The official promotional video for "Table Tennis Girls: Beyond the Flash," the Japanese dubbed version of the first original anime by Huamai Animation, an up-and-coming animation studio founded in China in the summer of 2019, has been released on YouTube, along with the unveiling of the opening theme song "Astride" sung by the unit "TrySail," comprised of voice actors Shiina Natsukawa, Sora Amamiya, and Momo Asakura.
Additional cast members were also announced, including Fuka Izumi as Rong Xiao, Manaka Iwami as Chen Ningning, Noda Tetsuro as Coach Liu, and Tsuda Minami as Zhao Suqing.
Zhang Luoyi, born into a family of table tennis players, has been away from table tennis since losing an important match that would have determined his professional debut, but in order to start a new life, he goes to high school in Hangzhou, far from his hometown in northeastern China. After meeting Wang Lu, an honor student who excels in both academics and sports, Li Xintong, a bright table tennis nerd, and Ding Xiao, a free-spirited troublemaker, Luoyi picks up his racket again. The teaser PV released in 2021 became a hot topic, with over 1.8 million views on Bilibili.
The theatrical anime film, which compiles all three episodes already released in China into one film, will be released on May 16th. The film tells the story of girls who face table tennis, and features voice actors Shiina Natsukawa, Sora Amamiya, Momo Asakura, and Haruka Tomatsu.
