Review of Ping Pong the Animation
(Check out my profile for a link to my site containing more up-to-date reviews and bonus media!) Ping pong is the most unfortunately named sport in the world. You could argue football for the regional confusions (particularly the fact the US name doesn't even make sense), but the deal is sealed when you consider most westerners' perception of ping pong in popular culture is the sport's minor role in Forrest Gump. If sport popularity in America is ranked by how cool the sport makes the players look then ping pong must be close to the bottom. After all, it's just handicapped tennis for all the ForrestGumps of the world, right?
Though Masaaki Yuasa's distinctly sharp character designs create limbs that look barely more functional than Gump's, his adaptation of Taiyou Matsumoto's 90s manga breathes life into a sport that for many had none. If you laughed at ping pong before, then you certainly quit after watching Ping Pong: The Animation. It's no joke here - it's a matter of life and death. Or just a way to pass the time.
Such is the case for Makoto Tsukimoto. Tsukimoto is a freshman in high school but prefers to play the role of a ghost. Nicknamed "Smile" for his lack of emotive expressions and antisocial behavior, Tsukimoto attends his school's ping pong club with his only childhood friend Yutaka "Peco" Hoshino. Though their friendship is questionable at first when they're shown to have such diametric personalities, it's clear that the prodigious and extroverted goofball Hoshino and the silent analytical robot are two halves of this one sport. Though Tsukimoto attempts to underachieve, his disguised talent is recognized by coach Koizumi. As Koizumi is eager to instill a winning spirit in the dejected Tsukimoto, Hoshino will have to battle his own over-confident personality as well if he wants to reach his true potential.
Tsukimoto and Hoshino's skill garners the interest of several rival high school players such as the ace Chinese transfer student Kong Wenge, other ornery childhood friend Manabu "Demon" Sakuma, and the extreme cold-blooded high school national champion Ryuichi Kazama.
An unusual sports anime that emphasizes strength of personality over refined skills, Ping Pong: TA dedicates significant time and attention to every character with a memorable face. Though the cast are ultimately competitive towards each other, they complete one another's weaknesses and pull each other out of their darkest pits. When a hero is needed, they always appear.
Though Ping Pong follows the basic sports anime formula of awakening one's potential through competition, and its characters fit the normal stereotypes, it breaks cliches by misleading which ones it's actually about. One such sports genre pitfall that's avoided is that by dividing focus between so many characters almost equally, the outcome of each match is never obvious beforehand due to narrative favoratism. The two protagonists will not win just because they're the main characters and that's convenient, and the personalities of many characters are the opposite of what they seem initially.
Masaaki Yuasa's direction is as distinct as always to the point where Ping Pong is his story just as much as it is Taiyou Matsumoto's. Making some changes to the manga's story turn out to be a good thing such as Yuasa's choice to modernize the original 90s setting and make it more relatable. Though Yuasa's usual simple yet geometrically complex illustration style stands out immediately his narrative direction has truly evolved, constantly evoking manga-esque cut-ins that elegantly shave off any padding that would come from standard scene transitions by allowing several different perspectives and scenes to be on the screen at once. This is particularly extremely effective during the action scenes where the "panels" jolt in with a speed and chaos that perfectly matches the force of the games. Many would like to cast off Yuasa's direction as a gimmick, but these cut-ins are as eye catching as they are narratively efficient and most, if not all, anime would benefit from the constant energy and skimming they provide. Yuasa's earlier mentioned inconsistent body shapes and perspectives emphasize the athletic feats of the players even further as if they were stretching their bodies beyond what is physically possible. When limbs are seen dramatically bending in just slightly impossible ways it's enough to make us feel the sheer effort behind their movement while it's not absurd enough to make us not admire the desperate humanity underneath them.
Kensuke Ushio is given the musical score and delivers a thumping, knee-bouncing, sweat glistening soundtrack of mainly electronic dance music. Ushio's teacher Aphex Twin may have not been able to make it any better than this. The synchronization of the soundtrack to the motions and personalities on screen is a contender for the best ever done in an anime, and during the matches it's so unintrusive to the point that there are moments where it seems as if the movements themselves are composing the music in-time, giving a weightless feel to all the force on display. Make every scene a lot darker with only white outlines and you have a bevy of top-dollar sports commercials. That the mellower moments still don't feel out of place with the general sound of the action scenes is an accomplishment in itself. It's no exaggeration to say that it's due to Yuasa's introspective direction that digs into the perspectives of the characters visually and Ushio's electrifying beats that make Ping Pong: The Animation as emotionally affecting as it is by aiming for the instinctual senses that all connect to the heart. Another example of the truth that style is indeed substance.
Contrary to sports anime aimed at a younger demographic, Ping Pong's competitive philosophy can be harsh and even cynical. The main theme of the series is what it means to have talent and what talent is worthy for. Certain characters express the opinion that talent or aptitude is the deciding factor in a competitive career and those who don't qualify need and should not apply. Again, ping pong is no joke here: this is an anime about the elite. It's a coming-of-age story that focuses on the demands of the much larger adult world than the optimistic youth environment. Though this attitude is the opposite of inspirational at first, the end philosophy reaches a respectable compromise that doesn't sacrifice integrity. The philosophy that not everyone has talent, but talent can come from anyone, and that the greatest talent in the world is worthless without freedom, and freedom is guaranteed to those without talent. This ties together the journey from childhood to adulthood, how heroes are made and why heroes need to exist no matter how mature you get.
Is Ping Pong the best sports anime ever made? It would win for the simple fact it makes a greater case for the idea of sports than any other. The idea of sports functioning as a sort of communication, brotherhood, and test against oneself is perhaps best displayed in a sport that's one-on-one and conducted in silence. For a sports anime, the numbers at the end of a game have never mattered less. Ping Pong is primarily a series of battles with the holes of one's personality, as reflected through the hundreds of tiny squares on a black net. The final victory is not trophies or pride, it's freedom.