Ping Pong Pucca is the third segment of the first episode of the first season of Pucca and the show's third episode overall. It premiered on September 18, 2006 on Jetix in the US.
Synopsis[]
Garu and Abyo aim to win the ping-pong tournament, even against Tobe's tricks, although they might need a little help from Pucca.
Plot[]
At a stadium high in the mountain range, the citizens of Sooga Village have gathered to watch the big Ping-Pong tournament. Acting as the announcer, Master Soo calls in the first-round players: Dada and Dumpling against Abyo and Garu. He wonders if any of the teams can beat last year's champion, Muji, in his record for consecutive wins and warns them that losers of the match must wear the "sundress of shame" as demonstrated by one of his unlucky maidens.
The match begins and Garu and Abyo immediately gain the lead. After one powerful hit by Garu, he and Abyo are declared winners of the match while Master Soo's maidens help Dada and Dumpling into their penalty dresses. The young martial artists face off against many of the other villagers and win against all of them, soon leaving everyone in the crowd, aside from Pucca, wearing sundresses. Abyo, eating up the support of their crowd, asks if there is anyone who can stop them and is answered in the appearance of Tobe who takes the ring along with one of his ninjas. The match starts with a powerful strike by Abyo, but Tobe deflects it after kicking aside his partner. Things soon turn into a one-on-one battle between Garu and Tobe, leaving their partners to watch from the sidelines. Abyo becomes frustrated with his lack of interaction and jumps in to play, but is quickly struck the ball and knocked unconscious, leaving Garu without a partner.
Chang tells Pucca that only she could save Garu and the village from the tragedy of Tobe's victory and offers to train her in Ping Pong. At the Turtle Training Hall, Chang puts Pucca through a regimen of paddleball exercises, strength training with a tetherball, and blindfolded Ping-Pong ball deflection until she is ready to take the stage.
Back at the ring, Abyo is being rolled away on a stretcher and Pucca hops up to take his place. Though not eager to work with her, Garu does concede that Pucca has skills and offers her a handshake to seal the deal in their partnership. Tobe, now seeing that he may have a harder time winning the match, summons in a group of his ninjas to play alongside him. Santa, as the referee, tries to disqualify him for having too many partners, but Tobe angrily scales the bench, binds and gags the jolly man, and declares they will be playing by his rules. Each of his ninjas hits a ball towards the other side and while Garu flees from the nine-ball assault, Pucca takes up his discarded paddle and easily deflects all the balls back. Tobe turns around and finds that all of his ninjas have been taken out by Pucca's skill, leaving him the only player on his side. This changes when Muji, not wanting to have his record broken by anyone but himself, joins the match with a significantly larger paddle to Tobe's approval.
The teams are evenly matched and with every bounce, the ball is rising higher into the air. Muji hits the ball so hard that it makes it all the way to the moon, but Garu (after a series of vehicle rides and ending in a rocket into space), manages to hit it back to earth, punching a hole through the table. Muji then pulls out his secret weapon: a metal ball that, while Garu is distracted by Pucca's congratulatory kiss, hits the young ninja in the face and effectively knocks him out. Pucca is furious and, using the entire table as a paddle, swats the two villains out of the rink and into the distance.
Santa falls off his seat and the newly revived Garu catches him, pulling the tape off his mouth. Santa declares Pucca and Garu the winners and the crowd cheers. Pucca tries to kiss Garu again, but he takes of running. Pucca takes out another ping pong ball and with it, strikes Garu in the back and sends him flying. He bounces off of the ropes of the ring and smacks into the big screen where Pucca's televised face gives him a kiss. The young ninja lands inside of the trophy cup and is kissed on the cheek by Pucca just as the photographer snaps a picture of them. This photo is shown framed on a wall beside several others of their matches and a glimpse of the trophy.
Characters[]
Protagonist Characters[]
Antagonist Characters[]
Supporting Characters[]
Minor Characters[]
Background Characters[]
- Ho
- Linguini
- Chef Alberto
- Doga
- Goblins (Smiley People)
- Ssoso
- Turtle Jr.
- Chef Alberto
- Jean-Pierre
- People
Trivia[]
- The phrase "Are you not entertained?" is a reference to the film Gladiator.
- Chef Alberto and Jean-Pierre can both be seen in the audience members. They both first appeared in "Noodle Around The World".
- This is the second episode in which Dada accidentally urines himself after "Funny Love Eruption".
- Some of Tobe's ninjas can be seen in the audience wearing the sundress of shame despite Tobe summons several of his group members to play against Garu and Pucca. This indicates that some of the ninjas had tried to defeat Garu and Abyo before Tobe's turn.
Errors[]
- When the crowd all cheer in the beginning of the episode, Muji isn't seen wearing his champion belt until Master Soo announces to the audience if any of the teams can beat him.
- When Abyo tosses his racket in the air, the crowd sitting on the third row are layered on top of the crowd sitting on the second row.
- After Abyo rips off his shirt and catches his racket, Uncle Dumpling and Dada both wear their regular attire instead of their ping pong uniform.
- In some shots, the seating order for the audience is very different.
- In some scenes, the audience all didn't wear the sundress of shame.
- When Abyo said, "Is there no one who could stop us?".
- When Abyo angrily jumps in to hit the ball before Garu accidentally hits him with his racket.
- During the scene when Chang tells Pucca that only she could save Garu and the village from Tobe's victory, Pierre isn't wearing the sundress of shame.
- When Tobe attacks Santa on the bench.
- When Muji jumps up and hits the ping pong ball very hard before the scene shows Garu rushes out of the tournament.
- Despite Santa is the referee, he can be seen as an audience member dressed up as Elvis Presley as well as the Mime from "Noodle Around The World".
- After Garu hits the ping pong ball from space, Bruce can be seen wearing the sundress of shame on top of his police uniform. Also, Turtle Jr can be seen wearing the sundress of shame despite he is never seen wearing it in previous shots.
Quotes[]
Santa: [counting Tobe's teammates] One, two, three, hm, hm, eight, nine, ten. You can only have one teammate, Tobe! You're disqualified!
Tobe: What?! You cannot be serious! I've played this game so long, and I never - that's never happened to me before in my life! Do you even know the rules of ping pong?
Gallery
 Click here to view the full gallery. |
Videos[]
