Two determined competitors -- one a wild animal, the other a samurai. Who would win such a showdown? We're about to find out this week with today's new episodes of The Prince of Tennis. The match between Akutsu and Ryoma has reached a fever pitch, with both players pulling off their best moves, and even inventing some new ones, as they fight to the wire. If nothing else, these new episodes proves that you can level up in tennis, just like you can level up in Naruto or Bleach! At SHONEN JUMP, we're all about the leveling-up...

Watch these episodes (and the rest of the series) in the Prince of Tennis section.

Episode 47: I Can't Lose
Evolving with each and every play, Ryoma holds his own, and the game is even! Coach Banda of the Yamabuki Jr. High team hands Akutsu a secret strategy. With a game he cannot lose, Akutsu makes his move.

Episode 48: the Decisive Moment
Ryoma is cornered by Akutsu. But he accepts this challenge head on and releases his newfound power. Each player steps closer to the next level without giving an inch, all the while throwing out his most powerful moves.

This week's new Naruto Shippuden episode is all about passing the torch to a new generation -- as the battle to save the Leaf Village continues, it's time for our young ninja to step to the fore, and even Tsunade gets into the spirit of things with a stirring speech about the power of belief before she takes the ultimate gamble: sending for Naruto, the one ninja who Pain and his allies want to get their hands on at all costs... And it looks like Pain and Kakashi are ready to rumble... Hold onto your seats, this is going to be one wild ride...

Catch this and the rest of the series on the Naruto Shippuden page...

Episode 158: Power to Believe
The Leaf Village is under heavy attack from Pain and Konan. Hearing the Akatsuki attack, Tsunade attempts to contact Fukasaku…

Our hero Hikaru has finally made it to the pros -- where you gotta do things like keep track of every little move and game scoring (oh boy, is Hikaru not happy about that!) -- but more importantly, where you get to play Go legends like Akira and his father Meijin Sensei! Too bad that according to the usual rules, it's going to take years for Hikaru to work his way up to play them... or is it? More importantly, will Sai get to play Meijin Sensei, or is he getting left behind as Hikaru continues his climb to the top of the Go world? C'mon Hikaru, let Sai have his moment of glory! He's waited centuries for this one!

Watch the latest episodes of Hikaru no Go in the Hikaru no Go section. 

Episode 47: Into the World of the Pros
Now that Hikaru’s gone pro, he can’t wait to play all the top pros, including Akira Toya and his father, Toya Meijin…

Episode 48: Sai vs. Meijin
The ever-busy Toya Meijin has finally decided to participate in the Shinshodan Series on one condition: his opponent must be Hikaru Shindo…

Happy Cinco de Mayo, everyone! And as coincidence would have it, today is also a special day for One Piece, for we celebrate the birthday of our hero, protagonist and intrepid outlaw Monkey D. Luffy! There's many reasons why Luffy rocks our world: his boundless optimism and determination, his crazy-stretchy powers, his ability to overcome any situation thanks to the help of the crack pirate crew he's assembled, and his fierce loyalty to comrades as well as innocents needing assistance. Not to mention his, er, incredible appetite! Kind of hard to imagine that such a noble do-gooder is one of the most hunted and feared pirates on the high seas! But such is the price of fame.

Here's a few birthday wishes for the little big man from some folks here at VIZ Media who are intimately connected with One Piece:

"Happy birthday, Luffy! It's party time! Here's a big cake with lots of candles. And don't worry, we also have enough meat to fill you up. Hopefully this is the year you become king of the pirates!"
-- Alexis Kirch (One Piece editor)

"Your Gum Gum attacks are the best in the biz, and your love of meat is quite charming. Happy birthday to the future King of Pirates!"
-- Lex Scheuble (VIZ Media Online Marketing Manager)  

In honor of this special occasion, we're giving you free access to an exclusive Luffy wallpaper -- just visit this page on onepiece.viz.com and enter the password "gumgumbirthday" to get your wallpaper! We're gonna celebrate by watching a bunch of One Piece episodes -- join us and leave some birthday comments for Luffy on the latest episode page!

We're equal-opportunity celebrators when it comes to Naruto and Naruto Shippuden characters – good guys, bad guys, we don't discriminate. Especially when the bad guys are as, um, unusual as Deidara is. So in honor of the explosive one's May 5 birthday, check out the Deidara wallpaper on naruto.com for your enjoyment, and a tribute written by our editor Joel Enos... Don't forget to pass on your wishes in the naruto.com forum, too.

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Happy Birthday…Um…Deidara?

It’s a little hard to say we should all celebrate the fact that a crazy member of the Akatsuki who tried to kill Gaara, starting in Episode 6 [Mission Cleared] has a birthday coming up.

But it would be kind of interesting to see what kind of art project Deidara would come up with if he let his mouth-hand chew up some birthday cake.
 

I bet it would explode.

When it comes to blowing things up, Deidara’s art is definitely magic. We first get a glimpse of Deidara’s modern-influenced creations when he takes off on that flying thing in Episode 3 [The Results of Training]. But it’s in Episode 30 [Aesthetics of an Instant] when he whips out the big bird (so to speak) and apparently blows himself up while trying to vanquish Kakashi and Naruto. The battle that starts one episode before that is one of best ever when Deidara holds off Kakashi Sensei.

Just one guy knocking down all those ninja – including Naruto? That’s a lot of chakra wrangling even for an Akatsuki. But when you find out that Deidara’s actually the youngest member ever of the mysterious organization, that’s when you realize how powerful he really is. The Akatsuki is not a place where you just happen to become a member. Most members have deep grudges against the Leaf  and the political agenda of the Ninja World. For one so young, Deidara definitely harbors both.

His claims at artistry – considering all of his jutsu works of art rather than simply deft uses of chakra – seem pretentious at first. And his irritating speech patterns (that rhetorical hmmm?) might rub you the wrong way. But when you look at how far he’s come at so young – you have to hand it to him.

…just don’t try to hand it to his hand. You might end up getting bit.

-- Joel Enos (Naruto editor)