First aired in the Fall 2016 Anime Season with a 12-episode run, Scorching Ping-Pong Girls is a Sports Anime made by Studio Kinema Citrus. Directed by Yasuhiro Irie, with music by MONACA, it received moderate reception from viewers both in and out of Japan.

“The world of middle school girls’ ping pong enters an age of heated rivalry as the throne at its apex is surrendered…

Tsumujikaze Koyori, a girl who loves ping pong, has just transferred to Suzumegahara Middle School. Along with her friends who strive to be the national champions, can Koyori bring the winds of change to the school?! The curtain is about to rise on a scorching hot tale of girls who love ping pong!”

~ Crunchyroll

Plot

Scorching Ping-Pong Girls is a show for anyone with a fire in their hearts, one that can only be quenched by hot, sweaty, ball-smacking action. Ping-pong balls, guys, get your minds out of the gutter. Scorching Ping-Pong girls follows Tsumujikaze Koyori (I would kill to never have a last name like that…), a girl who loves nothing but ping-pong, and aspires to reign over the world as the undisputed ping-pong queen.

Koyori, chasing her dreams, enters Suzumegahara Middle School, a school known far-and-wide to have an incredibly good ping-pong team…  but that all changed when Mozuyama Junior High attacked! Now the club is only a shadow of it’s former glory. Consisting of their super-sadist captain, Ushirode Kiruka, the booblicious Omune Mune, and a few more unimportant side characters, the club is a club that actually does what clubs are supposed to do, surprisingly.

The show puts a heavy focus on the relationships between the girls, especially on the effect that the captain’s sadistic treatment has on Koyori, transforming her from a mild-mannered girl into a confident, overbearing queen-type character. When she finds a magical ping-pong paddle, Koyori is quickly able to become the ace of the team, using the power granted her by the paddle to execute a wide variety of special attacks to defeat her foes.

Unfortunately, the reason that Suzumegahara is such a powerhouse is that they ALSO have a magical ping-pong paddle, the evil counterpart to Koyori’s. In order to defeat the evil paddle and keep it from taking over the world, Koyori and her band of extras will need to pull together and win the National tournament! But, in order to do that, they will need to whip themselves into shape… literally.

What Makes it Good?

There is some excellent handling of pacing in this show, seamlessly weaving together stories involving the girls’ daily lives, their club activities, and their ping-pong tournaments in a way that is both entertaining and keeps the flow moving. Some great comedic moments keep the story light and fluffy, and keep viewers interested in seeing more, and the engaging action sequences of the ping-pong do even more to draw in the audience, especially after they start using their superpowers.

The combination of Sports, Slice-of-Life and Magical Girl is subtle, yet entertaining; a brilliant direction choice, if I do say so myself.  It’s not as dark as I would have liked it to be, but that’s really just picking at nits. There are some interesting relationships created and explored between Koyori, Mune, Kiruka… and all the rest of the extras, and you really get to know all the characters very well!

Final Thoughts

Some criticism has come down on the show, about an uninteresting art style, bland narrative, and super generic moe character designs, but let’s be honest… over 95% of all Anime viewers can’t tell the difference between trashy content and true art, so what does that even matter?!

So… Should you watch Scorching Ping-Pong Girls? Well, are you looking for a Sports Anime with beautiful art, a moving story, complex characters, an amazing soundtrack, and incredible action sequences that leave you on the edge of your seat? If you are, then Scorching Ping-Pong Girls is the show for you!

So… if you guys hadn’t noticed yet, this post is essentially satire. It was a super fun idea created by Irina, from I drink and watch anime. The idea was to write a review on a show that we haven’t seen before, using only a small amount of basic knowledge, and several screenshots from the show. There are a bunch of us bloggers doing this, and we’ve all had a great time! Make sure to let me know what you thought of my blind review, and check out the rest of the awesome peeps who did this along with me!

Irina (I drink and watch anime)

Shokamoka (Shokamoka’s Blog of Wonders)

TPAB (The Pantless Anime Blogger)