Ping Pong Episode 2 "Smile is a Robot"

Last time on Ping Pong, Peco had his soul crushed into a fine powder by Wenge's superior play. The arrogant young man had no answer for the well-rounded play of his would-be rival, and Wenge skunked Peco before banishing him to the Shadow Realm with Yugi's grandfather. Perhaps that last part didn't actually happen. This week, will Katase's other star player fall victim to a nemesis of his own?



The answer is "not quite" but man oh man do I love how funny this episode is at its best. First of all, there's this guy:

And this:

And last but not least this:

The idea of Spring love emerging for a man approaching his own personal Winter is beautifully played upon here and in later episodes as Jo and Smile grow closer through their trials and tribulations. Jo sees himself in the young Smile and wants him to see heights that cannot be found when great natural ability isn't cultivated into great practical skill. The love letters, the wistful glances, and the classroom courtship complete with homemade lunchboxes, each staples of romance anime, are turned on their head when it's the English teacher himself giving a lecture on how learning English is pointless in the face of Ping-Pong. Eventually, Jo decides to push his tough love to the brink and forces Smile to confront the reality of his own talent.

As of January 6th, 2016, living humans still don't have the ability to go back and forcibly alter their DNA to give themselves LeBron James's physical ability. We can all work our absolute hardest at the gym, practice running and jumping and lifting and throwing, and never even make it to the NBA. It takes a tremendous string of fortune to get the right genes to become an elite athlete, and when we see talented athletes wasting their potential with drugs or perceived low effort it often feels like an outrage, an injustice. Why should these unappreciative people be so fortunate, when others so badly want what they have but will never know that power? This is the idea that forms the backbone of underdog stories; the audience lives vicariously through the actions of the less talented and indulges in the fantasy of taking the top with their own meager gifts. 

Is it fair, though, to ask of the talented that they do their absolute best to maximize those natural gifts? Should we really expect every tall, graceful man or woman to play basketball? Would it be unfair to force Einstein to study science if he just wanted to make oil paintings for his whole life? These are questions that Ping Pong wants to investigate, and Smile and Jo's relationship is perhaps the core of that investigation. For Jo, it's a grave injustice to waste a gift like Smile's. "You don't chase the ball, the ball chases you." For Smile, who has been bullied all his life, being told that he needs to cash in on his gift is just another form of bullying. In order to stand up to the bullying, Smile has to do the one thing he doesn't want to do. To Jo, talent is a tool for liberation, but to Smile it is a prison with no escape. When Smile embraces his "robotic" side and earns the victory, his only joy is in a temporary escape from being bothered, not any sort of competitive thrill.

While Jo and Smile's arc takes up most of the episode, a few other interesting things happen here. Episode 2 introduces Kaio academy and its captain, Ryu Kazama, while also showing the aftermath of Peco's fall from grace. Kaio and its students will take up a bigger part of the show from this point forward, but here Kazama is introduced in a manner that is fittingly stern and powerful. All business in the form of a teenage boy, Kazama's strong features and bald head give him a great end boss appeal right out of the gate. His clear admiration for Smile is only outstripped by his blatant dismissal of any real threat to his chances. You already know you want to see this guy get his comeuppance. I really love how when Jo and Kazama are walking they use the split-screen rather than just showing both characters in one frame. It creates a great contrast between the weary yet wise veteran and the youthful but brash prodigy.

I really like the next gif because honestly it just looks cool as heck. The zoom is disarming and becomes more and more uncomfortable to watch the more times you see it. Is the camera accelerating or staying the same speed? Why are all the tables so uneven? Its just great to watch and I kinda want to make a loop where it zooms forward again just because I like it so much.

This episode doesn't venture into too much new ground visually, but it's filled with great moments regardless. I think the sound design is also totally on point. I really love when Jo falls to the ground, and Smile takes off his glasses to clean them. The sound is like a robot using its arms, followed by that neat clicking sound that robots tend to make in the movies when they're scanning an area with their eyes. The image of Jo gliding around the table with the serenity of his beautiful "serious" theme playing is indelibly etched in my brain. I like the song so much that it's my phone ringtone. It's actually got a nice sort of darkness to it after the opening bit. It provides a nice contrast to the sort of goofy, flowery theme of his that plays during the early "courtship" part of the episode. I also like the tribal drumming theme that accompanies Kazama's arrival. It fits especially well with his character as we understand him to this point. He is an intense ping pong warrior with a fittingly intense theme.

Overall this episode is probably on the lower end of the series for me, as it doesn't involve nearly as wide a range of characters as most episodes and serves mostly to lay the groundwork for relationships that will be more thoroughly examined in the middle of the season, namely Jo/Smile and Kazama/Smile. It's still really good, and every time I rewatch the battle between Jo and Smile I find something new to appreciate. It also subtly sows the seeds of bigger plot things that I don't really want to spoil right now.