The other day I did my first mini anime review on Excel Saga, the classic ’99 – ’00 anime series which even a decade and a half later still has enough comical charm to survive on store shelves, and is well worth the watch if you want something completely insane and entertaining. Because now is a better time than any other, I have decided to give its spin-off series a chance to shine… or plummet in a review.
While any type of testimonial on the front cover of a DVD box should always be treated scepticism, Madman Entertainment and ADV Films did not lie when they put on the cover of Puni Puni Poemy: “You don’t need to be crazy to watch this, but it sure helps“. While Excel Saga was a thrill to watch, this 2011 2-part OVA spin-off attempts to take it one step further by making the over-the-top comedy (even) more sexually suggestive and in some occasions a tad creepy. There are several occasions, especially across the second episode where someone could be tempted to look over their shoulder to ensure nobody is peeking over their shoulder or stop watching out of discomfort for the strongly implied explicit content, and unfortunately these elements can distract from what was otherwise a competently produced series.
If you manage to bypass this level of discomfort, what you have is still a competent duo of anime episodes containing decent comedy, references for the (now) veteran anime fans to uncover and the over-the-top… everything else, that carries across from Excel Saga. It is a very difficult series to make sense of, let along explain given the rapid pace of dialogue, but is one that quite possibly nobody but director Shinichi Watanabe could pull off… or even think of doing. But if there is one person who would have been more instrumental to the success of Puni Puni Poemy however, it would be Poemy’s Japanese voice actress Kobayashi Yumiko. After her role as Excel in Excel Saga, she tops her previous work by performing a semi live action opening sequence that stands out for not only the live action component but the lyrics.
The team at ADV Films didn’t hide the fact that this was an insane comedy / parody anime series, and as you can tell from the trailer at the top of this review, didn’t attempt to hide this fact at all. The extra on-disc content embraced this as well, and included among other things a pig latin subtitle track and one of the most enjoyable commentaries I have seen to date – with seven team / voice-cast members including Chris Patton, Cynthia Martinez and Tiffany Grant among others.
Puni Puni Poemy proved to be a funny, if not slightly creepy anime experience, that worked better as a 2-part OVA series rather than trying for a full season. It may make for a decent watch if you really enjoyed Excel Saga and were left wanting more… specifically 60 minutes more. While it may be out of print in Australia, there are still a number of copies available in RightStuf.com as part of a bundle with Kekko Kamen.
