Scorching Pingpong Girls

Summary: >

The girls ping pong club has fallen on hard times, although there is some talent among them. The pivotal member arrives as a shy transfer student. Koyori just wants more excitement in ping pong, while the former club ace Agari hates losing. Will these two drive each other to the top tier of ping pong, or will the school suffer yet another defeat this year?

Thoughts: >

Scorching Ping pong girls is.. a sports anime. If you love sports anime, this isn't a bad show. Unfortunately there isn't anything else driving this show, as most of the fundamentals are weak.

I didn't like the simplistic art style at all. Not a big deal, but when combined with everything else I didn't like, it really rubbed me the wrong way. There were a few characters I felt indifferent about, but most of them I simply didn't like. I was especially annoyed by the lead girl who wants to make her "heart race". Good for her, I just don't want to hear about that over and over and OVER. Other than the two main characters, the girls are one dimensional with their token trait. On the plus side, adversaries also have their token trait which puts them on a level playing field, making them equally weird and somewhat more fun then the usual "bad guys", they're just another group of wackos.

Scorching Ping pong girls doesn't have much of a story, but the character back stories aren't so bad. I liked the story of the doubles team, which formed when two members realized they didn't have what it takes to play well, but discovered they could compliment each other as a great team. This kind of context could have helped this anime if the characters had enough depth to support a decent story backing them.

The best trait in Scorching Ping pong girls is Agari, the twin tailed tsundere who is the co-star of the show. She seems more typical for a side character, which I think made it more interesting putting her in the spotlight. Agari struggles with her skill level, and personal issues but mostly with her competitive nature and how the new girl may surpass her.

I certainly liked the ping pong battles, but everything else - the story, characters, comedy, artwork, music - just wasn't doing it for me. There's no shortage of sports anime (which actually have those features), and I don't think the ping-pong spin is enough to carry it. Watchable, but I wouldn't say it's much above that.

Screen Caps: >