Review of Ping Pong the Animation

'Ping Pong the Animation' is an absolute masterful work within its animation medium. When taken out of context, this statement is bound to sound silly. What kind of story, that is based around table tennis, would people consider 'masterful'? Quite honestly, I saw little potential when reading the synopsis. And boy was I proven so very, very wrong. I was fully aware that Yuasa Masaaki is the director, the man responsible for Tatami Galaxy, Kaiba and several other creative works. Admittedly, I have not read any of Matsumoto's work despite knowing his solid reputation, so my expectations were more so lost than low. But low nevertheless.And for those of you who are put off to watch this, don't be. It looks to be several guys playing table tennis for the heck of it, but it's a mountain more than that.

Ping Pong isn't really about ping pong - rather the sport is used as a driving sport for characterization than the central concept. It's why people don't consider this as a 'actual sports anime', even though it actually is. It's just not your typical one, and a very non-conventional one at that. I don't particularly refer to the abstract art, which does indeed play a role, instead I refer to the careful yet unique approach towards several characters' development in a mere eleven episodes, by the means of ping pong itself.

For example, the foreshadowing at the beginning of episode one presents the quotes:
"Call me when you're in a pinch!"
"Say it thrice in your heart!
"Enter the hero!" "Enter the hero!" "Enter the hero!"
"Do that and I'll be there!"
In which the known 'hero' then sprouts out his wings and proceeds to fly in the air. Foreshadowing occurs a lot during the show, in various forms like symbolism, metaphors and actual events. But they aren't merely references to their past events. They reference the motivational drives and resolve the characters keep within them, which adds weight and depth to their character that connect table tennis to their lives. These moments of past references generally occurs in the actual table tennis matches, hence the efficiency to develop more than five characters in eleven episodes.

Why are they playing table tennis, and what for? The reasonings vary for player to player. Perhaps its the anxiety of losing reputation to merely passing on time. Or from misery in confinement to overcoming talent with effort. Each of the main characters have their ambitions and fears that molds the stages they go through. Majority of these characters' resolutions changes in the duration of the anime, but not in a morally typical way. The events attaches seemingly unrelated characters, and clashes their ideals to each other, similar or not, which changes the other player's mindset for the better or worst.

There's certainly more than one theme in Ping Pong, and thanks to the presentation that makes the anime so relatable to a lot of the audience. It deals with the balance of effort and talent within people. The bullying aspect is dealt in a fine manner that connects to humanity and equality. And then there's the metaphors, the central ones from heroes and birds flying, to the more straight-forward ones like dragons and robots. The most pronounced one though is, in Yuasa's words, "the best thing to do is enjoy yourself."

Ping Pong is commendable for adapting the entire manga into eleven episodes as a complete product, rather than animation advertisement like LNs. It hardly feels messy or convoluted, but this does lead to some unfortunate sacrifices. At times, it feels like characters change very suddenly, despite being justified. Other scenes are dragged out, specifically the texting scene in the last episode. The pacing is rapid and feels jumpy at times, but it is definitely solid and does not feel rushed to ruin the story at all.

The coming-of-age aspects of the writing also leaves an unfortunate cause. Some characters begins unlikable due to their nature. Smile starts out stuck up and, with intentional irony, never actually smiles. Peco starts out pretty cocky whose only purpose is to win, and cries or goes drunk when things doesn't his way. Later on though, the entire cast develops and grows into better people, having their resolves and inspirations changed or realized that both justifies their previous actions and changes them into players that are admirable by the end. It feels simply satisfying to watch these characters grow and blossom with depth, themes and characterization.

The writing is not exactly straight-forward, and without convolution too. You are subjected to 'think' when watching the show; by, what the internet would like to say, 'turning off your brain', you'd be missing out a LOT of depth the animation has. You do need to figure out the inner themes and piece together the puzzles in order to fully appreciate the characters. And it's completely worth it. The anime uses lots of psychology and subtle symbolism, even though some themes are put forward more than others like the blood aspect and robotic feature. But it's because of this amount of depth the anime underlies that makes it so especially relatable and exquisite.

Animation is brilliant, and yet it's not. Art style is definitely non-conventional because of its abstract nature. This may be close doors for some, but open doors for others. The scheduling and budget, mostly the former, had hit a dead end. It's evidential to some bad 'quality' shots scattered around, some more apparent than others. Frame rate feels low and cluttered at times, but thankfully the prioritized matches and symbolism towards the end is given more fluidity and budget. If you can easily adapt to the abstract art style that heavily resembles the manga, then you are in for a real treat.

Both Yuasa's and Matsumoto's style absolutely stands out here. The problem with most adaptations nowadays is that they forget that anime and manga are two VERY different mediums, but Yuasa realizes this. With faithfulness, a lot of manga paneling is cleverly used in animation fashion. Other techniques include the velocity of pacing in matches - since anime is a set-timed medium and manga is not, expressionism in subtle symbolism and characters' body language, the ability to blend both realism and cartoon nature and so on. The exotic animation style allows accessibility to be creative, thus creating a product that goes all out in every single scene.

Table tennis matches are an absolute blast to watch at times. Simply because they look like table tennis matches, instead of shounen fest smashing attacks. The techniques, power and accuracy of every hit and miss makes it apparent that the animators has done their research into the sport. And, referencing what I mentioned earlier, the matches don't merely rely on the animation, but also the amount of depth and importance each win or lost has.

Sound direction also enhances the experience to a new level. From feet scratching to balls bouncing, every single sound effect creates an atmosphere that is both light lifting yet heavily substantial in its matches. The soundtrack is solid, bringing in tones from uplifting to intensity, and from the depths of hell to heavenly paradise. Every voice actor expresses their characters and brings the life out of them with the correct personality and tone. Cast includes Kouki Uchiyama to some new VAs, and a proper Chinese Mandarin VA to LotGH's narrator.

Overall, I loved Ping Pong the Animation. It's more personal love due to its relatable themes hitting close to home, and its 'show, don't tell' execution being most excellent throughout the course of the animation. This isn't merely a sports anime. It's one that pinpoints the nature and psychology of human beings, questioning the purpose of their lives and what WE can do to make the most of ours. Ultimately, the story shows us that life does indeed have a meaning, that instead of stressing ourselves to achieve something, we should strive to enjoy the sports, careers or hobbies we do that defines us.