DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ComedyPoputepipikku
SPECIAL ComedyPoputepipikku TV Special
ONA ComedyPoputepipikku Kinen
ANIME ComedyPoputepipikku 2

REVIEWS

• 

  CryingLad

  42/100
  Pop Team Epic, the most bizarre thing I have seen.

  [This is the part where I would be all like "Spoilers ahead" but...there is nothing to spoil here xd]()

  
  
  This review is gonna be weird to write, mostly because of the sheer weird and surreal nature of the show.

  [PREMISE OF THE SHOW:]()
  Pop Team Epic is a Surreal Comedy based on the humour of the internet, it is packed to the brim with many pop culture references which require the viewer to be atleast a bit knowledgeable on things to understand the jokes. This is my main issue with the show, it isolates a LOT of viewers, even if you do have a good grasp on the Pop Culture references it can still be isolating due to the implementation of the jokes.
  I understand many but not all (I am mere mortal, keep that in mind) and yet I felt like a lot of them were...off. Of course this show has a lot of good jokes, I exhaled through my nose a bit faster more than once during the show.

  The worst offenders of making the show really bad is the "Bob Team Epic" skits. The art style was atrocious, the humour really bad, and the voices were really off putting. Out of the whole show I disliked this portion the most, I dreaded the moment I saw the OP to this.

  In my opinion the show followed more of the "Random = Funny" rule than anything else joke wise. And thats bad, the jokes in this style of "comedy" have no structure and just fall flat, its the humour 7 year olds do because they can't think of anything good. There are other shows that can feel "Random" too but they have much more structure behind the joke and follow through with it as well. Good examples of Surreal Comedy has to be Saiki and Asobi Asobase.

  

  
  

  [CHARACTERS:]()
  There are only 2 mains.
  Popuko and Pipimi.
  Popuko is the short gal, very easily aggrivated and quite deadly.
  Pipimi is the taller one, much more calmer than Popuko.
  To be honest thats all I can say about the characters, they change a lot during the show.

  Well there is also Hellshake Yano, the man who shakes hell. He is the ULTIMATE being.

  

  
  

  [ART/ANIMATION:]()
  The artstyle is really simple, T H I C C outlines and solid colours most of the time, though this can change REALLY fast from scene to scene (because of the random nature)

  The Animation gets the same treatment, most of the time its really basic stuff but can turn to more "Shounen" style with detail depending on the scene.

  

  
  

  [MUSIC:]()
  The OP is actually really catchy. The visuals look really neat as well, been re watching the OP quite a number of times due to those reasons.
  The ED is not bad but sounds much more generic. You could easily mistake it for something else.

  

  
  

  [OVERALL OPINION:]()
  In conclusion Pop Team Epic is a show that tries to implement a lot of Pop Culture references but isolates the viewer more than anything. The implementation of the jokes and feel really random and sometimes forced. The skits can be really tiring and horrible (Bob Team Epic).

  I somewhat understand the appeal of the show to some people it but its not something I would recommend.

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• 

  Groenboys

  80/100
  It is a bizarre experience that is all over the place, but I am so glad this anime exists

  I think it is fair to say that 2018 wasn't ready for this anime

  

  I have been watching seasonal anime for 4 years now, and I started right when Pop Team Epic was airing. Me being early in my anime journey, I didn't really get this anime at all, but it also never left the back of my mind. Each season enduring formulaïc shows that seem to solely exist to meet some non-existent generic quota, it easy to yearn for something different. Not even good, just different, and Pop Team Epic certainly was different. Seing clips and manga panels floating by each year, I have always been tempted to give this a proper watch, and now with a second season announced, I have finally gotten the time to give this anime a proper watch.... and I am glad I did so.

  Pop Team Epic is about... yeah, what is it about? It has two main characters, Popuku and Pipimi. Popuku is the short, agressive one while Pipimi is the long mysterious one, and everything in the show is about them. They are featured in every segment of the show and thus the only returning characters each episode. These two are fun, but even though they have defining character traits, the characters themselves act different depending on what the scene demands. Not that big of a deal since this is comedy parody, but it does make the characters feel more like joke vehicles rather then, you know, characters.

  And now let's talk about the big elephant in the room: The structure of Pop Team Epic. When I said this anime is all over the place, I meant it in every single aspect. Pop Team Epic is a satirical anime focused on parody and absurd comedy. Each 12 minutes episode is structured like a range of skits, which feature one elaborate skit (which is often a parody), and several smaller skits that range from Bob Team Epic, the stop motion songs, the cooking bits, the french bits and more. There is pretty much no overarching story and each episode feels like you are watching a compilation of funny youtube videos, and just like a funny youtube compilation this anime is very hit or miss.

  Each skit feels very random and different from eachother, but a central theme is subversion of everything. From what you would expect the punchline to be, to how long a skit would go on for to if a skit even has a punchline. The last part is probably what keeps me from fully falling in love with the anime: many skits just don't have punchlines. This makes it feel like the anime just exists most of the time, just trying to be absurd like that is funny enough.

  

  Still, when this anime hits with its comedy, it hits hard, especially in the parodying. The makers of this show have a great understanding of pop culture, anime tropes and general story tropes, and they use that knowledge to create some bold and hilarious stuff. From how the first episode starts (and then keeping that joke up each episode in the previews), to the numerous references each episode makes (even from really recent games), to how it is able to make fun of itself and its critics. They are also willing to go really far for a joke, like how episode 8 was aired eight times consecutively and how each episode is repeated but with different voice actors. It almost reminds me of Nichijou how deticated the anime is to its jokes and it is glorious.

