I haven’t forgotten about posting my final impressions of this series.  Not at all!  This took me quite awhile to figure out how I would deal with this anime.  The spring season had a couple of stand-out and entertaining series it wasn’t like the summer season we have right now but it had one other gem worth mention here.  Mushishi.  A series that had a fantastic soundtrack to accompany the genuine atmosphere it visually displayed to its short stories.  Ping Pong however took quite a different approach.

This is one hell of a series- one that I am glad it aired on Noitamina.  THIS IS WHAT A SPORTS SERIES SHOULD CONSISTS OF! One of the best anime in the sports genre I have ever seen- no it’s not just about that!  Through the course of 11 episodes Hoshino evolves his pong style only out of realizing his love for the game, Tsukimoto changes from being a robot void of emotions to prove and perfect his skills further to Hoshino with such passion.  Kazama reflects on the areas of his life that he already found as minuscule- if he doesn’t win ultimately making him fall short in the end.  Fueled by his own jealousy of the other pong players, Sakuma in this ended up leading a much different life.  So much versatility here!  It is because of this that  every single player was extremely meaningful in progressing the story unlike Noitamina’s other series Nanana.  Talk about a series that could learn a thing or two from Ping Pong! Seriously!

The manga was already an amazing hit that contained memorable characters and Yuasa’s vision only enhanced this so much more here; setting aside the nitty-gritty that Yuasa is one of my favorite directors in the anime industry. This is one series that will probably land on my top 10 for the year if not all time for the following reasons:  it’s brash and this is where the voice acting comes into play.  Some of the best acting of the year!  Tenacious with every major and minor character that receives screen time!  Favorite seiyu has to be Tsuda Kenjiro [Egami] his low, deep voice provided quite the comical and random moments in this series. Especially his decision to go to the beach.  Haha! The small bits that Yurie had in this series waiting for Kazama for so long only to focus on her own dreams was testimonial enough of how powerful these characters are!  If it had not been for the animation this series wouldn’t have landed such an impact on me like it did.  The faces were bulky in scenes rather distorted sometimes yet when it came down to the expressions and movements they felt in every respect real.

This is one show not to miss out on one bit!  I would not call it an inspiring and beautiful series similar to Chihayafuru yet a short, unsentimental series that represents itself as an authentic and inexplicably-animated glimpse at high-school life.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: 94/100

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