PING-PONG
CLUB
Ping-Pong
Club. The Japanese answer to America's South Park. Well, that's
what it said on the VHS box that I bought at a video store from the
used movie bin for three dollars back in 2003...
Ping-Pong
Club, as many other animes, orginally came from the manga series of
the same name. The manga series was written by Minoru Furuya and had
a manga series run from 1993 to 1996 in Young Magazine. It would be
adapted to anime in 1995. The anime run lasted from May of 1995 to
September of the same year. Yeah...just six months...imagine
that...and honestly, I'm surprised it even became an anime...
As
it sounds, Ping-Pong club is about...a ping pong club in a middle
school. And said club is really just a group of twits who use a
classroom and the pretense of being their middle school's ping pong
team as the backdrop to their wonderfully idiotic misadventures.
You
have Takeda. He's sort of the straight man of the group. He's the
serious type who is actually there to...play ping pong. He's not
nearly as stupid or ugly as most of the others, but he is a male,
middle school student and his moments of lewd behavior towards women,
including his crush, Kyoko.
Next
is Takeda's friend, Kinoshita, the school's cool, laid back hot guy
that all the girls are after. Takeda talked him into joining the
club somehow, and while he has actual skills at the game, he really
doesn't provide much to the overall story...not that there is really
any over-arching story plot...but he doesn't really have a
presence...at all.
Izawa
and Maeno. They sort of drive the series along and if anything, it's
about them and their schemes. Izawa has the Joe Boxer hair style,
is actually kind of nice but stupid and horny whereas Maeno is
exceedingly proud of his ass and seems to attract women and really
doesn't understand why (hint: no one really does). The two seem to
have a homoerotic relationship...
Tanaka.
He's just a weirdly looking and sounding, creepy, little pervert.
Really, that's it.
Tanabe.
Poor, poor, Tanabe. He's half Japanese and half American. He's
huge, hairy and has incredibly bad body odor. Possibly the nicest of
the guys, he's really the butt of everyone's jokes and even when he
wins...he still loses.
Then
there are the two token girls of the series, Chiyoko and Kyoko.
Kyoko was pretty much forced into being the manager of the club by
the principal; she's basically a badass who has an unlit cigarette
hanging from her mouth at almost all times. Chiyoko is the “nice”
girl who is under the mistaked impression that Izawa will help her
improve her ping pong game....calls him “Instructor” all the time
and seems to...enjoy?...the abuse given to her by Izawa.
Basically,
Ping-Pong Club is a train wreck. The humor is very low-brow and not
very clever. Unless you are under the age of 18, in which case this
might seem like brilliant comedy. Don't get me wrong, it has its
moments, but its no Shin Chan where there is a good mixture of goofy
pervertedness mixed with intelligent humor.
And
unlike Shin Chan, Ping-Pong Club is not adverse to showing the head
of a penis for a cheap laugh...I'm being serious...they actually show
the head of Izawa's penis coming from his shorts...I really wish I
could un-see that....
WHITE
DAY
Well, on White Day, men
return the favor. On March 14th,
men give women chocolate, mostly white chocolate, as a sort of
repayment.
Basically, if a woman
gave you chocolate as a friend or a co-worker, you should reply in
kind. However, if your significant other gave you chocolates or a
nice gift...or MADE you chocolate...then you have to get her good
stuff like very nice chocolates, jewelery or...white lingere.
So don't screw it up
guys!!! Remember: March 14th
is White Day and get her the right kind of gifts or she will go
Dokuro on your ass!!!!
See the video version of this blog here:
R.I.P. Mr. Spock
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