Alright folks, gather round, gather round. Lower your paddles and set your ping pong balls at rest. The hour is nearly upon us, and already the machine gun clatter of balls against boards can be heard humming in the distance. It is absolutely time for more Scorching Ping Pong Girls!
When we last left off with the ping pong girls, Agari and Koyori had just proven their mettle against the team’s intimidating captain, Kiruka. Of course, their “victory” came in the form of winning exactly one point each against her, after she’d already exhausted herself defeating every single other member of the team. The episode thus offered a natural mixture of “our heroes have leveled up” and “our heroes still have a long way to go,” along with persistently seeding the overhanging promise of Nationals as the true prize.
That repeated emphasis on Nationals may reflect Ping Pong Girls’ structural constraints more than anything – we’re almost halfway through the season, and we’ve still just finished introducing our own main team. Ping Pong Girls isn’t wasting our time at all – the reason its overarching narrative has moved slowly is because it was too busy dazzling us with fun matches, which is the story’s true purpose. But that pacing does mean we’ll only have time for maybe one tournament, and “earning a spot at Nationals” will likely be the point of that tournament.
Meanwhile, Ping Pong Girls continues to be very charming in terms of its fluffy slice of life material as well. The show’s jokes are hit or miss, but Kiruka and Munemune being extremely married was a very endearing turn, and helped flesh out each of them as sympathetic people. Let’s see what our champions get up to next in Scorching Ping Pong Girls!
Episode 6
Oh my gosh tiny elementary school Hokuto. Her visual design is so friggin’ adorable – she’s clearly designed as a riff on a rabbit, not only in terms of the hair bunny ears, but also in how her pulled-up jacket make it seem like she has a rabbit snout instead of a human mouth
Tiny Hokuto works at a rabbit-themed department store, of course
Alright, so are we actually diving into dedicated little character stories starring the various members of the team? That’s a pretty common choice for sports narratives, working to foster our emotional investment in the team and giving characters sympathetic motivations before we switch to the more tactically-oriented match drama. That said, we also are fairly light on episodes to spare, so this might serve as a more general “the team gets to know each other better” situation
The episode title is just “Friends,” making me think it’s the second one
This cold open also echoes last episode’s, incidentally – a flashback incident revealing the foundational moments of one of the show’s key friendships. This show puts a lot of emphasis on not just “we’re all great friends,” but the specific paired bonds that mean the most to each cast member
Koyori’s smashes have been weak lately
“This is why I told you so many times to cover your belly while sleeping!” Agari, in what context could you possibly have felt the need to lecture Koyori about her belly sleeping practices
Hokuto diagnoses the problem as Koyori’s rubber wearing out, leading into Agari actually explaining the nature of racket rubber. This show is very good about explaining all its relevant tactical variables
And that in turn leads into the reveal of a personal variable, as we learn Hokuto’s expertise comes from her family operating a table tennis shop. You need a balance – focus entirely on the emotional stuff and your matches will be impossible to follow in any terms but “I hope our side wins,” focus entirely on the tactical stuff and your audience will have no reason to care about the match in the first place
That’s not to say you need to have tactically grounded conflict, of course – this balance is most necessary in precisely this kind of show, where the strategic back and forth of the matches is one of the central appeals
Hanabi suggests Koyori work at the store to pay for her new rubbers, thus justifying a slice of life staple – “the gang gets a part-time job”
But of course, Koyori just cowers and shakes behind the counter. Customer service is maybe not for her
Nice sequence where we’re stuck in a too-close shot of Koyori’s face as she nervously works through a transaction, emphasizing how she’s stuck in her own head and barely even noticing the customer
Directly followed by a shot of her butt, emphasizing that she has a butt
Having Hokuto teach Koyori about talking to strangers seems like a smart choice, since I’m guessing this was a tough journey for Hokuto as well. No point in taking lessons on confidence from someone who has no trouble acting confident
Aw shit, the most menacing girl from the OP appears, and in a gothic lolita outfit no less
Dang, she even does the Dekomori Death Desu
The team moms fuss over Agari as she herself worries how Koyori is doing. It’s clear that another of this show’s main appeals is “the whole team is married to each other,” and I am very here for it
“Our opponents for the practice match are Mozuyama.” If the show’s pacing holds, we might have time for a crushing loss at that practice match, and then a redemption rematch right at the end. It’s the same structure as Free! Starting Days, now that I think of it
“That school has one of the Elite Four Drivers like you. The Driver of the East.” I love this show’s nonsensical table tennis mythology. Go big or go home for your bombastic sports shows!
