Maid-chan no Anime: Shakunetsu no Takkyu Musume / Scorching Ping Pong Girls

Konnichiwa! Maid-chan desu!

Tak, tak, tak, takkyu… that is the sound (for Japanese) of table tennis: Takkyu.
Many sports have been the center of anime, and this one is about table tennis (and moe girls).

It all starts when Tsumujikaze Koyori transfers to Suzumegahara Middle School. (Suzume means sparrow, that’s why you will see some when the school sign is shown. The series has lots of “speaking” names. Maid-chan recommends you learn a few languages to understand those things.)

Koyori is a very shy girl. That only changes when she plays table tennis. If Koyori has a good opponent that makes her go dokidoki, then she starts beaming like the sun.

The first person Koyori meets is Kamiya Agari, the ace of the table tennis club. At first Agari is less than happy about Koyori. Agari puts great weight on being the ace of the club, and suddenly Koyori, who doesn’t care a bit about her position, is the new star.

But after the match with Koyori, Agari realizes that she finally has a rival that can make her get better. And together they might even be able to go to the all-country tournament, Agari’s dream.

Really, why are so many people obsessed with being better than other? Maid-chan does not understand, and she is vastly superior in most things. (Maid-chan would even beat Koyori in table tennis if she had the appropriate body, Maid-chan is sure!)

After overcoming her grumpy phase, tsundere Agari changes into a caring “big sister” for Koyori.

Nothing tsundere at all is in Tenka Hanabi. The sporty blond girl is always very energetic and likes to play with other people’s hair.

As her personality, she has a very fast, offensive play style. Both Hanabi’s play and attitude are carefree, and while she makes a big show of winning or losing, it seems she does not really care about it, as long as the game was fun.

Her best friend, and opposite in character and play style, is Itsumo Hokuto. Not having the endurance of other players, Hokuto is very calculating and manipulates her opponents on the table. She says she knows even the color of her opponent’s underwear just by looking at their racket.

The big sister of the whole club is Ōmune Mune senpai, nicknamed munemune for obvious reasons. (Humans really are animals sigh)
She is very caring and soft, but don’t let this fool you. In games Munemune can be a tough opponent, with the only weak point being her mass inertia.

Munemune is very close to the president of the table tennis club, Ushirode Kiruka.

Kiruka has been absent from the club because of a broken foot and everyone is surprised to see her back.
The president is a very good player, known in the school table tennis world for her backspin. In her club she is also known for having a love of batsu games. For example, when coming back, Kiruka tests the strength of everyone and the loser has to wear cat ears. Why? Because it’s cute!

With Kiruka back and Koyori in the team, there is finally a real chance for the Suzumegahara table tennis club to go to the all-country tournament! But to do this they have to train hard and win against strong opponents on lower levels first.

That is why, in the second half of the anime, they play against the strong Mozuyama High School.

Unfortunately the anime stops here. Maid-chan thinks this is quite disappointing, especially since a second season does not seem to be in planning.

MOE and conclusion

Shakunetsu no Takkyu Musume is a light comedy moe anime. As such even the sport-based conflicts are not going into serious conditions. Easy to watch and enjoy, the anime does not excel in story or character background.

The art style is solid handwork and beautiful enough, but not especially detailed. But that does not matter, because it still radiates cuteness. Maid-chan is sure you will agree that all the characters are likable, even though a bit heavy on the caricature.

If you like table tennis, light fun and especially moe, then Shakunetsu no Takkyu Musume is an 8/10 for you.
If you have no interest in moe (and Maid-chan will not judge you for that, definitely not!!), then you probably should skip this series. Except maybe the unusual sports choice, it has no “unique selling point” and would only get 6/10 because of the lack of detailed graphics and the indecisiveness if it wants to be a pure moe or a sports anime.

See you next time!