Review of Ping Pong the Animation

To dismiss, or to even think of Ping Pong: The Animation as another sports anime would be a gross error of judgement. Ping Pong: The Animation is not about sports. It is not about Ping Pong. Not really. It is a profoundly human story; a look at the lives, passions, and motivations of characters that sound and act so real that you can’t help think of them as real flesh and blood, people with feelings, emotions and souls of their own. No. Ping Pong is not about sports, or THE sport, or the ‘athletes’. It is not about winning or losing. It is against the veryconcept of competition, the ruthless system that creates winners at the cost of losers. It is a critique of the mindset that glorifies success and distorts life, and things as pure as, say, art, music, and sports (such as Ping Pong), turning these things into a means to achieving selfish desires such as money, power, glory, and honor. When a thing such as ping pong which is meant to direct human passion and creative impulses of man and to allow him to enjoy life by doing things for the sake of the thing itself is distorted or perverted to cater to more selfish desires there arises a need for a savior, a hero, someone to save not just Ping Pong but the true meaning of being alive, of indulging in the pure innocent joy of living, enjoying life and just having fun.

Ping Pong: The Animation is about its characters; it is a coming of age story that explores, among other things, the theme of friendship, and the influence of the past on the present, how our decisions and efforts in the present affect the future and the natural process of constant growth and experience that every single person goes through.

STORY (9/10)

Ping Pong does not has a story or plot in the sense that you can just lay down or explain to someone. It is all about the characters, what they go through, and what they become as a result of their experiences.

It explores its complex of themes through brilliant character sketches, an empathetic narrative, an emotionally profound characterization, a stylish, somewhat surreal art style, and a brilliant direction style that employs a split screen technique to mimic the panels of a manga with occasional bursts of an audio-visual style dubbed as ‘magical realism’.

CHARACTERS (10/10)

Ping Pong’s main protagonists, if such a thematically nuanced story can have protagonists, are two high-school students and childhood friends,Tsukimoto ‘smile’ and Hoshino ‘Peco’. Smile is a reserved no-nonsense stoic, and ‘peco’ is his complete opposite, a non-serious, sprightly loud -mouth. They both possess a natural talent for Table Tennis (or Ping Pong), go to the same table tennis club, and are the best players of their High School Table Tennis team.

But their untapped talent is not without strings attached; ‘Smiles’ lack of ambition and lack of will to win coupled with his gentle personality prevents him from ‘winning’ against most opponents. ‘Peco’, on the other hand, feels that winning is everything and thinks himself indestructible until he meets a Chinese Student, Weng Kong, who utterly defeats him, prompting him to stop practicing. Another defeat during a tournament leaves him devastated and he abandons the game altogether.

The anime’s many characters include Coach Koizumi, who recognizes smile’s talent and vows to train him and make him better, and Wenge Kong, a Chinese student who, after being kicked from his Home team in China, travels to Japan to prove himself against the best that Nippon has to offer and redeem his place back home. The anime as an interesting motley of main, side, and minor characters; a whole list of intriguing characters with their own stories, and even the minor ones have been well fleshed out, including a character who after his defeat by Smile early on leaves on a journey to discover himself, only to find that table tennis has always been the passion of his life.

Going into a detail of all the characters and their roles would be a waste. All I can say is that each character feels painfully and veritably human, is very well developed, and the process of growth that each of them goes through in the story is fascinating to say the least. The painstaking detail with which their characters are crafted, their body language, mannerisms, dialogues, and brilliant voice-acting, makes them feel alive like in a way fictional characters rarely feel so.

This anime is about the journey all these characters go through, a process that cannot be easily described and has to be experienced by the viewers themselves to be understood and appreciated.

ART/ANIMATION (10/10)

Ping Pong’s art comprises of breathtaking, detailed backgrounds, and minimalist character designs; a combination that allows for great flexibility of expression and creative freedom. Think of Kaiba, Tatami Galaxy, and Tekkon Kinkreet blended together; a combination of the talented Yuasa Masaaki and the unsung auteur of manga Taiyou Matsumoto. The animation is very fluid, stylish, and surreal at times. The jaw-dropping details of the environment, and the complexity of character expression is quite impressive. The art/animation is very different, but not (in my opinion) an acquired taste.

A notable aspect of the show relating to animation, sound and overall direction is the frequent bursts of ‘magical realism’ expressed through images which bring out the emotions and motivations of the characters during action sequences in a comic and fantastical way. For example, Kong Wenge’s desire to return to China is symbolized by a commercial plane in various sequences, Tsukimoto ‘smile’ desire to be saved by a hero manifesting during his early childhood experience of being bullied in school is personified by a hero figure, and so on.These sequences perfectly blend with the overall style of the anime and enhance the experience.

SOUND (9/10)

PP:TA showcases a near flawless VA performance, and the right kind of music used (sparingly) at the right time. Background tracks vary from soothing and laid back piano, use of synths and psychedelic tunes, to upbeat and energetic themes, perfectly timed and fitting, setting up the mood appropriate for the scenes. In short, the anime does everything ‘just right’ in this department.

OVERALL/ENJOYMENT (9/10)

Directed and spearheaded by Yuasa Masaaki (Cat Soup, Tatami Galaxy, Kaiba, Mind Games), and adapted from a manga by Taiyou Matsumoto (Tekkon Kinkreet), Ping Pong: The Animation contains elements reminiscent of previous works by the two makers, such as the theme of friendship, adolescence, empathetic characterization and art of Tekkon Kinkreet, and the wacky, energetic, visceral oddness of Yuasa Masaaki’s previous works.

Ping Pong has an extremely well written and intelligent script, with some of the best dialogue writing I've come across yet. Yuasa Masaaki’s effortless direction with its ‘panel animation’ approach brings alive the pages of the manga in a way no other director could have accomplished. Each episode flows naturally into the next, and the quality almost never falters.

Ping Pong: The Animation is truly a gem, a near-flawless masterpiece that is destined to become a cult classic one day. Or maybe it already is.