Ping-Pong

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>>135979418

It was fucking trash.

>>135979418
ugly as shit anime. i could stick a crayon up my ass and still draw better anime. generic story too

>>135979439
>>135979461

Does no one else like this? I thought it was great that the themes are about maturing and not living in a fantasy world where you always win because you "worked hard."

Plus I was genuinely touched that Smile spared Peco.

>>135979418

Undeniably one for the ages, it's got a special charm just like Tatami Galaxy.

Good art is subtle. Ping Pong is about as subtle as a fire alarm.

>>135979418
The soundtrack is

>>135979621

I bet you like KyoAni

>>135979418
One of the most enjoyable anime in the last few years

>>135979652

Which was better, OP or ED?

Is it just me, or does Bakudan Johnny (who did the OP) sound like Sambomaster? They stole so many elements that I couldn't believe it wasn't Sambomaster.

>>135979681
ED, but Nothing Happens is the best song

You'll find opinions fairly divided on /a/. A lot of people love it. AOTS polls in Spring 2014 usually had it in a comfortable lead compared to other shows.

A lot of people are contrarians and just hate it for the sake of hating something popular.

Some people (like me) enjoyed it for what it was but wouldn't exactly call it a masterpiece. It had a really good ending, which is something that can give people the impression that what they watched was a masterpiece. It also had that janky art style that I actually thought was kind of charming.

The music was pretty good too. But the storyline itself didn't really feel worthy of any of this, it was all pretty obvious with the exception of how the last match turned out. Other than that it was a fairly by-the-numbers "natural talent versus hard work" story.

Symbolism was much too blatant, also. The robot thing would have been cool once, we didn't need a reminder every ten minutes. Kong's airplane, etc.

>>135979765
except, you know, in most sports manga/anime hard work wins

but in reality talent wins, this is a sobering reminder of how life is not an anime and it feels very real

>>135979482

Smile didn't spare Peco, that's the point.

>>135979765

I liked the way it repeated the imagery though. I felt it demonstrated the way these issues were pressing on the character's minds.

Smile forces himself to act like a robot, so he's always thinking about it. When he's freed from this idea, he breaks out and the robot stuff ends.

Kong comes to Japan with a single aim, to get on the plane back to China. You see him lose this attitude through the Christmas party and his new dedication to his team.

>>135980102

What are you talking about? Peco wins the tournament and goes on to do more, just like Kazama grandfather, while smile lived a peaceful small town life teaching just like Jo.

That was the entire fucking point.

>>135979418
Easily one of the best anime of all time.

>>135980375

As much as I like Kong's character development, I hated how heavy handedly the GRORIOUS NIPPON themes were laced in.

Like ok, sure, it's a Japanese show, but they didn't have to make everything about Japan suddenly dominating the entire world in ping pong (which it doesn't) while trying to shill for their culture.

>>135980506

What are you talking about?

Smile abandons his "I must be a robot, I musn't cause any trouble, I musn't beat my opponents if it will hurt them" and does his best.

Peco still wins anyway because he's the hero.

>>135980102

Are you fucking retarded, or did we watch different shows

>>135980555

Interesting point, totally irrelevant to the discussion we were having, but still and interesting point.

>>135980590

Pretty sure we were supposed to interpret it as Smile losing because he decided to not fuck over Peco off-screen, hence his loss despite being able to exploit the weakness (which i think was shown to be effective early on).

>>135980592

See
>>135980590

>>135980613

As far as discussions here go, I would settle for that.

I think the realistic taste is straight up bitter rather than cliche bittersweet, and the people who like it really do. It's sort of refreshing.

>>135980592
>>135980506
>>135980627

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls4NadTlHhA

Smile literally tries the 'target the knee' technique and it fails.

>>135980555
Kong became the best player in the aftermath, he was supposed to have success in international tournaments and shit

>>135980810

I'll admit. I lolled.

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This scene always goes over my head.

What did he realise?
Why did Kazama lie?
What's his resolution?

>>135979418
yes, best anime of the decade

>>135980887

Hmm, I went back and rewatched it.

