#peco

Today's KAITO module of the day is:

I have a confession to make. I've read the Ping Pong manga more times than I can remember. This is a slight ramble about what it's about beyond table tennis.

The most notable fact about Ping Pong as a story revolving around sports is that the usual themes and values of self-sacrifice and complete devotion to a sport (or specifically winning at it) are not espoused as a guideline for everyone to follow.

Of the two main characters, Smile and Peco, it's only the latter who can have nothing in his head except wanting to win, while the former is shown to care about the opponent's weaknesses or wants. While Smile goes through a period of closing himself off from his opponents and simply playing to win, the series does not let him end on this note, instead recontextualizing this as a necessity for him to truly give it his best and realize the limits of his talent and effort, his true limits as a player, beyond which he is allowed to enjoy the sport to the extent he wants- teaching it to kids at the local club, content with where he is.

Peco stands in contrast to this in his desire for nothing except victory, and once he learns to not coast along on his talents for the sport and instead back it up with genuine devotion and effort, he's unbeatable, and continues to push his limits in the way he is uniquely able to.

The critical thing here is that Peco is not held as a standard for people to strive to- other than in his genuine love for the game- but rather, that people can indeed care for things outside of the game, and endless devotion to it is not something everyone is cut out for, and that's okay. This is illustrated in the match between Peco and Kazama, with the line referencing how even though Peco is pulling away and ahead of him, there's no fear, there is an acceptance in realizing one's limits and still playing once they are reached, no longer having to be anxious about one's standing and place in the game or field.

The thesis is that the true way to get rid of one's anxiety and fear about their proficiency and or devotion to something is not to detach from the end result and your own feelings using some unfeeling veneer of irony or the mask of a robot, but to truly believe in your love for it and give it your all at it, even if your talent and effort combined can't carry you to the top, you will have flown at your limit, and that in itself is worth all the things that loving something brings. Smile can't truly be satisfied with himself until he truly gives it his all, and when he gives it his all and loses, this is nothing to be disheartened by- his fear of devoting himself to something is gone, having fully explored the limits of his machine, and that knowledge in itself is what allows us to be complete as people, and content with ourselves. Contentment cannot come from a simple proclamation of "I am fine with where I am", we need to be first feel out the limits of where our love and effort can take us so as to not be left in that space where we reach out our hands and don't know where the limits are- only by reaching that wall first can we accept it, without which we are left in the abyss of regret or the uncertainty from imagining where it may be.

Myria: I must become unto a Fury…

Farewell my children.