Tamako Tomita is practicing a speech she'll deliver to her boyfriend while breaking up
with him about her new boyfriend, who has just proposed to her. The new guy is perfect
in every way, and she cannot be happier. But then she starts crying.. If only things were
that good outside of her imagination. The truth is, Tamako has just been dumped. She
drinks away her sorrow, only to be more miserable the next day.
While riding back home, she can barely hold herself from puking. Hisashi Hagiwara is traveling
on the same train and keeps staring at the school girls sitting in the corner of an almost
empty coach. He then gets up from his seat and sits in the seat right in front of the
girls. Tamako notices this, and, with great difficulty,
she wobbles her way to stand before Hisashi. She frowns at him and acts as if she is going
to throw up on him. Okay, it might be a little exaggeration to call it acting, and it is
more of how she's feeling, considering she is hungover and may throw up at any time.
But before she can, the train jolts and throws Hisashi on Tamako. And from his screams, we
can assume Tamako couldn't control herself from throwing up for much longer.
Tamako has been a child table tennis prodigy. Her mother, Hanako, made her undergo vigorous
training all her childhood in her table tennis club. Akihiko Ejima was a club member and
a genius who won all the games in the boys' category. Tamako thought he was her prince
charming who would save her from this torture, but he didn't even notice her.
When Tamako was a teen, her mother fell very ill. On her deathbed, she apologized for imposing
her dream on Tamako and said she could quit table tennis now and have an ordinary life
full of happiness. Tamako is happy that her mother finally understood. But her mother's
actions said otherwise, as she tightened the grip around Tamako's hand, and rather aggressively
reminded her that she'd like it if she didn't quit playing.
Her mother soon passes away, and Hanako is finally free from the game. She quit the sport
after she buried all her rewards, certificates, medals, jerseys, and many tennis balls with
her mother in her coffin. After completing her studies, she found an
ordinary job. She is 28 years old and single. Her dream of finding a prince charming remained
a dream, until one day, Akihiko joined her company as the male lead table tennis player.
Akihiko doesn't recognize her, and Tamako keeps up the facade and pretends not to know
how to play tennis. They soon start dating, and Tamako's dream of marrying a prince charming
is finally coming true. Soon another team of players is recruited
by the company, among whom is Airi Ogasawara, who soon will be the reason Tamako's dream
will remain a dream. After they are paired for mixed doubles, Akihiko
grows closer to Airi and distant from Tamako. To rekindle their relationship, Tamako throws
a surprise party for Akihiko only to find him lying on Airi. Devastated by the incident,
Tamako soon resigns, and now on the train, she's going back to her hometown.
Hisashi has traveled to the same town to get work, and soon he starts working in a construction
company. Tamako's dad, Tatsuro, is a simple man who
doesn't understand the ways of the world; because of this, he is now in huge debt. He
had signed as a guarantor for a friend who was supposed to open a BBQ restaurant, but
after the formalities were done, that friend was never seen.
He wants Tamako to contribute a little since their household budget is tight. He shares
he's going to sell her mother's club since they hardly have any students and nobody to
coach. After Tatsuro leaves for work, Tamako goes
to the 'Flower Table Tennis Club.' She peeks through the window and sees some people playing
and having fun. Her old friend Yayoi Yoshioka recognizes her and calls out to her, but Tamako
starts running for some reason, forgetting Yayoi is on her bike and can easily catch
up to her. Finally, they stop and sit together, catching
up on what they've been up to. Yayoi suggests Tamako coach the members of the club, but
Tamako is not ready to go back to the club, which she considers a dark place in her past.
She asserts she is not going to stay longer as she has an offer from an international
firm. Tamako's new job requires her to pack the
cans meticulously in a box, but her lack of dexterity doesn't allow her to do the job
properly, and she is chided by the senior, so much for her international firm. Yayoi
finds out where she works, and the two friends go out to drink, where Tamako shares why she
really came back. Tamako feels shy after going back to the club,
but her polar opposite, the three members of the club, are way too excited to meet the
prodigy. Hisashi has recently joined the club and has come for practice for the first time.
He sees Tamako there, and they start arguing in such a way that anybody who hears their
conversation would think of them as perverts. Hisashi challenges Tamako to a match. If he
wins, Tamako will have to pay his dry cleaning bill. Unbeknownst to him, he is going against
a child prodigy. No wonder he couldn't get past the first serve and stood there contemplating
what just happened. Tamako starts coaching at the club.
Frustrated by their circumstances, Hisashi and Tamako take out their frustration by playing
table tennis. Hisashi is irked by the question he was posed that day about him working so
hard to pay alimony and child support, and Tamako is furious to see Akihiko and Airi
making the headlines everywhere. She can't help herself from thinking of the betrayal.
