As children, the introverted Smile was being bullied by a gang of kids until the brash Peco comes by and chases all of them them away. Peco then takes Smile under his wings and teaches him how to play the game of ping pong. From there a life long best friend relationship comes into existence between these two polar opposite kids. Fast forward a decade later, Smile and Peco are now about to compete in a high stakes regional ping pong tournament. While Peco has always wanted to be the best ping pong player in the world, he has never had the drive to fully devote himself to the game. Rather than finding him practicing in the high school gym you would more often than not find Peco hustling other kids out of money at the local ping pong parlor. This is in contrast with Smile, who has the god given talents to actually become the world's best ping pong player, but is to humble to destroy his opponents. More often than not he allows his opponents to win points and even entire games out of sympathy for them. Now these two best friends try to deal with their own inner turmoils, as they move further and further into the regional ping pong tournament. Peco has to overcome a knee injury while trying to rediscover the fun aspects of the game of Ping Pong. Meanwhile, Smile now seems to have gained the killer instinct by going through a rigorous training regiment instilled by his high school coach. As the tournament progresses it becomes more likely that these two best friends will face off against each in the final match.

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  Kubozuka Yosuke (Peco (Yutaka Hoshino))

  Main Role

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  . Arata (Smile (Makoto Tsukimoto))

  Main Role

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  Ohkura Koji ( Demon (Manabu Sakuma))

  Supporting Role

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  Takenaka Naoto (Butterfly Joe)

  Supporting Role

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  Natsuki Mari (Obaba)

  Supporting Role

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  Ishino Mako (Unknown)

  Unknown Role

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• Jun 7, 2012 1 of 1 episodes seen

  devitto
  3 of 3 people found this review helpful
  Other reviews by this user
  • Overall  8
  • Story  7
  • Acting/Cast  9
  • Music  8
  • Rewatch Value  6

  As the title suggests, most of this movie they're just playing ping-pong / table tennis, but it's the bits in between that made me watch and like this movie.
  It is all about friendship and passing obstacles to fulfill one's dreams.
  I think the acting was really good and I can't say much about the table tennis parts, but it looked quite well-done, too. The music was there, but not really that important.
  Not only the main, but also the supporting characters were really likeable and well played.
  You could call this a slow movie, but it's good nonetheless and full of emotions. :)
  
  (By the way: Watch it and see what difference a hair cut can make to a person. It's amazing.)

  report I found this review Helpful Not Helpful
• Mar 11, 2012 1 of 1 episodes seen

  Hawkins
  3 of 4 people found this review helpful
  Other reviews by this user
  • Overall  9
  • Story  10
  • Acting/Cast  10
  • Music  7
  • Rewatch Value  8

  This is actually my favorite movie...period. It's not just a story about ping pong, although the matches are fun to watch. It's a movie about friendship and balance in relationships.
  
  There's a lot of funny nuance to it, even though it seems like a serious drama.
  
  The acting is great, without a doubt. You need to give it a watch at least once.

  report I found this review Helpful Not Helpful

• 
  Shaolin Soccer

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  reportRecommended by Skye-N-Rain
• 
  Train Man: Densha Otoko

  Both of these movies have fresh, funny and youthful writing and characters that give you a sneak peek into a very specific niche of nerd-dom. :) Both movies are quirky and fun but have positive, warm messages overall.

  reportRecommended by omnichelle