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Currently to be found romping through the Mardock Scramble boxset - final film tonight! Have to say I've enjoyed it, and is quite the visual treat :)
 
Ping Pong The Animation (2014) - Episodes 1 - 3 (out of 11) (First Impressions)

So after my little hiatus from anime I've decided that it might be time to return to the wonderful world of Japanese animation, and so my first anime that I’m going to tackle is a series that I’ve been meaning to watch for a long time now, Ping Pong The Animation.
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Ping Pong is directed by Masaaki Yuasa, a director of whom I’ve come into contact with recently when watching Kaiba. Now unlike Kaiba, Ping Pong is an adaptation of a late 90’s manga of the same name, a fact that I was inundated with when I presented my qualms with Kaiba. A hectic show, I found it hard to keep up with but it goes without saying that I appreciated the sentiment and artistry behind Kaiba, but more importantly the guts that it had. It was brought to my attention that the works of Masaaki Yuasa fair better when they are adaptations, as his wonderful art style and powerful directing chops are contained and controlled. Now Ping Pong The Animation is often lauded as one of the better shows of recent time, and although the night is still young being only three episodes in with eight more down the line, I’d like to go out on a limb and make it clear that Ping Pong The Animation may in fact be one of the best anime series of all time, bar none.

Right off of the bat Ping Pong serves up visuals that are quite literally out of this world. Like a Ping Pong ball, each scene is ricocheted across the screen with beautiful transitions that keep the flow of the show fluid and kinetic, and likewise your eyes are vigorously returning each shot as you try to grasp each and every detail on the screen, and as such I found that when watching Ping Pong, a level of immersion was attained that I hadn’t reached in a very long time.
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Characters are adorned with rough linework, both sketchy and fluid the characters almost shape shift as they move around the canvas, but don’t mistake this for low production values as this is very much a deliberate choice. And like Masaaki Yuasa’s many other works, Ping Pong stands out among the hundreds of cookie cutter anime series that are churned out every season as a diamond. Aspiring to be more than what other series that came before dared to be, Ping Pong doesn’t try to imitate any other series and instead it follows its own path. Ping Pong is everything that I look for in anime series, and although it wasn’t the biggest smash hit when it aired, it leaves me enthusiastic about the future of the medium and its potential. The way in which we can tell stories through pen and paper is near limitless and Ping Pong really demonstrates what’s achievable when we push the medium further and when creators aspire to be more.
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Characters are distinctive without being an eyesore and without detracting from the world, as exuberant character designs often fall victim to. From the use of split screens in order to show two characters having an exchange to having other objects such as a plane and the sea morph into the world in order to visually show the characters frame of mind is compelling and visually stunning. The world and everything inside of it is stretched and morphed, like a ball being hit back and forth. Perspectives are played with, making what should be inconspicuous motions turn into something interesting.
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Thus far, Ping Pong proves to be a series with minimal fluff, where every scene matters. Not once is my mind left to wonder, each second counts with each minute proving pivotal to the story. Each character is likable, with their motives displayed though the game of Ping Pong and I already find myself liking each and every one of them.

It’d be unfair to go on without mentioning the audio which is to say that it’s fantastic. The music is handled by Kensuke Ushio and is of a techno variety and it really adds a lot to the atmosphere. The ambiance during each match pays dividends and goes a long way in allowing all of the pieces to come together. Everything feels meticulous and yet free flowing all at the same time, like a Ping Pong match, the back and forth becomes hypnotic. Characters speaks different languages, from an audio standpoint, Ping Pong is both diverse and interesting.
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I could ramble on and on about how fantastic this show is so far, and with no sign of slowing down I doubt that my enthusiasm will waver. But to articulate into words just how excited this show makes me feel is impossible. This really is what other shows should aspire to be, to look up to, but of course to imitate Ping Pong would be missing the point. Ping Pong is so great because it dears to be different, to leave its mark, and to have fun.
 
It's one of the best looking shows that I've ever seen, my heart is actually fluttering, like making eye contact with the love of your life I find myself paralyzed with awe when I watch this show. What a fantastic, fantastic show. The visuals...man it just looks so good. Everything flows beautifully. The OP is also one of the best I've ever seen, I actually had tears in my eyes as I watched the show as cheesy and sad as that sounds. Check out the OP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px9FvddtgpM
 
Can't say I'm getting that kind of a vibe myself. Probably more me than the show as it appears to be a combination of things I don't like. Sports shows and trying to be artsy. I will say the OP is pretty great though.
 
That's fine in all honesty. You’re hardly alone with your feelings towards shows like this and Aku no Hana. I don't want to talk about the show too much as I want to leave some topics for my inevitable review, but to expand upon what I was saying, I find that, and I mean this as no insult to yourself or others but when it comes to anime, people can be insular and against change, including myself! Anything that deviates from the norm is looked at as strange and wrong, but I really look at art as nonlinear. The idea that anime should conform to certain standards, that shows should aim for the most detail possible can be a detriment to the industry, a leash that holds it back. I find that video games are slowly moving away from that with the rise of Indie games, but even they have fallen down the same rabbit hole, trying to emulate 8 bit and 16 bit games over and over. To me, a show like Ping Pong is the square peg in the round hole, the one that thought differently, not one to be told how to act or how to look. Not to make myself sound like a special little snowflake but I find parallels to myself. I'm hardly a rebel, but I do find myself not to fit in with everybody else and in a way, Ping Pong is that free spirit; it doesn't give a damn and leaves it mark. People may scoff, people may look at it with their nose turned upwards, but Ping Pong is having fun and doing so while schooling every other series from the audio to the general direction and pacing. Ping Pong isn't really a sports anime, the main stars are the characters and their feelings towards their talents. You should give it a shot, and I'm glad you like the OP, it's fantastic! :)
 
Please do keep it in mind for a rainy day, money doesn't grow on trees but I'm sure that you'd love it, or if anything that you'd appreciate the artistry and technical prowess at play and that you'd come out gaining something of value. I really do hope the Anime Limited set does well, I'll be triple dipping for sure!
 
Danganronpa: The Animation - Episode 02

I really enjoyed this episode, and I'm really interested in how Nageri is going to prove he isn't the murderer. There's some interesting stylistic choices, but this being both Seiji Kishi and Lerche, that does not surprise me at all (but, unlike Rampo Kitan, these don't seem to have been made for budgetary reasons)...

My only complaint would be that the blu-ray gives a cumulative runtime rather than individual episodes, so you can't hell how far into an episode you are. But that's very minor, and Manga seem to have used FUNimation's master. (I don't even think there was a Manga logo at the beginning, but maybe I missed it.)
 
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Buzz201 said:
My only complaint would be that the blu-ray gives a cumulative runtime rather than individual episodes, so you can't hell how far into an episode you are.
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It's like that on almost all DVDs/Blu-rays now, i don't mind it as i usually know most episodes are around 25 mins. You won't find many DVDs with individual episode runtime, probably only old ones.
 
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