This review was made to make people fully understand this show, which often makes people confused, not because it is hard to understand, but because the show tries to push in 11 episodes as much motives as it takes and the full meaning is not as visible as it is needed to understand it while watching it for the first time.
If you didn't like Ping Pong the Animation or didn't really understand what was going on in there i encourage you to read this review.
Ping Pong the Animation is an exceptional show, unorthodox in every aspect, at first glance a normal sport show, but turns out to be something more, a strong emotions feel trip about different people struggling with life and finding their definition of happiness. The Ping Pong as a game itself is not really important for the plot, you can swap it with anything you want, even life itself, the game is only an excuse to portray characters motives, represent their state of mind, because Ping Pong the Animation isn’t really much of a sports show, there are no cool techniques, the matches are excitatory and artistic, which is job of an eccentric art and unparalelled animation made by Yuasa Masaaki, who is often praised for his work and the soundtrack which perfectly fits the atmosphere and propel the more tense scenes and make some of them truly epic. The stars of this show are: Tsukimoto, Peco, Kong Wenge, Kazama and Sakuma. What makes this show stand out is the fact, that every character starts with a big lack, something that either limits them or makes them unhappy. In the middle of the show something happens to them that turns their point of view upside down and and eventually every one of them positively changes. Everyone wins in this
Kong Wenge is a Chinese player who got kicked out of the national China team and decides to transfer to Japan to make himself a name there which might allow him to go back to his team. He was cocksure and full of himself, disgusted by the way everyone plays and ensured that no one is on his level and no one even deserves to stand on the same table with him. He wanted to return to his homeland so badly, but he knew he's stuck in here. The theme with a plane flying away symbolises moving back to China, every time when he looked up at a flying plane he yearned for homeland and playing for his old team, but he knew he's not able to do so. In the first tournament he barely lost to Tsukimoto, he won only because of Tsukimoto's mercy for him, but eventually got skunked by Kazama later on. That was his biggest lesson of humility in his life. He lost twice to people whom he didn't respect. Now he is forced to reckon with the fact that Japan may now be his home. After the tournament his trainer tolds him that honestly his life only starts and he just have gotten on start line, it doesn't matter if he fails at Table Tennis. He gets offered a job of training a team. Kong turns to be a wonderful trainer, he's sharing useful advices with his students and is encouraging them to train. Even after defeat he's not giving up on playing Ping Pong and still trains to get better. In the second tournament when he played Peco and still lost, the "plane" flied away, but he doesn't care anymore. He's not willing to go back to China, because Japan is now his home, he found something that holds him here and it was his team for which he was a Leader and inspiration. If you cannot reach something you want, then look up to the things you have already got and seek for good things in them. At the end of the show we see that his will to continue training even after constant defeats paid out - he moved out to Europe and started playing on Olympic level.
Hoshino Yutaka, alias Peco is a truly gifted player, he even could outplay older players as a child, he was always in the spotlight, but his constants victories and his natural capabilities made him really full of himself and eventually got slothful and lazy. Instead of training and developing his skills he was eating candies and snacks. When he played Kong Wenge in the first episode he got totally skunked, he haven't even scored one point. He never experienced that big defeat before. He celebrated his defeat with tears and despair and eventually he got even more lazy, which made him completely unprepared for the competition ahead of him. In the first tournament he noticed that Smile had almost won with Kong Wenge - the player that he lost to without scoring any point. It was a great shock, because he was always thinking that he is better than Smile. In the same tournament he played Sakuma, who was always worse than him up to this moment, but over time he overcame the difference in skill between them with hard work and dedication to sport and it ended up in lose for Peco. Sakuma laughed down at him telling that he should give up on the sport, because he is no longer good. Constant defeats and his descention in skill made him lost his confidence and eventually ended up on decision to give up on Table Tennis. Peco started eating even more snacks, got fat, adust and started smoking. He got into a relationship that didn't really work out, the girl broke up with him just because he didn't bring up her Christmas Gift. Later on when Peco visits his old Ping Pong club where he mets Sakuma. He tells Peco that he need to go back to Ping Pong, because he loves that sport more than anyone else. Peco after seeing photo featuring him and Tsukimoto holding a trophy, gets reminded of his love for the sport and goals of becoming the greatest and ultimately decides to go back to Table Tennis. He determines to start from the very beginning, trains very hard and develops his skills even further which results in winning the second tournament. Peco is the hero of Ping Pong, and he represents all that the show values and believes in. He does not fear defeat - because he plays for his earnest love of the game, and his earnest love of those he plays with. While playing Kazama and Smile whom are content to remain safe in their own cages, Peco lifts them up with his belief, and they lift him higher in turn. I know and im sure you know too some people who got that kind of passion for their lifes.
Sakuma, alias "Devil" is a childhood friend of Peco and Smile. He's got no talent for Table Tennis, because of an eye astigmatism that doesn't allow him to achieve the same response time as other players, which is essential in Table Tennis. Always envious to Peco for his great Ping Pong capabilities, for that he was always in the center of attention unlike him and got so many trophies for winning. He decided to work hard to overcome the obstacle that he met while playng on a higher level and eventually found a place in prestigious Kaio sport club which resulted in winning with Peco. After the first tournament he challenged Smile for a game. It was shocking experience for him since he didn't know that Tsukimoto might become that good. He totally lost, defeat at Smile’s hands forces him to realize that sometimes you just don’t have the aptitude to achieve your dreams, even thought he was a little relieved with that fact. That was the turning point for his life, because he no longer was limited by desire to win. In the second tournament he seems to be happy and in the end of the show it is said that he started a family. If you have no talent in something you shouldn't cry about that, just find something else that you are good in and move on, or focus on something else, life doesn't end on Ping Pong.
