Hello everybody, and welcome back for another episode of Scorching Ping Pong Girls! This week, we’ll finally be… wait, that was last episode. Koyori and Kururi played out their long-hyped match, Kururi’s unhealthy fixation on “proving herself worthy” was resolved through Koyori’s joyful play, and the two vowed to continue their rivalry at the actual tournament. Our heroes’ battle with Mozuyami ended with a glorious visual spectacle and satisfying emotional resolution, and Scorching Ping Pong Girls concluded the arc that has dominated its entire second half. So, uh, what do we do now?

Well, as it turns out, the process of adapting a continuing manga into a one-off anime season can be a little messy, and so it looks like we’ll be wrapping up the series with two episodes of post-arc downtime and training sessions. While this is certainly a little odd in a structural sense, it’s the kind of compromise you tend to get used to in this medium, and I’m frankly eager to see how the cast play out all the personal growth they’ve recently experienced in a less competitive venue. A great deal of Scorching Ping Pong Girls’ appeal is how much its cast obviously all love each other, and the Mozuyami arc featured reaffirmations of those relationships all across the main team. Let’s see how the dust settles in the next Scorching Ping Pong Girls!

Episode 11

We open with Agari remembering a missed stroke from her match with Zakuro before waking up

It’s a common trick to open the episode after the conclusion of a major conflict with a character flashing back to that conflict, before waking up in relative calm and safety. Though this obviously isn’t an unusual thing for a person to do, it serves a unique purpose in weekly episodic stories like this – it reorients the audience directly back into the characters’ headspace, where they’re still preoccupied with the conflict that was just resolved, but no longer immediately engaged in it. If this episode simply opened on Agari waking, the audience wouldn’t necessarily be sharing her preoccupation with the just-finished match, because we watched that episode a week ago, whereas the event just concluded for Agari. In order to keep the audience and the character’s emotional priorities aligned, the show overtly reminds us of the exciting event still hanging over their now-peaceful experience

Agari admits that she doesn’t know if she could beat Zakuro again, which feels like a very healthy acknowledgment

“I have to iron out that issue by the time training camp ends. If not, I’ll be destroyed on the national level.” These two lines provide a conflict and stakes for the show’s final act, as well as a natural sequel hook

“Training Camp.” Unsurprisingly

Cute establishing shot panning across tiny birds on the middle school wall, transposed against the chatter of the students

“The first years are hyper today.” The younger students really do come across as a gaggle of excitedly chirping birds. This show’s use of thematic symbology for its characters extends even to the background crowd

Speaking of symbology, a new character is now first introduced through a shot that holds on her angry bear hair pendant as she rants at the cast, telling us most of what we need to know

Agari apparently knows this new character, Kumami. Her hair matches her bear theming – she has two little buns that look like bear ears from a distance. Also, “kuma” just straight-up means “bear” in Japanese

She’s a second year at Tsubame Girls’ Academy, Kumami Tsukinowa. I suppose it’s about time we introduced a “speaks softly but is clearly terrifying” rival

Turns out she actually transferred out of our team’s school a while back

Apparently “bun” can be said as “kuma” in Japanese. The joys of translating wordplay

Ah, Kumami is actually a ventriloquist, and her angry bear hair ornament shouts out all her “angry thoughts.” I adore the convoluted gimmicks of anime high schoolers

Apparently Kumami is also in love with Agari. I suppose the show about Ping Pong Love would naturally require a Ping Pong Love Triangle

“And here I thought you came to settle the score from back then.” Agari, in this universe, Love and Burning Rivalry are close to the same thing. Hot-blooded sports rivalries always tend to be just a shade short of romance anyway, this show just jumps that last step

It’s actually kinda funny how that works. In many sports and action properties, the most nuanced, passionate, and evolving relationships end up existing between theoretical rivals, not lovers. Even if a main character actually has a love interest, those relationships are often a lot more shallow than the ones they develop with their closest competitive peers. It’s no surprise, then, that fandom often takes precisely those relationships and runs with them. Though a lot of media is shy about portraying same-sex intimacy in a romantic or even just friendship sense, that intimacy is often celebrated among rivals, leading to a pretty unique fan/work relationship

