Popuko is small and quick to anger. Pipiumi is tall and serene. Together these two high school girls swear like sailors and get up to all sorts of insane and meta activities.
Pop Team Epic has a bit of a polarizing effect on the anime community right now, but if you are into absurdist comedy with ten tons of pop culture references packed into a small package, Pop Team Epic and these anime recommendations have something for you to enjoy.
Anime Like Pop Team Epic
For Fans of Humor Through Absurdity
Osomatsu-San
In the Matsuno household, there are six identical siblings – the self-centered Osomatsu, the manly Karamatsu, the reasonable Choromatsu, the cynical Ichimatsu, the hyper Juushimatsu, and the cute Todomatsu. Despite all being adults, they all live as NEETS. This is their journey of trying to become proper adults.
Absurd, random, and utilizing a different sort of animation style to set it apart, both Pop Team Epic and Mr. Osomatsu are a new breed of comedy anime. They are both fairly crude, but filled with pop culture and you never really know what is going to happen.
Gintama
After aliens invade Japan, they put a prohibition on swords. However, Gintoki Sakata still possesses the heart of a samurai. Taking on odd jobs alongside of his friends, Gintama follows Gintoki during his chaotic life as an errand boy.
Gintama mastered absurdist comedy and rapid fire pop culture references in its many, many seasons long before the Pop Team Epic anime came along. However, because Pop Team Epic is a short-episode series, it manages to cram a lot into a small time slot. However, opposed to older seasons of Gintama, the references in Pop Team Epic are much newer.
Panty and Stocking With Gaterbelt
The “Anarchy Sisters,” Panty and Stocking, were kicked out of heaven for bad behavior. In Daten City, these angels, led by the priest Gaterbelt, buy their way back by exterminating ghosts. However, in order to defeat these foes, they must transform their lingerie into weapons.
To be honest, if Panty and Stocking came with more pop culture references (it has some already), you might call these shows exactly the same. They both follow foul-mouthed girls as they do… Basically whatever they want. They are both absurd, random, and definitely comedy for adults despite the more childish look.
For Fans of Pop Culture Overload
Animegataris
Lately Minoa Asagaya is dreaming about a particular scene in an anime from her childhood that she cannot remember. In an effort to solve the mystery, she enlists the help of her classmates, only for her meeting to be overheard by the wealthy and hardcore otaku Arisu Kamiigusa. It is this altercation that leads to the founding of the Anime Research Club.
If you enjoyed the anime references in Pop Team Epic, but would still preferred something less crass and with a more traditional anime animation style, Animegatrais is a great option. While it is not always specifically comedy, more slice of life, you get tons of anime references.
Lucky Star
Lucky Star follows the average, but surprisingly eventful lives of four high school girls, lead by the short and lazy otaku Konata Izumi. Throughout their hijinks they discuss humorous observations about the world around them, ranging from everything from otaku culture to the correct way of eating foods.
I feel like the difference between Lucky Star and Pop Team Epic is often the crass nature of the girls. In Pop Team Epic, they are foul-mouthed, in Lucky Star they are not. Of course, both shows have many references to other anime series, but Pop Team Epic’s references sometimes go beyond being just anime.
Sgt. Frog
After landing on Earth, Keroro, frog sergeant and leader of the Space Invasion Army Special Tactics Platoon of the 58th Planet in the Gamma Planetary System tries to invade the Hinata home to set up his home base for world domination. However, the two siblings of the home end up being a little more than this sergeant can handle.
While Sgt. Frog is distinctly aimed towards a younger audience, it is something you can enjoy if you liked the Pop Culture references in Pop Team Epic. The issue is not the amount of pop culture references, but rather that many of them are specific to Japan. You will get your Japanese pop culture on point, but it might merit a lot of googling.
For Fans of Sketch Comedy
Nichijou
Nichijou is about the daily lives of a trio of three friends who soon find their fate intertwined with a young genius, her robot maid, and talking cat. Needless to say, the normal does not ensue.
Cute girls? Check. Random out of this world events? Check. Sketch comedy of randomness? Check. Pop Team Epic is close to Nichijou come again but in a different wrapper with more pop culture. If you want something equally as funny with more “anime-esque” characters, Nichijou is an excellent watch for any anime fan.
Cromartie High School
Takashi Kamiyama is your typical mild-mannered high school student. However, instead of living a boring normal life, he enrolls at infamous Cromartie High School, a school known for breeding thugs. It is this decision that sees the end of his normal high school days.
Cromartie is a classic sketch comedy series. It is random, it is full of (to be fair, Japanese) pop culture references, and the sheer manliness of it is comical. While Pop Team Epic is distinctly more moe, it berates you with pop culture and its absurdity keeps the laughs coming.
School Rumble
Sophomore high school student Tenma Tsukamoto is on a quest to confess her feelings to the boy she likes. Kenji Harima, a delinquent, is on the same quest. This is the story of the complicated world of one-sided romance.
Do you like Pop Team Epic because it is excessively random? School Rumble is the same. While it is reined in by a very, very loose plot of school love, things happen that are not expected in the least, and that is part of the joy of both series.
Do you have any more anime recommendations like Pop Team Epic? Let us know in the comments section below.
