Are you tired of long series over several dozen volumes? Ping Kong, complete series in two volumes released together is then made for you especially if you are a fan of sports and gorillas …
The two make the pair
A casual manga reader can sometimes be put off by the length of many series spread over several dozen volumes. Mangetsu takes the opposite of this habit by proposing a complete series in two volumes: Ping Kong. This art of surprise is also extended by the pitch. Published in the magazine Weekly Shônen Sunday Ping Kong follows the adventures of two twins Kotomi and Takumi passionate about table tennis. However, Takumi fails to reach her sister's level. Desperate, she becomes a gorilla to take advantage of the strength and flexibility of the animal. The least we can say is that the mangaka Comic Jackson, nickname of Masahiro Nozawa offers a particularly original subject, but also risky. How can such a proposal be made credible and exciting? Despite this strange beginning, sports manga readers will not be so disoriented. We find certain codes: an atypical coach, the threat of closing the club, the favorite in crisis, progression by respecting the rules, alternating between life at college and training … However, sport is only a pretext for sometimes crazy adventures like a trip to hell.
A story of sisters
Behind the sports field, Ping Kong is first and foremost a story about sisterhood. Everything starts from a conflict between the sisters. Kotomi multiplies the sports victories and his twin can not even play properly while she has been playing for a long time. Kotomi is ashamed of her sister's failure and by walking away, she breaks the special bond between the twins. This situation also happens in adolescence and this period is a tense time for twins. Ping Kong then becomes a parable of the passage to adulthood in a twin relationship. Like every teenager, twins and twins are looking for each other and want to assert their individual identity, but this quest also involves separation from the brother or sister. This transformation into a gorilla is also a way to affirm one's difference without going through words, because Takumi can no longer speak. The twins have long done everything together, but Kotomi feels very badly about the fact that his sister is different, weaker. She feels responsible for her sister's transformation. Ping Kong becomes a praise of difference, as everyone rejects Takumi or willfully ignores him. A teacher finds a solution to show that it is necessary to go beyond his preconceptions. This difference is also reflected in the drawing between Kotomi's childish curved shapes and Takumi's precision of animal musculature.
Games, set and match
However, rather than focusing Ping Kong on the conflict, the screenwriter chose to show the formation of an unlikely duo. Following Takumi's transformation, Kotomi withdrew from competition. She comes back and it's not easy. He must first get this unprecedented duo accepted by the sports authorities. The reader follows the different matches with passion, but we also laugh during the exchanges. The power of the gorilla is even more disproportionate with a small ping pong ball hitting a table. Ping Kong is also a comedy and it shows in the drawings. The competitions pit realistic beings against each other, but the blows are traits worthy of the flight of a supersonic aircraft. Conversely, the comic parts resemble cartoons by abstract figuration. Through King Pong, Mangetsu offers us a story as funny as it is moving. Each chapter forms a new theme. In the first volume, we are moved by the difficulties of Takumi's new life and Kotomi's guilt. In the second volume, the duo confronts mutant women a masked man a yakuza. This results in totally absurd sketches and dialogues. You can also find chronicles onThe Fire Mandala, a complete story in one volume and the masterpieces of Junji Ito also at Mangetsu.