Tamako is burning with jealousy when she sees Akihiko and Airi in an interview claiming
to be unbeatable. She remembers once when they were dating,
Akihiko had said if she won a match against him, he would do anything.
She reaches out to her friend with whom she had won the regional tournament in the junior
category. She persuades him to play with her. Tamako has a plan, but for that, she needs
to save the club by increasing its funds. She proposes they enter the National Table
Tennis Championship. Her students laugh at her because they are
miserable at playing to the extent that their record is 0 wins against 35.
Tamako has a solution for it; mixed doubles. The students now look a bit confident and
are paired up for practice. Hisashi refuses to participate, but Tamako doesn't mind as
she has invited her old partner Kasauki, but when he arrives, Tamako is not able to recognize
him. Kasauki, she knew, was indisputable, but the man in front of her was out of shape
and breath. He couldn't make it past the entrance because his knees hurt so bad.
Tamako is left with no other choice but to pair up with Hisashi. For the entire month,
they practice for the regionals. A day before the tournament they go to a restaurant to
celebrate their hard work. Finally, the day arrives.
They arrive at the venue in the brightest flower uniform. The crowd goes wild when Akihiko
and Airi arrive. Akihiko spots Tamako and comes to talk to her, but she remains unresponsive.
Airi squeals when she sees Hisashi and states she saw him fight at Korakuen Hall. His teammates
are clueless as to what she is talking about. The matches start soon. First up are Yayoi
and Yuma against Yokohama University. Motonobu is anxious, because of which, he's sitting
in the washroom. His wife, Mika, calls out to him as they're next. But the anxiety is
taking a toll on him, and even when he comes out, he goes back right in.
Tamako and Hisashi are playing against the police department. But their internal battles
are more to handle for them than the match. Tamako's mother's words echo in her ears,
and Akihiko's betrayal only adds to her frustration of not scoring even a single point.
Hisashi has his own battle going inside his head. A former boxer who found his wife with
another man after he came back home drunk one night. He just wants to see his daughter,
Shiori. She is the only reason he joined table tennis and hoped to see her in the audience,
but she didn't show up. Tamako injures her foot during the match,
and because of this, they have to forfeit the match. The team has lost the regionals
miserably. Tamako is upset because here she is, lying
with an injured foot, and there Akihiko and Airi won the championship.
Yayoi has gone back to become the star wife of a doctor, whose shadow overpowers her identity.
Motonobu and Mika focus on their tomato plantation. Motonobu is thinking of downsizing the plantation
so that they can take care of it on their own. Not having any children and losing the
match has suddenly started to make them feel old and tired.
Yuma is back to being a nerdy lonely kid. At work, Tamako visits Hisashi with a lunch
box she's prepared for him. The fellow workers tease him, so they sit somewhere they can
sit without being bothered. Tamako apologizes for forcing him to compete.
Hisashi cannot help himself from trying the bandage on her foot properly, which in a way,
acts as an ice breaker between the two, and Tamako asks him who he is, since everybody
is creeped out by him, referring to the first day they met.
He tells her he is an ex-boxer ranked number two nationally, and he makes sure to stress
the fact that he is not a pervert. He continues saying that the girls on the train were wearing
the same uniform as her daughter's school, and he thought they might know her.
He then shows her Shiori's picture. He had to retire three years ago because of an eye
injury. He tried regular jobs but couldn't stick to any one of them for long. His ex-wife
doesn't let him see Shiori because the man he found her with was her boss, who had come
to give her some advice. But he misunderstood the situation and caused trouble.
So when he heard Shiori had joined the table tennis club, he too, joined so he could play
with her someday. Tamako finds a wedding ring taped to the back
of the photograph. She asks him to get rid of it and move on; his wife is not going to
take him back, especially after what he did. He retorts that she should move on too from
Akihiko. He figured that out from the way she acted around Akihiko during the matches.
To help her, he accompanies her to meet Akihiko and tell him how she feels. But seeing Akihiko
practice so hard made her feel ashamed. She entered the tournament for a man, which is
disrespectful to the sport. She's in a restaurant with Hisashi when Akihiko
walks in, with Airi and some other friends, and trash talks Tamako, not realizing she
is sitting at an adjacent table. Feeling embarrassed, she hides her face and tries to walk out unnoticed
but accidentally bumps into a spoon tray, knocking it down.
Akihiko sees her and immediately stops talking. Hisashi takes a stand for Tamako and says
Akihiko shouldn't put someone who is trying hard down.
Once outside, Hisashi laughs at what a miserable pair he and Tamako make. But he motivates
her to never stop playing and says they'll beat the star couple next year. Tamako feels
much better and says yes. He then takes her arm and helps her walk.
