Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume (Scorching Ping Pong Girls)

In the world of Japanese ping pong, a mighty king has fallen. An underdog team suddenly breaks the indomitable Oudou Academy's nine year winning streak, creating a power vacuum as players everywhere are given hope that they too can reach the national tournament.

Suzumegahara Middle School is home to a small-time team: Hanabi Tenka, who has a rapid attack style; Hokuto Itsumo, who can predict the ball's most likely path; Agari Kamiya, famous for her signature backhand smash; vice-captain Mune Oomune, who has an aggressive playstyle; and team captain Kiruka Ushirode, who possesses an impenetrable defense. Despite their skill at ping pong, the team has never made it further than the local city tournaments.

But everything changes when transfer student Koyori Tsumujikaze arrives in town. Filled with an intense love of the game, she quickly makes a name for herself as another top player on the team. Koyori's positive attitude towards ping pong lights a fire in each of the girls' competitive hearts, and together they embark on a mission to win the national tournament.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume

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Characters & Voice Actors

Tsumujikaze, Koyori

Main

Hanamori, Yumiri
Japanese

Itsumo, Hokuto

Main

Kuwahara, Yuuki
Japanese

Kamiya, Agari

Main

Tanaka, Minami
Japanese

Ushirode, Kiruka

Main

Toujou, Hisako
Japanese

Tenka, Hanabi

Main

Kouno, Marika
Japanese

Oomune, Mune

Main

Imamura, Ayaka
Japanese

Futamaru, Kururi

Supporting

Izawa, Shiori
Japanese

Tsukinowa, Kumami

Supporting

Ueda, Reina
Japanese

Zashikiwarashi, Zakuro

Supporting

Furuki, Nozomi
Japanese

Yuragi, Yura

Supporting

Aoyama, Yoshino
Japanese

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Tanaka, Hiroyuki

Producer

Irie, Yasuhiro

Director

Gou, Fumiyuki

Sound Director

Hiroshi, Ikehata

Episode Director, Storyboard

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Opening Theme

	1: "Shakunetsu Switch (灼熱スイッチ)" by Suzumegahara Chuugaku Takkyuu-bu (Yumiri Hanamori, Minami Tanaka, Ayaka Imamura, Hisako Tojo, Marika Kouno, Yuuki Kuwahara) (eps 1-4, 6-)
	2: "Bokura no Frontier (僕らのフロンティア)" by Wake Up, Girls! (eps 5)

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Ending Theme

	1: "Bokura no Frontier (僕らのフロンティア)" by Wake Up, Girls! (eps 1-4, 6-)
	2: "Shakunetsu Switch (灼熱スイッチ)" by Suzumegahara Chuugaku Takkyuu-bu (Yumiri Hanamori, Minami Tanaka, Ayaka Imamura, Hisako Tojo, Marika Kouno, Yuuki Kuwahara) (eps 5)

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Dec 20, 2016

overlyotaku

Recommended

A pleasant surprise. After marathoning the whole series in a night, I have to say I really enjoyed myself. The characters are all fun and have their own little quirks. I felt they went together in the series well. The show is pretty much all about ping pong too, hardly any filler at all. Surprisingly little fanservice too, considering it's full of girls getting sweaty and moving around a bunch. I was actually hooked on the dramatic moments in each episode, and never felt like fanservice was being crammed down my throat for the sake of selling a product. Not a masterpiece, but worth your ...

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Dec 19, 2016

Tozzy

Not Recommended

Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume (Scorching Ping Pong Girls) is a textbook case of 'I should have known better'. This anime from studio Kinema Citrus - following the trials and tribulations of a middle school girls table tennis team - had the potential to be an interesting experience but the warning signs were there from the opening episodes. What unfolded was a by-the-numbers moe-sports hybrid. You've seen this before: New girl has skill, makes number one player jealous and the pair work hard to overcome their faults and step up their game. Is there at least interesting characters or twists to the story to make ... this predictable formula exciting? Don't get your hopes up. Annoying mannerisms from the cast, bland character design and a drab narrative all play their part in making Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume a show I'd backhand off the table in a hurry.

Our main character is Koyori Tsumujikaze, a shy transfer student who finds the perfect place to seek excitement thanks to the Suzumegahara Middle School table tennis club. It's there she runs into the number one player, Agari Kamiya, a confident but jealous girl. Koyori is in search of the player who can bring out the best in her, and Agari fits the bill. Agari has never been greatly tested by the rest of the club but when the talented Koyori shows up things start to change.

It feels kind of wrong to hate on such a light-spirited show but when its characters sound and act like fingernails on chalkboard then it's hard not to. To counter this I've come up with a way to make watching Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume somewhat bearable. It's "Tozzy's Scorching Ping Pong Girls Drinking Game", and the rules are simple. Grab a bottle of your favourite spirit - the kind that makes your head throb harder than Koyori's heart - and make sure you key in the emergency number on your phone beforehand, just in case. Then take a shot every time Koyori mentions the excitable state of her heart, Hokuto converses with a character not by name but by the colour or composition of their underwear, Kiruka decides to nest her noggin in Mune's comically large chest, Hanabi squeezes or fiddles with someone's hair or one of the first-years need the game explained to them during the middle of a point. It's not so much that there's anything wrong with these things, it's just that their repetition reinforces little surprises Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume is willing to throw the viewers way. The show is built upon characters who act a particular way, and one way only. Sweet, jealous, insecure, creepy, quiet or loud. The end result? No curveballs. Little development. Rarely entertaining.

