Review for Paniponi Dash: Volume 5 - Delinquent Genius

Introduction

It has been almost two and a half hours since I last laughed at something. That calls for desperate measures. Unfortunately, desperate measures aren't available, so I'll have to make do with the fifth and penultimate volume of Paniponi Dash, which thus far has been funny, but not bust-a-gut hilarious. You may think that's a harsh criticism of a comedy anime show, but I have high standards that simply must be fulfilled. I'm the irate looking grump at the comedy club, sitting with his arms crossed, glaring at the comic, daring him or her to make me laugh. I'm beginning to get the feeling that comedy isn't really aimed at a guy like me. Still, I have my clipboard out, making a note of every smirk, grin, chuckle and guffaw that Paniponi Dash raises, a full scientific analysis of the comedy as it were.


Rebecca Miyamoto is an MIT graduate who is returning to Japan to teach at Momotsuki (Peach Moon) Academy. She'll be the homeroom teacher to class 1-C, and to keep her company, she has her melancholy toy rabbit, Mesousa. The only problem is that she's only eleven years old. Well that's not the only problem. The school is zany weird, her class is full of weirdoes that keep making her cry, and all the while, an alien spaceship watches from orbit, determining the future of the human race depending on how Becky performs. And while the class may be thrilled to have a genuine omega cute mascot of a schoolteacher, Becky's prone to tantrums, foul mouthed tirades and sheer obnoxiousness.


Volume 5 of Paniponi Dash from ADV comes with plenty of extras, and four episodes in which, Becky catches a cold, but the rest of class 1-C get a weird virus that sees them all quarantined, and Himeko grow a mushroom on her head; Yes, Himeko grows a mushroom on her head, which alters her personality to a child-hating, relatively normal person, so Becky goes and sulks; Becky's gone missing, just when the PTA arrive to audit her classes, meaning drama club member Serizawa will have to take on the role; Now it's television, namely the show Assault Homeroom Next Door has arrived to film in the school, except Becky doesn't want to be on television.


The episode titles are…

19. Art Causes Harm to the Body
20. A Wise Man Will Know Not To Approach Danger
21. A Demon Wearing Clothes
22. Today a Man, Tomorrow a Mouse

Picture

It's a Region 1 disc, so as you would expect Paniponi Dash gets a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer in the NTSC format. You have a lower resolution, and with it an imperceptible flicker to deal with (for some people), but you get to live without the conversion artefacts like ghosting, softness, and judder. Paniponi Dash is a visual explosion of a show, and having seen Shaft productions like Moonphase, Negima!? and Natsu no Arashi, that's really saying something. The character designs may be simplistic, but surreal is the order of the day with the animation. Anything goes, the screen is always filled with visual gags, the school blackboard offers countless opportunities for humorous graffiti (translated by the captions, explained by the Vid-notes), and breaking the fourth wall is the order of the day. The school is often portrayed as a television studio (on one occasion a member of the crew wanders on set in the middle of the take, then hurriedly sneaks off again). It's also replete with pop culture references and winks to the audience. It's a frenzy of a show that makes you glad for the invention of the pause button, just so you can take it all in.

Sound

You have a choice between DD 5.1 English and DD 2.0 Japanese. As for subtitle tracks, you have minimal signs, full signs, optional translated subtitles with minimal signs, optional translated subtitles with full signs, oh, and the AD Vid-notes tracks as well. The difference between the minimal and full signs is that more of the background blackboard gags get translated, and some people may not want the extra distraction from what's happening in the foreground. Also, the vid-notes come with a popping sound, so that means the audio tracks are here in duplicate (with added pops).


I went for the Japanese track, and as usual was happy enough with that, with some interesting character voices livening up the show. As for the English dub, I survived about 10 minutes of it. Taking a leaf from Excel Saga, ADV's approach to Japanese anime comedy is to make it as loud as possible, which quickly gets annoying. Also a 5.1 surround track is a tad overkill for what's really just a simple comedy show.

Extras

The disc comes in an Amaray case, and the sleeve has the 4-panel manga from the episode previews printed inside so that you can read them at your leisure.

Inside you'll also find an 8-page booklet, which has the second part of the eye-catch gallery, an interview with director Akiyuki Shinbo, and an interview with voice of Becky, Chiwa Saito and some untranslated comments from the same (with a link to a website that should give the translations, if only the website hadn't expired).


You will be glad to see the return of the AD Vid-notes feature, especially with this gag rich title. The AD Vid-notes are those little subtitle pop-ups that appear to explain and translate cultural specific gags, point out odd references, little bits of trivia, just so that you don't miss any of the jokes.

Also on this disc are all four textless closing sequences, two clean opening sequences, and the bloopers from the In Class With The Cast featurettes on the previous discs. These last just 4 minutes.

The previews on this disc include Air TV, This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, Red Garden, Innocent Venus, Xenosaga, and Kaleido Star: New Wings.

Conclusion

I wish I had more to offer you than just a simple ditto, more of the same, nothing new to see here, go home now you bother me. But Paniponi Dash volume 5 is just like volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the sort of comedy and characters it dishes up. If you have fallen for the charms of this show, then you'll lap this disc up, if you despise it, there's no reason for you to give it a fifth chance, but if like me you keep wavering over it, a little uncertain of its comedy value, then this is just yet another disc to scratch your bearded chin over. Yes, Paniponi Dash is funny, yes it made me laugh, and yes I did feel slightly better after ninety minutes in its company than I did before. The operative word here is 'slightly'.


I reacted to this fifth volume in just the same way as the previous ones, preferring the character-centric stories over the ones that went strictly for the zany jugular, as there's more of a hook when you have an empathy for the characters. The first episode, with it's 'Momo' virus veered to edge of zany, and with class 1-C quarantined, the focus of the show turned more to class 1-D, which Becky took over once their teacher came down with the bug. The characters were comparatively less sympathetic, and I did begin to sense my attention drifting. It came back for the second episode, which concentrates on Himeko, the weird girl with the expressive cowlick, and who says 'Maho' a lot. Except she doesn't in this episode. Now she has an alien mushroom on her head, and she's suddenly turned into a normal person, who doesn't like little children. Becky up to now has been shying away from the over-attentive Himeko, a little creeped out by her loving-big sister omega-cute persona, and it's interesting to see Becky feel desolate when that attention is removed.


The final two episodes are essentially the same story repeated. An outside agency visits the school with an interest in Becky and her class, and Becky doesn't appreciate it and hides herself away. The way they are handled is different though, with the first story a lot more mischievous and subversive, with drama queen of disguise Serizawa having to pretend to be Becky when the PTA arrive to audit the class. Serizawa is quite the mimic, although she doesn't quite get the 'hiding behind a curtain and crying' bit. When the TV crew arrives the story becomes a touch more tenderhearted, as Becky once again goes missing, although for different reasons. Being a child graduate of MIT, she's had more than her fair share of media attention, and she wants to get away from the limelight for a change. But the rest of the school is much more up for media attention, and will do anything to get on TV. The difference of opinion allows for some rather sweet class-teacher bonding.


There's always room for some silly, nonsensical, surreal humour in my life, but I do have to be in the mood for it. Paniponi Dash: Volume 5 offers more of what has come before, so in that respect, it will probably put a smile on your face. If I do have a concern, it's about the potential rewatch value. The show could go either one of two ways, it could quickly become dull and repetitive the second time around, or having gotten to know the characters the first time, may make watching the show again more rewarding. Only time will tell.