Review of Ping Pong the Animation

This show is not for everyone so, whoever wants to approach it, is advised. "Ping Pong the Animation" is an unusual anime, mainly based on the characters' development and their bond with this sport. ANIMATION (10) - it is literally written in the title of the show so.. animations are extraordinarly-well drawn (surely there were lots of studies about real ping-pong players playing): very smooth and fluid, they give you that feeling of watching a real professional ping-pong game. Even if sometimes they do look repetitive and weird, especially when lots of people are drawn in the same scene, I felt satisfied overall. CHARACTERS (9) - another strenght ofthis anime, as I said before, is the characters' development.
Every single character has its own personal profile and story, shared by the same connection with ping-pong: they interact and share their own life and sport experiences, growing both as people and as players.
Tsukimoto, for example, shows a huge change from a depressed child playing without a purpose, just because he has an innate talent, to a passionate player who finally got a reason to live and loves the sport.

ART (8) - yeah, I know many people criticized it because it looks awful and characters are drawn differently in each frame.
It is not the point of this art style, but I also understand everyone has its own taste.
Personally, I found it very coeherent with the show: it followed the manga's guidelines and, even if it looks outdated, it's actually in line with the historical period it is set in.
Something more modern would be unpleasant and completely out of the time, so I think using the same art style from the 1996 was a smart choice.

SOUND (8-) - honestly, I had good vibes listening to soundtracks, especially during ping-pong matches. So, I found them fine overall.

PLOT (7) - nothing outstanding: people just keep playing ping-pong 'till the end.
The events happening during the show are bland, only made for backgrounding every dialogue and that's it.
I'm not saying it is bad, but not even great.

OVERALL (9) - if I hadn't trusted the other users evalutations, I wouldn't have given this anime a try: initially, the art style kept me away because of its quirkyness but, in the end, I learned to not judge a book by its cover.
I found "Ping Pong the Animation" a really interesting show: very careful about details, treating the sport topic in a unique way.

I recommend you give it at least a try.
For me, it was definitely worth watching.