Review of Pop Team Epic
[Pop Culture References + Meme + Anime = Pop Team Epic] [Alternative Title – Memes, References, and High Quality Shitpost: the anime] *Part 1 of Review* (For those curious about this series, read this review): STORY:Story? Who needs a story. Can’t have a story, if you never had one. It’s just random shit happening on screen because that’s how Pop Team Epic rolls. The series features a variety of humor, ranging from black comedy (i.e. gallows humor – my favorite type of humor) to surreal humor to anti-humor, and to meta-jokes and parodies.
The series features many pop culture references, such as: Earth, Wind & Fire, Pokémon, Hoshiiro Girldrop, Kimi no Na wa, Chrono Trigger, Kemono Friends, My Neighbour Totoro, Metal Gear Solid 3 time paradox, Top Gun, Initial D, Hellshake Yano, YouTube subscribe, Undertale, Donkey Kong, the Shawshank Redemption, etc.
I love how each episode has one long skit, such as sports anime (shogi/racing), science-fiction, murder-mystery, music, haunted house horror, romances, music documentary, etc, and manages to turn it into a parody. Loved every moment of it!
Especially, the entire Hellshake Yano sequence, in Episode 7; it was amazing and outstanding, considering everything was told through art sketches and the actors actually performing it on live camera. Glorious stuff!
Other original skits include: Bob Epic Team shorts with the main character’s face and body being distorted as hell, Japon Mignon shorts, live action actors and actresses, Pop Team Cooking shorts, POP TEAM 8-BIT, Pop Team Dance, etc. Every single skits was amazing, and well told and executed. I laugh at every single joke, reference, and parody, they displayed on the screen.
Each episode contains two similar-looking 12-minute segments that feature different voice actors and other small changes to the skits. I think this idea is extremely unique and makes the anime stand out more compared to other anime series.
It may be a strange, bizarre, and even crazy, but this series allows numerous animators and content creators to have their creations shown on every medium, such as internet or television. It allows creativity to flow and flourish without any restrictions. And finally, it's not afraid to do what it wants to do. It just does it, and rolls with it!
ANIMATION:
Solid animations. Some of the skits come from the original comic strips, however the majority of them are original animations. The animators make use of a variety types of animations, such as fully 3D animations, CGI, 2D animations, live-action, stop-motion, and idiosyncratic animation from the AC-bu.
For example, Kamikaze Douga is the primary animation studio that does 3D animation as well as the Hoshiiro Girldrop shorts; Space Neko Company does the 2D animations and “Pop Team Story" shorts, i.e. the shorts that reference from the original comic; AC-bu does the idiosyncratic animations for “Bob Epic Team" short; UchuPeople produces stop-motion animation for “Pop Team Dance” shorts.
The animation may be bizarre, especially the idiosyncratic animations (i.e. distorted characters, background objects, and even strange fast-paced animations), it may be realistic (i.e. live-action, or the stop motion animations), or it may be crazy, but who cares, this is Pop Team Epic, where the crazy becomes even crazier.
Excellent character models. Seeing Popuko and Pipimi being drawn in a variety of styles is interesting and dynamic.
SOUND:
Excellent voice acting. The anime incorporates many voice actors and actresses to voice both Popuko and Pipimi. The voice actors for Popuko includes: Masashi Ebara, Yūji Mitsuya, Aoi Yūki, Toshio Furukawa, Yōko Hikasa, Tesshō Genda, Nana Mizuki, Hozumi Gōda, etc. The voice actors/actresses for Pipimi includes Hōchū Ōtsuka, Noriko Hidaka, Ayana Taketatsu, Shigeru Chiba, Mamiko Noto, Banjō Ginga, etc. Then, we have french actor/actress, such as Fanny Bloc and Christine Bellier. I believe having many voice actors/actress changes thing up and makes it exciting, fun, and enjoyable.
Every voice actor/actresses fits their roles and makes everything funnier. The male voice actors make everything twice as funny, especially when they sing songs and create exaggerated sound effects.
Excellent opening song (i.e. “Pop Team Epic”) by Sumire Uesaka, so good you get to hear it twice. Also, the first episode’s opening song, titled “Twinkling Star” by Yui Ogura, Inori Minase, and Sumire Uesaka was also really good. The kick-ass opening sets the tone for the rest of the series. Excellent background music sets the mood, atmosphere, and tone for the characters and reactions to specific situations, whether it’s comedy, mystery, drama, etc. The song, “Let’s Pop Together” is an excellent parody of “Let’s Groove” by Earth, Wind & Fire.
CHARACTER:
Excellent characters that are funny and entertaining to watch. Background stories, character development, and even goals and motivations be damned; you know why you are watching this, and it’s not for “great character development or background stories”. It’s to watch two characters, Popuko and Pipimi, do crazy skits and perform hilarious jokes. I just love how Popuko and Pipimi are able to bounce jokes after jokes off each other.
ENJOYMENT:
I smiled and laughed during every single episode. It doesn’t matter what other people say, just watch for shits and giggles.
Pop Team Epic is one of greatest show I ever watched in 2018.
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Change my mind.
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*Part 2 of Review*
(For those on-the-fence about this show, please enjoy these lovely lyrics):
"Let's Pop Together" by Pop Team Epic (Episode 4)
[A parody of "Let's Groove" by Earth, Wind & Fire]
We are pop team dance dance go
For the fans and for the haters alike
Dance dance go dance dance go
For the fans and for the haters alike
You haters will become fans eventually
Let’s pop together, oh oh
Let’s all live in harmony
Let’s pop together, all night
We love our fans
Because they put food on our table
We don’t care about haters
They’re ridiculous, pathetic, not worth it at all
The new manga volume is on sale now, you can buy it online
What a waste of money!
You won’t buy it?
Are you insane?
We don’t care, piss off
Yay, the anime version is airing!
Don’t bother me, I won’t watch it
What, you’re not watching it?
Are you stupid?
How can you say this?
How long are you going to fight this hater battle?
You haters will become fans eventually
Let’s pop together, oh oh
Let’s all live in harmony
Let’s pop together, all night