I for one, really liked this version. I liked this version far better than the Japanese live action movie, which was rubbish imo. I think this pretty much captured the anime quite well. I didn't read the manga, and have no intention in doing so. I don't mind that in this, some of the characters are slightly different than the anime. Take Viper for example. In the anime, I found him to be creepy af. I'm glad that he smiled and joked around with his teammates. It made him seem less of a weirdo. And thank god the producers didn't make him hiss. I mean, that would have been so bizarre in the live action (I dunno if Viper hissed in the movie, I really can't remember tbh, as it wasn't a memorable movie imo) drama. I think the character of Captain Tezuka was portrayed fantastically by Bai Xu Xu. I think a lot of people don't give this adaptation the credit it deserves. If you're looking for something that best portrays the Prince of Tennis anime, then I strongly recommend watching this. I also recommend watching the sequel afterwards if you can, as both series are very good.
It was alright. Some scenes were boring as they dragged on a little. This one is a little different than other gender bender dramas though, which was good. The acting was okay. Everyone goes on about how the kiss scenes were so amazing. Um, I actually don't agree. If you love someone, you're supposed to kiss them nicely. But in this drama, there was a lot of kiss scenes which looked more like angry kisses. I don't like kiss scenes where it looks like they're trying to do a scene out of fight club. Another thing I really didn't like was the music. There was nothing that stood out to be in the soundtrack at all, it was sub-par at most. Other than the angry kiss scenes and the music, the rest was okay.