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JRA's Pop Team Epic Collaboration Streams New Net Anime Short
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
The official website for the "Pop Team Epic Kinen" collaboration between the Pop Team Epic anime and Japan Racing Association (JRA) began streaming a completely new original net anime on Thursday. Similar to the television anime, the short includes various segments in the first half, and the voice cast changes for the second half with the same segments.
In the "Yosō-hen" (Prediction Version) segment, Popuko loses her bet in a big horse race. The "Paddock-hen" (Paddock Version) segment introduces various unique racehorses. In the "Race-hen" (Race Version) segment, Popuko as a jockey and Pipimi as her horse stop after coming out of the gate, but they still end up ahead in their race.
Mikako Komatsu and Ryusei Nakao reprised their roles as Popuko from the third episode of the television anime, and Sumire Uesaka and Norio Wakamoto reprised their roles as Pipimi. Manga creator Bkub Okawa supervised the short, and the television anime's series director Jun Aoki directed at Space Neko Company. King Records' Kotaro Sudo, the television anime's producer, also returned to produce the short.
The website revealed the video after users created more than 1 million "spectator" characters with its "Pop Team Epic Spectator Maker" feature. The site allows users to customize their own spectator characters, using the anime's characters Popuko and Pipimi as the base.
The collaboration will also hold an event at the Tokyo Keibajō racetrack on June 17. The event will feature a prize lottery for limited-edition T-shirts and fans, a photo booth, and appearances by Popuko and Pipimi. Additionally, a Twitter campaign is offering more chances to win the collaboration T-shirt.
The Pop Team Epic television anime premiered on January 6. HIDIVE, Funimation, Crunchyroll, AsianCrush, and Amazon Prime Video all streamed the anime as it aired in Japan.
The surreal four-panel manga centers around two 14-year-old girls, the short Popuko and the tall Pipimi.
Space Neko Company's Jun Aoki (Oshiruko - The Summertime Mischief, Stephan no Ongaeshi, "#1 Adachin mo Keitai ga Hoshii da chin!") and Aoi Umeki (Kamikaze Douga staffer on City Hunter's "Ryō no Propose" short) served as series directors on the television anime. Kotaro Sudo planned and produced the anime, and Aoki was in charge of series scripts. Umeki was in charge of concept design works. Tōru Kanegae directed the sound at Glovision, and Yasumasa Koyama handled sound effects. Busted Rose's Gin composed the music. Kamikaze Douga animated the series, and King Records was credited for production.
Ōkawa launched the manga on the Manga Life Win website in 2014, and ended it in 2015. Takeshobo released the manga's first compiled book volume in print in 2015. Ōkawa launched the "second season" in February 2016, and ended it on April 30. Takeshobo released the second volume in June 2017. The manga started a "third season" last October.
Vertical will begin publishing the manga in English this fall.
Sources: JRA's Umabi website, Umabi YouTube channel, Anime! Anime! (Kōtarō Nakase) via Ota-Suke
