Forum - View topicREVIEW: Ping Pong the Animation BD+DVD
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jymmy
 Posts: 1244 |
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Ping Pong was fantastic – one of the very best of last year for me.
Are the grades for dub and sub perhaps opposite (ore the sub's minus meant to be a plus)? The second-to-last paragraph seems to say the Japanese dub is the superior one. |
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iatheia
Posts: 130 |
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I have only one issue with this series - overuse of the screen paneling. At first it seemed fresh and exciting, but started to feel too gimmicky after a few episodes.
Other than that it was 100% wonderful. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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I wasn't as enamoured as many people were with Ping Pong. To me it was a standard story wrapped in interesting packaging, rather than a masterpiece. Even so, I still enjoyed it a lot. I rated it as B+ because it was a solid and competent show with characters I could really care about (especially Kong).
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18189 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Glad to hear it turned out well. I thought the series had a lot of potential on the writing front, but I'm definitely one of the people that Nic was referring to with his negative; I couldn't tolerate the art style enough to get past one episode.
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killjoy_the
 Posts: 2459 |
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I didn't watch it while it was airing both because of the art style and the fact that it was a sports anime, which isn't really my thing.
I've recently finished it though, and I regret not having watched it sooner. The art style wasn't as distracting as I thought it would be (though I'm still not a fan of it), and the ping-pong matches were actually entertaining, even though I don't really care about the sport or technicalities of it, if only because of the great directing they had. Overall though I liked every single character but Peco and I felt that because of it I didn't enjoy the story as much as I could've. |
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neshru
Posts: 38 |
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A great series and a great way to get into Yuasa in general. If you're looking for a series that explores its characters in depth, that watches them struggle with their issues and finally come to terms with them, or if you're looking for a series that is about genuine friendship, or even if you're just tired of anime characters acting like anime characters instead of believable people, you should absolutely check Ping Pong out.
That said you should be warned that the series has an unusual art style that might turn off some people, and that the actual animation (meaning the quality of the movement and the number of drawings used per episode) is pretty subpar for most of the series (as I remember, the series was produced on a very short schedule that required compromises to meet the deadlines. The DVD version might have been improved somehow, but I wouldn't count on it). If that's not enough to stop you, you won't regret watching this. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4426 |
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I think I'll be checking this out soon. I didn't pay it much mind before since I don't really watch sports anime, but the recent trailers and the review suggest that it differs from most sports anime enough that I might like it more. Plus, with only 11 episodes, it isn't a huge time commitment.
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Raebo101
 Posts: 794 |
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I don't think it is. The dub is pretty fantastic in my eyes, and you'll have a good time either way. |
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SailorTralfamadore
 Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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I really liked the dub for Ping-Pong from what I saw of it at Anime Boston's screening of the first four episodes. I'd go the opposite way that Nick does: watch the dub unless you strongly prefer subs. Not because the sub voice acting is bad or anything. I just found I had trouble getting into the show when I watched it during the simulcast, but the dub track made it immediately engaging for me.
I also agree with the praise for its sound design. I love the OST for this show. I'm a big fan of Steve Reich-style minimalism, especially used in film, and this show does such a great job of integrating phasing-style tracks (one of the cues is even called "Ping-Pong Phase") by having the action on screen imitate the musical style. Last edited by SailorTralfamadore on Thu Jun 25, 2015 12:23 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11354 |
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How did the dub handle Kong's Chinese dialog scenes? I dread hearing bad Chinese accents or mangled Chinese.
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SailorTralfamadore
Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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The dub track had the character speak in Chinese for those moments, with English subtitles. I don't speak the language myself so I can't assess its accuracy, but I believe the VA is a native speaker. |
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Keichitsu0305
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The sound design was so good that I could hear the 'textures' from different ping pong paddles. I was also at the Anime Boston dub premiere and I loved it; best way to watch the series is dubbed for me so I can focus more on the animation. The best but saddest thing about Ping Pong is this, along with Kick Heart, are the only physical releases of Masaaki Yusa's amazing animation in the U.S while Australia has the rest. Kaiba and Tatami Galaxy are my favorite works by Masaaki Yusa but I'm glad to own Ping Pong. The character design, aka Taiyo Matsumoto's art, was a major motivator for me since I've read the original manga of Tekkonkinkreet. Also, count me as an anime fan who loves "ugly" surreal animation and non-cute character designs. |
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Bobduh
 Posts: 24 |
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They actually go into that in the commentary - the voice actor is fluent in Cantonese, but needed some help (from his mom, who actually played Kong's mom in the show too!) to adjust to Kong's Mandarin. I can't speak Chinese either way myself, but I jumped between the two tracks to compare them in one of his early appearances, and the original Japanese VA seemed somewhat more fluid in his delivery. |
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SailorTralfamadore
Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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They even use them in a musical way in the "Ping-Pong Phase" track I mentioned, along with the background music. It's a musical technique where the sounds sync up and then slowly move away from each other like two tracks on a recording skipping. (I don't want to link to the illegally-uploaded OST tracks on YouTube, but here's the same thing in a different piece of music to give you an idea.)
Thanks, I didn't know that since I saw the live screening instead of on the Bluray release. I'd assumed since the VA doesn't have an extensive history of anime voice-acting, that they hired him specifically for that. |
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Jose Cruz
 Posts: 1773 Location: South America |
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I think that Ping Pong is the best anime of the past 4 years (since Madoka). It succeeds everywhere: great animation, great art/visual style, great characters and great direction. I also love the over the top way it works (with all the Japanese theatricality and exaggeration) and it even has a cool EVA references.
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