***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Pop Team Epic. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
This is not a series you can summarize.
Pop Team Epic showcases the misadventures of Popuko and Pipimi.
Popuko is a short girl with an even shorter temper. The smallest annoyance is enough to set her into a violent rage.
Pipimi doesn’t have as much anger as her friend. Don’t think that makes her any less dangerous. She is what you would consider silent but deadly. Although silent is nowhere near the right word to describe her.
Together these two do stuff. What kind of stuff? Don’t ask me. I’m still trying to make sense of it all.
Series Positives
I’m going to try to review this thing.
Even before watching Pop Team Epic, I knew this would be a difficult show to write about. This was one of those series I had seen in every bookstore I went to when manga shopping. Without fail, these books would grab my attention. How could they not?
Every time I looked at the cover, there were two stubby…girls, question mark, flipping me the bird. Learning there was going to be an anime version of this piqued my interest.
I made a few assumptions when it came to Pop Team Epic. That was my first mistake. Word of warning, if you decide to give this show a go and don’t know anything about the series, don’t assume anything.
While I haven't checked out the source material, I was aware of the main idea behind Pop Team Epic. Because of that, I was sure this show was going to be a short form anime.
It turns out I was correct, sort of. Each, I guess we have to use the word, storyline was fifteen minutes in runtime. Except I still ended up being wrong in the long run. Pop Team Epic was and wasn’t a standard-length anime. How was that the case?
Each thirty-minute block was the same episode played back to back, kind of. Again I'm just using a term out of ease, the plot of each half was almost identical with a few slight changes here and there.
The most prominent difference within a single episode was the actors for Popuko and Pipimi. The voice cast for Pop Team Epic was huge despite the show dedicating most of its talent to only two characters. The voice credits for Popuko and Pipimi are as follows.
Popuko
Episode 1
Episode 2
A. Aoi Yuki
Episode 3
Bob Epic Team
| photo |
Episode 4
A. Yoko Hikasa
Episode 5
Episode 6
A. Yuko Sanpei
B. Hiro Shimono
Japon Mignon
| photo |
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
blank blank | photo |
Episode 10
A. Sora Tokui
Episode 11
A. Nana Mizuki
B. Hozumi Goda
Episode 12
A. Mami Koyama
B. Shou Hayami
blank
blank
|
Pipimi
Episode 1
Episode 2
Episode 3
Bob Epic Team
| photo |
Episode 4
A. Satomi Sato
B. Akira Kamiya
Episode 5
Episode 6
A. Kaori Nazuka
B. Yuuki Kaji
Japon Mignon
| photo |
Episode 7
A. Akiko Yajima
Episode 8
Episode 9
A. Asami Imai
blank blank | photo |
Episode 10
Episode 11
A. Mamiko Noto
B. Banjou Ginga
Episode 12
B. Jouji Nakata
blank
blank
|
As I said, I knew Pop Team Epic was going to be hard to review. But perhaps you are beginning to see how absurd this turned out to be. 
If you come across someone who liked this show, I suspect your first question to them will be, “Why?” Please understand, if the most detailed response they give is, “Because it was funny,” take it. To push someone to give anything more than that would be like asking an English major ten years removed from high school to answer a series of algebra questions.
Yeah, it can be done, but it might take a minute. And where do I fall in this comparison? I would be the one taking the surprise math quiz.
I enjoyed Pop Team Epic, but that’s not a shock to me. I love surreal, or if you would prefer, random ass humor. Not only did this series employ these types of jokes, but it brought them to another level.
If you start watching episode one and think you accidentally clicked on another show, you didn’t. The introduction to Pop Team Epic was of another anime, opening theme included. Also, there were previews to this other series at the end of every half episode.
And things only got weirder from there.
I’m not even going to attempt to explain why this humor works for me. This was the kind of comedy you either find hilarious or you think it’s the most annoying thing in the world. There is no in-between. But for a comedic style that is easier to wrap your head around, one of the calling cards for this show were reference jokes, and the first episode drove this point home.
Shows that rely on pop culture are nothing new. The thing this series did was diversify and update the usable references. And in episode one, there were a lot. Of the few that I managed to catch, I saw Pokemon, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kimino Na wa.
But what surprised me the most were the number of allusions to Western media. For example, Skyrim and what had to be Guardians of the Galaxy.
For how out there Pop Team Epic got, this series never felt cheap. Granted you could mention a few segments that, on the surface, make me sound insane. But I would argue there was a lot of thought and talent that went into this show.
For starters, this series was well animated, and it excelled in several techniques. Pop Team Epic had examples of 2-D, 3-D, and stop motion. Even the part of the show I didn’t care for that much, the Bob Epic Team segments, looked pretty good when the animators decided to give a crap.
My two favorite segments were the Japon Mignon and musical skits. Part of the reason why these instances are my favorite has to do with the animation
For the former, the 3-D the show used was great, and the character movements were fluid. Plus, I loved how this part was only in French. I thought the commitment to the bit was hilarious. Although, I don’t know if I'd be saying that had the replay half of the episode not had a translation.
