Scorching Ping Pong Girls
Scorching Ping Pong Girls is a Japanese manga series by Yagura Asano about table tennis. The original run began serialization in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Jump SQ.19 in 2013. After Jump SQ.19 ended publication in February 2015, the manga moved to Shueisha's online platform Tonari no Young Jump in May 2015, and finished in February 2019. It has been collected in seven tankōbon volumes. A continuation, titled Scorching Ping Pong Girls Reburn!!, began serialization on Takeshobo's Storia Dash website from April 2023. An anime television series adaptation by Kinema Citrus aired in Japan between October and December 2016.
Characters
Suzumegahara Municipal Junior High
;Koyori Tsumujikaze
;Agari Kamiya
;Hanabi Tenka
;Hokuto Itsumo
;Mune Ōmune
;Kiruka Ushirode
Mozuyama Junior High
;Kururi Futamaru
;Zakuro Zashikiwarashi
;Sachiko Sasorida
;Yura Yuragi
;Mayuu Kanenashi
;Kimiko Hamu
Tsumebame Girl's Academy
;Kumami Tsukinowa
Media
Manga
Scorching Ping Pong Girls, written and illustrated by Yagura Asano, began its serialization in Shueisha's Jump SQ.19 on December 19, 2013. After Jump SQ.19 ceased its publication on February 19, 2015, the series was switched to the Tonari no Young Jump online platform starting on May 15, 2015. The original run ended on February 1, 2019. Shueisha compiled its chapters into seven tankōbon volumes, published between March 4, 2015, and April 4, 2016. On February 24, 2023, a one-shot manga titled Scorching Idol Girls was released on Takeshobo's Storia website, which announced that the original manga would be returning for a second season titled Scorching Ping Pong Girls Reburn!!, which began serialization from April 28, 2023.
Anime
An anime television adaptation of the series was announced in March 2016. The anime is produced by Kinema Citrus, directed by Yasuhiro Irie and written by Hideyuki Kurata, featuring character designs by Junko Sugimura and music by MONACA. The series aired on TV Tokyo between October 3, 2016, and December 19, 2016 and was simulcast by Crunchyroll. The opening theme is "Shakunetsu Switch" by Suzumegahara Chūgaku Takkyū-bu, while the ending theme is "Bokura no Frontier" by Wake Up, Girls!. The anime will be released across six Blu-ray & DVD volumes.
Reception
Anime News Network had four editors review the first episode of the anime: Theron Martin said that despite the bland production, workmanlike animation and typical moe designs, he commended the show's writing for its charming humor and moe elements, and leaving enough room for character development between its two main leads; Nick Creamer was initially unimpressed by the show's aesthetics in the opening scenes and described it as "meaningless club activities plus clumsy fanservice", but was hooked by the conflict between Agari and Koyori's differing viewpoints on playing table tennis and its adequate delivery of a sports narrative; Paul Jensen found the series conflicted with its jumbling of both school comedy and sports elements and preferred that it went with the latter genre to focus on both table tennis and the Agari-Koyori relationship. The fourth reviewer, Rebecca Silverman, criticized the art direction and character designs for being generic and annoyingly simplistic, and the animation of the ping pong scenes for lacking excitement for the viewers. Silverman added that the series has potential by putting its focus more on both the explanation of ping pong and Agari's conundrum of wanting to excel at the sport while wanting to have friends, concluding with, "So right now this episode stands with as a big question – will it learn to balance its elements? Will the sports drama win out, or will the moe? I'm not sure it's worth finding out."