is a Japanese
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
series written and illustrated by
Minoru Furuya
is a Japanese manga artist from Saitama Prefecture.
His debut work is '' The Ping Pong Club'', published in ''Young Magazine''. It was adopted into a 26-episode anime series in 1995. In 1996, he won the Kodansha Manga Award for ''The Ping P ...
. It was serialized in
Kodansha
is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...
's
''seinen'' manga magazine ''
Weekly Young Magazine
is a Japanese weekly anthology magazine published in Tokyo each Monday by Kodansha. The magazine was started on June 23, 1980 and is targeted at the adult male ( ''seinen'') demographic. It was published bimonthly (under the title ), on the seco ...
'' from 1993 to 1996, with its chapters collected in 13 ''
tankōbon
is the Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...
'' volumes. It is about the dysfunctional members of a middle school
ping-pong
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong and whiff-whaff, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight ball, also known as the ping-pong ball, back and forth across a table using small solid rackets. It takes place on a hard table div ...
club.
''The Ping Pong Club'' was adapted by Grouper Productions into a 26-episode
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
television series. It was licensed in North America by
Central Park Media
Central Park Media, often abbreviated as CPM, was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York and was headquartered in the 250 West 57th Street building in Midtown Manhattan (on the corner of Central Park, hence ...
.
As of September 2010, ''The Ping Pong Club'' had over 25 million copies in circulation, making it one of the
best-selling manga series
The following is a list of the best-selling Japanese manga series to date in terms of the number of collected ''tankōbon'' volumes sold. All series in this list have at least 20 million copies in circulation. This list is limited to Japanese ...
. In 1996, the manga won the 20th
Kodansha Manga Award
is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...
for the general category.
Plot
The story follows the adventures of a somewhat unusual ping-pong club: the players are indeed more focused "on panties" and obscene jokes than on the game. The arrival of Iwashita, the new head of the club, makes it possible to change things, the latter somehow managing to interest his undisciplined players in ping-pong. A difficult mission as the temptations of the outside world are great for our protagonists.
Characters
; Maeno
:
:Somewhat the 'leader' of the Ping Pong Club. He has a strange demeanor and enjoys any conversation or subject involving his glorious 'ass', of which he is very proud. Contrary to the belief that his strange and perverted attitude would repel girls, it actually attracts them (as well as his good friend Izawa).
; Hiromi Izawa
:
:Izawa's strange hairstyle is constantly the 'butt' of many a joke in the series. He is a kind and caring person, although quite perverted at times, and he lives his life by the laws of chivalry. He is a huge boxing fan and wears his shoulder length hair in the style of Joe Yabuki from the popular manga ''
Ashita no Joe
is a Japanese boxing manga series written by Asao Takamori (a pen name of Japanese author and manga writer Ikki Kajiwara, and one that's a variation on his real name) and illustrated by Tetsuya Chiba. The story follows a young man named ...
''. He and Maeno constantly play little games in which Izawa almost always acts as the woman, be it a mother, child, or love interest. His relationship with Maeno can be debated. He is pretty much Maeno's very close friend but he has a very strange adversity to Maeno's getting a girlfriend and he even went so far as to dress up as a woman to repel Maeno's soon-to-be lover. He is also the only one in the show who has freckles.
; Takeda
:
:One of ping-pong club's two 'pretty boys'. Takeda has a bowl haircut with short bangs, and he is also the crush of female character Kyōko. He even has a whole episode devoted to him fondling her breasts (in which Maeno, Izawa, and Tanaka are all hiding naked in a locker).
; Yūsuke Kinoshita
:
:The quintessential "pretty boy" out of the two in the ping-pong club. He, like Izawa, has hair down to his shoulders and is the most popular and cool guy in the whole school, constantly having girls chase after him. In one episode however, Maeno and Izawa dress him like a girl and it's now Tanaka who's chasing after him. In the English dub of the series, Kinoshita is shown as having a slacker 'surfer-boy' accent.
; Tanaka
:
:A tiny little pervert coming from a long line of "Panty Masters". Under his clothes, he has a very shapely feminine body that is mistaken for that of a girl's from the back in an episode. He is constantly tricked into playing along with Maeno and Izawa's schemes. He also constantly refers to girls he likes as "Mommy".
; Mitchell Gorō Tanabe
:
:Half American and half Japanese. Hairy, blond, and blue-eyed, Tanabe is always looking out for people in trouble and for ways to help his good friend, Tanaka. He is gentle and helpful as well as being very sensitive. He is known for his exponential stench and bad
B.O. The only thing that has been able to destroy his horrible smell is pool disinfectant.
; Kyōko Iwashita
:
:She's a tough-as-nails, and landed the managerial job because the principal of the school hoped it would be a way to keep her out of trouble. She barely tolerates the antics of the room of adolescent boys trying constantly to get in her panties. In the episode "the Burning Spirit," she proves to have incredible motivational skills for the boys when she offers a "sex pass" to the best player on the team: "The holder of this pass can do anything they want with my body for a month!" The offer powers the below mediocre team into the city finals.
; Chiyoko Kamiya
:
:Shows up in later episodes as a shy girl who has a crush on Kinoshita, and figures if she can improve her ping pong skills, she'll catch his eye. A good plan, but her mistake is going to nerdy freak Izawa to unquestioningly enlist him as her ping pong sensei. Izawa's fondest dream is to have a beautiful girl that obeys his every word, and not abusing his new-found position of power proves to be impossible.
Media
Manga
Written and illustrated by
Minoru Furuya
is a Japanese manga artist from Saitama Prefecture.
His debut work is '' The Ping Pong Club'', published in ''Young Magazine''. It was adopted into a 26-episode anime series in 1995. In 1996, he won the Kodansha Manga Award for ''The Ping P ...
, ''The Ping Pong Club'' was serialized in
Kodansha
is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...
's
''seinen'' manga magazine ''
Weekly Young Magazine
is a Japanese weekly anthology magazine published in Tokyo each Monday by Kodansha. The magazine was started on June 23, 1980 and is targeted at the adult male ( ''seinen'') demographic. It was published bimonthly (under the title ), on the seco ...
'' from 1993 to 1996. Kodansha collected its chapters in thirteen ''
tankōbon
is the Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...
'' volumes, released from November 6, 1993,
to February 6, 1997.
Volume list
Anime
A 26-episode (consisting of two segments each)
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
television series adaptation, animated by Grouper Productions, was broadcast in Japan on
TBS from April 6 to September 28, 1995.
In North America, the series was licensed by
Central Park Media
Central Park Media, often abbreviated as CPM, was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York and was headquartered in the 250 West 57th Street building in Midtown Manhattan (on the corner of Central Park, hence ...
and released under their Software Sculptors label. The series had first a sub only release on VHS starting in 1999. It was later released with an English dub on five DVDs, starting from the fourth volume, released on October 9, 2001; the fifth volume was released on December 11, 2001, and the first to third DVDs were released from August 13 to December 3, 2002. A DVD box collection was released on December 3, 2002.
Episode list
Reception
As of September 2010, the manga had over 25 million copies in circulation.
In 1996, the manga won the 20th
Kodansha Manga Award
is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...
for general manga.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ping Pong Club, The
1993 manga
1995 anime television series debuts
Central Park Media
Comedy anime and manga
Kodansha manga
School life in anime and manga
Seinen manga
Table tennis in anime and manga
TBS Television (Japan) original programming
Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (General)
Wonderful (TV programming block)