Pop Team Epic

Also Known As

Poptepipic
ポプテピピック

Genre

Comedy

Synopsis

Popuko and Pipimi are just two average schoolgirls, or so they seem at first glance, but in reality they’re both wildly offbeat and bizarre, constantly finding themselves in the midst of misadventures and surreal situations in which they respond in equally surreal and bizarre ways.

Background

Pop Team Epic began as a four-panel webcomic and digital manga series written and illustrated by Bkub Okawa (aka Bukubu Okawa) which began serialization on Takeshobo’s Manga Life Win website in 2014. The manga gained a cult following in Japan and abroad for its pop culture references and combination of comedy styles including surrealism, absurdity, and non-sequiturs. No stranger to trolling his fans, Okawa announced the end of Pop Team Epic and the start of his new manga Hoshiiro Girldrop in 2016 only to later announce that his new series was just an elaborate ruse and that the manga would be returning for a “second season.” Both seasons have since been published in compiled volumes. The “third season” began on Manga Life Win in October 2017. The manga is licensed in North America by Vertical.

Aside from the manga, a comic anthology based on Okawa’s fictional Hoshiiro Girldrop manga was released in January 2018.

An anime adaptation of the series was announced on April Fool’s Day 2017, being initially teased as an adaptation of Hoshiiro Girldrop similarly to the “second season” of the manga. The anime is directed by Jun Aoki (Nara Shika Monogatari, Shogi Hour) and Aoi Umeki (City Hunter: Ryou no Propose) who are also handling series composition and conceptual design, respectively. It features animation by Kamikaze Douga and music by King Records. The anime was originally scheduled to premiere in October 2017 but was delayed until January 2018. Each episode takes the form of an animated skit show with two 15-minute segments that are nearly identical save for different voice actors and other subtle differences. The anime makes use of a wide variety of animation styles including CGI and 2D. It will run for 12 episodes. The series is being simulcast worldwide outside of Asia by Crunchyroll, and FUNimation is releasing the English dub. It is also being simulcast in Southeast Asia by Aniplus Asia, and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment.

Characters

Popuko
A quick-tempered, short school girl with short orange hair styled into high pigtails who is friends with Pipimi.

Pipimi
Popuko’s friend who is taller and calmer than her, Pipimi has long blue hair which she styles with a red ribbon on top.

Cast

Japanese
Masashi Ebara: Popuko (ep. 1)
Yuji Mitsuya: Popuko (ep. 1)
Aoi Yuki: Popuko (ep. 2)
Toshio Furukawa: Popuko (ep. 2)
Mikako Komatsu: Popuko (ep. 3)
Ryusei Nakao: Popuko (ep. 3)
Yoko Hikasa: Popuko (ep. 4)
Tessho Genda: Popuko (ep. 4)
Tomoko Kaneda: Popuko (ep. 5)
Yuichi Nakamura: Popuko (ep. 5)
Yuko Sanpei: Popuko (ep. 6)
Hiro Shimono: Popuko (ep. 6)
Satomi Korogi: Popuko (ep. 7)
Showtaro Morikubo: Popuko (ep. 7)
Toru Adachi: Popuko (ep. 7), Pipimi (Bob Team Epic segments)
Sumire Morohoshi: Popuko (ep. 8)
Masaya Onosaka: Popuko (ep. 8)
Shunsuke Itakura: Popuko (Bob Team Epic segments)
Hochu Otsuka: Pipimi (ep. 1)
Noriko Hidaka: Pipimi (ep. 1)
Ayana Taketatsu: Pipimi (ep. 2)
Shigeru Chiba: Pipimi (ep. 2)
Sumire Uesaka: Pipimi (ep. 3)
Norio Wakamoto: Pipimi (ep. 3)
Satomi Sato: Pipimi (ep. 4)
Akira Kamiya: Pipimi (ep. 4)
Yu Kobayashi: Pipimi (ep. 5)
Tomokazu Sugita: Pipimi (ep. 5)
Kaori Nazuka: Pipimi (ep. 6)
Yuki Kaji: Pipimi (ep. 6)
Akiko Yajima: Pipimi (ep. 7)
Kosuke Toriumi: Pipimi (ep. 7)
Shunsuke Itakura: Pipimi (ep. 7)
Azusa Tadokoro: Pipimi (ep. 8)
Daisuke Namikawa: Pipimi (ep. 8)

English
Christopher R. Sabat: Popuko (ep. 1, Bob Team Epic segments)
Justin Briner: Popuko (ep. 1)
Trina Nishimura: Popuko (ep. 2)
Sonny Strait: Popuko (ep. 2)
Sarah Wiedenheft: Popuko (ep. 3)
Barry Yandell: Popuko (ep. 3)
Jad Saxton: Popuko (ep. 4)
Alejandro Saab: Popuko (ep. 4)
Cherami Leigh: Popuko (ep. 5)
Eric Vale: Popuko (ep. 5)
Brittney Karbowski: Popuko (ep. 6)
Todd Haberkorn: Popuko (ep. 6)
Fanny Bloc: Popuko (Japon Mignon segments)
Ian Sinclair: Pipimi (ep. 1, Bob Team Epic segments)
Colleen Clinkenbeard: Pipimi (ep. 1)
Brina Palencia: Pipimi (ep. 2)
Mike McFarland: Pipimi (ep. 2)
Jamie Marchi: Pipimi (ep. 3)
Kent Williams: Pipimi (ep. 3)
Caitlin Glass: Pipimi (ep. 4)
David Wald: Pipimi (ep. 4)
Monica Rial: Pipimi (ep. 5)
J. Michael Tatum: Pipimi (ep. 5)
Luci Christian: Pipimi (ep. 6)
Jason Liebrecht: Pipimi (ep. 6)
Christine Bellier: Pipimi (Japon Mignon segments)

Staff

Original Creator: Bkub Okawa
Planner/Producer: Kotaro Sudo
Series Director: Aoi Umeki, Jun Aoki
Series Composition/Editor: Jun Aoki
Conceptual Designer: Aoi Umeki
Sound Director: Toru Kanagae
Sound Effects: Yasumasa Koyama
Sound Production: Glovision
Music: Gin
Animation Producer: Takayuki Sasaki
Executive Producers: Akio Mishima, Junpei Mizusaki, Akihiro Ito
Animation Production: Kamikaze Douga
Production/Music Production: King Record

Theme Songs

Opening Themes:
・Ep. 1: “Twinkling Star” by Dropstars (Yui Ogura, Inori Minase, and Sumire Uesaka)
・All others: “Pop Team Epic” by Sumire Uesaka

Ending Theme: “Poppy Pappy Day” sung by Popuko (Kenji Akabane, Yui Makino, Hiromi Igarashi (ep. 8), Toshiki Masuda (ep. 8)) and Pipimi (Shunsuke Takeuchi, Yui Watanabe, Rei Matsuzaki (ep. 8), Wataru Hatano (ep. 8))

Broadcast Information

Tokyo MX1: Every Saturday at 1:00 am
BS11: Every Saturday at 1:00 am
AT-X: Every Monday at 10:30 pm
Tochigi TV: Every Wednesday at 11:00 pm
RCC Broadcasting: Every Wednesday at 1:25 am

Online Streaming

FUNimation
Crunchyroll

Official Links

Website (Japanese)