The Prince of Tennis

You know I was really surprised that this anime is still as popular as it is.

The Prince of Tennis is a popular Japanese manga and anime written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi.
First published in Japan in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump in July 1999, the manga ended publication on March 3, 2008.
A total of 379 chapters were written, comprising 42 volumes. It has sold over 40 million copies in Japan.
The manga is published in English in North America by Viz Media.

It was adaptated into an anime series directed by Takayuki Hamana, animated by Trans Arts and co-produced by Nihon Ad Systems and TV Tokyo.
The anime aired in Japan on the anime satellite television network Animax and the terrestrial TV Tokyo network from October 10, 2001 to March 30, 2005, spanning a total of 178 episodes. There was also a feature movie.
In April 2006, an OVA continuation of the anime began to be released on DVD. The beginning of the second OVA series was released on June 22, 2007. The second OVA ended on January 25, 2008, and the third and final OVA started on April 25, 2008.

Since April 2003, over fifteen stage musicals have been produced for the series. An animated movie was released in 2005, as well as a live action movie in 2006. In addition, a 22-episode-long live-action television drama began airing in China on July 25, 2008. The franchise has also had a long running radio show, several video games, soundtracks, and other assorted merchandise and collectibles.

YuYu Hakusho

YuYu Hakusho is a Japanese manga and later anime series written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi.

Originally, the manga was published in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump. The series consists of 175 chapters collected in 19 tankobon ( volumes in a series), and won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen in 1994. In North America, the manga currently runs in Viz's Shonen Jump.

The anime was directed by Noriyuki Abe and co-produced by Fuji Television, Yomiko Advertising, and Studio Pierrot. It consisted of 112 television episodes and two movies: "The Golden Seal" and "Bonds of Fire". The anime series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 1993 and 1994. The TV series was originally aired on Japan's Fuji Television network from October 10, 1992 to January 7, 1995, and was later licensed in North America by Funimation in 2001. The show first aired on US TV on February 2002 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. In March 2003, the show moved to Cartoon Network's Toonami block due to higher ratings. YuYu Hakusho was taken off Toonami around March 2005 and moved to an early Saturday morning time slot at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time where the series finished its run. It also aired as part of the Funimation programming block on Colours TV.

A series of YuYu Hakusho OVAs were released only in Japan. It has also been broadcast across Japan, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Indian subcontinent by the anime satellite television network Animax.

A number of video games have been released that tie to the YuYu Hakusho series.

Chobits

Chobits is a Japanese manga created by Clamp (a Japanese mangaka group).
It was published by Kodansha in Young Magazine from February 2001 to November 2002 and was collected in eight bound volumes.
Unlike most stories by Clamp, Chobits is a seinen (manga that is generally targeted at an 18–30 year old male audience) series, specifically of the magical girlfriend variety, using robotics and computers as a subplot.
Chobits is commonly mistaken for shōjo (manga marketed to a female audience roughly between the ages of 10 and 18) because of its strong romantic themes and flowery art style.
Chobits was adapted as a 26-episode-long anime television series broadcast on TBS and Animax from April to September 2002.
It has spawned a video game as well as merchandise such as figurines, collectable cards, calendars, and artbooks.

The series tells the story of Hideki Motosuwa, who finds an abandoned persocom, or personal computer with human form, that he names Chi after the only word she initially can speak. As the series progresses, together they explore the mysteries of Chi's origin and questions about the relationships between humans and persocoms. The manga is set in the same universe as Angelic Layer, taking place a few years after the events of that story, and like Angelic Layer, it explores the relationship between humans and electronic devices shaped like humans. Chobits branches off as a crossover to many other stories in different ways, such as Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and xxxHolic.


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Fruits Basket / Furuba

Fruits Basket, sometimes abbreviated Furuba, is a Japanese manga series by Natsuki Takaya. It was serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese magazine Hana to Yume, published by Hakusensha, from 1999 to 2006. The series was also adapted into a 26-episode anime series, directed by Akitaro Daichi. The series tells the story of Tohru Honda, an orphan girl who, after meeting Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure Sohma, learns that thirteen members of the Sohma family are possessed by the animals of the Chinese zodiac and are cursed to turn into their animal forms if they embrace anyone of the opposite gender.

The word "Fruits" in the title is always plural; the spelling originates from the transcription of the English word "fruit" into Japanese, where because there is no "tu" sound, "tsu" is used instead. The title comes from the name of a popular game played in Japanese elementary schools, which is alluded to in the series.

Mushishi

Mushishi is a manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Urushibara and published in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine. It ran from 1999 to August 2008.

The manga was adapted into an animated television series in 2005. The Artland production was directed by Hiroshi Nagahama. Episodes one through twenty aired in stations across Japan between October 2005 and March 2006. Episodes 21 through 26 aired on BS Fuji every Sunday from May 14, 2006 to June 18 of the same year. A live-action feature film adaptation, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, premiered on March 24, 2007.

The Mushishi manga won an Excellence Prize at the 2003 Japan Media Arts Festival and the 2006 Kodansha Manga Award.

The anime series was animated by Artland and directed by Hiroshi Nagahama and spanned a total of 26 episodes. The first 20 episodes of the series first aired between October 2005 and March 2006 on Fuji TV and its affiliated broadcast networks, including Kansai TV, Tōkai TV, Hokkaidō Bunka Hoso, TV Shinhiroshima, TV Nishinippon. Episodes 21 through 26 aired on BS Fuji every Sunday from May 14, 2006 to June 18 of the same year.

The television series covered every chapter from the first five volumes of the manga and the first story from volume six, but did not adhere to the original order.

At the 5th Tokyo Anime Award competition held at the Tokyo International Anime Fair, held on March 25, 2006, the anime series won grand prizes in the categories of television series and best art direction (for Takashi Waki).

The series has later been aired by the Japanese anime television network, Animax, who have also aired the series later across its respective networks worldwide, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. It has also been licensed for distribution across numerous other regions, including North America by Funimation.