[zicygomar]

Man, remember just how wild watching Pop Team Epic was like in early 2018? Some highlights:

• PTE occupied a full show’s timeslot, but each “episode” was the same half-length episode run twice back-to-back.
  
• One run had the leads voiced by female voice actors, and the other run by male voice actors.
  
• The second run could feature additional or alternate gags.
  
• The voice actors for Popuko and Pipimi changed every episode.
  
• It may be obvious, but remember that it was intended to air on TV, not just online streams. PTE’s first episode starts with a bait and switch, starting with a intro teaser and a full OP for a made-up romcom magical girl idol show called “Hoshiiro Girldrop”. Viewers just picking it up wouldn’t know it was indeed Pop Team Epic until Popuko angrily interrupted the OP by tearing through the screen.
  
• Every episode preview was for Hoshiiro Girldrop.
  
• Literally any of AC-bu’s Bob Epic Team/Bobunimimimi segments.
  
• They got a French animator to create his own set of segments. Thibault Tresca had never read Pop Team Epic before and was encouraged to NOT research it while working on it.
  
• This resulted in the JAPON MiGNON segments, where Popuko and Pipimi visit France and speak French. Japanese subtitles were not provided until the repeat run.
  
• JAPON MiGNON segments were the only sketches where Popuko and PIpimi were shown blinking.
  
• Hellshake Yano
  
• Male pop idol star Shouta Aoi appeared as himself. Also he’s a time traveler tasked with saving Popuko and Pipimi from some great conspiracy.
  
• Earth, Wind, and Fire music video but it’s stop motion felt puppets.
  
• In one episode, they put sound effects over the OP.
  
• The show frequently takes shots at King Records, its publisher and one of the biggest record labels in Japan.
  
• University student Makoto Yamashita was invited to do segments in his specialty of video game pixel art and effects. It was also counted as his senior thesis.
• He put in an Undertale segment.
  
• Producer Kotaro Sudo had trouble convincing King Records to greenlight the show. His department head told him every producer gets a sort of free greenlight in their career, but only one. Sudo cashed his in.
• Many anime are funded by a production committee made up of various other companies, in order to spread cost and defer risk. PTE was produced solely under King Records, meaning if it flopped, they’d bear the full loss. Nothing a top record label can’t stomach, but TV shows still ain’t cheap.
  
• If the final episode, King Records, which exists in the show, transforms into some sort of monster castle mecha. Popuko and Pipimi combine into a golden fusion of themselves and destroy King Records.