A stage greeting for the Japanese dubbed version of "Table Tennis Girls: Beyond the Flash," the first original anime by "Gaomai Video," an up-and-coming animation studio established in China in the summer of 2019, was held on May 17th at Shinjuku Wald 9 (Shinjuku, Tokyo), where voice actors Shiina Natsukawa, Sora Amamiya, and Momo Asakura appeared. The unit "TrySail," consisting of Natsukawa, Amamiya, and Asakura, is in charge of the opening theme song "Astride," and the three spoke about the song.
According to Natsukawa, the song expresses "the sparkling youth," while Amemiya and Asakura commented that it is "fresh!" and "straightforward." As "TrySail" marks the 10th anniversary of their debut, they felt that the freshness of the song "can we still go on?", but Amemiya said, "It's fresh, but I hope you'll enjoy the feeling that it has its feet firmly on the ground."
Finally, Natsukawa said about the film, "The visuals are incredibly beautiful, and the fresh interactions between the girls are truly wonderful. It's a work that will give you a lot of youthful feeling, so I hope you will watch it while recalling your memories of club activities and other such things."
The story is about Zhang Ruoi, who was born into a family of table tennis players but had drifted away from the sport, who decides to start a new life by attending a 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, Zhang Ruoi picks up his racket again.
The Japanese dubbed version features a cast of talented voice actors, including Natsukawa as Jiang Ruoi, Amamiya as Wang Lu, and Asakura as Li Xintong. It was released as a theatrical anime on May 16th. The Chinese audio and Japanese subtitled version will be screened from May 23rd.
