Welcome to…. One of the best anime ever! Seriously, it’s a super comedy, think comedy from anime and then square it = super comedy. PaniPoni Dash! Is an anime filled, totally loaded, with references. If you thought Lucky Star had a lot of references to anime, PaniPoni Dash! goes one step further, or like several; every single episode has references to mangaka artists, seiyuu, music artists, historic figures, other anime, manga/anime magazines, Indiana Jones, Star Strek, Kamen Rider:…… yeah, a lot of references; I don’t think there is a 5 minute period where something doesn’t get referenced, so this anime is almost like a test, how well do you know your Japanese culture? I can’t even say otaku things, because it’s a lot lot lot more than just otaku things. (Also, not necessary to know everything, it’s still ridiculously funny)
So what’s PaniPoni Dash! about? Uhm, nothing and yet everything at the same time. It’s about Miyamoto Rebecca, an 11 year old girl who has already graduated from the prestigious M.I.T. at the age of 10 and has gone to Japan to teach…. High school kids? Yeah, that’s what she does and there are 3 aliens who monitor and watch everything she does at all times, they just sit in space and play games or make up the bulk of Star Trek references and other things like that. See what I mean, everything, yet nothing.
Rebecca, or as her class calls her, Becky, teaches class 1-C of the Peach Moon Institution. Her class consists of Ichijou, who is the class representative, almost always expressionless and does things because she “feels” like it, she’s also capable of quite literally ignoring all the laws the world consists of, if she wants to do something, she will.
We have Katagiri Himeko, she has an ahoge (piece of hair that sticks up), it has magical powers and is always moving around, she loves to say “Maho” (super cute) and is love with Becky (platonic of course).
Momose Kurumi; you know how in anime there is always that one girl who’s super smart, super pretty, best in class, best in everything, right? Well Kurumi is not that girl; in-fact she’s 100% average. She’s so average that everyone in the class calls her plain, which leads to her getting depressed at having no presence.
Uehara Miyako, the girl with the HUGE forhead, seriously, her entire focus as a character is her forehead, sometimes the only thing you’ll see is her glasses frame and this shining, unbelievably large forehead that will reflect the scenes around her.
Serizawa Akane, the super cosplayer; she’s one of the funniest characters in PaniPoni Dash! Always trying to trick the girls by cosplaying, but almost always getting seen through the disguise, I always laugh when I see her.
I can’t forget about the rabbit Mesousa, he can’t hold anything, he’s ignored by everyone, he seems to always run into Kami-sama (A cat) and just like Momose Kurumi, he has no presence at all. He’s crying often and is very sad and even though it sounds really bad, it’s one of the funniest things in all of PaniPoni Dash! Laugh out loud funny at the way he’s treated, honestly, it’s so good.
Yes, there is a huge cast of characters and there are even more supports too, it’s filled to the brim with personalities and people, making PaniPoni Dash! impossible to be boring because the way PaniPoni works is each episode is encompassed by nonsense and many characters make it worth watching. Can’t even forget about the seiyuu involved, an intense and outstanding job utilizing much talent; I really don’t think it’s possible to call PPD a boring anime, nope, just not possible.
Art style; for what PaniPoni Dash! does, it’s very good. Soft, colorful, smooth lines and very very very, I mean absolutely adorable and very cute. All the girls are super cute, especially Becky, star of the show. The neat thing about PPD is that, aside from its “standard” or “normal” art style, the massive amount of references to other anime and things means you experience a ton, almost literally a ton, of different art styles. Super realistic, mega cute, out of this world crazy; PPD is as much fun to look at as it is to actually watch.
Sound/Music: Unbelievably unbelievable. The sound effects, the music, the BGM, everything and I do mean everything, is perfect. There are so many sound design aspects to PPD that it makes my head hurt thinking about it. There is so much going on within PPD, all the crazy antics, scenes and things that the sound aspect is huge. Don’t just think that the references only work on the drawn art aspect either; prepare to listen closely to the music because even within that variable, there are references to other things, such as music from Rocky!
PPD! is an anime that from the get go, you can tell everyone had a lot of fun working on. The references, the art, the way the seiyuu conduct themselves; the zany world we’re thrown into, it’s all just a whole big bag of good fun. Not much makes sense, most references will fly right over your head, but it doesn’t stop PPD! being one of the best put together anime I have ever seen. It’s incredibly funny, it’s really cute, it’s super good and most definitely worth watching.
