With Mushishi still on break and One Week Friends kinda stumbling around, this week was a little below-average. Ping Pong is still fantastic though, and I feel like Sidonia is actually getting better every week. This season’s still a pretty good place to be!
Tag Archives: Ping Pong
Ping Pong – Episode 8
This episode of Ping Pong was mostly about shoes.
Kazama’s much-touted Mat Shoes, to be precise. The shoes that are supposed to give you an advantage on competitive mats, which our protagonists today learned would be installed for the big regional tournament. As Kazama’s advertisement says, “They’re completely different” – but in truth, the shoes are merely a confidence placebo. And instead of prompting a wave of shoe-buying in our protagonists, each character’s specific reaction to the mats ends up pretty much describing their journey so far.
New Podcast – Spring 2014 Mid-Season Discussion
Yep, I was on another podcast this week, discussing season impressions with a bunch of other bloggers. I gush about Ping Pong, we argue about Sidonia and Titan, and basically everybody takes a few cheap shots at Mahouka. You can check out the whole thing over at Deadlight’s blog, which includes time stamps for specific show discussions and links to everybody else’s blogs. And if you enjoy the podcasts, it turns out I’m actually going to be a regular on these ones from now on, so, uh, lucky you!
Once again, here’s the link to the podcast. I don’t have anything else to say, so here’s Star Platinum punching a shark.
Spring 2014 – Week 8 in Review
It’s so nice to only be watching good shows. I think One Week Friends kinda stumbled this week, but other than that, I don’t really have any complaints about anything. I should drop shows more often!
Ping Pong – Episode 7
It’s a testament to how much Ping Pong respects its characters that the person who would occupy the “villain” role in a traditional narrative is here simply the most tragic member of a selection of co-protagonists. Kazama is an unhappy boy, and this episode was largely dedicated to defining and exploring that unhappiness.
Spring 2014 – Week 7 in Review
Some strong episodes and some weak ones this week, but fortunately the shows that could really be damaged by a weak link (Ping Pong, One Week Friends) came out swinging. Running them down…
Ping Pong – Episode 6
“Heroes don’t exist. What exists is reality, and the fact that only those who can adapt to reality win.”
There’s a kind of fatalism to Ping Pong, something that separates it from a lot anime out there. Some of its characters aren’t very good, or have damaging weaknesses. Because of this, they fail. There’s no “I’ve got to give it my all anyway” here. There’s no “genius of hard work.” Yeah, you do have to work hard – everybody has to work hard. But sometimes working hard doesn’t mean chasing any dream you choose.
Spring 2014 – First Half in Review
Welp, we’ve reached the season’s halfway point, which means it’s once again time to roughly shepherd everything I’m watching into a reductive hierarchy that through its very nature misses the point of art altogether. Everybody loves lists!
Incidentally, the fact that it is so reductive is why I do this nonsense in the middle of the season, and not the end. Lists are fun, but I don’t want lists anywhere near my actual takeaway from shows, so I use this mainly just to sort out my general feelings on the season’s overall tenor. This season has turned out to be very good, and I have already dropped every single show I’m not solidly enjoying – if anything on this list looks entertaining to you, I can confirm that even the lowest shows have been solid enough at what they’re doing. And the top shows… yeah, this is a season to be proud of. Let’s run it down!
Ping Pong – Episode 5
Two weeks ago, I described Ping Pong as a “small symphony,” where all the moving parts just work together and elevate each other. This week, that ephemeral quality was probably best expressed not through any one scene, but through the transitions between them.
Spring 2014 – Week 5 in Review
Man, my schedule is so optimized at this point. Four great shows, one okay but very enjoyable show, and Captain Earth as my only speculative pick. I also finished Mushishi last weekend, so I’ll soon be catching up on that as well. Grahh all these good shows anime YEAH.