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.