There have been a fair number of manga debuts under Shueisha’s Shonen Jump this year; however, the opposite is also true, as several Shonen Jump manga have already come to an end. Unfortunately, another series might be joining this list, Shonen Jump’s latest sports manga, Ping-Pong Peril. Written by Yoshiharu Kataoka, the series debuted at the start of summer on July 6th, bringing a wild twist to the traditional ping-pong game. It follows Tairo Mikado, a 16-year-old boy currently facing a difficult situation after his mother’s death and his father leaving him and his twin sister with a 1 billion yen debt.
Videos by ComicBook.com
With creditors constantly at the door, Tairo’s life is rough until a woman named Mutsuki enters his life, asking him to play ping-pong, a sport in which Tairo happens to be a prodigy. She introduces him to an underground tournament called Ping-Pong Peril, where anything goes. Each victory earns Tairo a million yen, and after several wins, his prize per match rises to five million yen. However, a shocking twist has emerged in his recent match when his opponent bet 986 million yen. While this seems like an exciting development, and perhaps this is going to be the first match that the protagonist might lose, Tairo is currently winning, and if he succeeds, it could conclude both his dream and the series itself. This recent development might, perhaps, be due to Shonen Jump pushing the series toward cancellation.
Shonen Jump’s Latest Sports Manga Seemingly Heads Into Its “Final Battle”
As noted by X user @WSJ_manga, Ping-Pong Peril might be heading into its final battle starting next week. This could indeed be true, considering how Tairo’s latest match is only two points away from conclusion. Tairo is currently in the lead, and the latest chapter, Chapter 13, even features him anticipating his opponent’s wild move of serving the ball across the Shibuya Crossing and running into traffic, determined to win. This setup suggests that Tairo will win this battle in the next chapter, bringing his total winnings to 994 million yen.
Perhaps this is a red herring, implying that after Tairo’s latest win, he might have just one opponent left. With the administrators of the Ping-Pong Peril game starting to emerge, Tairo’s final match could be against them, potentially revealing more about how the “anything-goes” Ping-Pong game was established. However, it does seem that Ping-Pong Peril is indeed heading toward its final narrative in the upcoming issue of Weekly Shonen Jump. Though it feels somewhat rushed, especially given the potential for each Ping-Pong battle in this series to be unique, it’s satisfying to see the story moving toward fulfilling its hero’s dream.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image via THQ Nordic -
Image courtesy of 2th Century Studios -
image courtesy of 20th Century Studios
