One Sentence Impression: Saki but with ping pong, middle schoolers, and no estranged sisters in sight.
Summary/Review: The episode opens with an unknown school, Hayabusa Academy, beating the national champion school, Oudou Academy, during the group stage of the National Junior High Ping Pong Tournament. This causes an uproar as well as other schools declaring that Oudou Academy’s 9 year reign is over and that it’s an opportunity to seize the throne.
After the OP plays, we jump to Suzumegahara Municipal Junior High where we get to see Kamiya Agari enjoying her position as the ping pong club’s best player. She tries to convince herself that she’ll lead the school to the nationals next year, but she does acknowledge that they’ve only reached the city quarterfinals thus far.
Everything changes when Tsumujikaze Koyori transfers in. She’s a timid girl who is prone to falling asleep in class and getting stuck in high places, but she becomes confident whenever she grasps her ping pong paddle. Apparently she was a prefectural semifinalist while she was attending her previous school.
The rest of the episode slowly showcases how strong Koyori is at ping pong as slightly haughty Agari begins to feel like her position as ace is threatened. I’m guessing the two girls will have a falling out but will eventually patch things up and become lovers friends. Ping pong is tanoshii, after all!
I’m kind of expecting some of the girls to demonstrate supernatural ping pong powers that tends to pop up during sports anime shows, but we’ll see. Agari seems to be wracked with grief from what we see in the episode preview, so drama probably happens next week. See you next time!
The Lily Garden 