Bruce Von Stiers

The folks at Software Sculptors and Central Park Media have gotten together to present yet another anime series. This one features a boys ping pong team in Japan. The boys are lewd, crude and rude. I just got a chance to watch a video of an upcoming release called Make Way For The Ping Pong Club.

The press information says that the film is “great for fans of Beavis & Butt-Head.” I would have to say that the boys in the Ping Pong Club make those MTV goofs look like choir boys. From innuendo to outright vulgarities, the ping pongers are sure to amuse the guys and tick off the women who watch this film.

This had apparently been a television show of some sort over in Japan. I say this because the film was broken down into 8 episodes.

Episode 1 is called Six School Boys. Kyoko wants all the boys to practice. They would rather hang out and think about girls. They are ordered to start some intense physical fitness routines to get ready for tournament play. But a couple of them would rather look at girl’s underpants. And they get the chance to do that quite a bit. This episode basically introduces the various characters.

In the second episode, we meet a fairly nasty teacher who is in charge of the girl’s ping pong team. The title of this episode is The Wicked Teacher’s Evil Plot. Tachihawa is the girl’s coach and he finds a way to get the boy’s kicked out of their training area. The boys end up getting a storage closet for a training room.

With Episode 3, The Half Baked Men, the boys are coerced into doing some cleanup around the schoolyard. They find a condom and a couple of them have some daydream fantasies about sex. That is kind of what this whole show is about anyway. The boys want sex and are too stupid or juvenile to be able to obtain it. Takeda gets to practice with the girl’s team. Then the rest of the guys have to practice with the girls as well.

Episode 4 is Revenge of the Worms. The boys find out that Tachihawa has the hots for another teacher. They fix it so that one of the boys gets video of her doing something hot and nasty. That way they can blackmail Tachihawa.

Later episodes have the boys under the guidance of a girl that one of them used to have at thing for. In one episode, Maeno alienates a girl who really likes him. Another episode has the boys scrambling to buy new ping pong balls to practice with. The last episode, Hot Summer Nights has the boys frolicking around the swimming pool with the girl’s swim team.

This show has a ton of bad jokes that probably in Japanese would have been a lot better. In the English Language version, they kind of fall flat. There is a ton of bare female behinds and more than once we see a penis exposed. This is definitely not a show that your middle school aged children should watch. As a matter of fact, it has a Recommended 16 and Up rating.

I never did watch Beevis & Butthead. They reminded me too much of a few guys I went to high school with. Therefore, I really don’t know if the gutter humor, profanity and nudity are something that the two MTV slackers could be compared to. But it’s safe to say that there is no socially redeeming qualities to Make Way For The Ping Pong Club.

The English Language cast included Jimmy Zoppi, Buddy Woodward, Mark Percy and Hans Brikfeice. There was also Gil Goujons, Jack Bean, Cookie D’ Goodie, Cooper McQueen, Summer Pepper and Agent Zero. Tar Jayne and Mablissa Cummings also added their vocal talents to the film.

The Japanese Director was Hat Masami. It was produced by Tesuo Gensho, Tsunemasa Hatano and Norio Yamakawa. The production company was Tokyo Broadcasting System and Kitty Film.

The English Language version was produced by John O’Donnell and Stephanie Shalofsky. The Dubbing Supervisor was Tom Wayland and the ADR Director was Agent Zero. The gang did their recording at Sonomat Studios in New York.

Make Way For The Ping Pong Club will also be released on DVD.

If you want to watch a vulgar and juvenile anime show about ping pong players, the Make Way For The Ping Pong Club might have the right backspin for you. But if you want something mature and subtle, then skip this one.

For release dates and purchasing information, visit the Central Park Media web site. It can be found at www.centralparkmedia.com.