  The last thing I want to touch on are the production values, which are amazing. I have legitimaly had doubts to even call this an anime for how much multi-media this show has. Not only regular 2D animation, but also stop motion animation, live-action, storyboard animation, sand-on-glowing-table animation, there is so much variety in the shows visuals, which only highlight how all over the place and wild this show is.

  Pop Team Epic is a weird show. It has satire, parody, absurdism, ordinary jokes, wholesome bits, genuine emotional stories and more. It is all over the place and some of its jokes might work as well as others, but I am glad this anime exists. It is a bold show that is satirical and absurd without being tied down to usual anime customs. It feels like a middle finger towards the anime industry while still giving a warm smile to a viewer.

  I don't think that this anime will enjoyable to everyone, but if you want something wild and different from the usual season cycle, definitely give this one a chance.

  
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• 

  befalt

  39/100
  Pop Team Epic is merely not "epic."

  This review is spoiler-free.

  This review was originally written on Mar 25, 2018; rewritten on Nov 11, 2022.

  **〈 A unique shitpost that... 〉**

  ---

  What makes a joke funny? Is it a well-thought build-up, steadily tied up, making us want to hear the punch line established at the end of the gag? Is it the topic the joke tackles? Is it the way it is presented and conveyed to us? Is it just a matter of timing? No matter which of these reasons you choose, all of them pale in comparison to the most crystal clear aspect a pun, by definition, has to have to make an addressee laugh; the intention to be humorous. As simple as it sounds, I found it surprising that Pop Team Epic, an absurdist comedy to the bone, which I should fall in love with immediately, did not deliver any laughs along the way.

  I am the type of guy who would die of laughter if I saw a piece of bread falling over, so, on the surface, this anime looks like a perfect fit for a person like me. That is merely not the case.

  PTE seems to have a bizarre perception of references. Do not get me wrong. The show makes a lot of imaginative references to various popular movies, games, music and even anime. That is great! Nonetheless, it falsely believes cramming as many of them within an episode is a noteworthy accomplishment, but it could not be further from the truth. By themselves, references are not hilarious. You need to forge them into something laugh-worthy. Play with them, substantively mock the source material, and poke fun at them. Merely slapping them on the screen is not going to cut it. That is not enough to be meaningful. It is nothing more than a quirky gimmick that does not enhance the joke. Well, not understanding this concept quickly took its toll, as every single reference the anime threw at me bounced off without leaving any lasting impact.

  Of course, the references are not what the show is all about. At the core of the "plot" lie the absurdist gags, and they are even worse, as they are painfully unfunny. Without question, they feel random, scatterbrained and nonsensical, but that is the point. I deem them lukewarm for a specific reason... they do not pack a punch. Most of the skits progress in the same way: they start, unravel their content and then abruptly end halfway through, leaving us without a conclusion. The inherent quality of the jokes varies from one scene to another, but they are all consistently blank and confusingly undercooked. They come and go, and all that is left is a state of utter indifference. It is comparable to waiting for a plane to take off, but it never leaves the runway. It is more than obvious that absurdist comedy is not supposed to make sense, so bringing up the usual "build-up and punchline" structure is wholly redundant. Regardless, that does not excuse creating half-assed gags that result in the idiomatic nothing burger. I cannot chuckle at something that does not contain any laugh-worthy elements. The only emotion these undercooked scenes evoke is disinterest. I am more than sure these are not the show's goals, though it seems like it does not care at all, for better or worse. That may be the show's biggest flaw, but it is not its most gruesome one.

  That title belongs to two segments that work as separate entities from the usual skits: Bob Epic Team and Pop Team Cooking. Calling them a nuisance would be an understatement. The former is an unfunny abomination. Naturally, I acknowledge that its hideousness is the primary component of the "joke" and that BET exists for the sole purpose of being incomprehensible, nonsensical and horrid. However, I cannot shake off the feeling of being force-fed a spoon of nasty mush; it looks awful, tastes even worse, and has no nutrients inside. None of the ideas in this segment are worthwhile, so it is impossible to enjoy it, ironically or not. Even the most straightforward of shitposts have some inherent value and wit; Bob Epic Team does not possess either. The latter showed a lot more promise at the beginning. Using a cooking show as a vehicle for gags is a very sound idea, and the show could have used its sterilised, commercialised nature to make me laugh out loud. That never happened. Every joke was either cut short or innately had little to no entertainment value, which was nothing short of disappointing.

  

  【 "I found the Pop Team Epic hater!" 】

  Amongst all this negativity, there is one aspect of the project about which I can say something positive: the production values. The distinctive art style and simplistic animation, mixed with live-action skits and constantly changing aesthetics create a rather unusual and genuinely fantastic vibe and feel. I would be lying if I claimed they were some of the best the medium has to offer, but they serve their purpose extremely well. I genuinely respect their creativity, even though this wit alone is not enough to elevate the rest of the content. The same notion applies to sound. The wacky and lively voice acting, opening theme, and song parodies feel at home in such a random and senseless environment. More often than not, they allow certain scenes to be less of a hassle to get through. Clearly, without these zany audiovisuals, the show would be even harder to digest, which says a lot.

  _Pop Team Epic_ could have been a good time, but the reality ended up being way more gloomy. I expected to see a hilarious shitpost of an anime, yet what I got instead was the equivalent of eating dry bread—a lot of chewing and no fun at all. I found it immensely disappointing, but what is worse is the fact watching it was very uneventful. I could stomach an awful show, yet I cannot find the strength to put up with one that could have been amazing had it cared one bit.

  ---

  **〈 ...took the "shit" part too literally. 〉**

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