The manga was a hit,[50] having sold approximately 15 million copies,[2] which makes it one of the best-selling shōjo manga series of all time.[51] Although the television series initially received low ratings, reruns were more positively received by fans, as well as the second series.[4] The anime is considered a hit on Japanese television and though aimed toward schoolgirls it was popular among people of both sexes,[5][6] and was also popular in Europe.[7] In 2001, the anime magazine Animage ranked the 1979 anime television as the twenty-second of the Top 100 anime productions of all time.[53] In 2005, TV Asahi conducted a "Top 100" online web poll and nationwide survey asking viewers for the best anime television series; Aim for the Ace! was placed fourteenth in the online poll and thirty-fourth in the survey.[54][55] Responsible for a tennis boom among high school students in the 1970s,[50] the series was still popular as of 2015 appearing in several online web polls of most influential sports anime.[56][57] On TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150.000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, Aim for the Ace! ranked 44th.[58]