For the latter, I have a soft spot for stop motion. I’m not sure how much computer assistance went into these parts, but I like to think there wasn’t much. To me, it’s funnier to imagine the animators spending a lot of time and effort on these moments. The dedication to something so…not worth it I find amusing.
There were some other stand out examples as well, but I will let you experience them for yourself.
But where I thought Pop Team Epic was exceptionally clever was in the voice cast. While there may have been a lot of actors, there weren’t many nobodies. Just looking at the previous list, seeing Satomi Sato and Yuki Kaji’s names got me excited. I know I can say a small reason I wanted to watch this show had to do with Aoi Yuki being attached to it.
Except the casting that impressed me the most was who this show got to play Popuko and Pipimi during the Japon Mignon segments. These were Fanny Bloc and Christine Bellier. This series went out of its way to find actual French-speaking actresses.
I’m not going to pretend I have an ear for French, but I have heard enough bad anime English to know when a fluent speaker is speaking. Again, this was the series’ commitment to its joke. Pop Team Epic went out of its way to add the kind of detail most other shows wouldn’t have even bothered with.
There isn’t much else to talk about concerning Pop Team Epic. If you watched the first half of the first episode and thought it was funny, then the rest of this show is for you. If you thought this was the dumbest thing you’ve seen in your life, the series doesn’t get any better afterward.
Series Negatives
I’m going to try to review this thing.
Even before watching Pop Team Epic, I knew this would be a difficult show to write about. This was one of those series I had seen in every bookstore I went to when manga shopping. Without fail, these books would grab my attention.
How could they not?
Every time I looked at the cover, there were two stubby…girls, question mark, flipping me the bird. Learning there was going to be an anime version of this piqued my interest.
I made a few assumptions when it came to Pop Team Epic. That was my first mistake. Word of warning, if you decide to give this show a go and don’t know anything about the series, don’t assume anything.
And yes, I am actually doing this.
Welcome to my experience with Pop Team Epic.
While I haven't checked out the source material, I was aware of the main idea behind Pop Team Epic. Because of that, I was sure this show was going to be a short form anime.
It turns out I was correct, sort of. Each, I guess we have to use the word, storyline was fifteen minutes in runtime. Except I still ended up being wrong in the long run. Pop Team Epic was and wasn’t a standard-length anime. How was that the case?
Each thirty-minute block was the same episode played back to back, kind of. Again I'm just using a term out of ease, the plot of each half was almost identical with a few slight changes here and there.
The most prominent difference within a single episode was the actors for Popuko and Pipimi. The voice cast for Pop Team Epic was huge despite the show dedicating most of its talent to only two characters. The voice credits for Popuko and Pipimi are as follows.
Popuko
Episode 1
A. Masashi Ebara
B. Yuuji Mitsuya
Episode 2
A. Aoi Yuki
B. Toshio Furukawa
Episode 3
A. Mikako Komatsu
B. Ryuusei Nakao
Bob Epic Team
Shunsuke Itakura
| photo |
Episode 4
A. Yoko Hikasa
B. Tesshou Genda
Episode 5
A. Tomoko Kaneda
B. Yuuichi Nakamura
Episode 6
A. Yuko Sanpei
B. Hiro Shimono
Japon Mignon
Fanny Bloc
| photo |
Episode 7
A. Satomi Korogi
B. Shoutarou Morikubo
Episode 8
A. Sumire Morohoshi
B. Masaya Onosaka
Episode 9
A. Eriko Nakamura
blank blank | photo |
Episode 10
A. Sora Tokui
B. Rikiya Koyama
Episode 11
A. Nana Mizuki
B. Hozumi Goda
Episode 12
A. Mami Koyama
B. Shou Hayami
blank
blank
|
Pipimi
Episode 1
A. Houchuu Ootsuka
B. Noriko Hidaka
Episode 2
A. Ayana Taketatsu
B. Shigeru Chiba
Episode 3
A. Sumire Uesaka
B. Norio Wakamoto
Bob Epic Team
Toru Adachi
| photo |
Episode 4
A. Satomi Sato
B. Akira Kamiya
Episode 5
A. Yuu Kobayashi
B. Tomokazu Sugita
Episode 6
A. Kaori Nazuka
B. Yuuki Kaji
Japon Mignon
Christine Bellier
| photo |
Episode 7
A. Akiko Yajima
B. Kousuke Toriumi
Episode 8
A. Azusa Imai
B. Kaito Ishikawa
Episode 9
A. Asami Imai
B. Kaito Ishikawa
blank blank | photo |
Episode 10
A. Suzuko Mimori
B. Wataru Takagi
Episode 11
A. Mamiko Noto
B. Banjou Ginga
Episode 12
A. Kotono Mitsuishi
B. Jouji Nakata
blank
blank
|
As I said, I knew Pop Team Epic was going to be hard to review. But perhaps you are beginning to see how absurd this turned out to be. And you probably also already know if this sounds like the series for you.
