Ever since their champion was defeated, the world of girls' junior high ping pong has been in turmoil.
Koyori is the new smirking transfer student at her junior high and she's ready to shake up girls' ping
pong.
(Source: Anime News Network)
The first thing that I want to talk about is how absolutely great the characters are. I changed my best girl a few times as I was watching it, and it took me a bit to actually settle on one. Outside of that, besides one character whom I dislike due to personal bias, everyone else is fantastic. Every single (-1, you get it) named character is a blast to have on screen at any given moment. Their interactions with one another, and just their general portrayal is great. They're far and above the strong carrying point for this series. Beyond that, the music choice is pretty great. While I didn't notice it as much during the calmer segments, the music during the matches really picks up. The series uses some pretty dope EDM style tracks to hype up the games, and it works. There's something strangely appealing about the mix of EDM and something I see as traditionally boring like table tennis. They killed it with that. However, my main gripe is how short the matches feel. While I know that it doesn't necessarily fit in with the others, I can't help but see it as a sports anime. It tries to build up the hype of each match, it tries to give you the tense, heart-stopping moments. It tries to really portray each person as a valid competitor. In a number of ways, it falls short in doing so. The matches typically play out in a fashion where there's a couple of hype moments, maybe someone unleashes their traditional sports anime "super duper awesome but actually kind of normal" technique and then... It's over. The amount of times that there's a good scene of a match, something to really get the blood pumping, and then we "fast-forward" to the final score or to the final points of the match is annoying. It's frustrating because the series tries its best to get you into the idea of it, and then just kills all that hype as it is reaching its climax. If it weren't for the characters themselves being fantastic, the constant cuts to them and their reactions would be a huge detriment to the series as a whole. I am, undoubtedly, a little bitter as we never get to revisit [this.](https://i.imgur.com/n6ZkVPN.png) That whole introductory scene serves absolutely no purpose, except perhaps to introduce an endgame villain that we...never end up seeing again. I'd have understood if we get even a tiny shot of her confronting the main characters, saying something like "ha, try and make it to nationals so I can crush you too," but we don't get even that. The following scene has the girls fawning over a newspaper article where it's like "championship team loses hue hue hue" and the anime could have just as easily opened up on that scene. I prefer my teases to be tittilating, not to induce hype blue-balls. One small thing that I was actually largely fond of during the course of the series is...sweat. They seem to put a lot of care into showing wet spots on the characters' clothes after a practice or a match. While it doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, I think it adds a lot of atmosphere. It shows us that the characters are actually working hard, that they're pushing themselves and their bodies, striving for something higher and better. It's easily one of the "little things" that I've noticed which I'd say I appreciate the most. Overall, I think there's two different people who could get into this, and there'd be two different takeaways. If you're the type of person who likes cute girls with a side dose of actual plot, I'd highly recommend this series. It's enjoyable all the way through with some positively adorable girls. If you're the type of person who likes sports anime with hype boners, I'd still say that SPPG is worth a shot; just prepare to not go into maximum overdrive with the hype, as one would with something like Haikyu or Hajime no Ippo.
What the heck? How is this so good? Despite multiple recommendations, I honestly didn't expect much from this show going in. But _Scorching Ping Pong Girls_ is an absolute blast. The characters are fun and lively without staying too locked into their archetypes. The direction is sharp, well-paced, and well-boarded. The writing is likewise well-paced, both on an individual episode level and over the course of the entire series. Kinema Citrus always delivers the goods when it comes to animation quality, and this is no different; the ping pong matches are visceral and exciting. Meanwhile, the writing makes sure the matches never get too bogged down by the exposition explaining different moves and play techniques, but still manages to make clear what's happening. Of course, the heart of the series is the relationship between the two leads, Koyomi and Agari, and if their personalities didn't mesh well the series would be a lifeless dud, exciting ping pong matches or no. But the intensity of the feelings they have for each other—first through the most absurdly erotic and barely subtextual sporting match I've ever seen in any medium, and then through getting to know each other personally as well—gives the series an electricity that makes every moment engaging and makes you want to keep watching. The same is true of the supporting characters, as well; they're all just as fun and well-developed as our main duo. And in the grand tradition of "loftier" sports series like _Chihayafuru_, we also get background and flashbacks on the protagonists' opponents, making them more interesting and sympathetic than just generic sneering villains for our heroes to beat. When you look at the show's pedigree the surprising quality starts to make sense. Kinema Citrus, of course, is the studio that would go on to make _Revue Starlight_ and _Made in Abyss_, and series composition for this show was done by the guy who would also go on to do series comp for _Made in Abyss_, and wrote the original _R.O.D._ novels, to boot. Meanwhile the director made _Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood_, a show I've yet to see but which I hear some people like. The only really frustrating thing about the show is that it's only 12 episodes. It doesn't try to rush and cram more story into its limited run—it lets the story unfold at a slow and natural pace (again, similar to _Chihayafuru_)—but it also stops just as it's getting going. Of course, one could always continue the story by reading the original manga ... if it were published in English. Which it's not. Oops. Granted, the show ends on a good stopping point for the characters and their journeys, but plot-wise it's pretty frustrating. _Scorching Ping Pong Girls_, at first glance, might seem like just another lightweight, fan-service-heavy sports series, to be watched when one doesn't want to think much, and then immediately forgotten. And I'm not trying to argue that it's a masterpiece. But it is _extremely_ good, and even though the truncated run is a little frustrating, it's still well worth your time to see.
