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The Anime OVA, Puni Puni Poemy, known in Japan as Puni Puni Poemi (ぷにぷに☆ぽえみぃ) is a spin-off from the popular Excel Saga animated series, featuring some of it's secondary characters and many of it's staff, primarily director Shinichi Watanabe. Template:Spoiler

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 Poemy Watanabe, and things are off to a typically energetic start as she strives to do her best and become a voice actress. But things go from bad to worse when an alien kills her parents, Nabeshin and Kumi-Kumi, in order to pave the way for an impending invasion. Her home destroyed, Poemy moves in with her best friend, Fubata Aasu, and her six sisters, but there's no chance for peace when a massive alien mechanoid attacks the city, and it turns out that Fubata and her sisters are actually a team of super-powered heroines dedicated to defending the Earth. Unfortunately, they're no mach for the alien robot - but perhaps Poemy, freshly gifted with a magic fish that transforms her into Puni Puni Poemy, is!

• Part 2 - With a Dream Greater Than Earth

Now embodying the will of Earth itself, Poemy uses her new powers to defeat the alien mech and right wrongs across the Earth - except that being so wastefully energetic and quick-tempered, she's causing a lot of trouble as well. And of course, the Aasu sisters don't take too kindly to a new magical girl horning in on their family business! A confrontation between Poemy and the sisters leads to them to discover her identity, which takes the strain off, but when the alien invasion suddenly begins the next morning and the sisters are captured, it's up to Poemy to rescue them from the clutches of the very boy she's got a crush on!

Warning: If you thought the first episode was offensive, you'd best not watch this episode, as it makes fun of hentai cliches.

Characters

• Poemi Watanabe

The star of the show! Poemy Watabane is ten years old, and hyperactive beyond compare. 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 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 daughter of Nabeshin (who she refers to as "the director," since that's who plays him), and his wife, Kumi-Kumi, but when they perish in an alien attack, she moves in with her best friend, Futaba Aasu. When an alien mecha attacks the city, Poemy follows Futaba into action, when she abruptly encounters a mysterious man that the script might refer to as her father, who gives her a magic talking fish. By gutting the fish, it turns into a wand, and Poemy is transformed 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 wright 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 of the dubbed version of Puni Puni Poemy. In the interest of accuracy, she continues to refer to herself as "Kobayashi" even in the dub.

• 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 now have a ten-year-old daughter, Poemy (who, in her inability to properly recognise the fiction of the show, refers to her father as "the director"). But life is still business as usual for Nabeshin, as he finds himself hunted down by an alien assassin, who kills both him and Kumi Kumi to remove the threat of his opposition to the impending invasion.

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, until he relented, and married her at the conclusion of the final episode. At the start of Puni Puni Poemy, she and Nabeshin now have Poemy as their daughter. Despite being killed by the alien along with Nabeshin, Kumi Kumi saves her husband with acupuncture.

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

• The Aasu Sisters

Futaba is but one of the seven Aasu sisters, the protectors of Earth itself. Aasu is the Japanese word for Earth, and each of the girl's names is derived from a number, in revervse order, with the young being 1, and so on. All of the girls have somewhat impressive magical powers, except that since they are purely defensive in nature, they're largely functionally useless.

• • 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. Her name is derived from nana, the Japanese word for "seven."

Nanase is vocalised by Nana Hisakawa and Kelly Manison.

• • Mutsumi

Mutsumi is 22 years old, and speaks with a Kansai accent for no apparent reason (translated in the English dub to a Brooklyn dialect). She has something of a complex about the 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."

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, as 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 her sisters', as 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).

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, Larissa Wolcott, takes up the role in the English version.

• • Shii

It's not hard to spot 18-year-old Shi's most distinctive feature - her colossal breasts pose quite a problem for her in day-to-day life, as they're quite heavy, necessitating that she frequently rest them on whatever is handy. With Poemy's arrival into the Aasu household, her head become a favourite resting place, when Shii isn't fondling herself. Which isn't that often. Her special power is Earth Healing, and her name comes from shi (four).

Shi 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).

Mitsuki's voice is supplied by Atsuko Enomoto and Jessica Boone.

• • Futaba

Poemy's classmate and best friend, who is madly in love with her - a fact to which Poemy is completely 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 come from futa (two).

Futaba is a parody of Tomoyo Daidouji from Card Captor Sakura (aka Madison Taylor in the English dubbed incarnation, Cardcaptors); 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 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 forsee the impending alien invasion. Her name comes from hito (one).

Hitomi is voiced by Satomi Korogi and Kira Vincent Davis.

• 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 takes charge of the invasion of the planet, which is generally focused around ravishing Japanase women, since hentai video games have given the aliens the idea that that's what Japanese women are really like.

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

• Mage Queen

A mystical and mysterious figure, the precise nature of the Mage Queen is unclear. She utters somewhat threatening dialogue that seems to put her as an enemy of Earth, but she greets the arrival of Puni Puni Poemy with joy, and considers the invading aliens a threat, only to be taken out by them.

The Mage Queen is vocalised by Yumiko Nakanishi and Tiffany Grant.

External Links

• ADV Films' Puni Puni Poemy Page Official page of the American distributor.

• Anime
• ADV Films original movies and series
• Excel Saga