Ping Pong | |
Cover of the first volume of Ping Pong
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ピンポン (Pin Pon) |
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Genre | Sports, Coming-of-age story |
Manga | |
Written by | Taiyō Matsumoto |
Published by | Shogakukan |
Demographic | Seinen |
Magazine | Big Comic Spirits |
Original run | 1996 – 1997 |
Volumes | 5 |
Live-action film | |
Ping Pong | |
Directed by | Fumihiko Sori |
Produced by | Shinji Ogawa |
Written by | Kankuro Kudo |
Released | July 20, 2002 |
Runtime | 114 minutes |
Anime television series | |
Ping Pong the Animation | |
Directed by | Masaaki Yuasa |
Music by | Kensuke Ushio |
Studio | Tatsunoko Production |
Licensed by | |
Original network | Fuji TV (Noitamina) |
English network | |
Original run | April 11, 2014 – June 20, 2014 |
Episodes | 11 |
Ping Pong (Japanese: ピンポン Hepburn: Pin Pon?) is a manga series by Taiyō Matsumoto about table tennis. It was serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Big Comic Spirits from 1996 to 1997 and collected in five tankōbon volumes. It was adapted into a 2002 live-action film. An anime television series adaptation produced by Tatsunoko Production and directed by Masaaki Yuasa was aired between April 11, 2014 and June 20, 2014 on Fuji TV's noitamina block. The North American anime licensor Funimation streamed the series on their website.
Despite having drastically different personalities, high school boys Peco and Smile have been friends since childhood. Now, they’re both talented members of table tennis club of Katase High School. Peco gets decisively defeated by a Chinese student and thus becomes so devastated that he quits practicing. Meanwhile, Smile's personality always prevents him from winning against Peco. Coach Jō, however, discovers Smile's potential and tries to motivate him to overcome his psychological obstacle.
Ping Pong was written by Taiyō Matsumoto and published by Shogakukan. The manga ran on Big Comic Spirits weekly magazine from 1996 to 1997. The chapters were collected and released into six bound volumes from July 1996 to August 1997. The manga was re-released and reformatted into three volumes between July 14, 2012 and August 10, 2012. Shogakukan re-released the manga again in two volumes on April 1, 2014 under the new title, Ping Pong: Full Game No (ピンポン フルゲームの Pin Pon furu gēmu no?).