11/14 ブログのポスト

 Ping Pong: The Animation

    Ping Pong tells the story of childhood best friends Makoto "Smile" Tsukimoto and Yutaka "Peco" Hoshino. Smile is innately talented but holds back his skills when he plays. Peco is also incredibly skilled, but he cannot bring himself to be disciplined. As the boys make the way to the top of the competitive ping pong world, the show explores the harsh realities of pursuing glory, the struggles and expectations that come with being "gifted," and even the reasons the boys have for living and playing the sport. The visionary director Masaaki Yuasa uses incredible visual storytelling in his idiosyncratic animation style and grounded screenwriting to make this one of the most poignant pieces of sports fiction ever created. 

    The main cultural element that Ping Pong explores is the intensity of competition in Japan and the expectations placed on young children early on. Both Smile and Peco begin training in ping pong as young kids, and when their skills are noticed, they are put through more and more training to hone them. They are scouted by coaches who want to turn them into ultimate athletes through rigorous discipline and high-stakes environments. These intense situations that the young kids find themselves in brings a lot of inner-turmoil that shapes them as people. While this is not a universal experience, it is interesting to compare it to Western sports culture which treats something like ping pong as a harmless pass time.



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