Ask John: What’s the Background on Ping Pong Club?

Question:
Can you give me some background information on Ping Pong Club?

Answer:
Ike! Inachu Takkyubu (Let’s Go! Inachu Ping Pong Club) was a 26 episode TV series broadcast on Japanese television between April 6 and September 28, 1995. For its American home video release, Central Park Media counted the first and second half of each of the 26 weekly episodes as an entirely separate episode, resulting in an American 52 episode count even though each pair of “episodes” has only one opening and one ending animation sequence.

The animated series was based on a manga by Minoru Furuya that was collected into 13 volumes originally published from November 1993 until February 1997.

Minoru Furuya’s Ike! Inachu Takkyubu should not be confused with Taiyo Matsumoto’s five volume manga titled “Ping Pong,” which was adapted into a highly successful live action movie in 2002.