Rising Sun: Pani Poni Dash Comes Up the Pipe (9)

Please read this post to me, I dont have any thumbs...

“Please read this post to me, I don’t have any thumbs…”

Noah Meyer, Blogger

Hey hey hey! It’s time for Rising Sun again. And if you’re ever wondering what it would be like to enter the work force at age 10, get ready to find out.

A while back, I decided to try out Pani Poni Dash, a animated comedy about Rebecca Miyamoto, a MIT graduate who is working as a teacher in Japan, at age 10! The show has a few quirky figures, both in Becky’s students and the fellow teachers. In Becky’s class, there’s the energetic Himeko, who always says “maho”, Sayaka “No. 6”, who claims Becky is the “_____ of the year” on a regular basis, and Miyako, who takes education seriously but hates being called a bookworm. And then there’s Ichijo. Ichijo is kinda like the show’s wild card. She engages in hilariously random activity, like trying to cause a rain storm on a camping trip, or performing a gymnast routine on the way to Becky’s research room. Ichijo’s weirdness is universally acknowledged by the cast, even to the point where they flat out reject a proposal for a “Ichijo Festival” because it’s weird.

Parody was never something I enjoyed, but Pani Poni Dash does it in a way that’s so entertaining I tend to think of it as a cameo instead. There’s plenty of references to Super Mario Bros., like when Ichijo goes through some warp pipes while everyone else is making a break for it when a favor to aspiring magical girl Behomi goes horribly wrong. In addition, the camera will occasionally show the classrooms as though they were sets on a soundstage. Not only that, there’s an episode where the characters think of following the Alice in Wonderland Rabbit, only to see the Rabbit get eaten by a snake. And have you ever wanted to see what it would be like if two people lived in a school’s vacant room? Then just follow Becky.

So if you’re looking for a show that borders between normalcy and just plain ridiculousness, Pani Poni Dash on Hulu is perfect for you.