Puni Puni Poemy

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Puni Puni Poemy
Image:Pppoemy.jpg
ぷにぷに☆ぽえみぃ
(Puni Puni Poemi)
Genre Adventure, Comedy, Magical girl, Science Fiction , Ecchi
OVA
Directed by Shinichi Watanabe
Studio J.C.STAFF
No. of episodes 2
Released 7 March 2001
Runtime

The anime OVA Puni Puni Poemy (ぷにぷに☆ぽえみぃ Puni Puni ☆ Poemii) is a frenetic spin-off from the popular Excel Saga animated series, featuring some of its secondary characters and many of its staff, primarily director Shinichi Watanabe.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Contents

[edit] Episodes

Puni Puni Poemy comprises only two episodes, each around 26 minutes in length.

  • Part 1 - Poemy is in a Bad Mood

It's the start of a new school year for the motor-mouthed Poemy Watanabe, and things get off to a typically hyperenergetic start as she strives to do her best to become a voice actress, an ambition she loudly proclaims six times in this episode. But things go from bad to worse when she discovers that an alien with peculiar fashion sense and even more peculiar genitalia has crucified and killed her parents, Nabeshin and Kumi-Kumi, plus their robot dog, in order to pave the way for an impending invasion! Her home destroyed, Poemy moves in with her best friend, Futaba Aasu, and her six sisters, but there's only time enough for a group bath, the rout of an alien voyeur, and an active time in bed before a massive alien mecha attacks the city, whereupon it turns out that Futaba and her sisters are actually a team of super-powered heroines dedicated to defending the Earth. Unfortunately they're strictly defensive specialists, and no match whatsoever for the rampaging robot - but perhaps Poemy, gratuitously gifted with a magic fish that transforms her into Puni Puni Poemy, is! After a typical Magical Girl transformation, however, she promptly throws away her wand, forgoes the use of magic, and attacks the mecha with her bare hands.

  • Part 2 - With a Dream Greater Than Earth

Now embodying the will of Earth itself, the wastefully energetic Poemy uses her new powers to literally tear through the alien mecha (passing salarymen and one copulating couple within it along the way), pursue her career as a voice actress (loudly referred to nine or ten times), and right wrongs as she sees them throughout the planet. Being wastefully energetic, however, the cure is worse than the disease! Sending a nuclear missile off-course, completely destroying an entire country, breaking the neck of an otaku playing an ecchi computer game ("Playing pervy games starting in the afternoon is also evil! I mean, those are for nights!") prompts less angst for Poemy than awaiting a pager message from K which never comes. For that matter, the Aasu sisters don't take too kindly to a new magical girl horning in on their family business, sinecure though it was! A brief confrontation between Poemy and the sisters leads to them discovering her identity (and another impressive group bath); this takes the strain off, but when the alien invasion suddenly begins the next morning and the sisters are captured and Poemy's first voice actress job is rudely interrupted, it is up to Poemy to rescue them from the clutches of the very boy she has got a crush on!

Warning: The second episode parodies numerous H-anime and H-manga (often called hentai in North America and Europe) clichés. As Poemy says, breaking the fourth wall, "You customers out there sure got your money's worth." (Then again, shortly thereafter after certain activities she proclaims, "That footage was rather satisfying just by using your imagination!")

[edit] Characters

  • Poemy Watanabe (ワタナベぽえみ Watanabe Poemi)

The star of the show, Poemy Watanabe is ten years old and hyperactive beyond comparison. Described as "wastefully energetic" by most, she's actually otherwise quite normal - she's an eager student, she's got a crush on the popular boy in her class, and she really, really, really wants to be a voice actress. Or rather, she would be quite normal, if she wasn't so unable to stay in character that she shatters the fourth wall by constantly referring to herself by the name of her own voice actress, Yumiko Kobayashi. She's the adopted daughter of Nabeshin (who she refers to as "The Director," since that is who in fact who plays him), and his wife, Kumi-Kumi, but when they perish in an alien attack along with their robot dog, she moves in with her best friend, Futaba Aasu.

When an alien mecha attacks the city, Poemy is following Futaba into action when she abruptly encounters a mysterious and silent shamisen-strumming man whom the script apparently refer to as her father; he gives her a fish which stinks. By gutting the fish, however, it turns into a wand which transforms Poemy into Puni Puni Poemy, a magical girl embodying the will of Earth itself, with lots of traditional superpowers that prove sufficient to blow the mech up and right wrongs across the Earth.

