Ping Pong Poetry

Convinced that Masaaki Yuasa is the greatest living anime director. This is untouchable.

This makes me want to start playing ping pong.

Don't know how many times I've watched this now. Each time I return, it reinstates itself as one of the most essential, life-affirming pieces of media I've ever consumed. If you are troubled with the questions of why we humans strive, why we try at anything only to fail again and again, Ping Pong the Animation is essential viewing. The animation swims through your bloodstream, and at its most surreal moments it becomes entirely transcendent, extending its hand outward directly to yours. We've got so much more bubbling inside than it feels sometimes, and this series knows that better than most. The numbness has gone away, for a little while.

"Blood tastes like iron."

"Maybe there's no job I'm the only man for, but
Will I fade away without doing anything?"

"I just wanna feel good, whenever and however I can!"

Finished my third viewing of this series and it's just as good as I remembered. Absolutely my favorite anime, and one of my favorite pieces of media in general.

You don't have to be interested in competition or ping pong to enjoy this, because as much as those things are the framing device, this is really just a story about growing up. It's a story about learning to recognize and accept your personal limits and about finding your place in the world. It's a story about communication and understanding. It's a story about friendship.

Each of the 11 episodes are near-perfect, and I find myself tearing up a little at some point during most of them.

I am watching this beauty again.

This is Inio Asano with time constraints.

Honestly the best and my favorite sports anime of all time.

Kong's final shot may be one of the most beautiful sequences I've ever seen.

I cannot say it enough: it is a masterpiece, and one of the best artistic pieces about sports ever made, may it be plot wise or visually. The visual style is not like your average anime, and in my opinion it's for the best.

If you want to discover some fancy animes, this one is a must.

NOOOOOOOO THE SONG IN THE FINAL MATCH 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Spannende Ballwechsel, wuchtige Schläge, nahe Emotionen, unvorhersehbare Ergebnisse, elektrisierende Montagen und grandiose Kinetik zeichnen die titelgebenden Tischtennis-Matches in “Ping Pong the Animation” aus. Es geht in dieser exzellenten Serie jedoch um mehr als Tischtennis. Dank den gründlich durchleuchteten und entwickelten Charakteren schafft es die simple Handlung, die Fragen nach dem Antrieb des Sports, den Effekten von Siegesdruck und Niederlage, den Hindernissen im Leben oder danach was es heißt lebendig zu sein zu stellen. Jede der 11 Folgen ist ein dank des außergewöhnlichen Zeichenstils und kreativen Einfällen ein visuelles Kunstwerk, zudem untermalt von einem guten Soundtrack. Am wichtigsten ist jedoch, dass die Geschichte trotz allem nie das emotionale Fundament von der Freundschaft zweier Jungs vergisst. Schnell, unkonventionell und absolut sehenswert.

This is Inio Asano with time constraints.

Honestly the best and my favorite sports anime of all time.

intro sequence goat

I will never understand why team based sports are more popular than individual sports. Only thing that ever happens in team sports is a bunch of big egos pointing fingers at each other. Contrast that with ping pong, tennis or badminton, where you every loss and victory can only truly be yours. If you lose, do better. If you win, do better. Why would anyone go back to a team after experiencing such freedom.

The measure of a good sports anime: does it make you want to play the sport? What makes Ping Pong the Animation remarkable is that it doesn't even need the story to be great. The animation, cinematography, and music are enough to make you want to pick up a paddle. Yuasa does it again.

The characters and story add a thoughtful dimension, no doubt. I particularly appreciate the particular representation of Wenge, the Chinese character. There's just enough fantastic animation interspersed to capture the characters' interior states, in ways the pure naturalism of the rest of the anime couldn't do.

I can't really think of anything PPTA does wrong. The story is a bit small is all. At 11 episodes, it respects that fact. I can't name a better sports anime, and it'd probably make my top ten.

Kong's final shot may be one of the most beautiful sequences I've ever seen.

best anime ever made

Hard to think an anime about fucking ping pong could ever be this engaging or heartfelt, but goddammit it really is. I’m not one for coming of age sports dramas, especially in anime, but Ping Pong (2014) is different. The absolute GOD Masaaki Yuasa, who directed another hit, The Tatami Galaxy (2010), infuses so much life into this story with unique animation and editing techniques seldom seen in popular anime. Since I seem to be trapped in a loop, perpetually watching anime, and things start to bleed together, it’s a breath of fresh air when something like this comes along. Bottom line, this show rocks, probably in the top 5 of anime in the 2010s. 5/5 fo today

Also if you don’t like the art style I will leave you headless in a bog

Also I need to finish and review The Tatami Galaxy, which is probably the fastest paced show of all time

So good, watched it all in one night

Never have I thought, that I would get this excited about table tennis.

"My blood tastes like iron."

It's a really good series, especially the last two episodes.