Review of Ping Pong the Animation

“No man so good, but another may be as good as he.” “It means there’s always someone better than you.” ~Butterfly Joe WARNING: Contains almost no spoilers !! (Story= 10/10 & Characters= 10/10) Ping Pong the Animation is more than a sports anime, it's an anime about humans, their emotions, their psychological. It is common for sports anime to talk about effort and talent, but in Ping Pong he has developed it in a sensational way, the characters debate throughout the journey whether he is really doing the right thing, as in the case of Peko who must strive to be able to challenge the best opponents, but he doesn'tknow if he wants it or not, he needs to look for a motivation to have the willpower to compete.

In the case of Smile who has a rare talent, he wonders if he has to work so hard, if it's worth his time to devote his sport to his youth, and the coach helps him decide his path to being the best in school. He has other well-developed characters like Kazama who strives nonstop all the time, and wonders why he has no talent, he is tired of carrying the weight of being the best ping pong athlete, winning numerous titles and being a representative of the Japan

Kong is a character who seeks redemption, as well as being an obstacle to the development of Peko and Smile he goes through a journey to understand what humility is within the sport. Sanada is Peko's rival, he is extremely important in leveraging Peko's motivation, as well as questioning why dedicating himself to the sport with Kazama who is the hardest working on the job.

All these character motivations during games comes up, you feel all the tension of the clash of ideologies developing in a totally organic and plausible way with excellent conclusions. The approach of the hero within the work was the one that touched me the most, Smile always believed that there was a hero for him inside his mess, as in the part that he was bullied and in the tense games of ping pong, Peko represented this hero, was The symbol of motivation for him. And later on we saw a new vision within the sport, that it is possible to have fun even if you try hard and sacrifice yourself in each match we can have fun and enjoy these moments.

The way he presents ping pong is quite different, he does not present the rules, but when the first games of the game to understand naturally, beyond their techniques and character specialties, is not something that bothers or adds much value within the work.

The ending of the work is fantastical, all the conclusions of the characters are interesting and well made according to their development, besides being totally exciting with certain scenes with a song that I will never forget.

(Art= 8/10 & Direction= 11/10)

All art is different and experimental, be it the scenery, character design, photography, etc. I got used to it, I don't think it was the best choice to make a very conceptual and contemplative art, but it was something well done and unique within a tight production of anime. The animation is more static than fluid, but all his Yuasa direction has created a dynamic inside game in a spectacular way, he knows how to edit and assemble the scenes perfectly to create a whole tension within the game, showing the characters' expressions well. , giving impact to each movement of the character's racket, as well as creating perfect symbolism for each character's ideology within their game vision. It's a fantasy thing.

(Ost = 1000000/10)

Ushio Kensuke is a great composer, has done great songs inside anime like Devilman Crybaby. Every soundtrack is well embedded within the work, can convey very well the tension of ping pong games, very impactful with great dubsteps, was sure to put electronic music inside the work. Each song for each character is impactful and memorable, especially that of Peko who represents the character very well and is more different from the others. The voice acting was great and the sound effects are very well done, especially in games.

(Overall= 10/10)

Ping Pong was a very important anime for me and is very important for the anime industry, especially sports. It can work its main characters in a spectacular and organic way as well as its important themes of motivation and effort, the art is good and unique, and its direction can bring dynamics between fantastic games, and with an excellent soundtrack behind it can immerse you inside the work in an absurd way. They always give a chance to all anime, I was prejudiced at first for having a weird art, but I ended up giving it a chance and it became one of my all time favorites.