Ping Pong is truly a classic! Taiyo Matsumoto perfectly captures the emotional stakes of competitive sports, while also crafting a compelling character-driven narrative. Smile and Peco are particularly great leads, and it's fascinating to see their different approaches and feelings towards table tennis. Beyond that, Matsumoto's artwork is breathtaking, conveying the sheer speed of table tennis during the matches. I'm incredibly happy that this series has now been fully released in English, allowing it to reach the wide audience that it deserves.

Ping Pong is an iconic manga (and anime) in recent years. I will say, the art style is a bit difficult to get used to. However, the plot is well worth it! The story perfectly captures the competitive nature of sports and the various types of people you will meet in competition. From the "no lifers" to the "casuals", it's very relatable for anyone who as ever played a solo sport. If you're more of a team sport person, it may not be as relatable. However, it's a phenomenal story overall.

This is one of the best comic books I've ever read. The art is so kinetic and captures the characters while still being somewhat surreal - the character designs change to accentuate the emotional impact of each scene and the panel layouts (especially for the ping pong games) are unique. There are so many tiny and oddly shaped panels that reading the page gives the impression of the incredibly fast back and forth combat of a high level ping pong rally. But then in moments of repose the layouts expand and take in the larger seaside landscape. It's really amazing artistic technique.

But it's not just about the art. This is a story about success and talent and what the things are in our past that spur us on in different directions. It focuses on three very talented young Japanese ping pong players, all of whom have different personalities, motivations, play styles, and reactions to stress. Seeing what pushes each to play and succeed, how each reacts to adversity, and what ends up happening to them is a fascinating character study. This is not your typical sports story.

The two volumes of this set are just amazing. Well worth reading either in digital or hard copy (I went out and got both!).