8.023 minSeason 1 • Episode 11
LatestThe final match is on.
Makoto 'Smile' Tsukimoto and his friend Yutaka 'Peco' Hoshino have been playing table tennis together since they were kids, but as they enter high school, they find that the game, and how they see it, has changed. Peco, brimming with confidence and energy, wants to be the best in the world, but the reserved Smile has little fighting spirit and doesn't want to sacrifice others' happiness just to win, despite his innate talent. As the two grow, and experience the ups and downs of the sport – and life – they try to figure out exactly who they really are and what drives them to play.
Direction
Masaaki Yuasa's kinetic, messy, gorgeous visual chaos.
Writing
Every rival gets a full soul, not just backstory.
Editing
Matches feel like fever dreams; time stops, then explodes.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Yuasa rotoscoped real table tennis players then deliberately broke the animation to capture psychological states, not just movement.
Based on Taiyo Matsumoto's 1996 manga, it subverted the 'sports protagonist' trope decades before Haikyuu made it mainstream again.
JP