Sakuma realised how awful Kazama has it. The pressure etc.

After idolising him and literally saying "I want to be like Kazama" when he comes to Kaio, Sakuma realising that what he wanted wasn't something he would have been happy to have.

Kazama lied because outside of the toilet cubicle he has to put up the image of the big undefeated Dragon of Kaio and Posiedon.
I'd argue that both"for myself" and "for the team" are lies anyway, because he's really doing it for his family, not himself or the team. He's been pressured into playing and training and has no real love for the sport.

His resolution? No idea what you're talking about.

>>135980887

Akuma realised the pressure kazama put on himself every match, but also had the performance of the team in the back of his mind. Kazama lied cause he thought it would have been easier to let akuma hate him rather then say that he failed to be there for akuma. I think.

>>135981269


Which makes the payoff of him finding joy in the sport during his match with Peco satisfying because he frees himself mentally from the burden of being "Dragon"

>>135981275

That's a good point, I hadn't thought about it that way.

>>135979482
>Does no one else like this?
newfag
>Smile spared Peco
did you even watch it?

>>135981401

Someone else genuinely believes Peco won. Thank god, I thought I was crazy.

It doesn't matter though because they all dipped when they realised they were wrong.

>>135981454
Right?
I mean we never saw the match so its all guessing to some extent, but Smile's character development leads us to believe that he wouldn't have gone easy on Peco.

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>>135981454
I thought it was common knowledge that Peco won fairly against Smile.

The entire point of it was that Smile was finally able to go all out against Peco, who was going all out despite his injury. The hero returned.

Same with Peco vs Kazama, in the end there was no background interference for them, just the game.
I think it captured the essence of a great bout perfectly. The kind that you just wish you could have again and again without caring whether you win or lose.

>>135981560

People actually think that Smile at the end of the series is the same as Butterfly Joe.

Smile is the same as Joe at the beginning, the whole of Smile's development leads up to him choosing not to be like Joe.

>>135981639

Damn right. I honestly don't get how people could interpret it the other way.

Wow, a Ping Pong thread with little to no shitposting and actual discussion? Congratulations, /a/

>>135979482
>implying you play like that way to spare someone

I've got a question.

Dose anyone know the deal with Matsumoto recycling his characters in different roles? Both Kimura and Fujimora from Tekkon Kinkreet are in Ping Pong except they're a high school student and a ping pong coach instead of a yakuza thug and a cop.

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I liked it.

For whatever reason that manages to bother people on /a/.

That said, the fanbase is almost as insufferable as monogatarifags sometimes with their pretentiousness.

>>135980375
>I liked the way it repeated the imagery though. I felt it demonstrated the way these issues were pressing on the character's minds.
It's pretty much a Matsumoto staple. You should read some of his other work if you haven't.

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>>135979681
For me it's the ED, but the OST itself is damn amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux8S1znpz8Y

Is the live action movie any good?

If we talking about the anime,it was beautiful

>>135983481
Why don't we ever talk about the manga?

>>135981454
>Someone else

Don't tell me there's people that actually think Smile went easy on Peco? It was pretty fucking obvious.

Maybe because I read the manga and it was different? But it was pretty clear, in the end even though Smile tried his best, he still lost because Peco is GOAT

Why was Kong such a jobber?

>>135983804
Because china

>>135983804

simply having an opponent who you think you are vastly superior to get points against is damaging mentally. You start to doubt yourself, lose confidence, get frustrated etc. Ive been there and lost tournements because of that.

Smile knew Peco was better than him. The whole point of Smile even trying harder in the first place was because he was disappointed Peco had stopped trying, and wanted to finally see him play properly again.
That's why Smile ends up having a normal job at the end, while Peco continue to play ping pong. Smile never cared about wanting to be the best, or even thought he was the best, it was all about coaxing Peco.

>>135980592

See >>135984185

Manga is a masterpiece. Anime adaptation was pretty shitty.

>>135980555
But it didn't. By the end, Peco was playing for Germany and Kazama, the big japanese star, was replaced by a chinese.