If you've followed through my drinking game I apologise in advance. I assume by the point you've made it through the 12 episodes adhering to these rules then you're in trouble. Regardless if you're staring down an empty bottle or into your soul contemplating why you watched this show there's one thing that's clear to see - Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume is no different from the last moe dribble you watched. It's sickeningly sacchrine and painfully dull. All these faults, cliches and annoying characters are actually disappointing because there's the odd moment of glorious animation in this show but it's not worth slogging through the remainder of the series to witness it. Some of the table tennis scenes (the main reason I watched this show) look fantastic, at least when the characters decide to shut up and let the game unfold, that is.

Thanks to a one-dimensional cast and a story that ends at an awkward moment Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume earns three heartbeats out of 10. Someone get me a defibrillator and make my heart race again.

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Dec 19, 2016

RoryBurrows

Recommended

Simple; yet thrilling, vivid enough for me to be addicted to this series. There are many ways I can express my love for this underrated gem of an anime. I never thought an anime such as this let alone a sports anime would give me this much enjoyment. I'm not a sporty type of person so I tend to avoid sports centred anime but I'm glad I watched this and watched it all the way through.

This anime is as I've mentioned before simplistic, it's a show about girls playing ping pong, no more and no less. It plays out like a typical sports themed show ... would about becoming the best and winning the main competition for that sport; and features the theme of typical 1v1's for a lot of the episodes; showing us the characters strengths and weaknesses and getting more in depth into that aspect. For a story premise like this it really doesn't sound all that interesting but there are many features that make this enjoyable. Mainly because it's cute as hell but also accompanied by these matches is a killer OST to accompany them; a feature I will go more into detail with later on in this review.
This season focuses on a build up to the national competition; with friendly matches and training up to the main event which in-toe is enough to keep you hooked. We get to see the main cast flourish well and their bonds with each other and also an opposing team which increases the enjoyment factor; but other than that this is all we see from this "first season" if the show is lucky enough to gain itself a second.
In all fairness while being cheerful and enjoyable a concept like this isn't too original, but works well for what it is.

The art presented is very cute; it has that charm that made me enjoy it the most, with a cute cast of enthusiastic characters the art style complements that feature well in many ways. It's very bright and stands out well; reducing the serious tones from most of the matches of ping pong and flourishing the fun side to sports rather than competitive. Again this is very simplistic in terms of anime but it catches the eye well and makes the vibrant show even more splendid to watch.

Now moving onto the sound; which I complemented previously in the story section of the review. The OST to go along the ping pong matches is glorious, up-beat, enjoyable and keeps you hooked into the intensity of the matches. It has a very electronic and modern vibe to it which fits the sport well. The ball hitting the racket in the SFX department is also satisfying to hear especially as the fight grows more intense and you root for your favourite character to win the match. Also I have to mention the stunning opening theme, which I loved so much that I bought it on CD. It's upbeat and also complements the show well. Overall, fit to my taste in music.

The characters are pretty generic, there's nothing too special that stands out for them other than the fact they are all passionate about ping pong and competitive to become the very best. I can't find much words to describe the characters but their enthusiasm and up-beat natures is always fun to watch. Which although not very good led me rooting for each character every episode.
I can't honestly pick a favourite character they were all so splendid to watch.
The character development between Agari and Koyori was also pretty neat to watch; but that's all I can really say for this part of the review.

Enjoyment-wise. I loved this show to death; I want more, it was always the highlight of Mondays as it was cute and feel-good to watch. This led this to being my favourite anime of the Fall 2016 season, it can't compare to other more well received titles, but it had enough charisma to keep me hooked and demanding for more. It wasn't hard loving this series at all for it's nice set of characters and entertaining ping pong matches; along with the prior mentioned gorgeous OST.

Overall. I'm scoring Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume an 7/10 (going enjoyment-wise mainly it would score an 8/10).
It didn't present much for it to stand out well in the crowd of anime, but for me it was a gem compared to many other anime's I've seen. If you are into cute up-beat and happy toned anime's. this is a 100% recommendation from me.
I have so much love for this series, and I am really hoping this gets a second season someday.

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Poll: Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Oct 17, 2016	85 replies	by Destroyer31 »» May 9, 8:58 AM
Poll: Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Dec 19, 2016	83 replies	by TSTO »» Jul 9, 2022 12:49 PM
This show is underrated Friermiko - Jul 1, 2021	4 replies	by Serafos »» Nov 10, 2021 2:52 PM
Poll: Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Dec 12, 2016	50 replies	by Serafos »» Jun 28, 2021 4:07 AM
Poll: Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Dec 5, 2016	64 replies	by Serafos »» Jun 28, 2021 2:55 AM

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Itsumo, Hokuto

Kamiya, Agari

Ushirode, Kiruka

Tenka, Hanabi

Oomune, Mune

Futamaru, Kururi

Tsukinowa, Kumami

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