Definition of terms:

Ping Pong Layer - The layer of the narrative in which achievement in the sport of ping pong is equivalent to growth and development. Deeper below is the character layer in which achievement as a person and self-understanding is the standard of growth.

The Wasteland - A metaphor for a character who falls into an ingenuine lifestyle, where they are not true to themselves and are fundamentally unhappy. From one of the original hero’s journeys, the Holy Grail.

Ping Pong does the hero’s journey better than any other sports, or even fantasy story. This is not simply because it surpasses all of its contemporaries in style, writing, pacing, and just about whatever else you could think of, but because of the twist and flair it places upon the age-old narrative structure. Smile is what every mediocre shounen or western “hero” protagonist that attempts to defy their mold aspires to be. It is a common trope within anime to differentiate their characters by making them “indifferent” and “cold” as a demonstration of their ability being so great that they needn’t even bother worrying about their obstacles or competition. Smile takes this, generally mediocre, archetype, and humanizes it to a point of believability. He is a robot, he, seemingly, does not feel, does not fear, does not care. And when he gets into the swing of things, his victories seem assured, in a manner that would normally remove any stakes from a work of fiction. But they don’t. Because most of his victories don’t matter. They are superficial, existing only in the ping pong layer. In reality, Smile, as a character, has won nothing, none of the achievements of success matter to him. In his own words, “Ping pong is just something to pass the time.” Were this coming from a place of superiority, it would be a profoundly cringe-worthy line, but it’s not. It’s coming from a person who has lost that which is most meaningful to him. His nickname is from how much he used to smile when he played Ping Pong, but now the sport means nothing to him, because of the loss of his only real friend, Peco.

From a surface level perspective, it is easy to say that Koizumi is the mentor within the structure of the story, but this is only on the ping pong layer of the story. He is Smile’s guide through remastering the sport and, while he does contribute to Smile’s character development, he is not the central mentor in his narrative growth. Peco, on the other hand, is the mentor of, not only Smile, but nearly all his competition. However, it is easy to miss this as being his role in the story, as he himself is a fleshed out character, as opposed to a static caricature of a teacher. It is Peco who initiates the first call to action for Smile, which Smile reluctantly accepts, in the form of teaching him ping pong. It is Peco who protects Smile as he develops into the ping pong prodigy we see in the beginning of the show. And it is Peco that is sacrificed to the plot at the chronological midpoint of the story to create stakes. Obviously, this plot summary is extremely reductionist, because it is in the details of these events, and how the characters react that Ping Pong reveals its full beauty. Peco is not merely sacrificed to a great beast or some “super strong” opponent to motivate our protagonist (well he is, in a way, to Wenge, but again that lies on the ping pong layer of the fiction). Rather, he loses to himself. He suffers from an internal plight that many adolescents experience: allowing one’s talent to goad oneself into the wasteland. He becomes overconfident in his ability, skipping practices, playing opponents vastly inferior to him, and fattening up on sweets, and this degradation of character is obvious to everyone but him. It is especially obvious to Smile. It becomes most obvious to the viewer when Peco quits the sport entirely, falling into a depressive, desperate state, in which he even attempts to take his own life at the realization that he cannot fly (this being a metaphor for the fact that his talent can no longer carry him through life). However, he is saved by Sakuma, who has finally gained an outside perspective on the story thanks to him “washing his hands of ping pong.”

This ingenuine lifestyle that Peco falls into is the defining plight of the show, the central theme. Both Kazama and Smile are seen to also fall into it, during the same periods of their lives, as Kazama finds that he is no longer playing for himself, but for fear of loss. His entire existence is defined by the sunk-cost fallacy, with defeat seeming a worse fate than death. (Kazama is another master-class in trope inversion with the “Invincible antagonist that only seeks defeat” archetype, but that’s for another time) And Smile, with the loss of his friend and mentor to apathy, falls into a hole of repression deeper than before he met Peco. His life becomes simply about passing time until he dies, as does Kazama’s, Peco’s, and, to a lesser extent, Wenge’s (who is just passing time until he can return home). Throughout the show we watch as each of these characters finds their way out of the wasteland, all with heavy influence from Peco, all while Peco experiences his own personal growth at the hands of the retired Temura, who again serves as a mentor on the ping pong layer. Wenge, who initially has his ego boosted by his skunking of Peco whilst Peco was still within the wasteland, faces defeat against Kazama, forcing him to realize before anyone else that victory isn’t everything. His ego is put in check, allowing him to be the first to escape the wasteland, just in time for the christmas episode, in which we see him reunited with his mother, and closer to his team than ever, seemingly happy for the first time. Meanwhile the other central players in the fiction are experiencing christmas alone. Wenge’s new found distance from ping pong, which has allowed his growth as a person, is reaffirmed by his defeat by Peco, showing the transition of both parties towards what they actually care about. Next, Kazama faces defeat at the hands of Peco, because Peco flies, while Kazama simply climbs. Only now, the metaphor of flight doesn’t refer to him being carried by his talent, but by his joy and passion, which Kazama has slowly been drained of throughout his life. And in finally facing an opponent who not only cares, but poses a serious threat to him because of it, Kazama rediscovers his own passion, finally playing for himself, before his eventual defeat. Thusly, he escapes the wasteland, finally dedicating his life not to ping pong, but to himself.

Finally, Smile faces Peco in the finals. Here, both sides are finally allowed to play to their full potential against a genuinely worthy opponent. While it may initially seem cruel of Smile to play full force against Peco, despite Peco’s injury, Smile is testing him. He is testing to see if his friend has truly escaped the wasteland and returned to being the “Hero” of their youth. This is the ultimate test of both their characters. Smile is forced to no longer go easy on Peco, allowing him to coast through life, as he does in the beginning of the show, as well as being able to show off the talents he has gained from his separate hero’s journey within the ping pong layer. Meanwhile, Peco is tested as to how high he can fly, and whether he is worthy of the title of “Hero.” Thanks to an overwhelming sense of genuine happiness that he is able to play ping pong, Peco passes this test, beating Smile, and passing on to the nationals. Seeing that his best friend has finally reignited his passion and found happiness, Smile no longer has to worry about being “the best,” as, deep down, it was only really so that he could challenge Peco. Meanwhile Peco, the one character whose life benefits from their obsession with Ping Pong, has finally committed to the sport, allowing to live out his dream of going international. Smile, on the other hand, who, while he enjoys ping pong, never really saw it as more than a past time, finally is allowed to move away from it. Taking after Peco’s previous lackadaisical attitude to the sport, further showing the effect Peco had on his growth as a character. He returns to his eden, not only physically in the form of his return to the ping pong school, but mentally as he returns to a mental state in which he believes in heroes. Thus each of the central cast escapes their previously depressing, ingenuine lives, and the show is brought to a satisfying conclusion. The beauty of the story lies in how each character learns from each other, and discovers their true self through Peco, finally distancing themselves from the sport that only brought them despair. While Peco finally rediscovers the sport that used to only bring him joy. There isn’t another narrative that I’ve seen with such clearly wrapped themes and morals, or a cast of characters more realized and tightly interwoven. Nothing comes even close. (Also I love that Peco’s struggle is mirrored in the traveling guy, who, after suffering a terrible loss moves away from Ping Pong, only to realize that ping pong is his one true passion and escaping his more literal wasteland to return to the sport in the finale.)

tldr: The sport of ping pong is used as a metaphor for the characters escaping their ingenuine lifestyles and finding happiness in the things they love, and it is portrayed through a multi-layered twist upon the age old hero’s journey. Masterpiece material.