Synopsis

Makoto "Smile" Tsukimoto and Yutaka "Peco" Hoshino are best friends despite being complete opposites. Peco's got all the confidence in the world and dreams of becoming the best ping-pong player alive, but he's lazy—constantly skipping practice and annoying his teammates at Katase High School. Smile, on the other hand, has serious natural talent but can't bring himself to go all-out against anyone. Still, their shared love of the game has made them basically inseparable since childhood. When Peco finds out that Kong Wenge, a former member of China's national team, is visiting Japan, he drags Smile to Tsujido High School to check him out. The visit doesn't go well. Kong crushes Peco so badly in a single match that it shakes him to his core—suddenly he's questioning why he even plays. Seeing potential in Smile, their coach at Katase starts pushing him to get over his mental blocks. But Smile isn't interested unless he's actually having fun. As both boys try to figure out what ping-pong actually means to them, they enter the inter-high tournament where they'll face off against a ton of seriously talented players, all dealing with their own struggles and ambitions. The higher the stakes get, the messier things become, and these kids are about to learn that chasing glory comes with a real cost.

Content compiled by AnimeList.moe from publicly available sources.

Genres