When two geniuses meet you can have either pretty messy thing or a masterpiece. Thankfully for us Ping Pong The Animation is the later.
Story: The original story of Taiyo Matsumoto's Ping Pong is one of the best sports manga ever created. It uses ping pong as a medium for characters to interact and express themselfs. The complexity of plot threads and use of symbolism is outstanding.
Art: Here is where people seem to have a problem. Taiyo Matsumoto's artstyle is definitively different from the mainstream manga artists. It's not "bad" it's just different. The animation itself is good. It's fluid and use of panels like in the manga is effective. The art is usually highly subjective topic so take it as you will but from a production point of view the animation is good.
Sound: Incredible. Absolutely incredible. The sound effects are sharp, the voice acting is perfect. The music is ...well it's breathtaking. Personaly for me Ping Pong The Animation has one of the best soundtracks I've ever heard. I'll be looking forward to more of Kensuke Ushio's work because what he did with his music is just straight up amazing. What's also great is the fact that he uses ping pongs as instruments in some of the songs. And it works!
Character: This is probably best part of Ping Pong The Animation. The development of characters is amazing. Some of the best development I've seen. It almost rivals development of characters from the manga REAL which has in my mind the best development in the manga. I don't want to spoil anything but the fact that each of the 5 "main" characters come full circle from the point of despair to the point of hope is amazing. Coming in terms with understanding who they are, and individualy helping each other to access this understanding. It's beautiful. This is an anime that has no losers. Everybody wins.
Enjoyment: For me personaly it was a blast. The ping pong matches themself are fun and energetic, the characters are enjoyable, the music is great, and the anime has no real filler moments.
Overall: This is my most favourite anime of all time, and is one of the few anime that made me cry. So this review may be biased. However Ping Pong The Animation deserves all praise and all attention it got and should be praised much more. What Taiyo Matsumoto created and Masaaki Yuasa with his staff put on the screen is something that everybody should watch in their life. As it is very inspirational,beautiful and overall nothing short of a masterpiece.
Favourite quote from the anime: "People can fly."