Starting the next day, the team starts their training for the next year's tournaments.
While practicing, Hisashi tells them his left punch is stronger, which gives them the idea
to play left right game. This time Tamako and Hisashi seem more coordinated.
Together they first challenge a pair of kids and then a pair of cross-dressers and easily
win the match. Back at the restaurant, they are talking about
how they want a stronger team of opponents when the owners of the restaurant, Cho and
Yo, reveal that they dropped from the Chinese National A-list team, surprising everybody.
Hisashi and Tamako play against them and lose the match. The owners agree to train them
in the Chinese style, and Yo starts screaming at them just like Tamako's mom used to.
They start their rigorous training. As the countdown of days left for the tournament
begins, they greatly improve their game. And one day, they are able to win against Yo and
Cho. The construction work is coming together as
Hisashi and Tamako walk past it. She asks if he'll be there till the construction lasts,
and he says he will because he doesn't have any other job.
Tamako laughs when she thinks that Hisashi has nothing to lose, and still, he's working
so hard for the match. Hisashi takes Tamako by surprise when he says that maybe he's in
love. Tamako stares at him for long before he completes his sentence and says he's in
love with table tennis. They are soon interrupted by Hisashi's fellow
workers, who turn the water faucet on them. Hisashi and Tamako retaliate by borrowing
a water pipe and defending themselves in a playful water fight.
The next day, Yayoi and Tamako are cleaning the clubhouse when Shiori and her mom Seiko
walk in looking for Hisashi. Seiki has got Hisashi an interview with a client, and after
learning he's working hard, the mother and daughter are ready to take him back into the
family. But Tamako gets apprehensive when she hears
the interview is on the same day as the tournament. More than that, she is upset because somewhere,
she had started liking Hisashi because he brought back her lost hope.
She walks back to her home but meets Akihiko waiting for her. He apologizes for what he
had said about her in the restaurant and then tells her that he and Airi are done. He will
be going solo in the tournament and wishes to be with Tamako.
Tamako is overwhelmed and starts walking away, but Akihiko stops her and confesses that he
was thoughtless and believed some rumors about her. He knew she was Tamako Tomita from the
day they first met, but he pretended not to know since she was hiding it. With that, he
puts the scarf she had knitted for him around her and hugs her. He continues saying that
he never felt the pressure of winning with her, so he needs her.
But Tamako takes a stand for herself and breaks free from his embrace. She then gives his
scarf back and walks away angrily. That week Tamako doesn't say much and focuses
on practicing. Before the tournament, they are back at the restaurant when Akihiko barges
in there and asks Tamako for her answer. He gets irritated when Hisashi intervenes and
shouts at him. Before the issue could escalate, Tamako sends Akihiko back and tells Hisashi
that she wants to give Akihiko another chance. Hisashi thinks she's making a mistake, but
when she questions him if he's going to play or give the interview, he doesn't say anything,
Tamako is upset that Hisashi is back with his wife, so why can't she pursue her dream
of marrying and settling down? She has hated table tennis since she was young, but she
has always loved Akihiko. Hisashi replies he'll also go back to his
wife and kid, and they both will get what they want. They still don't want to accept
that they have moved on from their former partners without realizing it, and now they're
acting out of anger. Hisashi apologizes to his teammates and thanks
Tamako for teaching him to play, as now he can play with his daughter. He then wishes
her good luck and leaves. Tamako feels bad for her teammates who have
worked so hard training. She apologizes, and they understand. They ask her not to worry
about them. At least they were able to dream and play table tennis for a while.
Before Hisashi leaves, his co-worker, who teased him the most, gives him an envelope.
He smiles as the train passes by the club, and he looks at it from the window. He's traveling
back to be with his family. The team had dreamt of winning and had put
their everything down the line, but after Tamako and Hisashi left, they couldn't do
anything about it. Motonobu and Mika discuss how their dream
of competing in the nationals was 'his' dream, indicating they might have been talking about
their son. Yuma receives a letter from the university
telling him he will not graduate that year because of many absences and missing credits.
Yayoi's husband taunts her after he learns she won't be competing, and tells her that
because of her ex-delinquent reputation, he will not get the position of the chief internist.
She knows that, but she can't say anything when he rubs that in her face. She has lost
her only chance to prove she had her own identity. Hisashi goes along with what his family wants
and even puts a smile on his face. He is happy but also misses the club.
Tamako goes to a party Akihiko's friend has thrown for them to wish them luck before the
tournament. Tamako is overwhelmed by the pace Akihoko is taking their relationship forward.
He talks about them moving in together, but she isn't sure. She comes back home early
and lies on her bed for a long time, unable to sleep.
