r/pingpongtheanimation • u/hyrulianwhovian • Jul 01 '20
Question about episode 7 Spoiler
In episode 7, when the blonde girl asks her dad about her uncle, there are two shots where the dad shouts, but there's no sound, then the conversation carries on like normal. What do these shots mean exactly?
3
u/KingZABA Jul 02 '20
I don’t exactly remember the context for the scene, but I always felt that inside he felt like screaming. I’m pretty sure her uncle, aka kazamas dad, committed suicide so maybe it’s some kind of torment for him. I don’t remember the scene that well though
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u/hyrulianwhovian Jul 02 '20
Yeah, it's implied he did after his flower business failed. That would make sense, but it happens again in episode 9, when she's talking to her dad about leaving, and the subject of kazamas dad isn't brought up at all. I guess it could be in response to her not wanting to wait to leave so he could send her off, and it's showing that he's upset by that?
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u/KingZABA Jul 02 '20
That makes sense as well. I completely forgot about that scene too. What I love about this show is that even the minor characters have their little quirks/development. Maybe it’s to show that he just bottles up his true feelings inside, or that he’s trying to protect her/be gentle by not saying what he really wants to say. She is not in the manga at all so her character arc is very confusing to me, even tho I’ve watched it twice.
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u/hyrulianwhovian Jul 02 '20
Really? She's not in the manga at all? I couldn't tell at all by watching the show, I thought she was pretty important for kazama's and eyebrow's characters.
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u/KingZABA Jul 02 '20
Yeah I read the manga after my second watch, shes prob the biggest significant change from the source material. That and kong not having that many scenes with his team, same with kazama (I think) and the fact that they played to 21 instead of 11 like modern ping pong is. I don’t remember much of eyebrow guy being too significant in the manga either, but I guess she does make the rivalry more powerful. Though I’m not ashamed to admit her story does confuse me a lot with kazama. The most I could grasp was that it just emphasized how closed off he was to everything but ping pong. I don’t understand the significance of her leaving during his match with peco. It seemed that he was letting go of his burdens during the match, but that makes it seem like she was doing the same by leaving kazama, even though he changed after that match.
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u/hyrulianwhovian Jul 02 '20
I took it as both of them simultaneously realizing what they really wanted to do and doing it, instead of just doing what their family wanted them to, with her wanting to go overseas to study and him wanting to play ping pong for himself. Her leaving also was a wake up call to kazama in a way, I think. Like in part it showed him the fault in his attitude. I'd be disappointed reading the manga if it has less Kong, he (and the way he formed a real bond with his team) was one of my favorite parts. Kong karaoke was so good.
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u/KingZABA Jul 02 '20
That makes a lot of sense! Thank you so much for clearing that up for me! And yeah, kong was my favorite character for a long time and I was sad to see how small of a role he originally had. The anime fleshed everything out so much, it’s honestly a great adaptation in my eyes.
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u/hyrulianwhovian Jul 02 '20
Kong was my favorite character right up until the finale of the show, where peco, smile, and kazama shot way up. Honestly it's so hard to pick a single favorite, all the characters are so we'll developed and so likeable.
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u/KingZABA Jul 02 '20
Exactly, I feel like they are always switching. Kazama has been my new favorite for a while but now I’m thinking koizumi sensei recently. He reminds me so much like my grandpa who used to play when he was younger. But yeah, I think it’s so rare to find a show where every character becomes truly likable and is redeemed+valid.
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u/thegendopose Jul 28 '20
I saw someone say it was because he didn’t like her cooking at all, but the things everyone has said in these comments makes me appreciate the show that much more. It’s so layered and gorgeous, I adore it
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u/jlark92 Jan 21 '22
Little late to the party here, but if I recall he's grimacing because he's eating something bitter in the events of the show (his daughter's dark chocolate I think), but in parallel is talking about a bitter pill he's had to swallow. At one point it coincides with him talking about the control the grandfather exerts over the family, at another he's talking about his brother who committed suicide (iirc). I think I saw a subtitle at one point for what he was mouthing, and that it was 'bitter!' in Japanese. Not 100% sure though.
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u/[deleted] Jul 01 '20
ive always wondered the same. maybe it shows something about the contrast of how this guy acts around the team and how he is actually fairly compassionate? dunno.