The Japanese are a crazy bunch. Beyond your wildest imaginations. Some examples are downright scary, but one particular facet of their crazy nature can be found Central Park Media's release of "The Ping Pong Club Goes Too Far".

Comedy may truly be the best direct pipeline to one's creative and perhaps insanity wielding portion of the mind, and with the Ping Pong Club's newest compilation of eight episodes entitled "Goes Too Far" the truth just couldn't be anymore apparent. The basic premise of the story revolves around the downright whacked happenings of a certain high school's Ping Pong club. Composed of a rather unique cast, what can happen does, mostly on impulse. The club's primary 'stars' are the duo of Maeno and Izawa, two lecherous Ataru Moroboshi-esque (think Urusei Yatsura) individuals who pretty much go about in letting it all out. I'll give examples later, stick around. Another member of the group is actually American (typically portrayed in anime with blonde hair and a muscular stature), but with a rather bad body odor problem and an ugly looking outtie for a belly button. There's also the shrimp of the group who tends to follow in the footsteps of Maeno and Izawa. The last three aren't nearly as interesting, as in comparison to the rest they're truthfully 'normal' (I use that term loosely here) but we can just refer to them as the average joe, the pretty boy, and the slight tomboy. There you have it. Other characters pop in here and there, such as their homeroom teacher, principal, and club advisor but this group of misfits remain as the cracked head of 'operations' if you will.

As a series, I'm sure there are others like it in this vast anime world, but that's no excuse to pass this up. We all enjoy a good laugh, don't we? What I will say is that while it's not noted as a influence (due to the actual age of this anime) but South Park could very much looked at to be the American equivalent of PPC, and vice versa. Sometime's sick, sometimes scary, but almost always funny and imaginative (take that how you will here). Now, let's get to the core of this rotten apple, shall we? I'm referring to the voices. With a series as off the 'entire room' (forget the wall, ha) you've got to have the performances to back up the punchlines, and luckily they do. The Japanese voice cast does a great job of providing distinct voices fitting each character's personality, but believe or not the Englished dub is just as great (better in my opinion). I was really surprised because when I decided to watch the dvd a second time in English, I found that it was even funnier regardless of it being the same content. Obviously I attribute this to the performances of the cast. It takes talent to act out a scene with a girl endowed with a rather large chest fitting into a child's size t-shirt. God bless. On the other side of the audio spectrum, the music is the standard fare, except for the opening and closing themes (the opening in particular is rather catchy). Otherwise the rest is nothing to write home for, but certainly nothing to be put down for either.

Now I love comedic anime as much as the next fan, and I've seen my fair share (Excel Saga for example) but it didn't prepare me for the likes of the Ping Pong Club at all. I expected most of it to be Japanese social humour (or rather humor best applied to their culture) but that wasn't always the case. For example, while a panda car would be looked at as Japanese specific humor (you don't see the bear itself much here in the States, now do you) the American member of the club's choice of reaction to being demeaned is something I didn't see coming at all. When accidentally confronted with proclamations of his bad odor and otherwise, he just loses it and causes physical harm to those that had put him down for it in the first place. Stringing them up to the walls of the school in the nude, having a field day on their face and body with permanent markers, and so on. What really had me cracking is the portion of the show where they sit down to talk with him (near the end). I thought to myself that all would end well, a happy sappy ending. No way. Sure, they ironed things out, but then he beat up the shrimp of the group for agreeing with the ones who put him down in the first place (after the conversation where he said he'd let out all his anger). Man this is funny stuff. Care for more? How about a gargantuan statue of golden plated crap? A gal who writes with a paintbrush squeezed in between her breasts? A teacher with an abnormally large head and set of nipples? There's so much craziness going on that I just have to watch it all several times to take it all in, catching something I might have missed beforehand, or just laughing at the same stuff over and over again. Somehow comedic anime has the power to do that to me, and the Ping Pong Club Goes Too Far practically causes stitches in my stomach from the laughter.

Well now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's make our way to the animation of this series. As is the case with most comedic anime, the animation fits the series and happenings found there within well, and that's about it. No eye popping visuals or otherwise, but that's not exactly what should be looked for with this type of series. Sure it would have been a nice bonus, but it's not needed if the show is funny enough (in which case this is).

Extras are sparse as well, with the usual art gallery, title free opening and closing credits, and various other trailers to be found on the dvd. I'd say the best 'extra' is the English dub, but that's not technically an extra now is it (still very, very much appreciated and enjoyed). Putting the disc into your DVD rom will give you the same deal as well, scripts and cast and production credits.

After I dry the tears out of my eyes, I found myself just going back and watching the entire thing over again. And again. And again. If you want to be shocked, surprised, and just flat out want to laugh, check this out. Especially for the English dub. Hell, you can count on me to drive you there in my panda car.

For more information, please visit Central Park Media.