Yumiko Kobayashi had previously provided the voice of the character Excel Kobayashi in Excel Saga, who in the dubbed version was vocalised by Cynthia Martinez. Hence, Martinez returns to take up the title role for the dubbed version of Puni Puni Poemy. In the interest of accuracy, she continues to refer to herself as "Kobayashi" in the dub.

  • Shinichi "Nabeshin" Watanabe (ワタナベシンイチ Watanabe Shin'ichi, ナベシン Nabeshin)

Nabeshin is the animated alter-ego of director Shinichi Watanabe, who previously appeared in Puni Puni Poemy's forerunner, Excel Saga. At the conclusion of that series, he married Kumi-Kumi, and at the beginning of this show, they have an adopted ten-year-old daughter, Poemy (who, in her consistent inability to properly recognize the fiction of the show, keeps referring to her father as "The Director"). But it's still business as usual for Nabeshin, as he finds himself hunted down by an alien assassin with peculiar genitalia.

Nabeshin is, naturally, voiced by Watanabe himself. For the dub, Brett Weaver returns to resume the role from Excel Saga.

  • Kumi-Kumi

Introduced in Excel Saga, Kumi-Kumi was a simple mountain girl who rescued Nabeshin from an avalanche and attempted to feed him soup. But Nabeshin isn't too good with hot foods, so he refused, only to have her pursue him across the rest of the series. He finally relented, marrying her at the end of the final episode. At the start of Puni Puni Poemy, she and Nabeshin now have Poemy as their adopted daughter. Despite being killed by the alien along with Nabeshin, Kumi-Kumi is able to save her husband using acupuncture, because he is after all Great Director Watanabe a la Great Teacher Onizuka.

Kumi-Kumi's Japanese voice is uncredited. Tiffany Grant returns to the role from Excel Saga for the dub.

  • K

K is one of Poemy's classmates, but unfortunately for Poemy, her wild crush on him isn't reciprocated. In the second episode, K discovers that he is an alien who had been raised as a human, and he takes charge of the invasion of the planet, which is generally focused around ravishing Japanese women since hentai transmissions have given the aliens the idea that that's what Japanese women really like. Unfortunately for them, Prince K's body is composed entirely of tentacles. Fortunately for them (and perhaps the Aasu Sisters), he's more talk than action.

K's voice is provided by Ryu Itou and dub Mark X. Laskowski.

  • Mage Queen

A mystical and mysterious figure, the precise nature of the Mage Queen is ambivalent. Initially her somewhat threatening monologue seems to count her an enemy of Earth, but she greets the eventual arrival of Puni Puni Poemy with joy and considers the invading aliens a threat. She is assassinated by one of the two alien henchmen.

The Mage Queen is vocalised by Yumiko Nakanishi and dub Tiffany Grant.
  • Alien Henchmen

These extraterrestrial assassins dress like colorblind pimps from the waist up, speak in an undeciperable hipster jargon, and masturbate freely. Their genitalia, which look like Bungee Balls that hang down to their knees, can be used as defensive shields in a manner not unlike Itsue's whip. Alien #1 has one testicle; Alien #2, logically enough, sports two. No reason for this anatomical difference, which is the cause of some amusement, is ever given. Neither of them, ultimately, are whom they appear to be. Alien #1 does spend a lot of time hanging out at the Aasu household completely unnoticed--apparently the food is quite good!

[edit] The Aasu Sisters

Futaba is but one of the seven Aasu sisters, the protectors of Earth itself. Aasu is the Japanese pronunciation of Earth, and each of the girl's names is derived from a number, in reverse order, with the youngest being 1, and so on. All of the girls have impressive magical powers, but given that these powers are purely defensive in nature, the family is useless as an offensive unit. It is worth noting that aasu is also the Japanese equivalent of the English word, arse.

