Puni Puni Poemy

Publisher
ADV
Director
Shinichi Watanabe
Production
J.C.Staff, Victor Entertainment
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
60 mins total
Year
2001

Puni Puni Poemy

By Joseph (Joe) Wood
7th Apr 05

Puni Puni Poemy is the OVA spin-off to the hilarious and insane anime series Excel Saga.

Puni Puni Poemy takes place several years after the end of Excel Saga (which if you haven’t seen the last episode you may want to stop reading now). Catching up with the man responsible for the anime version of Excel Saga Nabeshin (the anime alter ego of Excel Saga’s director Watanabe Shinichi), his wife Kumi Kumi the mountain girl and their ten year old daughter Poemi. One day upon returning from school Poemi finds that her house has been destroyed, and her parents murdered by a mysterious alien. Now not only an orphan but a homeless orphan Poemi moves in with her best friend Futaba Aasu, and her six sisters. The Aasu sisters also happen to be defenders of the earth and when a mysterious alien force begins to invade they try to stop it…with no success. Poemi is given a magical dead fish by a mysterious stranger and transforms into the magical girl Puni Puni Poemy.

Like with Excel Saga, Puni Puni Poemy contains many references and parodies to other anime, some of the more obvious ones being Sailor Moon, and Dragonball. Of course you can only pick up most of these references if you’ve seen the show in question.

Poemi would make Excel seem like a lazy person, as she is so energetic as she tries to get the boy she likes at school to notice her, and also become a professional voice actress. This voice actress bit makes Poemi an odd case as she constantly refers to herself as “Kobayashi” (Poemi’s voice actor is Yumiko Kobayashi, one of the singers of the Excel Saga opening) and to Nabeshin as “the Director” when in all rights he should be her Father, this makes for quite a few funny sequences.

If you’ve seen the last episode of Excel Saga then theirs a good chance you were shocked at the contents, well Puni Puni Poemy takes this even further and is certain to make you laugh, cry, and cringe.

Unfortunately Puni Puni Poemy is severally lacking in anything other than gag humor, not a bad thing but severely disappointing. As is the running time which is an hour for two episodes combined. There is a lack of any real character development even Excel Saga contained some emotion in its characters, the emotion that is there is completely stolen from Excel Saga and does not work anywhere near as effectively.

The animation and artwork are of good quality but nothing that surpasses Excel Saga. Most of the music is also taken from Excel Saga, while there’s nothing wrong with the music but it feels extremely old after you’ve finished Excel Saga.

Puni Puni Poemy is a disappointing attempt to cash in on Excel Saga’s success, it is meant for those who want more of the same. If you enjoyed Excel Saga then pick this up but don’t have your hopes too highly set, if you have yet to see Excel Saga then you may want to check that out first.

Note:- I mentioned Excel Saga about 16 times in this review although it feels like more.

R1 DVD Notes

Features: English dub, Japanese with English Subtitles, Audio Commentary, Behind the Scences, Trailers, Clean opening and closing animation. Production booklet.

Release information: Publisher: ADV Released: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 Director: Watanabe Shinichi

Notes: When looking at the extras, they seem quite a deecent addition. The audio commentary is very funny and also claims to be the worlds first 5.1 audio commentary. The "Behind the scences" feature is just a filming of the english cast members recording the audio commentary and there isn't anything really intresting here having listened to the commentary. Traillers and clean opening and closing animations are pretty much your standard extras with ADV titles. The production booklet also doubles as a poster and gives some intreasting information (although perhaps not completly truthful) about Puni Puni Poemy's creation.

-- Joseph (Joe) Wood 7th Apr 05

Puni Puni Poemy Images