Hisashi, too, keeps turning on his bed, devoid of any sleep.
It is the day of the National tournament preliminaries. Yuma stands in front of the scribbled board
and then, as if having decided something, runs out of the club room.
Yayoi and Mika get a text from him saying he's going to the tournament.
Tamako packs all her sports stuff in a box and leaves it near the dumpster for someone
who wants it. She won't be needing them now since she won't be playing.
Hisashi is getting ready for the interview when he sees the envelope given by his co-worker
sticking out of his coat's pocket. He opens it and finds the photographs they had secretly
taken of Tamako. He knows what, or rather who, he has been missing the most.
Tamako goes back to working in the canned food factory.
She's put on cleaning duty. She gets a text from Yayoi, saying that they all have decided
to play, because they have worked very hard and have come too far to back out now.
Yayoi sprays her hair red in the washroom and comes out filled with a different energy,
an energy that makes her Yayoi. Motonobu and Mika have their own reasons to
play, and for the first time, Motonobu doesn't get a stomach ache before the match. Today
they are playing for their son, who is no more. They keep his photograph and his racquet
nearby for him to see them fulfilling his dream.
Yayoi is right when she says one cannot move on until they have closure.
Tamako has tears in her eyes when she thinks of how her students are showing true sportsmanship
and not giving up without putting up a fight, and there she is, hiding and cleaning floors.
She realizes her ankle has healed, and it reminds her of Hisashi and the time they've
spent together. She cries as she misses him the most. But to her surprise, Hisashi shows
up at the factory. She asks him what he's doing there and asks about the interview,
but he shuts her up by kissing her and then answering that he came there for her, his
partner. Tamako hugs him tight and says he's late, but he reminds her that Yayoi and Yuma
are choppers. Their game tends to run late. So they run out of the factory where Tamako's
dad is waiting with his car and the things she had dumped. He drives them to the venue.
Yayoi's husband looks at her play from the audience. They lost the match but still smiled
because they had made a massive improvement from the last time they played.
Tamako and Hisashi reach there, and their teammates welcome them enthusiastically.
They're next against the Kanagawa police department. The same team faces them.
Akihiko and Airi are back in the team together, and Tamako and Hisashi can't wait to face
them. Even though Yayoi lost, she won her husband's
respect, who met her after the match and said she'll win next year. Though he thinks his
wife's shorts are a little too short for her. After winning a series of matches against
very competitive teams, Tamako and Hisashi are up against Akihiko and Airi in the finals.
They put up a great match, but Akihiko and Airi are too good. In the break, Tamako spots
Shiori and Seiko cheering for them. She seems confused, so Hisashi tells her that Seiko
had thrown away her wedding ring long ago. She wanted him to have the job so she doesn't
feel guilty about remarrying her boss, whom he had punched. Apparently, they grew close
after Hisashi punched him. Hisashi had lied about going back to his family,
so it would have been easier for Tamako to go back to Akihiko. He never got to play with
Shiori as she quit table tennis after a week. After losing two games, Tamako and Hisashi
finally won the third game. Each team has won two rounds.
The final match is hostile, with neither of the teams ready to give up. Tamako is reminded
of her mother's words when Hisashi yells at her to attack and not retreat. She hears her
mom asking her to show courage. She finally understands what her mom meant when she pushed
her hard to shine. It wasn't for her but for the people around her who showed their faith
in her. So when she shines, they shine. But in the end, Akihiko and Airi won the match
because Akihiko got lucky. He slipped and, in a reflex, waved his racquet, which hit
the ball, and it landed on Hisashi and Tamako's side after touching the table. Except for
Airi cheering on their win, nobody cheers. Akihiko realizes he got lucky and bows in
front of his opponents out of respect. Hisashi hugs Tamako, and the entire auditorium
fills with applause and a standing ovation for them.
The restaurant's business is booming after people get to know that Tamako and Hisashi
are regular customers there. Motonobu and Mika are full of vigor and have
decided to expand their business. Yayoi and her husband entertain the regular
kitty parties together, and Yayoi shines in her own personality and not the perfect wife
personality she had to put up before. Hisashi has become the chief at the construction
company. Tamako's dad is happy that he's finally able
to pay off the debt, but he can't remember if he had mentioned a chicken restaurant or
a dumpling restaurant to Tamako. It was probably all a lie, and he just wanted her to save
her mother's club. It would remain a mystery. It all worked out in the end. The club has
got the attention they were looking for, and it is brimming with new candidates, eager
to join and be coached under the guidance of Tamako.
Yuma is the new manager of the club. Tamako accepts she has learned some important
lessons: miracles don't happen, and you get what you deserve. With a smile, she serves,
finally in love with the sport she thought she hated.