Prince of Tennis Stars to Grace the Back Cover of 'anan' Magazine, Igniting Fan Excitement Over Ryoga Echizen

Four popular characters from the hit series The Prince of Tennis—Ryoma Echizen, Kunimitsu Tezuka, Syusuke Fuji, and Ryoga Echizen—will grace the back cover of the weekly women's magazine anan Issue 2504 (releasing on July 15, 2026). The announcement has taken social media by storm.

This special appearance celebrates the upcoming remastered releases of KONAMI's romance adventure games The Prince of Tennis: Gakuen no Ojisama (colloquially known as Gakupuri) and Dokidoki Survival (Dokisaba). The issue will feature an exclusive anan special gravure shoot capturing "a summer moment with the princes."

Fans Shaken by the Shocking Inclusion of Ryoga Echizen

The aspect driving the most intense social media buzz is the inclusion of Ryoga Echizen, the older brother of the protagonist, Ryoma Echizen. Ryoga has a unique history: he originally debuted as an anime-original character in a theatrical film before being integrated into the original manga. Fans have been left speechless by his sudden debut in these romance adventure games and his subsequent modeling debut in anan.

Online reactions have been filled with excitement:
"Ryoga Echizen showing up out of nowhere has completely knocked the wind out of me."
"Ryoga in the school festival timeline? What is going on?! He looks too handsome, thank you so much."
"Ryoga in anan... Now the whole world is going to find out just how incredibly cool he is."
"I never in a million years imagined the day would come when Ryoga would join a romance game roster and grace the pages of anan..."

High Anticipation for Gakupuri and Dokisaba

Gakupuri, where players help prepare for a joint school festival, and Dokisaba, a survival adventure on a deserted island, are legendary romance titles among Prince of Tennis fans. The remastered editions have already generated massive hype, and adding a powerhouse character like Ryoga Echizen has only fueled the anticipation.

Combining his mysterious, cool charm from the original series with his incredibly stylish look in the newly revealed gravure, Ryoga has already stolen the hearts of many. With the release date of July 15 fast approaching, fans' excitement is reaching a fever pitch.

The Context

The Prince of Tennis (often abbreviated as Tenipuri in Japanese) is a massive multimedia franchise that began as a manga by Takeshi Konomi in 1999. It follows a group of highly competitive middle school tennis players who possess almost superhuman tennis skills.

The magazine anan is a highly popular weekly Japanese women's lifestyle and fashion magazine. It is famous for featuring high-quality, stylish, and occasionally sensual photo shoots of popular male celebrities, J-pop idols, and, increasingly, beloved anime characters. Appearing in anan is considered a major milestone of mainstream popularity in Japanese pop culture.

The upcoming Nintendo Switch games are remastered editions of two fan-favorite otome (romance simulation) games originally released in the mid-2000s. These games allow players to interact with and romance their favorite characters from the series, making the inclusion of Ryoga Echizen—a character known for his rogue, older-brother energy—an incredibly exciting update for long-time fans.

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