Finales: Ping Pong, Wixoss, Nanana

It's an insult to other sports shows when I say Ping Pong is more than a sports show. But look at the final match. Sure we get some great action. We see Peco scoring a couple points and then Smile scoring one, but there are gaps in between these points while we watch the people …

Ping Pong 10, Wixoss 11, Nanana 10

I can't remember when I looked forward to an episode as much as Ping Pong 10. Happily, the episode did not disappoint. But it surprised me a little. The Peco/Kazama match could have wound up the other way and it would have made sense, maybe more sense than a guy with a bum let taking …

Ping Pong 9, Wixoss 10, Sidonia 9

Ping Pong 9 is a little disappointing in one respect, but only one. For all of the characters it's following, all the different paths, like that long-haired guy who's trying to find himself or that whiny girlfriend Sakuma's found himself, it looks like this show is going to settle down and be a sports anime …

M3 6, Wixoss 9, Ping Pong and Nanana 8

Let's see ... in M3: Sono Kuroki Hagane 6, Emiru gets turned into that dark crystal stuff, and that night a corpse, not an admonition, comes out to do the week's mayhem. Emiru isn't all dead because Minashi and Heito can hear her voice, well, when the corpse shows up, they all can, but then …

Wixoss 8, Ping Pong 7, M3 4-5

Selector Infected WIXOSS 8 throws a lovely little twist in at the end (spoilers). The show has done a terrific job at laying out just enough mystery to keep us interested, and deepening it when it's the proper time. Maybe I should have figured out that Eternal Girls become Lrigs for the next girl--I wondered …

Ping Pong and Nanana 6, Mahouka 7

Ping Pong 6 has all the characters who were in freefall landing, somewhat hard, and dusting themselve off. Oh, and it's a Christmas episode, too. I absolutely loved the Christmas scene. It's not the first one I can think of where you get shots of characters doing their thing while a pop song plays, but …

Ping Pong and Nanana 5, Nisekoi 18, Mahouka 6

Ping Pong 5 lowers the intensity a little, except for the dispatching of Sakuma, the guy who dispatched Peco in the tournament. The show seems to enjoy presenting players who are really good only to show how frail they are against people who are better than they are. Except for Kazama, who goes on to …

Ping Pong and Nanana 4, Mahouka 4-5, Wixoss 5

One of the things I like about Ping Pong is that I have no idea where the story is going. True, we know who the strong players are, the people who Tsukimoto will probably meet in the future, but you get the idea that maybe he won't. There are other things going on for all …

The noitaminA shows (3) and Kanojo Flag 4 … Yes, I’m falling behind.

Let's start with the noitaminA shows ... Ping Pong 3 ... For Smile, two steps forward, one step back, I suppose. We're mostly at the regional tournament, all the players we've met so far, and they're all trash-talking and analyzing each other to death. Tsukimoto is there too, acting as nonchalant and diffident as ever, …

Ping Pong, Soredemo Sekai, Brynhildr 2, Nisekoi 15

Ping Pong 2 is all about getting Smile to care about something, especially ping pong. Everyone who watches him play sees the level of talent he has. Wenge keeps wondering where the hell he is, not knowing he's at another school. A great player named Kazama comes in to scout him after seeing him play …