Then there is this dude, who played Tsukimoto in the first tournament. After he lost, he decided that Table Tennis is not for him and he decided to travel around the world and find his place on Earth. He tried on the beach, on the mountains, on the desert, but every time he felt that this is not what he was looking for. After a year he ended up on the second tournament in Japan. Tears filled his eyes when he realized that it was Ping Pong all along that he loved, but he have given up too easily on it, just because of one defeat. Witnessing the match between Peco and Smile, he rejuvenated his love for Ping Pong and eventually found his way to the Olympic stage (at the end of the show he is sitting on the stands with Japan national team shirt on).
"Defeat is death", "The truth lies in victory" - those are the slogans of Kaio, sport club obviously aiming to be the greatest that is never fully pleased with their athletes performance. Sport hall opened 24/7 available for training, trainers from around the world, in-depth analyses of training, highest quality sports equipment available to players for free, the usage of modern medicine to keep athletes bodies in perfect condition. Those are only the few of opportunities that Kaio is providing for their players. The only condition is - if you're not playing well enough, you're getting kicked out. They are even getting cut bald to not let hair distract players while playing. Kaio is a factory of robots playing Table Tennis for the victory. Kazama Ryuuichi is magnificently talented player which is the best player of Kaio sport club and their biggest trump card. He has been taught that the only route to success is victory, believes that the failings of others are definable and surpassable as lack of effort. Not only does he not rely on the strength of others, but he also doesn’t lend others his strength. The amount of stress he used to experience, because of his responsibility everyone are trying to bestow overwhelms him. Ping Pong has become a cage for Kazama - he used to close in the toilet and stand alone in his stall, staring silently down at his purple ping pong shoes before any bigger competitive, because of the fear. While he was playing with Peco in the second tournament he could see him "flying". Though walls of his bathroom are closed, the ceiling is open. Kazama can still look, can still reach, can still dream. The match between Peco and Kazama ends not in dour dramatics, but in laughter, in a shared love of the sport. Kazama's play defined fear, but Peco manages to break through to him and show him through competition and love that there is joy in these exchanges. At the end of the show he's telling that he got kicked out of the professional team, but as the time passed he learned to overcome failures gracefully. He's not afraid anymore, either victory or defeat, he will be able to face it boldly.
Makoto Tsukimoto, a friend of Peco that was introduced to Table Tennis by him, called "Smile", because of his lack in expressing any emotions often insulted by his classmated. When he started playing Ping Pong - he was smiling like a madman. Peco gave a lesson to everyone that tried to insult him and pulled him out of a "cage" he was sitting in, because of that Peco has become his role model and "hero", he wanted to be just like him. At the start of the show Tsukimoto wasn't smiling at all. It was because he didn't feel any motivation for playing Table Tennis. It was because Peco was playing bad and behaved pathetic. Smile after years proved to be horribly good player, his overwhelming power becomes evident. He was subconsciously letting Peco him win to not hurt feelings of his "hero", which later on trainer Koizumi noticed. He even gets scouted by Kazama from Kaio, but it was Koizumi who awakened his potential. He starts training under his wings, not because he wanted to, but because he just wanted to win, he truly started behaving like a robot. Even though he got the power to crush every player he faced he couldn't help with loneliness he constantly felt, he spent Christmas Eve alone, even training Table Tennis with Koizumi would be better. Tsukimoto was told since he was very young that he's a "robot", that he is emotionless and incapable of feeling. However, Peco still remembers why Smile is called by that nickname, smiling is an emotion too, Tsukimoto have to feel that human emotion - Smile - again and remind to himself why he started playing. After Peco won with Kazama, he knew that his "hero" is back and he don't need to hold back anymore - it was always Peco’s joyfulness that made Table Tennis so wonderful for him. While playing with Peco he slowly came to realize why he is playing the game. It is because "Blood tastes like Iron", it is the taste of blood in your mouth after a big effort that make it truly worth experiencing (We are alive song). At the end Smile throwns the racket in the air and shows that it no longer have any hold on him, he have to find happiness by his own way now. He can toss the racket free without regrets, because he now knows who he wants to be - a teacher.
The scene on the train when Smile says “the one after next” is relevant to just about everything the show discusses. Smile waits for his hero to make it to him at the finals - the match after Peco’s “awakening” vs Kazama. Kong fights to make it to his next match - to find a home for him and his mother. The whole show is really about what comes after what you are doing now. Ping Pong the Animation doesn't show it's characters falling, because of their patheticism, but because they need to fail. Every one of their defeats made them stronger. Failure in Table Tennis is not the end of the world. Making it to the next match is much less difficult when you are passionate about what you are doing. Peco’s love for ping pong is exactly what allows him to get to his next match, because there is always something else waiting for you. The whole point of the show is to not seek for victory. Victory will not give you timeless satisfaction, only seeking seek true passion and joy from what you're doing just like Peco will provide it to you.
Thanks for reading. :)
