Where else are you going to see My Little Pony, Naruto, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Skyrim all attacked in the same 20 minutes? Gags get pushed to the extreme and there are even often segments that check in with the animators of the material and push it to a strange meta level where creations riff with creator.

Pop Team Epic wears its gonzo post-modern attitude on its sleeve. The show’s theme song begins with a television that’s playing “conventional” anime before it gets destroyed by a mace-like bat. This show is determined to re-invent the medium and it’ll straight up smash the status quo to pieces if necessary. The show’s visual style catapults from drawn animation, to CGI, to stop-motion, to live-action with fearless resolve. These are the ways that the show advertised itself in Japan. Could they care any less? Episodes would also air in Japan during the relatively dead zone of 1AM, which made the series stand out even more.

Just in case this agenda isn’t clear, Pop Team Epic does one of the most ambitious things that a series could do. This is a 22-minute program, but it ostensibly ends at the 11-minute mark. It’s at that point “Bob Team Epic” starts, which essentially repeats the whole episode over again with minor changes. This might seem gratuitous, but what’s impressive here is that it’s never clear what these changes will be.

These adjustments can vary from small alterations in the animation, swapping the voice actors (right down to gender), or even changing a major plot point to a story. It’s always a weird surprise, but it’s crazy that it’s a version of this show that takes itself even less seriously. The voice actors in the “Bob Team Epic” version go for broke and there are even jokes made from which voice actors are being used together.

Pop Team Epic pushes this drugged out variety show quality that feels distinctly different than anything else that’s out there (except perhaps for Robot Chicken, but this easily gives that a run for its money). The “Hellshake Yano” sketch is also honestly the best thing that my eyes have seen all year and it’s a strong example of what this show can pull off.The series looks great and is funny as hell, but Pop Team Epic also thrives because of a rabid fan community that rivals that of shows that have been around for decades. It’s time to get on board before the anime becomes even more of a cultural phenomenon.