Characters
The star of the show, Poemi Watanabe is 10 years old and hyperactive beyond comparison. Described as "wastefully energetic", she's an eager student, she's got a crush on K, the popular boy in her class, and she wants to become a voice actress. She normally breaks the fourth wall by referring to herself as "Kobayashi", which is the last name of her own voice actress, Yumiko Kobayashi. Poemy also breaks the fourth wall by referring to Nabeshin as "the Director", since Nabeshin is voiced by Shinichi Watanabe himself, the director of the series.
After her adoptive parents, Nabeshin and Kumi-Kumi, are killed by Alien #1, Poemy moves in with her best friend, Futaba Aasu. Then, when an alien mecha attacks the city, Poemy encounters a mysterious and silent man playing the shamisen, who is apparently her real father, and he gives her a fish, which when gutted and used as a magic wand, allows her to transform into Puni Puni Poemy, a magical girl embodying the will of Earth itself.
Nabeshin is the animated alter-ego of real-life director Shinichi Watanabe, who previously appeared in Puni Puni Poemy forerunner, Excel Saga. At the conclusion of that series, he married Kumi-Kumi, and at the beginning of this show, they have adopted ten-year-old Poemy. As in Excel Saga, Nabeshin seems to be constantly hunted down by different enemies, and being the director of these shows, he displays super-human abilities that involve his afro. In this occasion, Nabeshin and his wife are successfully killed by crucifixion, along with their robotic pet dog, by Alien #1. However, near the end of the second part they are inexplicably alive and appear to be the alien henchmen themselves.
Voiced by: Satomi Korogi (Japanese, uncredited); Tiffany Grant (English)
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. He finally relented, marrying her at the end of the final episode. At the start of Puni Puni Poemy, she and Nabeshin now have Poemy as their adopted daughter. Despite being killed by the alien invader along with Nabeshin, Kumi-Kumi apparently saved her husband using acupuncture, and they are both alright at the end of the second part.
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 octopus-like alien who had been raised in human form for ten years, and he takes charge of the invasion of the planet, which is focused on ravishing Japanese women, since hentai transmissions have given the aliens the idea that that's what women are really like. K, whose real name is Space Alien Prince, is composed entirely of tentacles as he and his family parody the Mars People from the game series Metal Slug.
A mysterious figure, the precise nature of the Mage Queen is not explained. Initially, her somewhat threatening monologue aboard a space station that oversees Earth seems to count her an enemy. However, she greets the eventual arrival of Puni Puni Poemy with joy and considers the invading aliens a threat. Her reign as queen of the magic is cut short when she is assassinated by Alien #2. Her design is based on the female characters of Leiji Matsumoto.
– Alien 1
– Alien 2
These extraterrestrial assassins dress like pimps from the waist up and speak in an undecipherable hipster jargon. Their genitalia look like Bungee Balls that hang down to their knees, and can be used as sort of like whips. Alien #1 has one such testicle, and Alien #2 has two, and no reason for this anatomical difference is given. Early in the first episode, Alien #1 kills Nabeshin and Kumi-Kumi, and then controls the giant robot that attacks the city. Then, during most of the second episode, he spends his time at the Aasu household completely unnoticed, even joining the girls in the bathtub, until he captures them. Alien #2's main role is in arriving with a giant battleship and attacking the Mage Queen. Ultimately, both alien henchmen are not whom they appear to be, as in a paradox they take off their disguises and reveal to be Nabeshin and Kumi-Kumi, who are alive and well.
- Poemi "Kobayashi" Watanabe (ワタナベぽえみ)
- Shinichi "Nabeshin" Watanabe (ワタナベシンイチ Watanabe Shin'ichi, ナベシン Nabeshin)
- Kumi-Kumi (クミクミさん Kumikumi-san)
- Mage Queen (魔道士の女王 Madō-shi no joō)
The Aasu Sisters
Poemy's classmate, Futaba, is but one of the seven Aasu sisters, protectors of Earth. Aasu is the Japanese transliteration of the English word "Earth", and each of the girl's names is derived from a number: seven, six, five, and so on. All of the girls have magical powers, but given that these powers are purely defensive in nature, the family is useless as an offensive unit. Additionally to their family name referring to the Earth, aasu is also the Japanese transliteration of the English words "arse" or "ass", which is comically exploited in the English dub, such as the character Futaba saying "save my Aasus" when the sisters are captured.
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".
Mutsumi is 22 years old, and much to her own surprise speaks with a Kansai accent (in the English language dub a Brooklyn accent is used). She has something of a complex about the small size of her breasts. Her power is the Earth Breakfall, which means she can fall over safely. Her name is derived from mutsu, the Japanese word for "six". Her short, purple hair, and her white outfit, make her physically similar to the first Ropponmatsu from Excel Saga.
The 19-year-old Itsue is working her way through high school as a dominatrix, and is prone to using her whip to physically abuse her sisters when she gets angry. Her power, the Earth Barrier Shield, enables her to generate a protective energy field, which she activates while spinning her
