Ping Pong - Please Explain the Ending to Me

[i_smile]

I am very distressed. I lost my wallet somewhere in Perth sometime in the last two days (or so). It doesn't seem to be in my old house anywhere, but it could be in any one of four cars, or possibly on a bus, or lying on the ground between my old house and my new house, or somewhere in my new house. If it's in my new house, it's almost as bad as if

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[i_smile]

He was, even with his funny hair! :D

[dinghy]

god, I love Ping Pong. It's one of my favorite series ever. It's been a while since I've read/watched it, but this is how I sort of interpreted it: basically Smile is good but has always held back when he plays Peco. I think it's probably because he's afraid he could, maybe, win and Peco can't be his hero anymore and some part of his image of Peco will break. Finally, though, at the end, he plays honestly and Peco still wins. Smile feels a real game: this is it, he did his all and now we all know what he always knew-- Peco is strong, his hero, invincible. Everyone is happy! I don't think Smile's character suffers. He doesn't care about ping pong that much anyway, so it's more important for Peco to win and Smile to uhh, taste the iron in his blood I guess.

[i_smile]

OK, so, why was Smile trying at all if he was just going to give up ping pong afterwards? Was it just the bet? Does he not need to play anymore if Peco's not around? I got that he wasn't all that interested in ping pong for its own sake (unlike Peco <3), but I thought he'd started to get into it more while he was training for the tournament (kind of like Fuji after he played Ryoma & watched the Atobe/Tezuka match).

I still like it up to this part, though: Smile is good but has always held back when he plays Peco. I think it's probably because he's afraid he could, maybe, win and Peco can't be his hero anymore and some part of his image of Peco will break. Finally, though, at the end, he plays honestly and Peco still wins. Smile feels a real game: this is it, he did his all and now we all know what he always knew-- Peco is strong, his hero, invincible. Thanks for the interpretation! :)

[dinghy]

I'd probably have to reread that section before I'd give my official estimation, hah. My guess is that he trains because if he's not as good as he possibly can be, what's the point of going against Peco? Then it doesn't matter, because afterwards there's always this question of "well if I trained a bit more, I could have beat him." I don't know, I tend to maybe overestimate his relationship with Peco but in the manga it's more clear how isolated and bullied (and unhappy, honestly) Smile is, so I'd argue Peco (and by extension ping pong) is a pretty significant part of his life-- being the hero that saves him and all. It's hard ficcing this series because I love it too much and think I'm getting everything wrong, though. :|

man, now I'm all itching to drag out the manga and DVDs.

[i_smile]

That could be it! (The "might have beat him" thing--I think he probably gave Peco space when Peco had quit ping pong because he knew he'd be back eventually.) I definitely see how much he leans on Peco (and also the unhappy thing), but figured he was learning how to, like. Not lean so much. To take a step back from Peco-as-hero.

So. Is he a father in the end, or just a ping pong coach? (I like the idea of his being a coach & would probably also fall off my bicycle if I found out he had a girl. :D)

I think I'm beginning to come to terms with the ending.

[lesstraveled]

This sounds very distressing! I hope the wallet turns up soon? (Maybe you should invest in one of those little gadgets that you attach to things, and you press a button and it beeps so you know where it is. :D)

-- also, what is Ping Pong? Is it a series, or a movie, or movies, or what? Someone told me to watch it, a long time ago, but of course I never did.

[i_smile]

I found it! But in the stupidest "WTF did I do that for" place ever, after trekking to my old place & back and unpacking every bag I own. (I think I'd manage to lose the button while trying to find a safe place for it. I am, like, a master at incompetence and absentmindedness. :D)

A movie! And apparently a manga? Except that the only manga/anime series I've ever read/seen about ping pong has a very different tone to this one. One of the guys has a serve in which he wins by exposing his penis, they play against an old lady whose breast is later sucked down a drain, etc. It's pretty good, and also gets my approval because the main characters go around wearing a symbol that defines them (i.e. you know this is Smile, because he's wearing a moon somewhere on his shirt).

[dinghy]

Yeah, it was originally a manga (done by Matsumoto Taiyou); it's only 5 volumes and the movie is a pretty good translation (plus it has ARATA in it! even though he's like 27 playing a 15 year old). There's not a whole lot of changes, just compression. The art is very stylized (as in, not super aesthetically pleasing), but I dig it. I don't think it's been scanlated but it's very lovely.

[i_smile]

He's a very pretty old guy, though!

I might have to check out the manga next time I'm in Kinokuniya or Book Off or something.