If you come across someone who liked this show, I suspect your first question to them will be, “Why?” Your second may then be, “No, but seriously why?” Please understand, if the most detailed response they give is, “Because it was funny,” take it. To push someone to give anything more than that would be like asking a math major ten years removed from high school to write a twenty-page analysis of their favorite author.
Yeah, it can be done, but damn they will find it annoying. And where do I fall in this comparison? I would be the one doing the writing.
I enjoyed Pop Team Epic, but that’s not a shock to me. Not only is it because I’m insane, but also I love surreal, or if you would prefer, stupid humor. Not only did this series employ these types of jokes, but it brought them to another level of ridiculousness.
If you start watching episode one and think you accidentally clicked on another show, you didn’t. The introduction to Pop Team Epic was of another anime, opening theme included. Also, there were previews to this other series at the end of every half episode.
And things only got weirder from there.
Here is a random legitimate complaint about Pop Team Epic. If you’ve been reading through the entire review and found this, then you will do fine with the show. This is not a good series to marathon. Rewatching the same episode to look for tiny differences is not fun to do twelve times in one sitting. An episode a day should be fine.
I’m not even going to attempt to explain why this humor works for me. This was the kind of comedy you either find hilarious or you think it’s the most annoying thing in the world. There is no in-between. But for a comedic style that is easier to wrap your head around, one of the calling cards for this show were reference jokes, and the first episode drove this point home.
Shows that rely on pop culture are nothing new. The thing this series did was diversify and update the usable references. And in episode one, there were a lot. Of the few that I managed to catch, I saw Pokemon, My Neighbor Totoro, and Kimi no Na wa.
But what surprised me the most were the number of allusions to Western media. For example, Skyrim and what had to be Guardians of the Galaxy.
For how out there Pop Team Epic got, this series never felt cheap. Granted you could mention a few segments that, on the surface, make me sound insane. But I would argue there was a lot of thought and talent that went into this show.
For starters, this series was well animated, and it excelled in several techniques. Pop Team Epic had examples of 2-D, 3-D, and stop motion. Even the part of the show I didn’t care for that much, the Bob Epic Team segments, looked pretty good when the animators decided to give a crap.
My two favorite segments were the Japon Mignon and musical skits. Part of the reason why these instances are my favorite has to do with the animation.
For the former, the 3-D the show used was great, and the character movements were fluid. Plus, I loved how this part was only in French. I thought the commitment to the bit was hilarious. Although, I don’t know if I'd be saying that had the replay half of the episode not had the translation.
For the latter, I have a soft spot for stop motion. I’m not sure how much computer assistance went into these parts, but I like to think there wasn’t much. To me, it’s funnier to imagine the animators spending a lot of time on these moments. The dedication to something so…not worth it I find amusing.
There were some other stand out examples as well, but unless you are the person still reading, you’re never going to get to these moments.
But where I thought Pop Team Epic was exceptionally clever was in the voice cast. While there may have been a lot of actors, there weren’t many nobodies. Just looking at the previous list, seeing Satomi Sato and Yuki Kaji’s names got me excited. I know I can say a small reason I wanted to watch this show had to do with Aoi Yuki being attached to it.
Except the casting that impressed me the most was who this show got to play Popuko and Pipimi during the Japon Mignon segments. These were Fanny Bloc and Christine Bellier. This series went out of its way to find actual French-speaking actresses.
I’m not going to pretend I have an ear for French, but I have heard enough bad anime English to know when a fluent speaker is speaking. Again, this was the series’ commitment to its joke. Pop Team Epic went out of its way to add the kind of detail most other shows wouldn’t have even bothered with.
There isn’t much else to talk about concerning Pop Team Epic. If you watched the first half of the first episode and thought it was funny, then the rest of this show is for you. If you thought this was the dumbest thing you’ve seen in your life, the series doesn’t get any better afterward.
Final Thoughts
How many of you did I lose, I wonder?
This show is not for everyone. There is a lot of talent and effort backing this series. But for better or worse, all that work is supporting a vehicle to deliver high-quality crude humor. That’s not going to sound like a fun time for some people.
For others though, if you want to turn your brain off for a moment, you will get what you want out of this. I was one of those who did.
I’m not sure how meaningful this is going to be, but I will say it anyway. I recommend Pop Team Epic.
But these are just my thoughts. What are yours? Have you seen this show? How would you advise Pop Team Epic? Leave a comment down below because I would love to hear what you have to say.
And if you liked what you read, be sure to follow me on my social media sites so that you never miss a post or update. Also, please share this review across the internet to help add to the discussion.
I’m LofZOdyssey, and I’ll see you next time.
 |
| Google+ Facebook Twitter |
No comments:
Post a Comment