| | |  | DVD | Home » » » Ping Pong | | | | | | | Description: | | Based on the bestselling comic. Table Tennis to the extreme! Best friends Peco and Smile have been playing ping pong since they were little kids. While the unique and brazen Peco plays to win and loves the sport, the quiet and introverted Smile thinks of it as just a way to kill time with friends, but plays only because he looks up to Peco as his hero. And though Smile is the more talented player, he frequently and intentionally loses to Peco out of a misguided sense of friendship. However, after Peco is badly beaten by his old pal Demon in an important inter-high school tournament and quits the game, Smile becomes the newest celebrity of ping pong. Smile begins training for the next championship, waiting for the return of his hero, whom he is destined to meet in one last match. | | | Features: | |
• Based on the bestselling comic. Table Tennis to the extreme! Best friends Peco and Smile have been playing ping pong since they were little kids. While the unique and brazen Peco plays to win and loves the sport, the quiet and introverted Smile thinks of it as just a way to kill time with friends, but plays only because he looks up to Peco as his hero. And though Smile is the more talented player,
| | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Yosuke Kubozuka, Shidou Nakamura, Sam Lee, Koji Ohkura | | Director:
| Fumihiko Sori | | Format:
| Anamorphic, Dolby, Subtitled, Color, NTSC | | Language:
| Japanese | | Subtitle:
| English | | Number of Discs:
| 2 | | Studio:
| VIZ Pictures, Inc. | | Run Time:
| 114 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| September 04, 2007 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 15 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 15 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 28 found the following review helpful:
 Enter the Hero!Jul 28, 2007
By Zack Davisson
"japanreviewed"
This film is just great, easily one of my favorite modern Japanese flicks, and goes to show that the best of a countries films are not always readily exported. While on one hand a spectacularly visual sports film, with super-speed ping pong matches and dynamic characters, it is also a deeply introspective look at friendship, and the role of a hero and what that is supposed to mean.
Based on a five-volume manga by Matsumoto Taiyo, "Ping Pong" is the story of two best friends and their love of the sport of Ping Pong. Nicknamed "Peco" and "Smile," they are a study of contrasts. Peco (the popular Kubozuka Yosuke from "Go") is brash, flashy and smug, always taunting his opponents and singing his own praises as the best player around. Smile, given the name because he never smiles, is a quiet, self-effacing boy whose calm demeanour is the absolute opposite of Peco. Since childhood, they have practiced at a local hangout run by Obaba/Granny (Natsuki Mari from "Samurai Fiction") who has trained and nurtured the kids character and talent. Now in high school, they are on the ping pong team coached by former champion "Butterfly Joe" (played by the always great Takenaka Naoto.) Peco is Smile's hero, and the natural order of their friendship has been maintained for years. There is only one problem. Smile is better than Peco, and has been purposely loosing to him so as not to topple his hero. Smile prefers to be second place, in deference to his skills. This revelation crushes Peco, and he must discover his own actual strength, and learn what it means to be a hero.
Into this mix are an amazing cast of characters each with a unique name and personality. "Dragon," the harsh and serious leader of a rival school, who cannot stand Peco's humor and silliness while playing. "Akuma" ("Devil") who tries to live up to Dragon's standards, but must recognize his own weaknesses. "China," a Chinese player, is the neutral voice who is able to stand aside and see the inner struggles played out before him.
Much more than just a sports film, or an uplifting "feel good" flick, it is amazing that "Ping Pong" is so-far the only film from director Sori Fumihiko. Sori is a computer graphics expert by trade, and the use of CGI is almost seamless, as the players play a game with no ball which was later added in. The actors are all dedicated to there role, and show a profound depth. Takenaka Naoto ("Butterfly Joe") is both his usual clownish self, as well as someone with a hidden melancholy from a secret past.
It does drag a bit in the middle, and sometimes you wonder when the payoff is going to come. When it does come, however, it is not exactly what you expected, and better than you imagined.
"He is playing against someone who is playing for the sheer fun of it. To face such an opponent is...fantastic."
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
A typical but good Japanese sport movie!!!Jan 30, 2007
By FireMesh
I said this is typical because this movie has the elements that are so abundant in Japanese dramas and movies, and even animation; very introspective, and its about sports and friendship.
Additionally, it has a very "innocent" perspective of high school sports, and the spirit of competition.
The movie is good for the fact that it revolves around ping pong or table tennis, which itself is a misunderstood, under appreciated, and sometime unfairly made fun of, sports, especially over here in US. I blamed that on ignorance.
Its fun, and lighthearted, and it teaches good values, give it a try, and I am sure you'll like it.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Ping pong(concerning japanese version)Oct 04, 2005
By Ms.CSM
I Thought that this movie was slow at the begining and at the end but over all funny, and different you can really tell that some of these characters are based off of manga characters(hopefully some of these people dont have a real life counter part.)
6 of 7 found the following review helpful:
A very distinctive and distinctively Japanese film about talent, drive, rivalry, heroism and friendshipMar 10, 2008
By Nathan Andersen
"film lover, philosophy professor"
Ping Pong is a lot of fun, with an intriguing cast of characters, a very unique style and an exciting theme. The film really catches you off guard, because while the characters can be a bit silly and over the top they are never less than unique individuals who very quickly captured my attention and empathy. Smile never smiles and seemed destined to be an outcast until the cocky young ping pong player Paco took him under his wing and taught him to play. After that they were inseparable, and the only hang up is that Smile has the greater talent, and holds back in order to let Paco win. Everyone can see this except for them. What struck me most about the film is that it is distinctively Japanese -- that this is not a film designed for export but that makes it all the more refreshing and revelatory -- and as a sports film doesn't fall prey to any (or many) of the cliches that are part of the American sports film genre. There is of course the obligatory "rising to the challenge" montage -- when the two main characters take their sport seriously and we see them being pushed through a series of exercises by their coaches -- but even that felt distinctive and amusing. The film is not really about winning but about the ways in which friends can become heroes for each other. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
6 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Do you believe in heroes?Jul 24, 2006
By A You
"BLAH!"
This is a fun (and often funny) film that revolves around the unique world of High School Ping Pong (in Japan). It's a sports movie that grows to be a little more than a sports movie... while managing to not become too over-the-top (like too many mainstream high school sports movies are). The great thing about this film is the fact that there are no bad guys, and you get to watch just about every character change and grow through the course of the film. Great performances from the entire cast, too.
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