Review of Ping Pong the Animation
An anime about sports? An anime about ping pong? I would have never thought to ever give a show like this a try, while I do like the occasional play of table tennis in my freetime and during sports at school the idea of watching others playing it in the animated form was somewhat dull but interesting. Having heard from other sources that it is actually quite good and among the best series of this season I decided to check Ping Pong: The Animation out. Today it has ended and now I'm sitting here at midnight writing this review because continuing Ping Pong after a longbreak I took from it after episode 2 might have been the best decision I made regarding anime in a long time.
Storywise Ping Pong: The Animation centers around the teenager nicknamed "Smile" and others at the Tamura Table Tennis club. It is a sports anime after all and there is -quite fortunately though - nothing happening which could be considered that much out of the ordinary with like super powers you have seen in other sports series.
The series could be called a Coming-of-Age story. It focuses a lot on the relationships between the players, trainers and others and how their passion of table tennis affects them and others around them. And important part to make this work and catch the audiences sympathy are well done characters. And well done characters is something Ping Pong certainly has. The cast ranges from your more introverted main character to his chaotic childhood friend, to the arrogant yet talented but not flawless foreign antagonist, to the caring coach with a moving backstory and lots of other side characters from different schools, teams and nations wanting to make big.
But this cannot happen without sacrificies and this is also something this show does well. Table tennis is serious business over there and it portrays it very well. I am not an expert when it comes to foreign tablet tennis but from what I have seen in Ping Pong: The Animation they catched the mood quite well and every anticipated battle felt as exciting and tense as an upcoming showdown in an action series. The atmosphere is really intense and puts shows like Sword Art Online to shame, but not only when it comes to the action.
Most of this is achieved by the brilliant cinematography which uses an unique and definetly different art style than other shows ever did before. It is kind of hard to get into at first but the drawing style really grows onto you and actually fits the shows theme of being about a rather unusual sport, very well.
In terms of accoustic accompaniment Ping Pong: The Animation offers everything from chilly background tunes to incentive electronic beats to make the rhythm chime and get you into the right mood. Also the voice actors did an immensily great job on expressing how the characters are feeling. Nothing really to complain about in terms of audiovisual arrangement either.
Nevertheless one of the best parts are the characters. They are portrayed quite life-like as you could expect people to be participating in competitive sports. Every character feels real as you cheer and root for them to achieve their goal they have set in their lives and struggle with the possibility of defeat and others being better than them. They really undergo a well described development which seems believable and makes you care about them. The interactions between each other comes of as genuine and really natural. As their different personalities and egos clash you can really feel the tenseness. The creators did a fantastic job there.
Overall Ping Pong: The Animation is a great show. While it may not be appealing to anyone I can highly recommend it to anyone having the slightest affiliation with table tennis. If you have not this show might not be for you but also if you are just in for something different than you may be welcome here as well since this is a story which can be enjoyed regardless whether you like ping pong or not. It's more about the characters than the actual sport.
It is a sweet Coming-of-Age story about young people trying to find their meaning in life and after this a sports anime. Whether it will be the first place at the championships, social interaction or just to take part to find out in the end they aren't even made for table tennis. It's an emotional and unconventional ride and for me personally the best anime of this season.