  • Nanase
At 28 years old, Nanase is the eldest sister, who works as a data processor in an office. Her power is the Earth Dance of Flowers, the ability to summon a whirlwind of flowers, to absolutely no effect. There are many hints that she would like to be a transsexual. Her name is derived from nana, the Japanese word for "seven" (for which another word is "shichi").
Nanase is vocalised by Aya Hisakawa and dub Kelly Manison.
  • Mutsumi
Mutsumi is 22 years old, and much to her own surprise speaks with a Kansai accent for no apparent reason (translated in the English dub as a Brooklyn dialect). She has something of a complex about the small size of her breasts, and possesses probably the most useless power of all the seven sisters - the Earth Defensive Landing, which means she can fall over safely. Her name is derived from mutsu, the Japanese word for "six" (for which another word is "roku").
Mutsumi's voice is provided by Tomoko Kawakami. For an unknown reason, her dub voice is credited to the fictional "Yu Haul".
  • Itsue
The 19-year-old Itsue is working her way through high school as a dominatrix, and is prone to plying her trade for physical punishment on her sisters when she gets angry. Her super power, the Earth Barrier Shield, is probably the most functional of all the sisters' inasmuch it enables her to generate a protective energy shield. In the one instance she is shown to use it, she focuses the ability through her whip, which she spins over her head, forming a dome. Her name comes from itsu (five) (for which another word is "go").
Itsue's original Japanese voice is provided by the famous Kotono Mitsuishi, who played the voice of Excel herself in Excel Saga. Consequently, Excel's dub voice actress for episodes 14-26, Larissa Wolcott, takes up the role in the English version.
  • Shii
It's not hard to spot 18-year-old Shii's most distinctive feature - her colossal breasts. She often announces how heavy they are , and knows their exact weight (800 grams each). They're problematic in her day-to-day life, necessitating that she frequently rest them on whatever is handy (she had smothered the family cat with them). With Poemy's arrival into the Aasu household, her head becomes a favourite resting place. Her special power is Earth Healing, and her name comes from shi (four).
Shii bears more than a passing resemblance to the character of Hyatt from Excel Saga - both characters are voiced by the same actresses in both the original (Omi Minami) and dub (Monica Rial).
  • Mitsuki
Cute and energetic, Mitsuki is 15 years old, and seems to play an active role in the running of the Aasu household. Her power is the impressive if not particularly useful Earth Acceleration, enabling her to run at vast speeds. Her name is derived from mittsu (three) (for which another word is "san").
Mitsuki's voice is supplied by Atsuko Enomoto and dub Jessica Boone.
  • Futaba
Poemy's classmate and best friend, is madly in love with her - a fact to which Poemy is (usually) oblivious. Futaba's power allows her to pacify hostile creatures, making them happy and harmless. Rescued from alien clutches by Poemy, she combines this power with Poemy's, and since Poemy is a representation of Earth, this act pacifies the planet's population, resulting in world peace. Her name comes from futa (two) (for which another word is "ni").
Futaba is a parody of Tomoyo Daidouji from Cardcaptor Sakura; in addition to visually resembling the character, she is in love with her magical girl best friend, as was Tomoyo. Although in the spirit of the show, Futaba's fantasies go a lot further...
Futaba is performed by Yuka Imai and dub Luci Christian.
  • Hitomi
The youngest of the Aasu sisters, at only 3 years old, Hitomi's in a hurry to grow up (and grow breasts). She possesses a powerful, infallible precognitive power that allows her to foresee the alien invasion (when it's forthcoming) and to announce the obvious (when the mecha is standing in front of her). She is not entirely potty-trained, however. Her name comes from hito (one) (for which another word is "ichi").
Hitomi is voiced by Satomi Korogi and dub Kira Vincent-Davis.

[edit] Trivia

  • Prince "K" and his family, not to mention other things, parody the Mars People from the game, Metal Slug. K's family home very closely resembles the photographs of UFOs supposedly taken by George Adamski in the early 1950s.
  • The series was originally an in-joke from an episode of Excel Saga; Watanabe decided to take the in-joke to its most extreme logical conclusion, creating the series.
  • The series was banned in New Zealand in December 2004, on the grounds that it "tends to promote and support the exploitation of children and young persons for sexual purposes, and to a lesser extent, the use of sexual coercion to compel persons to submit to sexual conduct." A New Zealand anime fan applied to have this decision reviewed, but in June 2005 the review authority reached a similar conclusion about the show's legal status.[1]
  • The series begins with Poemi fighting (and at least once killing) various other Magical girls such as the famous Sailor Moon and the first magical girl Mahoutsukai Sally.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Puni Puni Poemy: Banned in New Zealand. Retrieved on 2006-09-29.

[edit] External links

Excel Saga
Major Characters:
Excel | Hyatt | Ilpalazzo | Kabapu | Nabeshin | Shiouji | That Man
Information:
Characters | Media
Related:
Municipal Force Daitenzin | Puni Puni Poemy | Rikdo Koshi
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