Ping pong 2025 manga

The Ping-Pong Peril Manga Is off to a Wild Start

Makoto Tsukimoto, a stone-faced kid in glasses, picks up the ironic nickname “Smile” for never cracking one. His lifelong friend Yutaka Hoshino – nicknamed Peco – is a cocky goofball, the bright yang to Smile’s somber yin. For years, Peco has been the top ping-pong player in their sleepy town, and Smile has been number two. But now, in high school, their friendship is dissolving along with their athletic ambitions. Peco skips out on practice with the high-school team, coasting on his natural talent while shouting shonen manga slogans like, “I want to be the best on the whole planet!!” Smile turns inward and brooding, losing his competitive spirit because “I don’t want to drag someone else down just so I can win.”

Yoshiharu Kataoka’s Ping-Pong Peril has been cancelled with the latest issue of , and the manga now joins an unfortunate club with its cancellation. It’s now one of the manga Shonen Jump franchises to be cancelled before it even hits 20 chapters like seen with the likes of Ekiden Bros and Kaedegami earlier this Fall, and unfortunately it’s now one of the ten series that have been cancelled through the year already. On top of the series that reached their natural ends this year too, the magazine really is going through a lot of changes.

This is the real deal. A masterpiece of memory, friendship, intense moments that echo through a life.And ping pong. I found myself making little PIK PAK ping pong sounds during the matches, and could hear the SKWEE of the trainers sliding across the floors.When I read Taiyo Matsumoto I feel kind of lost for a while until the intent of the story, and its emotional weight, become clear. He’s a master, this is easily one of the best comics I’ve read in recent years.Ping Pong volumes 1 and 2 by Taiyo Matsumoto.#comicbooks #comics #manga #taiyomatsumoto @vizmedia

The second in a two volume manga set that I received for Christmas, this is simply excellent.The dynamism of the inking, the equally energetic paneling? Excellent. The vibrant, organic character of Matsumoto’s style, which is both technically sophisticated and impressionistic at turns? Excellent. The narrative itself, of the increasing success of one of two friends who are utterly absorbed in the world of competitive ping pong? Sure, some of it is familiar. But it’s all lovingly crafted, with a cast of well realized characters and believable relationships.And the ending, which I will not spoil, is so…subtle. For all of the wild energy and engrossing character of the story, it ends in a way that is both surprising and sublimely right. Utterly engrossing, and…taken with the first volume as a single narrative…one of the most mature and satisfying graphic novels I’ve read.