Review of Ping Pong the Animation

Ping Pong The Animation is..... ridiculously outstanding. It is something which shouldn't be possible. Ping Pong The Manga quite possibly has some of the most 'fluid' art manga history and should be one of the most difficult artstyles to adapt. But Masaaki Yuasa, art director Aymeric Kevin(Art Director of Arcane S1) and the gang at Tasunoko Animation and Science Saru made it all possible, almost surpassing the manga in everything. Using digital animation, you get to see one of the most detailed, yet unrealistic movements which use panelling, storyboarding and some of the most fluid movement which make it look like a manga come alive. WithSound Director Seiko Kimura and Music Director Kensuke Ushio, you absolutely need to see this is with a proper headphone or speaker to hear the amount effort it has taken to turn the ping pong sounds in music.

The story is flawless as ever, with themes of self-sacrifice, acceptance and chasing your dreams entrenched with the rich dialogue of some of the most well written characters in animation history. Shows like Ted Lasso, Haikyuu and Blue Lock tend to tell you tales which make you feel happy – that there is something waiting for you at the end of the tunnel. And even in cases of guilty ridden stories like Real and Overtake!, it's still comforting to a struggling artist.

Not here. Ping Pong punches you in the face, hitting you with some very harsh truths while cussing you out. You really thought that a series directed by Yuasa would be this simple?

It is a story about how some people can just give everything they have and not get a thing while the gifted, the talented get everything while not working for the most time. It's about the terrible feeling of reaching the very pinnacle of human excellence and then just.... not getting it.

It is a show disguised as cold but has a lot of kind things to say. It's like that old shopkeeper you meet every once in a while. Who cusses a lot but parts a lot of wisdom.

If there was anything which I would show to showcase why animation is the superior form of visual storytelling, Ping Pong The Animation comes up to my mind first. The very pinnacle of human artistry.