Special Move What Do YOU Think The Glowing Shot Is?

[Brandnewkid]

After some thought, I'm starting to think that the Glowing Shot is the power of either Hyakuren or Teni'muho transferred into the ball rather than a part of the player's body. We've seen that this is some kind of a power shot. I'm really starting to think that it's one of the power auras being densely concentrated into the ball. Either way, it's ridiculous. I don't think one should ever forget the page where Ryoma finished training for it, with holes in trees and such. Things like this are the reason why the Chinese readers call New Prince of Tennis "Homicide Prince."

 

[Kaoz]

I think it's just the power from some other dimension, it's been pretty clearly stated as such. Muga and its doors don't seem to be comparable in that respect. It also seems to be a series of techniques alongside Kijin/Pirate and Black Hole (and possibly more), and those most certainly have nothing to do with Muga.

If anything I wonder if all those powers come from the same different dimension or if there are multiple.

 

[Hardy]

After some thought, I'm starting to think that the Glowing Shot is the power of either Hyakuren or Teni'muho transferred into the ball rather than a part of the player's body.

I think kinda the same thing, except that it has nothing to do with the auras we already know.

Like, the player transmits some of his powers into the ball, then hits a SSS (or something like that, I dunno how the SSS worked). If it's a power from another dimension or not, I dunno (I kinda doubt it tho, I feel like the only players that have shown dimensional powers so far are Tokugawa and Byoudouin).

 

[Brandnewkid]

I think kinda the same thing, except that it has nothing to do with the auras we already know.

Like, the player transmits some of his powers into the ball, then hits a SSS (or something like that, I dunno how the SSS worked). If it's a power from another dimension or not, I dunno (I kinda doubt it tho, I feel like the only players that have shown dimensional powers so far are Tokugawa and Byoudouin).

The SSS is the area of the racket requires to hit the Glowing Shot.

As for what "power from another dimension" means, we have no clue. The way they refer to it as if it's actually a dimensional plane where power exists to be manipulated, like the place Ryu and Ken fought M. Bison in the final episode of the Street Fighter II V anime.

 

[Kaoz]

Reviving this thread because I think we can arrive at a more satisfying conclusion (in some respects anyway) than we did back then. For starters, here's a collection of relevant quotes concerning the glowing shot:

Byoudouin, Ch. 95:
"Thanks to this cutthroat match with you, I obtained a power from another dimension."

Irie, Ch. 96:
"Having lost, Byoudouin was sent off to the cliff. Set on defeating Oni, he would spend all his time doing back-breaking, intensive training. It appears he came back having obtained a power from another dimension."

Kurobe, Ch. 119:
"They're struggling for their... lives."

Oni, Ch. 119:
"Drive all those days of unspeakable hardships into that ball!!"

Sengoku (?), Ch. 218:
"Even with a pro as his opponent, he doesn't get scared. If anything, it fires him up even more."

Byoudouin's profile, Vol. 10.5:
"Mental - ?: Having gone through special training up on top of the cliff, it seemed he acquired the inter-dimensional power and a spiritual nature. Already now, there are no weaknesses."

That's not a whole lot to go on, but I think we can still form some hypotheses using those statements as basis. Specifically, when it comes to GS, I think we need to distinguish between situational use and deliberate use for starters:

• Situational use: By situational use, I'm referring to a situation in which someone hits a glowing shot before they have fully mastered the move. We can infer that there is a distinction here based on Byoudouin hitting it against Oni, but Irie then saying that he only really obtained that power once he returned from the mountain camp. I reckon the cases that fall into this category are Byoudouin (vs Oni), Tokugawa and Akutsu. All three of them were able to use it because they were pushed to their limits and I think there might be some fight-or-flight response going on as well.
• Deliberate use: Being able to hit the glowing shot deliberately basically means you can do it at any time you want and without being in a life-or-death battle situation. However, this requires training. So far, the only ones this applies to are Byoudouin, Ryoga and Ryoma from what I can tell.

With that being said, it still doesn't answer the question what the glowing shot really is. To understand that, I think it's useful to look at two statements in particular - (1) what Oni says when Tokugawa is about to hit his glowing shot, and (2) Byoudouin's fanbook entry. "Spiritual nature" is probably as on the nose as it gets, but to stay on a slightly more general level, it seems to me that the glowing is basically spiritual/emotional energy. To possibly make the idea easier to grasp, imagine you're enraged and accidentally break something that you normally wouldn't be able to break. The concept should be pretty similar here, just with a bit of a broader focus.

Following that, the glowing itself is probably more of a representation of that spiritual energy rather than anything really palpable. It's a metaphor similar to how Tokugawa taking on a skeleton pirate on a stormy sea was a metaphorical representation of his match against Byoudouin.

Going slightly beyond the original question though, I think we can say in what way the inter-dimensional powers are, well, inter-dimensional. I reckon it generally stands for anything that you can't find on earth naturally - the black hole being an obvious example. The glowing shot and spirit powers on the other hand seem to be referred to as inter-dimensional because they're physical representations of things that inherently aren't physical, showing the players' inner world.

I think I might've skipped over some bits here and there, so if anything doesn't make sense, I'll try my best to clarify.

 

[Darkmoon]

I have a question ... if Byodouin already had the Gs (vs Oni) ... what technique did he perfect with the match vs. Amadeus?

 

[Kaoz]

I have a question ... if Byodouin already had the Gs (vs Oni) ... what technique did he perfect with the match vs. Amadeus?