“I thought I told you I won’t play you anymore.” “Give me a reason!” Kumami, with a sad head tilt back: “I’m sorry.” Again, this show’s dramatic language just makes this genre’s emotional trends explicit – play and rivalry are framed in overtly romantic terms, as if Kumami were a past lover

I like Kumami’s character design. The long ponytail of her hair works well with the restrained colors and vertical lines of her suit

Koyori doesn’t know how to ask Agari about her ex

Their trainer is Nipponichi, which just means “Number One in Japan,” and I’m not sure they’re even a real person. Even their introduction is a superdeformed static frame

They’re really playing up Agari’s preoccupation with Kumami, but with two episodes to go, I’m not sure it’s actually going to lead anywhere

Kiruka actually wrote “Munemune’s Boobs Time” into their training schedule. Goddamnit Kiruka

Eleven episodes in, and it never fails to make me smile when Koyori starts wagging her tail-ears. More characters should also be puppies

Much of their practice is covered through quick montages of similarly framed cuts starring each of the castmates. I imagine these were quick, vertically-framed panels in manga form; a pleasing trick of visual symmetry that’s hard to translate into single, sequentially oriented images like this. “Simply translating the panels one after another” will rarely convey the same effect in animation as it does in comic form – good comics make intelligent use of their panels’ arrangement on the page and relationships with each other, not just the beauty of each panel in turn

Agari’s smash is apparently quite predictable

It being a training camp and this being Scorching Ping Pong Girls, of course there’s a hot spring

I wonder how drinking milk after a public bath became a thing in Japan. I remember they also did that in Eccentric Family, and I’m sure I’ve seen it elsewhere

Koyori actually asks Agari what’s wrong, which feels like a big step for her

Some extremely Buy the Blurays steam in this episode. Whatever gets us a season two!

The show seems to be tethering Agari’s baggage related to Kumami to her current troubles with her smash

“Seriously, quit referring to people by the color of their panties!” I can only hope. Hokuto’s design and mannerisms are so cute, I just wish this weren’t her Thing

Hanabi is sprawled across Hokuto in her sleep, and declares “I’ll hold them off here. You go on ahead, Hokuto!” I love this show

Agari can’t sleep, and gets up, revealing Koyori, who soon notices Agari is gone. I really like these sorts of diegetic scene or layout transitions – letting the shifting blocking of the characters reveal new truths in the frame without actually transitioning between shots is very good at enhancing the depth and lived-in feel of the set and moment

“Agari-chan, if there’s something bothering you, talk to me.” Koyori is even more forceful this time. She’s grown a great deal over this series, and is far more confident and proactive now, as well as being attuned to Agari’s feelings

Apparently Kumami was aggressively recruited by the rich heiress captain of her new school. We’re setting up a whole “save Kumami” arc, but there is noooo way we’re getting there

Another solution to this show’s structural issue would have been to simply slot a couple anime-original adventures into the earlier material. I don’t know if that would have made for a better show (it’s probably not the right call if they’re looking to adapt more seasons), but it might have made for a more coherent one-season structure

Agari’s mostly just mad that she didn’t get to battle Kumami, apparently

“I don’t really get the deal with Kumami-san, but I think I can help with table tennis!” Koyori is so good. What a supportive tennis wife

“W-well, I wouldn’t not say yes to you helping out a little.” Jesus christ this is some high tier dere

And having received a full emotional recharge from Koyori, Agari is ready for battle

And Done

Well, that was charming! As I sort of expected, it seems like we’ll be concluding on the initial lead-up stirrings of an arc we’re never actually going to reach, but that didn’t mean this episode was at all unsatisfying. On the contrary, the introduction of Kumami’s character actually turned out to be a fine way to demonstrate and celebrate the growth of our team, as Koyori moved well outside her initial comfort zone, and proved she’s actually become a thoughtful and supportive emotional partner for Agari. From their initial point of simply inspiring each other through their play, the two have become partners who are clearly and intimately in touch with each other’s feelings, and determined to raise each other up. Even with less overt action, the most married table tennis team is still in fine form!

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