immediate victory because it was more important to him that he and Oishi be able to play doubles together forever.
• Atobe's shuffle match for Court 5 after Tezuka leaves. Gin jumps up and gets the Hyoutei chant going to psych him up, and all of the middle schoolers join in, hollering "The winner will be Hyoutei! The winner will be Atobe!" Atobe, like he would among his own school's cheering section, snaps his fingers to cut them off. Only, instead of declaring himself the winner like he normally would, he declares the will be Court 5.
• The scene right after the conclusion of Fuji vs Ryoma for the Singles 2 spot against Spain. Ryoma acknowledges for the second time that Fuji is an incredibly skilled tennis player, and they play a really close match where Ryoma comes up the victor. He then asks Fuji if he'll be quitting tennis (due to the game result) with the implication that he doesn't want him to quit.
  • This can be doubled up with the fact that, many chapters prior, Fuji had challenged Tezuka to a match with the intention of quitting tennis. Tezuka doesn't allow him to do so by interrupting the match, implying that he also doesn't want Fuji to give up on the sport.