Ping Pong the Animation: The Review
“‘The winners write history, and the losers are history’…I’ve seen that mentality wreck a lot of people.” -Tamura Obaba
This Monday I took a personal day. I had to run errands that I wasn’t able to get done on the weekend, and honestly, the weekends are never enough of a break from work. Even though I was done with my errands pretty early I had made up my mind that I’d just take the rest of the day off because damnit I deserved it.
So, with the day all to myself I decided to finally start an anime that I had been meaning to watch: Ping Pong the Animation. It’s a title that was highly recommended from a mutual, and as far as I’m concerned it’s one that isn’t well known. Ping Pong the Animation first aired in 2014 and is an adaption of a manga series of the same name (minus the Animation part, obviously) that ran from 1996 to 1997. Anime and manga have a knack for making the most mundane or average activity seem fun and exciting so I had no doubt that an anime about table tennis (no disrespect to competitive table tennis players) was about to be a genuinely good time. I wasn’t wrong; 11 episodes came and went just like the personal day I took, and I was just in awe at what I had watched.
Ping Pong the Animation follows two high school boys in a Japanese town and their experiences playing ping pong for their high school. They’re prodigies, clearly the best players on their team coming in as first years. They’re also best friends, but they are different as night and day. Yutaka “Peco'' Hushino is brash and confident. He’s clearly talented, and he won’t hesitate at the chance to prove it at the local dojo where he learned to play ping pong. He’s energetic and passionate about the sport as he strives to be the best, but he’s a bit of a glutton and loves to skip practice. Makoto Tsukimoto, nicknamed “Smile” because he doesn’t smile, is stoic, emotionless, almost robotic in nature. Despite his gift for table tennis, he’s rather apathetic when playing as he views the sport as a way to pass the time preferring to let Peco have the glory while he’s in his shadow.
While Smile and Peco are the central focus of the story, PPtA also follows 3 other ping pong playing prodigies (trying saying that 10 times fast). Kenge Wong, nicknamed “China”, is an extremely talented and cocky player who was sent to a neighboring school in Japan after being kicked off the Chinese national team. Manabu “Demon” Sakuma is a childhood friend/rival of Peco who plays for powerhouse Kaio Academy and is the result of how far hard work can get you. Ryuuichi “Dragon” Kazama, also from Kaio Academy, is the highly popular champion and the paradigm of strength, determination, and hard work. What I loved about PPtA is how this show managed to pull off the character development (my favorite thing!) of all these characters without undervaluing or setting anyone to the side. At the heart of this anime about ping pong is a coming-of-age story where the prodigies navigate through the intense climate of competitive sports and the harsh realities of self-realization, and getting to witness the growth and maturation of these guys was inspirational and amazing.
“Demon” Sakuma’s arc is an emotional one. As a kid, he looked up to Peco, and as a high schooler, he looked up to Dragon. Unfortunately, he has to come to the realization that hard work can only take one so far. It turns out that innate talent is what transitions a player from simply good to masterful, and innate talent is what he lacks. He doesn’t take this well, getting himself kicked off the team for beating up some random punks and going against the team’s rule of challenging players from other schools and losing. After some soul-searching he realizes that even though his life didn’t go down the initial path he walked, there is still much more to live for outside of ping pong. He even goes on to inspire and motivate the two players he looked up to becoming essential to their maturation.
Kong Wenge is initially presented as egotistical, but with the talent to back it up, and resentful at the fact that he had to leave his mother and work his way up in a foreign country to return to China. He doesn’t even acknowledge his teammates and doesn’t think there’s anyone capable of putting up a fight against him until he gets humbled by Dragon. This loss and a subsequent loss to a reinvigorated Peco matures him as he realizes making the Chinese national team isn’t the end all be all for him. He realizes that he can start anew in Japan, and we see him develop a nicer personality, reach out to his family more, and actually starts being more of a team player and coach to his teammates.
Dragon for most of the show is ferocious, powerful, and only driven to win. He perfectly embodies the nickname he’s given. He doesn’t make time for anyone or anything if it doesn’t involve improving the image of his team and family. We find out that after his father passed away as a kid, he was ostracized, finding comfort in bathroom stalls where he can think to himself. It wasn’t until it was realized that he was extremely talented at ping pong that his other family members noticed him and instilled in him the belief that he was only as worthy as the trophies he earned. This drove him to be the ruthless player we see until a stunning performance by Peco against him shows him that ping pong is also about having fun.
With the way Smile was presented at the beginning of the series one would think that he was going to slowly open up more as the show progressed, but the opposite happened. After it was realized that he had more potential than Peco, his coach began to focus on the development of Smile hoping to get him to conquer his weaknesses. He becomes cold, ruthless, and dominating as he rises through the ranks with his robotic style of play. Interestingly enough, he’s the only one of the 5 to change as a result of winning. It isn’t until he sees Peco’s growth and maturation in the final match of the tournament that we see Smile smile (ultimately revealing that the real reason he was nicknamed “Smile” was because playing ping pong with Peco was the only time he smiled when they were kids) and break out of his robotic shell.
“There’s always someone better than you.” This is said in the show, and aside from maybe Lebron James and few other star athletes, I find that most people can relate to this considering the ultra-competitive world we live in. While Kong and Demon certainly can attest to the validity of that statement, no one get hits harder by this reality than Peco. His ego takes massive damage when he gets destroyed by Kong and Demon. He completely falters and gives up on ping pong for a bit until he’s convinced to get back into it by Demon. He reinvents himself and with the help of his trainer/childhood mentor, he puts in the work to come back to the sport he’s always loved. Peco’s development was easily my favorite of the prodigies because it was one that I didn’t see coming.
Did I mention that this much growth and maturity happens in 11 episodes yet still feels perfectly paced?!? It’s such a wonderful thing. Some anime could never!!
Finally, after spending so much time focusing on character development I’d like to acknowledge the artwork and animation of Ping Pong the Animation. One doesn’t simply review a Masaaki Yuasa (Tatami Galaxy, Devilman Crybaby, Keep Your Hands off Eizouken!) anime without mentioning the genius of the avant-garde director. The artwork is rough, loose, and unorthodox. Seems like vintage Yuasa traits to me, and I’m a big fan of his surrealist interpretations of anime. I particularly enjoyed the use of symbolism by Yuasa to emphasize the deeper aspects of the show. From other reviews I’ve read, I’ve noticed that others heavily critiqued the artwork as ugly and unappealing. I believe there’s a charm to it as it perfectly captures the themes and plot of the show, and compliments well with the artwork of the manga. It can’t always be clean and beautiful like Haikyuu!!. The animation during the matches that take place are fast-paced and feel realistic despite the unorthodox appearance of the artwork. I’ve never seen real-life competitive table tennis, but I have to assume this anime perfectly captured the game.
All in all, I probably spent way more time on the growth and maturation of the main cast than I should have, but that’s the main thing that stood out to me by the time I was done watching. It was rewarding character development. The struggles felt real. The comebacks and maturation felt right. It was all heart-warming to witness. It’s just a wonderful show with wonderful characters, and I highly recommend giving it a watch.
That’s all I have for this post. As always, thank you for reading! Stay tuned for one of the next posts. I’m currently working on something that should be fun!