Her name is Futamaru, she’s filled out her store voucher, and she wants a bunny t-shirt. Incredibly character introduction
That bunny tail on the t-shirt is super cute
Futamaru immediately makes it weird by getting super obsessive about the t-shirt, and describing it as paying for this week’s “Friendship Fee.” So I guess we’re setting up a contrast between her false friendships and the real bonds between our own team? Seems kinda on the nose for sports drama, but this show does often delight in sending up the default dramatic assumptions of its own genre
Hanabi is having such a good time stocking shelves it feels contagious. Might go clean up the house after this
Hokuto and Hanabi show off how married they are by communicating without any actual communication
It’ll be a little strange if this show ends up thematically emphasizing the importance of unconditional friendship, because all of its main “friendships” are instead slice of life-style “they’re clearly dating, but the show’s not going to overtly acknowledge them as such, and will instead merely show them being incredibly in sync and touchy-feely and attuned to each other’s emotions and mutually supportive.” I’ve come to accept that conceit as reflective of a subculture that’s still pretty conservative in many ways (especially since the relationships conveyed this way are often sympathetically portrayed and well-executed), but they’re still more romantic relationships than ordinary friendships
Seeing her friends working hard and executing on their talents inspires Koyori to try harder as well. Now this is more conventional “joys of friendship” territory
Koyori wagging her hair-tails will never get old. She gets super excited when Agari shows up
We return to the flashback, as Hanabi breaks through Hokuto’s shyness with her endless enthusiasm
Hokuto finally expresses enthusiasm when Hanabi asks about table tennis. Anxious and silent until someone mentions her specialty subject, then unable to stop talking – this characterization feels like a personal attack
Ooh, great use of this show’s visual character theming. Hokuto’s world turns fully blue when Hanabi says she’s leaving, but her promise to return brings back a warm yellow light. And over time, the two colors are visually balanced in the composition, as the two friends become close enough to actually be a major part of each other’s lives
Scorching Ping Pong Girls is turning into an unexpectedly attentive demonstration of how strong relationships make each of their participants a more fulfilled and vibrant person. Last episode clearly demonstrated how much Kiruka and Munemune mean to each other, and this episode is doing the same for Hokuto and Hanabi
Oh man, that means we’re going to be doing some doubles matches, right? The show is laying all the necessary groundwork for both tactically and emotionally satisfying team play
Hanabi offers to help out the store with a casual “we’re friends!” So yeah, we’re clearly drawing a contrast between transactional relationships and selfless ones
And Done
Well, that was adorable. I certainly wasn’t expecting a dedicated “Hokuto learning to embrace friends” episode, but Hokuto has always been pretty charming outside of those friggin’ panty jokes, and this episode was a lovely payoff for all the show’s relationship building so far. It was Ping Pong Girls at its most slice of life, but it simultaneously took advantage of its slower narrative pacing to fill in a bunch of necessary expositional details, like the explanations of racket rubbers and the introduction of Futamaru. And as for the main “conflicts,” the time spent at Hokuto’s shop went a long way towards humanizing Hokuta, Hanabi, and Koyori all at once, raising them up to Agari’s level of characterization. It seems Scorching Ping Pong Girls is determined to succeed as an ensemble drama, and after this episode, its central cast really do feel like a team!
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