English Dub Review: Pop Team Epic “Here We Go! Biggus McHugeGuy Combination”

I think reviewing Pop Team Epic is a tale of two things. One is the show itself, which sets out each episode to be the zaniest, most over the top show possible and making as little sense as possible. And then there’s me, who watches Pop Team Epic, sees the influences from shows like Kablam!, but executed to a lesser degree.

There’s definitely moments where a skit was well executed, like the title skit, “Here We Go! Biggus McHugeGuy Combination”. This was a giant Gurren Lagann reference, and I am all for it. The animation was fantastic, and there was a glimpse of coherent thought. I mean, there was as much of a glimpse of coherent thought that there could be in Pop Team Epic.

“Pop Team Epic: B-Side” was another well drawn skit, but it was very short and about Popoko giving Pipimi gapao. That said, the rest of the skits did nothing to rope me in. Like I said last week, I don’t think I am the target audience for Pop Team Epic. I honestly wish there was more to like for me, but Pop Team Epic falls short in a lot of its execution for me. That doesn’t say the target audience doesn’t love the show or find the appeal, both are just lost on me.

The opening skit was Popoko inadvertantly shaving a dog instead of trimming it was a nothing skit. The next skit, which was a parody of any Pixar film, but was Pipimi giving Popoko a super powerful head pat. There’s a skit where Popuko is getting fed a sausage from Pipimi, but can’t get the sausage in her mouth. Next, in a completely nothing sketch, Pipimi gets gut punched by a meteor that she misjudged the angle on.

One sketch, however, that did get me laughing a little, was “Pop Team Cooking.” That was mainly because anyone can get behind cooking with the power of darkness, and grossing out your cohost with the hellspawn that was crafted. That said, the rest of the sketches fall flat for me.

The second half of the episode, like last week, is a redo of the episode, except with male voices for Pipimi and Popuko. The exception this week is that none of the sketches are really made better with the change of voices.

I am trying really hard to find the enjoyment in Pop Team Epic. “Here We Go! Biggus McHugeGuy Combination” was, by far, the stand out skit of the night. It was well written and looked beautiful. However, the rest of the episode fell real flat for me, mainly because I don’t get the appeal. As I said last week, Pop Team Epic does what it does. The fan base is rabid, and love the show. However, I don’t find the appeal, and am at a loss because I don’t know what way to go with it.