Ping Pong the Animation

Despite being polar opposites, Makoto "Smile" Tsukimoto and Yutaka "Peco" Hoshino have been best friends since childhood. Although the overly confident Peco strives to be the best ping-pong player in the world, he often skips practice, earning the ire of his fellow teammates on the Katase High School ping-pong team. Meanwhile, Smile—in spite of his innate talent for the sport—cannot help but hold back his full strength when playing against others. Through their mutual love for ping-pong, the two have developed a bond that is seemingly unbreakable.

When Peco hears that an ex-national team player from China is coming to Japan, he drags Smile over to rival Tsujido High School to observe them. The subsequent trip leads to a clash between Peco and Kong Wenge, who overwhelmingly defeats the former in one game. Stunned by such a comprehensive loss, Peco finds himself questioning why he plays to begin with. Seeing his potential as a player, Katase's coach begins to train Smile to overcome his hesitation, but he is reluctant to play if it is not for enjoyment.

As the two struggle to find meaning in the sport, a plethora of stronger players—each with their own internal strifes—await them at the inter-high tournament, where only the very best can persevere. But when these young athletes let their unbridled ambition go unchecked, the hardships they face paint a somber reality as they pursue glory.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Hoshino, Yutaka Main

Katayama, Fukujuurou Japanese

Tsukimoto, Makoto Main

Uchiyama, Kouki Japanese

Kong, Wenge Supporting

Bun, Yousei Japanese

Kazama, Ryuuichi Supporting

Sakuya, Shunsuke Japanese

Sakuma, Manabu Supporting

Kimura, Subaru Japanese

Egami Supporting

Tsuda, Kenjirou Japanese

Koizumi, Jou Supporting

Yara, Yuusaku Japanese

Tamura, Obaba Supporting

Nozawa, Masako Japanese

Kong's Coach Supporting

Ha, Tei Japanese

Yurie Supporting

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Fujio, Tsutomu Producer

Shintaku, Youhei Producer

Yuasa, Masaaki Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard, Key Animation, Series Composition

Reviews

Jun 19, 2014

Volunteer

Recommended

Ping Pong The Animation is an exceptional show. This is less of a sports anime and more of a powerful emotions series. It's a beautifully crafted coming of age story and one that certainly doesn't come along often. In a word, it's unconventional. Nothing about Ping Pong feels ordinary so love it or hate it, it's hard to not recognize its artistic merit.

The story is a simple one and it chronicles the lives of two boys and their experiences with table tennis. We're introduced to Makoto Tsukimoto, aptly nicknamed "Smile", and his boastful best friend Yutaka Hoshino, or "Peco". These two are polar opposites ... and we follow them through their high school ping pong careers. Their story is told in just 11 episodes and it's nothing short of pacing perfection. Everything meshes wonderfully from start to finish and each episode provides just the right amount of information without overwhelming or confusing the viewer. Ping Pong is great at giving you important plot points piece by piece and this makes it an incredibly engaging experience. Each episode is satisfying and this makes it very tempting to marathon.

This is where things start to get shaky for the average anime viewer. The art style is simple and misshapen. There are no enormous and colorful eyes. The lines are crude and uneven so things like ping pong balls aren't perfect circles. It'd be no exaggeration to say this is some of the most unorthodox art in the industry today, but by no means is it bad. It may be out of the comfort zone, but it's fitting for what the show is trying to do and it has an inexplicable charm to it. The animation is quite weak at times and things just look sloppy. This actually works to the show's advantage by providing a unique style of its own. The art and animation stay consistent the whole way through. If this bothers you, get out while you still can.

It's hard to believe a show about ping pong has music as good as this. The sound sets the mood perfectly. From simple melodic tunes while training to the adrenaline pumping opening song, Ping Pong knows just the right track to play at every given moment. A handful of tracks feel a bit out of place, but as a whole, it feels like watching one long movie. Additionally, the music is very good at distorting one's perception of time. There are times where it goes completely silent to emphasize the strain on a character. You may even associate certain songs with certain characters and this is a very good thing because it means you're connecting with them.

Where Ping Pong really shines is its characters. The amount of development in such a short time is staggering. The interactions between characters are astoundingly genuine; every conversation feels natural. There's meaningful growth in even the most unlikely people and this is a breath of fresh air from shows where nothing seems to change.

I don't want to go into too much detail regarding individuals, but the rivalries between characters are beautifully illustrated. Their personalities bounce off of each other in a frighteningly realistic way. The harsh reality of athletics is painted not only on their faces, but also on their words. A lot of conversations later on are poignant and almost poetic. It's tragic at times and these interactions do a great job of maintaining the morbid realism that made the early episodes special.

Ping Pong is not a light watch. This is something that can be enjoyed by anyone who wants a good story. You don't have to like or even understand table tennis, it's first and foremost a tale about growing up. It's undoubtedly a memorable experience and something very much worth your time if you keep an open mind.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jun 28, 2014

sjwho2

Mixed Feelings

Ping Pong the Animation.

It's one of those series that is either going to get over-the-top praise or disdain from it's watchers, for me it was simple disappointment.

Story: 5
-Well like most sports anime the story is not too heavy. However Ping Pong's biggest problem is that the story and how it plays out has been done before, several times in fact. You can see the ending from the start and every "twist" isn't all that surprising once you get to the end. I was not entertained when it came to the story and it's presentation.
NOTE: I do not take away points for it being a ... sports anime and having a sports-themed story. I take away points for unoriginal and poor presentation.

Art: 7
-I'd say the art is mediocre. Not because "it's not HD so it sucks" but because funimation purposefully made the anime this way, but still re-used animation within the first few episodes. I actually like this type of animation if it's done right, but way too many times in this series is it not. Funimation clearly had the budget for this anime, but chose to make several scenes look out of place and terrible because they didn't know what they were doing or didn't care.
NOTE: The art style fits well with the theme.

