Ping Pong, Vol. 1

Description

Ace high school table tennis players push their passion to the limit in this story of self-discovery, told by Eisner Award winner Taiyo Matsumoto. Makoto "Smile" Tsukimoto doesn't smile even though he's got a natural talent for playing ping pong. As one of the best players in school, all hopes are on him to win the regional high school tournament, but winning is not what Smile really wants to do. Will the fierce competition to be number one bring out his best or drive him away from the game? Ping Pong is Taiyo Matsumoto's masterwork reflection on friendship and self-discovery, presented here in two volumes, featuring color art, the bonus story "Tamura" and an afterword by the original Japanese series editor. Translated by Michael Arias, director of Tekkonkinkreet. Makoto "Smile" Tsukimoto and his friend Yutaka "Peco" Hoshino have been playing table tennis since they were kids, but as they enter high school, they find that the game has changed. Seeing potential in them that they themselves don't fully realize, the coach recruits them for the school team. Bringing out their best will mean challenging the top players from rival schools in the summer tournament, including an ace Chinese exchange student who almost made the Olympic team. With the pressure on, can Smile and Peco take the heat and make it into the finals?

Taiyo Matsumoto is best known to English-reading audiences as the creator of Tekkonkinkreet, which in 2006 was made into an animated feature film of the same name, directed by Michael Arias. In 2007, Matsumoto was awarded the Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Award, and in 2008 he won an Eisner Award for the English publication of Tekkonkinkreet.

...[A] cockeyed mix of athletic action, indie drama, and visual spectacle. -- Publisher's Weekly(Starred Review)--Publisher's Weekly