Credited cast: | |||
Yôsuke Kubozuka | ... | Yutaka Hoshino / Peco | |
Arata Iura | ... | Makoto Tsukimoto / Smile (as Arata) | |
Sam Lee | ... | Kong Wenge / China | |
Shidô Nakamura | ... | Ryûichi Kazama / Dragon | |
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Kôji Ohkura | ... | Manabu Sakuma / Demon |
Naoto Takenaka | ... | Butterfly Joe | |
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Mari Natsuki | ... | Obaba |
Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
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Yoshiyoshi Arakawa | ||
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Takahiro Hirano | ||
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Mako Ishino | ||
Kôen Kondô | |||
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Erika Mabuchi | ||
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Suzuki Matsuo | ... | Policeman |
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Asumi Miwa | ||
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Ayumu Moriyama |
The film traces the growth and friendship of two very different high-school ping-pong players. "Peco" Hoshino is a brash, arrogant player, determined to turn pro. He taught his quiet, nerdy childhood friend "Smile" Tsukimoto. Smile frustrates his coach and rivals, who recognize his talent for the game since it is just a game to him. To teach him, his high-school coach learns that coaching is more than just training the students to be good ping-pong players. Ironically, as Smile begins to develop his game, Peco undergoes a severe crisis after his defeat by rival players and is unable to play well until he rediscovers the original reasons why he plays ping-pong. Written by nakataohana
I watched this movie in Japan, in the theater, twice. At $25 a shot. But it was worth every dollar. And this was without understanding much of the dialogue, because I don't speak Japanese. When the DVD was released with English subtitles, I purchased it immediately. And again, it was worth every dollar.
This movie is fantastic. On the surface, it's a movie about sports and competition. Beneath this, it's a movie about heroes and friendship. There's no clear-cut "bad guy". Every character has depth, motive and pain.
In short, the filming is great, the story is fabulous, and the actors are well-cast. Even watching it in Japanese, the acting was good enough to convey the general story without me understanding what was being said.
I love this movie. In fact, whenever I meet someone who hasn't seen it, I make them watch it.