2 sources 1m ago
POPEE the Performer Returns to Kids Station for 39-Episode New Year's Eve Marathon
Kids Station will air all 39 episodes of POPEE the Performer in a single marathon on Thursday, December 31, running from 25:55 to 30:00, which on the calendar is Friday, January 1, 2027 from 1:55 to 6:00.
Reporting from 2 sources: Denfaminicogamer, KAI-YOU.
Why it matters
A children's channel is giving a four-hour overnight slot to a silent black-comedy short that once had episodes pulled from rebroadcast, which says more about the series' afterlife on video sites and abroad than about its original run.
Key Facts
- Kids Station will air all 39 episodes of POPEE the Performer in a marathon on December 31 from 25:55 to 30:00, which is January 1, 2027 from 1:55 to 6:00.
- The POPEE the Performer official X account announced the Kids Station rebroadcast on October 27, 2026.
- POPEE the Performer is a 3DCG short anime set at Wolf Circus in a desert, centered on the apprentice clown Popee and the masked animal Kedamono.
- Ryuji Masuda handled original work, direction, script, and staging for POPEE the Performer, with Wakako Masuda on character design and art setting.
The official X account announced the broadcast on October 27, framing it as a return to the channel that first carried the 3DCG short anime in the early 2000s. The series is set at Wolf Circus in the middle of a desert and follows Popee, an apprentice clown in a rabbit-like headpiece, and Kedamono, a masked animal whose face changes with his emotions, through wordless, music-driven routines. Ryuji Masuda handled original work, direction, script, and staging, with Wakako Masuda on character design and art setting. The show is known for black humor and violent gags involving explosions, guns, and blades, and some episodes were voluntarily withheld from rebroadcast after the original run.
The marathon is billed as a special New Year holiday programming block. The official account's announcement read "POPEE the Performer is coming back to Kids Station," a return to the channel that aired the show in the early 2000s.
The series has kept moving since then. It was released on DVD and picked up new viewers through video sites, and 2025 marks 25 years since its broadcast. In 2026 an official collaboration with the overseas 3DCG series The Amazing Digital Circus took place, after that show's creator Gooseworx publicly cited POPEE the Performer as an influence. In August, a screening event titled POPEE the Performer: Wolf Circus Shibuya Triumphant Performance was held at CINE QUINTO in Shibuya, Tokyo, with the main feature shown theatrically. The New Year's Eve block is scheduled to include every episode, including the ones held back from earlier rebroadcasts.
Written with AI by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited. See our editorial policy.
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