This review is about the show Ping Pong the Animation!
Story (2/10):
Show 's like this are really weird. they set up the main character instantly to be some sort of super strong character which is cool and then give him the worst character trait, of not caring about his cool skill. smile has such a cool ability to be a great character and they ruin it to push up his best friend, peco. this is where my biggest issue with the show comes into question, everyone says that this show is so cool with its messaging and how there is such a great impact and meaning behind everyone and how it relates to sports in general, but there is so much bullshit when it comes to so many of these characters its so easy to assume that people are overanalyzing what the directors really wanted. there 's probably no way that each character was set up in some funny way to cover every base of peoples view of sports and i can tell u based on how they write the characters this is true. the characters are so bad and so annoying that it just makes the story so bad, why have badass characters that just lose to weaklings with weak mentalities? this show talks about how genetics play a role in things and how its not just personal development and i think that 's stupid and toxic for a show like this to do as it makes people uninterested in the sport in general. the ending was really cringe, smile loses to peco and then the conclusion just rushed. really weak ending they should rewrite with better animation and stories.
Characters (3/10):
Is it that hard to make a super interesting character or two?? all of the characters have some sort of problem that make them a bit uninteresting to watch or care for to be honest, i go into each match without wanting a specific character to win or root for, and they do such a weird job of changing how people work in the show. i will do a small breakdown of a few individual characters.
smile: this guy is uninteresting and a bit edgy, not really seeing a purpose in him playing when it is something he should enjoy because he has so many people around him in it that care for him. no motivation at all and teaches viewers to be lazy and not care about what u are good at.
peco: post watching the show, peco is my favourite character, he has a lot of passion and although he is down sometimes he really puts in the effort to be a good guy and fight to win.
china: is this what they meant to do? the character is really weird, they introduce him as a bad guy but for some reason try to make him seem good for no reason when he clearly has a lot of pent up aggression.
kazama: bullshit. thats the best way i can describe this guy. his physical build is bullshit for this sport and he should never have had as much screentime as he did as his character is annoying and ignores the people who care for him. how is he so strong and then loses to weaklings? he has the physical build to own this sport
Animation (2/10):
A lot of shows nowadays try to take this weird approach where they have a unique art style on purpose, but imo this isn 't one o them, it doesn 't take a genius to see that they didn 't put any effort into the animation in this show. they probably had little budget and you can tell by how they work around everything, with only very few shots having a lot of effort put into it, and the rest being done in a bit of a rush. the characters move around really weirdly during some scenes which makes the movements seem unclear and weirdly done. The
examples below
no effort:
lots of effort:
Sound Design (8/10):
Real talk, this show has really good sound design, the elements of the actual sport are called into question a lot and you do hear a lot of what you would expect from a show that has sports, although that is to be expected and a very low bar to set. there is a general idea that they did put a lot of time into this though, and everything sounds great together. the voice acting is great and the music is alright, but i would say that is the weakest part, the music is ok but it is a bit repetitive with whatever ideas are in the show...
Masterpiece 's are hard to come by, and while a lot of people may see this as one, i think people overrate what the director was going for in terms of messaging and are instead hyperinflating the value of this show. the animation is underwhelming, the characters are at most decent, and the direction of the show is stupid. hope u enjoyed my review :D