He didn't master any new moves against Amadeus as far as we know at this point in time.

 

[Darkmoon]

He didn't master any new moves against Amadeus as far as we know at this point in time.

"Amadeus explains that his own style is the "Dark Side" and wonders if Byoudouin has completed his Destruction by now"
I was wrong. Sorry!

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 16, 2017, Original Post Date: Dec 16, 2017 ---

Is "destruction" similar to GS?

 

[Kaoz]

Is "destruction" similar to GS?

This is a bit of a confusing point throughout the series, but no, they seem to be different. The glowing is something you can do with a bunch of different moves it seems, as shown by Ryoma with Drive B. Destruction on the other hand seems to be one of Byoudouin's personal moves.

So basically:
Destruction = base move
Glowing Shot = enhancement

 

[Waterlinkedgirl]

I think every shot would have the mastered/at will and accidental use separation, though I think it's more distinct in the Glowing Shot, muga and synchro techniques.
That training, would it be more comparable to Kaidoh's boomerang snake, or to how Oishi and Kikumaru's synchro was mastered?

The hypothesis about the Shot being fuelled by emotional/spiritual energy would be completely in line with the characters that can use it
(and Ryoga, Ryoma and Byou using it at will is also perfectly fitting, considering their (at least Ryoma's) attitudes considering tennis)
Plus, breaking their limits is something people can do in life-or-death situations (eg the mother that lifted a car her son was under until help arrived)

I agree on the metaphor part, though you could also write away the desert vs Zeus and the pirate skeleton battle as the interdimensional battle rather than a metaphor. At that point it just depends on how seriously you're willing to take Konomi, I guess ;p

If the Glowing Shot is essentially channelling your feelings into the ball, would it be possible for the top-end middle schoolers(at the very least Atobe or Yukimura) to use it as well? Re: Atobe, he might be closer because of his Koori no Emperor serve, as it feels a bit like the Glowing Shot in a way.

 

[Kaoz]

That training, would it be more comparable to Kaidoh's boomerang snake, or to how Oishi and Kikumaru's synchro was mastered?

I don't recall Oishi and Kikumaru really practicing to master synchronizing whereas we've seen Ryoma actively stay on the court for some time, hitting through a basket of balls or two, so the former comparison seems more apt to me.

I agree on the metaphor part, though you could also write away the desert vs Zeus and the pirate skeleton battle as the interdimensional battle rather than a metaphor. At that point it just depends on how seriously you're willing to take Konomi, I guess ;p

Huh, associating the desert with interdimensional tennis never even crossed my mind. What gave you the impression that it is, aside from a player being drawn outside the tennis court? I always assumed it was to show just how hot it was when they were playing, but you're saying Zeus had something to do with creating the desert, correct?

As for the more general point though, if it's not a metaphor, I'm not sure how else to describe it. I hope everyone can agree that Tokugawa's not literally on a ship somewhere, fighting a skeleton pirate. It's clear that something different happens on the court, probably best illustrated when Tokugawa uses Black Hole for the first time (ch 121) since it briefly switches back and forth between the two scenes. And isn't that exactly what a metaphor is?

If the Glowing Shot is essentially channelling your feelings into the ball, would it be possible for the top-end middle schoolers(at the very least Atobe or Yukimura) to use it as well? Re: Atobe, he might be closer because of his Koori no Emperor serve, as it feels a bit like the Glowing Shot in a way.

I'm sure it's technically possible for them if they were put into the right situation. Ryoma and Akutsu can hit it, so there's no reason to assume the others can't in general. I kinda doubt we'll see either of them actually do it though.

As for Ice Emperor being similar to the glowing shot, I don't know. It seems to me that it's a more technical and "real" shot by exaggerating what happens when you hit, well, pretty much anything in general. Like, imagine the sound when you hit a normal serve with a nice and fast swing, it's much louder than when you use a slow swing. I think Atobe's serve is that idea turned up to eleven. Obviously not realistic by any stretch of the imagination, but more or less grounded in physics (similar to how the numbers Kawamura and Gin produce are utterly ridiculous, but we wouldn't associate their shots with anything interdimensional).

The hypothesis about the Shot being fuelled by emotional/spiritual energy would be completely in line with the characters that can use it
(and Ryoga, Ryoma and Byou using it at will is also perfectly fitting, considering their (at least Ryoma's) attitudes considering tennis)
Plus, breaking their limits is something people can do in life-or-death situations (eg the mother that lifted a car her son was under until help arrived)

To finish up this post, here's the follow-up I promised: supposing that I've got the right idea when it comes to the glowing shot, I started wondering if we could use that to explain a second technique, namely Amadeus' Darkness. With the way Darkness specifically and Amadeus more generally are portrayed as counterparts to Byoudouin and the Glowing Shot, if GS means putting energy into the ball, isn't it possible that Darkness is the opposite, meaning Amadeus "removes" energy from the ball when using it?

Now what do I mean by that? Basically, if we say that GS is essentially hitting with heightened emotional/spiritual energy, Darkness would be hitting with no emotional weight attached to the shot. I also have a little more to back up that theory. Thinking back to the nationals, when Yushi overcame Momoshiro's predictions, there is a page right at the start where Momoshiro thinks he can't "see" Yushi anymore (ch 275). And how does Yushi achieve this effect? By sealing his heart, which can probably be closely associated with sealing his emotions. Likewise, when Amadeus uses Darkness for the first time, Akutsu says he can't see the ball itself anymore (only its shadow). Isn't it possible that the idea behind those abilities is similar too then?