It’s time for another episode of Scorching Ping Pong Girls! The show’s second episode was a big step up from the premiere, offering a very satisfying match, some nice animation highlights, and plenty of sturdy setup for the payoff of Agari and Koyori’s initial rivalry. I was particularly impressed by the show’s illustration of Hokuto’s unique ping pong powers, which was not only just engaging in a visual sense, but also very clearly conveyed the tactical back-and-forth of the fight, and even ended up underlining Hokuto’s emotional shift throughout the match. The show’s character writing is still only so-so, and Koyori hasn’t quite come into her own as a person, but this arc is clearly centered on Agari’s anxieties, so that’s understandable. Koyori is the intimidating new villain in Agari’s life, and at long last, the time has come for the two of them to truly duel. Let’s see some sparks fly in Scorching Ping Pong Girls!

Episode 3

“No matter what you do, always aim for the top.” Ah right, that makes sense of Agari’s visual theming. Her little upvote hairclips reflect her obsession with being the best, with aiming for the top before anything else

Oh no Agari is smol

“No matter what I did, I was mediocre.” Agari’s motives are certainly sympathetic. She’s a compelling sports lead

So Agari’s drive to succeed came from her parents, and has been tied to her love of ping pong from the start. Hopefully she can find joy in the sport even if it doesn’t come tied to a number one position

Oh wow, they interrupt the OP so Agari can make her declaration of intent to Koyori. Very cool trick, and a choice that certainly gives this particular episode a sense of climactic import

The show always starts with a familiar series of establishing background shots that I always wish were just slightly more compelling. This show’s backgrounds are all simple, flavorless geometry

Ah, the newspaper reporter has arrived. Her role now comes into focus – last episode she mentioned something being wrong with Agari’s photos, which was presumably her lack of passion, but now she’ll get to see a new side of Agari when she’s finally freed by Koyori

Koyori is just so good-natured and earnest it’s impossible to hate her

“How is my heart supposed to race when everyone’s rooting against me?” Aw, Agari

Nice use of soft focus to convey Agari’s BURNING HEAT

This show really understands the value of a punchy, quick animation cut, as well as a dynamic angle. This little shot of Agari adjusting her stance by sliding her foot back conveys her tense determination very well, and definitely pumps us up for her swing

“Agari starts off with her trademark loop drive!” “Loop drive?”

It seemed odd that they didn’t immediately explain the nature of Agari’s signature strike, but now that Koyori also seems confused by it, that makes sense. We’re not fully on Agari’s side for this match; we’re also supposed to appreciate Koyori fighting against a very strong opponent, and so the show is building up Agari as a challenger, partially through the suspense of slowing down its reveal of her powers

There’s an interesting push and pull there, between the dramatic pull of suspense, the immediate impact of twists, and the satisfaction of executing on grounded conflict setups. Leaving some info hidden can foster big dramatic reveals, but it also makes it harder to follow and engage in the mechanics of a match

The newspaper club member acts as the audience avatar here while Hokuto explains. Loop drives are just drives that prioritize spin over all else, resulting in balls that snap upwards off the opponent’s racket, perfectly setting up a smash response

It’s cool to see this show use some Dear Brother-esque, ostentatiously shaded impact frames. That’s another way to convey drama in spite of lacking animation, but this show certainly isn’t lacking for animation – it’s just happy to use all tools available

“Go wilder! Praise me more!” Goddamnit Agari

“Here, I can win. The only place that makes my heart race.” I really do love how base her motivation is. It’s nothing incredibly honorable or deeply personal; Agari just wants to be appreciated, and ping pong is the one place she can make that happen

And yeah, she didn’t even really have that much natural ability at ping pong, so she’s worked hard to maintain that praise. It’s a hard way to live

“When I see Kamiya-san’s determined expression, my…” Girl, I don’t know what to tell you

“You really can’t beat players of Koyori’s caliber with just your backhand, Agari.” Agari has adopted an incredibly safe playstyle because her goal is “make sure I don’t lose.” She is driven by a fear of losing her top spot, not a desire to triumph, and thus she plays defensively from moment one. Koyori will presumably teach her to embrace occasional failures in pursuit of active, aggressive play

Koyori sees ping pong as a way of communicating with her opponents. That’s a cute reveal that works very well given our existing knowledge of her character. Koyori is very bad at communicating through actual conversations, and is often misunderstood. In ping pong, the pure focus on beating your opponent means she gets to see people in a more honest way than she usually does, and actually interact with them as equals

Of course, this also means she’s so damn good that she naturally plays at the level of “having a conversation,” which is no easy thing

Munemune reflects on how Koyori is the type to heat up during a match and be better during the second half. As I’ve said in my Chihayafuru writeups, that’s a very convenient play style for a sports drama, where demoralizing first halves and inspiring comebacks offer great fuel for narrative drama

“This is who I am!” Yep. It’s not groundbreaking storytelling, but having ping pong be how Koyori expresses herself works very well

Hahaha. Agari notices her heart racing after losing a point and actually gets mad. “It’s only supposed to race when I win!”

And yeah, there’s the newspaper girl getting her photos

Yeah, once again the heavy impact on sweat seems to align with the moment Agari loses herself in her love of the game

Agari getting more than a little orgasmic in her love of ping pong. I suppose these shows have to take their fanservice where they can find it

She unleashes the forehand! This show did a very good job setting up all these tokens of Agari’s repression for her to break down

Agari makes a wavy smile directly mirroring Koyori’s own smile from the beginning of the match. This is a very smartly composed battle!

“I prioritized having fun over winning. Guess I’ve still got a long ways to go.” Congratulations on taking the opposite of the right lesson from that match, Agari

Oh my god Agari is so tsun. I guess this is gonna be her new default mode

Welp, they held hands. Guess they’re married now

Munemune resolves to have the team make it to nationals, and we get a post-ED baiting of a new team member. Arc one complete!

And Done

Alright! That was pretty much a textbook well-executed sports drama arc, all condensed into three brief episodes. Agari’s been fully established as a character now, Koyori is getting there, and the overall team have a pretty solid dynamic. The show’s also demonstrated some keen aesthetic chops, both in terms of its highlight cuts of animation and its general understanding of dynamic match framing. And this episode in particular was an exceptionally professional union of narrative and execution, completely selling Agari’s return to passion. Things are going swimmingly in Scorching Ping Pong Girls!

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