Sound: 4
-It's there and not much else. Nothing outside of your generic background music and nothing you'll even remember in T-minus 5 minutes.(already forgot).

Characters: 7
-Now the characters in this show are pretty well done. I'd like to say they are "deep" but they really weren't. Only Hoshino and Tsukimoto really stood out, as everyone else became X, Y, or Z stereotype. That being said, Hoshino and Tsukimoto were deep in accordance to the story but not as characters themselves. "One track mind" would describe the entire youth of this cast. However there interactions are at least midly entertaining.

Enjoyment: 6
I can't say I enjoyed my time watching this series more than the general mediocre anime. It's not exactly entertaining per episode, I've seen the entire story/characters done before in other series(ala prince of tennis), and to be honest the ending/starting episodes were the only parts I think were worth the watch.


Overall: 5

Ping Pong the Animation is a series that presents a rather mediocre product to an already saturated genre. The art style differentiates it, but does not make it shine.

I'd recommend it to people who have not watched other sports series.


Note: this is all my opinion, but I stand by that opinion 100%.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Mar 25, 2024

pickyviewer

Not Recommended

Funny

I want to like this show more than I actually do. First off, it’s racist (I’ll explain in the Writing section). I would have dropped the show by the end of episode 5 if it weren’t for Kong, my favorite character. Seeing him reappear in episode 8 encouraged me to hang on. Episode 10, the second to last episode, was the first ostensible feeling of fun I had watching the show. Episode 11 then wrapped up the series in a satisfying manner.

- Story. This show is 40% sports 60% character arcs. There were a couple revelations about character backgrounds and relationships that pleasantly surprised ... me. However, the pacing was too slow. Half of the main and supporting cast are unlikeable for the first two thirds of the show. Kong and Akuma had the tightest narratives, with clear motivations and actions resulting from their internal struggles. The others had several logical inconsistencies that got in the way of convincing storytelling even though I understood what the show was trying to say with each of them. It follows that the payoff from episodes 10 and 11 took too long to arrive. In my opinion, there was enough imagery and foreshadowing that 2-3 episodes’ worth of B-roll and extraneous side plots (such as one character’s weird incest romance, or a background character's soul searching journey) could have been cut. It was not worth my time sitting there waiting for things to “get good” between Kong episodes.

- Characters. Each character grapples with what ping pong means to them. Why do they work so hard to train? Why do they want to win? Why do they like to play? Do they like to play? Who are they playing for? The answer is rooted in their individual pasts and life experiences. Kong is the star of the show for me. He faces high stakes pressure fueling his desire to win. What is most compelling, however, is how he deals with his trials and tribulations. He changes so much as a person by the end of the show. His reasons for change are open to interpretation, but I think the show gives me enough information to come to a conclusion that makes sense.

- Art. The lineart style is exceedingly HIDEOUS! In fact, the lineart is so poor that a character who changed his fashion sense was literally unrecognizable until another character said their name. It made me realize there are basically no character models for faces. As for the colors, I liked the pastel-like shading style. It made some background scenes look really nice.

- Animation. Decent for a lower budget show. It is rough around the edges, yet it fits the unhinged art style. There is some weird 3-D CGI, but I think the team did the best that they could. They made interesting stylistic choices such as animating an actual arrow as the ball travels between players. I was worried about the recycled animations, but there was only one episode in which I fast forwarded through them.

- Music. I thought the soundtrack (synthwave/electronic vibes) was fantastic. The use of the music transformed the mood of the scenes.

- Sound design. The actual selection of sounds was fine, but I noticed several moments where the sound didn’t sync to the animation. Most frequently, a shoe would skid on screen and the sound came late.

- Writing. What's up with the casual racism? Kong is referred to as “China” throughout the show. Not “that Chinese guy” or “Chinese player”, just China, as in the entire country. While they called him China less frequently out loud as the show progressed, they still referred to him as China in writing on screen and then once more in episode 8. While his Chinese identity is part of his character development, I don't care for this offensive delivery. Early on, they also threw in a stereotype about black people being good at dancing, in order to combat stereotypes (the irony). Who greenlit this? I expected better from 2014.

Even though relationships are supposed to be a core theme of this show, several depictions did not make sense. Without giving too much away, the friends in this show seemed to support each other less than their rivals/antagonists. It was hard to believe the utter dearth of empathy between two characters when they were extremely close childhood friends. Their supposed fallout was not properly explained; I wasn’t buying the one-liner provided in the show. Furthermore, Peco and Smile’s team has zero camaraderie - we constantly see the bad blood between seniors and first years -- and somehow they are on good terms at the end. The seniors had even expressed their bitterness at being neglected by their own coach, who focused all his energy on developing Smile.

Smile and his own coach’s relationship was also unconvincing in comparison to Kong and Peco’s relationships with their coaches. I do not understand where Smile and his coach began trusting each other and working together. His coach seems more interested in beating the competitive drive into Smile instead of drawing out Smile’s intrinsic motivation.

Speaking of character motivations, a couple of main characters had confusing turning points in their motivation. I could identify that there was supposed to be a catalyst, but not what it was in the scene. I had to look up other people’s interpretations online because the show didn't leave enough breadcrumbs to figure it out myself.

For some reason, this show likes to tell you all about Smile’s prowess rather than show it as it does for the other skilled players. It was irksome to hear a side character remark for the umpteenth time that Smile was a ping pong monster murder machine. I think we got it the first time, and the second time, and the third time, as they played robot noises synced to his movements… His matches were boring and predictable.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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