Pop Team Epic
Pop Team Epic, also known as Poptepipic, is a Japanese four-panel surreal comedy webcomic and digital manga series written and illustrated by Bkub Okawa, which started serialization on Takeshobo's Manga Life Win website in August 2014. Takeshobo has released three volumes in Japan. The manga is licensed in North America by Vertical.
The manga chronicles the misadventures of two 14-year-old girls named Popuko and Pipimi, who encounter a variety of both mundane and bizarre situations and respond to them in equally bizarre and exaggerated ways. The manga is noted for its frequent parodies of pop culture and its combination of surrealism, absurdity, and non-sequitur, all of which have contributed to it developing a cult following among both Japanese and Western audiences. An anime television series adaptation animated by Kamikaze Douga and produced by King Records aired between January and March 2018; two additional episodes aired in April 2019.
Characters
;Popuko- Bob Epic Team segments:
- Japon Mignon segments: Fanny Bloc
- Bob Epic Team segments:
- Japon Mignon segments: Christine Bellier, Kaycie Chase
Media
Manga
Pop Team Epic is written and illustrated by Bkub Okawa, previously known for his Touhou Project dōjinshi. The series was serialized in Takeshobo's Manga Life Win website between August 29, 2014 and November 7, 2015. The first tankōbon volume was released in print on December 7, 2015. Okawa released the "second season" on the Manga Life Win website between February 18, 2016 and April 30, 2017. The second volume was released on June 7, 2017. A "third season" began on the Manga Life Win website on October 10, 2017. The manga is licensed in North America by Vertical, who began releasing the series in October 2018. A comic anthology based on the fictional Hoshiiro Girldrop manga featured in the series was released on January 9, 2018.Anime
An anime adaptation of the series was announced on April 2, 2017. It was initially teased as an adaptation of Hoshiiro Girldrop on April Fool's Day 2017. The anime features animation by Kamikaze Douga and production by King Records, and is directed by Jun Aoki and Aoi Umeki. The series aired 12 episodes between January 7 and March 25, 2018, following a delay from October 2017 due to an "error by King Records". A television special aired on April 1, 2019 which consists of episodes 13 and 14.Taking after its source manga, the anime takes the form of an animated parody show, featuring numerous, typically disjointed skits of varying lengths; while some of these shorts are adapted from the original comic strips, the majority of them are original creations. The various shorts collectively showcase a variety of animation styles, most often CGI, professional-looking 2D animation, and idiosyncratic animation from Team AC. Each half-hour episode features two near-identical 15-minute segments, each containing different voice actors and other subtle differences.
The opening theme for episodes 2-10 is "Pop Team Epic" by Sumire Uesaka, while the ending theme titled "Poppy Pappy Day" is sung by Popuko, Hiromi Igarashi/Toshiki Masuda ) and Pipimi, Rei Matsuzaki/Wataru Hatano ), with Shouta Aoi performing the theme for episode 12. The ending theme for episode 10 is "Jinsei" also by the Igarashi/Matsuzaki and Masuda/Hatano duos. The opening theme for episode one, which opened with a Hoshiiro Girldrop segment, is "Twinkling Star" by Drop Stars. Episode 12 used the classical music pieces Night on Bald Mountain and Dies Irae in its storyline. The opening theme for the first half of the special is "last sparkle" by Uesaka, while the second half uses the opening theme, "Pretty candle star" by Drop Stars in the first part and Shunsuke Itakura and Tōru Adachi of Team AC in the second part. The insert song and ending theme for the first half are "Popuko ni Sauce" and "Fûsen Hikô", respectively; both are sung by Popuko and Pipimi. The insert song for the second half is "Bansaku neender", sung by the Ozaki/Uchida and Ito/Kijima duos, with Shouta Aoi singing his version of the ending theme "Fūsen Hikō", as well as his own ending theme, "AOI Traveler."
Sentai Filmworks simulcast the series on Hidive. Crunchyroll simulcast the series worldwide outside of Asia. Funimation simulcast the English-dubbed version in English-speaking territories as it aired; Funimation also acquired the rights to release the anime on home video in North America. Funimation also arranged the series to air on Adult Swim's Toonami starting June 30, 2018. In Australia and New Zealand, the series simulcast on AnimeLab. Aniplus Asia simulcast the series in Southeast Asia. The series became available on Netflix in February 2020 in what was originally 11-minute episodes. It was replaced by the original half-hour format due to complaints from users.
Marketing
The Nendoroid figures of Popuko and Pipimi, dressed as Batman Ninja Batman and Joker respectively, were displayed at the Warner Bros. booth at AnimeJapan 2018. It was suggested by Junpei Mizusaki at Kamikaze Douga; the studio animated both Pop Team Epic television series and Batman Ninja film. The crossover figures were accompanied by a 15-second television commercial, where Popuko and Pipimi re-enact a sketch from Pop Team Epic comics before it jumps to a Batman Ninja scene.On April 26, 2018, Japan Racing Association's Umabi.jp website launched the Pop Team Epic Kinen campaign, where users can create a customised avatar of either Popuko or Pipimi as a virtual spectator. It also hinted a surprise to be revealed when a number of avatars reaches one million. As the number reached one million in late May 2018, the JRA released a branded webisode on 14 June 2018. Produced by Space Neko Company, Mikako Komatsu and Ryusei Nakao reprised their role as Popuko in the first and second halves respectively, and so did Sumire Uesaka and Norio Wakamoto as Pipimi. The JRA also held promotional events at Tokyo Racecourse.