Review of Ping Pong the Animation

There have always been a lot of sports anime/manga, ranging from basketball to boxing. But one particular sport is always forgotten: ping pong, or table tennis. Ping Pong The Animation tries to remedy that while telling a griping story of personal evolution and maturation. Ping Pong The Animation is the adaptation of the manga Ping Pong, originally released in the 80s. It was produced by the Tatsunoko productions studio and aired in 2014 with 11 episodes. While the premise may seem boring and unimaginative, I assure you it is actually incredible. There is no bigger plot here, the story is based in character development, and it nailsit. Every character is unique, has a distinct personality, is wonderfully developed and changes throughout the story, for better or for worse. Smile and Peco's friendship is beautifully explored. The conclusion is very fitting for the series and shows us a glimpse of what the characters are up to after the ending.

Its art style is unique, to say the least. It is very hard to describe, but I will try my best. The lines are frequently wobbling, things sometimes get blown out of traditional proportions and the matches themselves are pretty trippy, showing metaphorical representations of the players. But everything thing is done for a clear reason and it never feels pretentious. It still may be a tur-off for some people, and I don't blame them.

Speaking of the matches, differently from some other anime, the matches are very much grounded on reality and don't include any flashy moves. Knowledge of ping pong is not needed in any way whatsoever.

The soundtrack, consisting mostly of highly energetic songs, is also pretty great, especially the OP that is, in the lack of a better expression, filled with energy. Just like the art, every track is put for a particular reason and has some effect on the viewer.

The only real fault I could find with the anime was the poor pacing of the middle arc, which happens between two very important tournaments. It suddenly became painfully slow and kind of boring, but thankfully the steam came back in the last arc.

While it is not as flashy as Kuroko no Basket, for example, Ping Pong The Animation does manage to tell a powerful story with hugely interesting characters. It is a definite recommendation to anyone looking for phenomenal character development.