So today i am here to recommend you a sports anime on table tennis.

Ping Pong the Animation Review

I'mma write a short summary on this,and it contains spoils as well

Some useful info maybe??

Genre: Sports,Drama,Psychological,Seinen

Studio: Tatsunoko Production

MAL rating: 8.7/10

Director: Masaaki Yuasa

It's actually based on a manga which i didn't read till yet so I'll yap about anime only



STORY

This is definitely one of my favourite.You can say the story was not that exciting/can be called simple but i liked how it was given to us that's important. It took simple and relatable eveents and made them into something good enough to serve us lmao..
The story itself is very typical shonen and is just there to show off the characters. However, I loved how a few of them have the same arc throughout the series. They start off strong, fall down and then have to get back up again. It definitely felt realistic and I could definitely see this happening in real life.



The story didn’t explain everything which I loved. There are some major events and reasons behind them but they are never confirmed. We know there are some hints but due to the style we never know if things actually happened or were exaggerated. What happened to Kazama’s Dad? Who does Kazama play for? What happened to Smile’s Family? Who does Smile play for?Etc etc bs.....As I already knew the general plot I focused on the symbolism and the bits that weren’t explained. I got a lot more out of it.



ART

One word to say about this anime is it can be called.... unique. Yuasa really took a risk with the art and due to him being the director and storyboarding every episode there was a clear vision that was present throughout. It was cool ngl.



The flash animation was a huge part of why there was such interesting camera work. We have zooms into peoples eyes and out of them. There was a scene where the camera moves up from the ground to a hill where other characters were watching lmao idk how to say that. This would be almost impossible to do in traditional animation.



The comic panel style was used a lot.

There was lots of colour used to make certain things stand out.

Split screens, over the top emotions, tilted camera angles and dream like scenes were used to show how the character was feeling. Usually with little to no dialogue. It was good enough



Most anime I watch I get bored during conversations where two characters are talking and their lips are moving while the rest of their body stays still. This never happened lmao, every conversation was good enough that you can watch them yapp. There were really fun scenes ngl.

Every match was different.We don’t always see much of the actual match but due to the loose animation we can really feel how each character is feeling. It was a nice change to not have the typical shonen fighting style.



On some occasions it didn’t quite work. A couple of times the characters looked very strange for no reason. However when it did work it was amazing.

MUSIC

Yes,the music was goated actually.The second half of the Peco vs Kazama match was amazing. I was so frustrated with how the match went but the visuals and music were incredible. The Christmas Karaoke scene was deff my favourite moment of the whole series. I’ve watched it a lot of time lmao



Why should you watch it?

It was a unique one ngl, haven't seen much like this tbh,you can also say...not everyone would like it...

Ig Yuasa is a big name in animation.His work is worth checking out and this is a great starting point.

It was a simple story but it was delivered damnn good to us. That's important



Characters were kinda felt real???. Most of us can relate about failing and getting up again,i am pretty sure most of us..

Yeh, their conversations wasn't boring that's a good point also



It didn't felt like a sports anime much,more like showing how they...feel?? Idk how to express that lmaoo

Memorable scenes. The Christmas Karaoke and second half of the Peco vs Kazama match were both memorable.



More Yuasa. If you enjoy this then check out Mind Game and The Tatami Galaxy.

My final thoughts on this anime....

The length was good. I wouldn’t have enjoyed it half as much if it was double the length. The ending wassss kinda rushed but what was i expecting from a 11 episode anime lmaoo.It would have been nice to have one more episode to show what happened after the final tournament, what happened to Kong and his team and what some of the side characters were thinking.

Overall Ping Pong was amazing. It wasn’t perfect but it’s definitely in my favourites list