Review of Ping Pong the Animation

This is not a traditional sports show. If you're looking for a generic shounen sports anime, don't bother with Ping Pong. It transcends the genre, almost to the point of a deconstruction. Instead of focusing on the sport itself and the main character's fight to the top in said sport, it focuses on the playing of the sport itself, who plays it, why they play it, and what their motives and ultimate goals are. It also demonstrates a magnificent amount of personal crisis and searching for the understanding of one's self within the sport. Ping Pong the Animation is a fucking masterpiece. If you don't playsports, you may not understand the intricacies of the issues these characters deal with (not to say you won't), but if you do, you're in for a hell of a show.

Story:

The story is basically about a group of high school athletes from different schools, different backgrounds, different environments all competing to be the best at Ping Pong. This show is about each character's struggle to the top and how they find success. The story is heavily reliant on characters and seeing as not much happens that isn't spoiler, this is all the analysis you're gonna get.

The finale to this show is so good that I cried from the sheer magnitude of emotion emanating from each character. One of the best I've ever seen.

Sound:

Excellent. The OP is incredible. The best of the year by far. The entire soundtrack is pretty much equally solid and always fits the mood perfectly.

Art/Animation:

If you want an idea of what the series is like, watch the OP and look at how much detail it contains. It is extremely unconventional, but it works.

The main gripe people have with the show right here. I don't understand the complaints at all. The animation is incredibly expressive, makes each character stand out in their own way, and hell, if nothing else, makes the series feel all the more unique than it already is. It makes everything look real and look like controlled chaos, very much what sports is for the most part. It's the perfect choice for the anime, there is absolutely nothing I wish changed in it.

Characters: (Warning, spoilers)

Now for the real meat of the show, the reason it's so fucking good. The characters. Not a single main or secondary character felt recycled. Each had their own distinct personality and look so you never confuse any of the characters with each other.

Our main character, Tsukimoto, is very quiet, reclusive, and introverted. He really only has one friend, Peco, and he seems to not have a lot of passion about the sport whatsoever. This is problematic because he has the most potential out of any character introduced. His coach doesn't want to let him waste this potential so he tries to inspire him using any method possible. This ultimately leads to Tsukimoto agreeing to enter the high school championships where he hopes to face Peco and take him on in the finals. The imagery used with him is phenomenal. At one point he's locked himself in a classroom and you're given a still, black and white shot of him with these magnificently large, vibrant, orange butterfly wings demonstrating how his true potential is beginning to blossom from inside of him. Tsukimoto goes through incredible development, you can just feel the difference in his personality by the end of the show and you can see in how he plays his final match that he's truly better off than when he began. Peco is his literal hero who saves him. It is unclear to anyone what Tsukimoto truly wants and that's one of the most interesting things about him.

Now on to Peco. He's one of those kids that doesn't take anything seriously, goofs off a lot, plays to have fun, etc. But here's the catch: he hates to lose. He puts on a farce about not caring how he does, but when he gets floored by Kong Wenge, he shuts down and sinks into a shell of what he used to be, too depressed to play. He then struggles the entire series with a personal comeback, intensive trainer, and a character reform. He ends up overtraining and hurting his knee before the final match against Tsukimoto (Karate Kid style) and has to deal with added challenges that put him to the test. Throughout the series, Peco always struggles with wanting to be the best of all time, but not wanting to do what it takes to get there.

And now to Kong Wenge. He's the Chinese exchange student, sent to Japan because he wasn't good enough to make the Chinese national team. He's disgusted when he shows up to find that everyone their isn't very good (except Tsukimoto who refuses to play him), and has to deal with the fact that he's saddled to a bunch of losers for a year. He eventually gets beaten by Kazama and has to face the fact that he may never make it back to China and play ping pong ever again. He works his ass off to get back for the national championships to get back to China. His main motive is to go home and play for the national team.

Kazama Ryuuichi. The dragon. The unbeatable. The local hero. He's seemingly untouchable throughout the entire series, yet near the end, you start to realize how truly vulnerable of a character he is. He locks himself in the bathroom in the search of complete solitude before every tournament, he deals with not really wanting to be the best, but not really wanting to lose because it's the only form of respect he receives. He views ping pong as a cage in which he cannot escape.

And here we have the last character I am going to talk about, Kekota. He's always lived under Peco's shadow, always looked up to him, but despised the way he never takes anything he does seriously. He works the hardest out of anyone, but never seems to get the results he desires. Tsukimoto has to break it to him that he's inherently bad at ping pong. It doesn't matter how hard he tries, he's never going to win because he's just not talented enough. He struggles to come to terms with this, but when he does, he's a completely different person. Everyone who plays sports or band knows someone like this. Someone who works so hard, but just sucks and it's genuinely depressing to watch, but it's put in an optimistic way so that the viewer never truly feels like they're watching someone's life shatter in front of their eyes (even though that's basically what happens).

Entertainment:

This was honestly one of the most profound, impactful shows I've ever watched and one of three to make me cry (Zankyou no Terror episode 9 and Steins;Gate's entire second half lmao), but not due to sadness, due to pure understanding and revelation. Ping Pong is probably the most accurate representation of the realities of sports ever created.

Overall:

If you haven't watched it yet, just please do so. You can watch it for free, legally on YouTube, so start now, please.

As always, leave me some feedback on my review. Feel free to criticize, I won't care one bit.