Ping Pong | Episode 1
Buckeye: Alright, this is something different in terms of sports anime. Certainly, that unusual style of animation gives it a much different feel from traditional sports shows. I like how they had those Chinese guys speaking Chinese. One of the adults said that there is always someone out there who is better, and that holds true to form here seeing Wenge totally overwhelm Peco.
Nork22: Another show set in Enoshima. Well aside from the crude artstyle from the 80s-90s, seems interesting enough. I’m amazed the animation team bothered to get a native speaker of Mandarin and it was strange hearing Chinese in a typical Japanese anime. The ping pong action though doesn’t have the visual flare you typically see of sports show, so hopefully it will continue on with that.
GingaDaiuchuu: Man, Yuasa makes some weird shit. Sometimes I like it (Tatami Galaxy was pretty damn great, although more after it all wrapped up), but while it’s certainly more interesting than maybe anything else out there, the art style doesn’t do much for me. The actual motion in the games is pretty nice, though.
sonic: Had no expectations going into this and really liked what I saw. The Mandarin was a nice touch and I speak some so I did not need the subs for those lines, which was cool. The animation is pretty fluid though the designs are so weird at times. It was unusual, but a good unusual for me. The world felt very real yet surreal at the same time. The way the characters acted was pretty down to earth, but the style and substance of the animation was out of this world at times. I think this might be a sleeper hit for me this season, and I’m looking forward to where they will take the story.
bctaris: Ah, cool. Taiyo Matsumoto. Yeah, completely forgot this was his manga. Maybe some people here aren’t familiar with his art style? Unless you’d read the little of his work that’s been licensed here, years ago now (Tekkonkinkreet (Black & White), Blue Spring, No. 5), or at least seen the movie for Tekkonkikreet​, from 2006. He’s always had a little bit more European influence in his style–story and art–than even other alternative manga creators, and so, besides Tekkonkinkreet from Viz (selling to mainstream alternative comic readers), nothing’s done too well, I think. Hence never getting the Ping Pong manga over here.
But, cool, at least have the anime, for now. And I like it being adapted through Masaaki Yuasa, who really seems to have a kindred style, and a proven record with adapting other eccentric works.
Sensuifu: I saw the live-action movie at a film festival (I think shortly after it premiered in Japan) and also have the import DVD. So far, I’m liking the anime just as much, and it’s certainly a refreshing look at the story in a more ‘extended’ version.
bctaris: Even not being familiar with all of that, I’d still find this to be pretty much the most interesting new show of the season. (I vaguely had the idea that it was the only Funi pickup I was interested in–just couldn’t recall why. ) The writing, characterization, setting, production style and quality–all have a touch more sophistication, and peculiarity, than anything else right now. This is going to be fun.
Sensuifu: I agree. The art is certainly unique, but it’s definitely not a detractor from the story. I think it actually enhances the narrative since the viewers aren’t ‘distracted’ from aesthetics that would otherwise be unrealistic short of a rotoscope. Sure there are anime that involve ping pong in a scene or two, but given the premise of this story, animating table tennis isn’t exactly a sport that would appeal just by making it look like every other anime being released. In a way, it appears to be a hyrbid of a rotoscoped production. There’s a lot of realism to it despite the unique character art…as if everything was retraced over with the original character designs. So yeah, some might look at it as a lazy attempt to animate, but it doesn’t look that way when you consider how much effort is done to ensure the actual animation flows smoothly, as it does here.
Seen [Tekkonkinkreet], but wasn’t particularly fond with it.
bctaris: Common to say, but I like the manga much better. As you say with having an extended version of Ping Pong, it’s a story that would have been best executed as a series. Something not unusual, I keep finding, with movies that have unique or very original visual styles–too much time, on the whole, is wasted establishing the aesthetics for the audience that the story becomes an abstraction, or distraction. With a longer build, where you can start the story slower, like here, the art, again as you say, does not detract.
