is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Minoru Furuya. It was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Magazine from 1993 to 1996, with its chapters collected in 13 tankōbon volumes. It is about the dysfunctional members of a middle school ping-pong club. The Ping Pong Club was adapted by Grouper Productions into a 26-episode anime television series. It was licensed in North America by Central Park Media. As of September 2010, The Ping Pong Club had over 25 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series. In 1996, the manga won the 20th Kodansha Manga Award for the general category. Plot The story follows the adventures of a somewhat unusual ping-pong club: the players are indeed more focused "on panties" and obscene jokes than on the game. The arrival of Iwashita, the new head of the club, makes it possible to change things, the latter somehow managing to interest his undisciplined players in ping-pong. A difficult mission as the temptations of the outside world are great for our protagonists. Characters Maeno Somewhat the 'leader' of the Ping Pong Club. He has a strange demeanor and enjoys any conversation or subject involving his glorious 'ass', of which he is very proud. Contrary to the belief that his strange and perverted attitude would repel girls, it actually attracts them (as well as his good friend Izawa). Hiromi Izawa Izawa's strange hairstyle is constantly the 'butt' of many a joke in the series. He is a kind and caring person, although quite perverted at times, and he lives his life by the laws of chivalry. He is a huge boxing fan and wears his shoulder length hair in the style of Joe Yabuki from the popular manga Ashita no Joe. He and Maeno constantly play little games in which Izawa almost always acts as the woman, be it a mother, child, or love interest. His relationship with Maeno can be debated. He is pretty much Maeno's very close friend but he has a very strange adversity to Maeno's getting a girlfriend and he even went so far as to dress up as a woman to repel Maeno's soon-to-be lover. He is also the only one in the show who has freckles. Takeda One of ping-pong club's two 'pretty boys'. Takeda has a bowl haircut with short bangs, and he is also the crush of female