Even at the top, there’s always someone better.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I know next –to-nothing about ping pong. Despite not having a frame of reference for the manga’s main theme, I never really felt like I was at a disadvantage when reading this manga. In typical Japanese sports manga fashion, all of the action is dialed up to 11, and I was surprised at how engaging this over-the-top presentation made ping pong. You’re introduced to Makoto Tsukimoto (“Smile”) and his friend Yutaka Hoshino (“Peco”) early on, and through them are introduced to the wild ride of intramural ping pong tournaments. I especially liked how “noisy” this manga was, lots of onomatopoeia in the form of shoes squeaking, balls hitting paddles, and crowd noises all worked together to really put you there.

My only real complaint about this manga was the art style. It’s very stark, very gritty, lots of dark contrast with light. I typically like more free-flowing lines and manga-esque style and shading, which you won’t find here. That said, the story was more than enough to carry me through all 500(!) pages of this first volume despite my personal art style hangup.

A fast paced read with some nail biting moments. You get all of the sound effects of shoes squeaking on the floor (Kweek! Skrik!) as well as the sound effects of the ping pong ball hitting the table and paddle (the pak, pok.) You also get to "hear" the roar of the crowds -- Waah! Yaah!

A good graphic novel which could be improved with color and illustrations more like 'Speed Racer' or some other manga comics. The cover could do well with more color and having less pictures in my opinion. It was just too busy for my taste.

I really did enjoy the storyline; and wow, I'm left hanging until volume two!

Four stars for me (I really like it.)

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

A heavily-illustrated sports story about the lengths an athlete will take to become a master. Interesting characters and masterful illustrations work together to create an engaging and compelling story.

Fun read, as a fan of Ping Pong I was already excited going into this. Needless to say it held up enough to keep me reading as the series keeps going.

ARC COpy...not what I was expecting in a school drama (besides longer length then I am used to) especially in terms of the hyper yet surreal realism art styles! Well Ping Pong is serious stuff in this manga's universe sooo if you extreme-competitive table tennis...jump right in!

Ping Pong is a story about competitive high school ping pong and, at its heart, about a friendship.

It's been a few years since I've read this manga in full, but the impression it left on me was huge. Taiyo Matsumoto's art style is singular, unmistakable, his dialogue and characters and the way he builds a narrative masterful. From what I've read this translation is good. I can't wait to buy and reread it in full when it's released (I don't really want to reread it with those watermarks on every page, and I want to experience it again with the physical copy in my hands).

Very sparsely drawn, this book details the lengths that a student goes to in order to become a master at his sport.