Pani Poni Dash! Lethal Lesson, Vol. 1

Rebecca “Becky” Miyamato is a Japanese high school teacher with a degree from MIT. She's also 11 years old, yet is somehow able to maintain order in a classroom populated with teenagers (including, as the box art describes them, “the bitchy heather, the ADD spazz, the angry nerd, the identical twins, the invisible girl, the drama geek, the Nancy Drew, the gamer, the princess…”) who aren't particularly interested in learning anything. In the five episodes compiled on this dual-language disc, rated TV-PG, viewers are subjected to endless non-sequitur references and throwaway gags relating to various icons from movies, video games, and even other anime series', but even though the DVD comes with an ADVidnotes feature (in which pop-ups help explain the jokes), much of the humor may still not translate (think: Family Guy but with more obscure and esoteric references). And, quite frankly, jokes that need extra explanation generally aren't that funny in the first place. In fact, the tone of this uneven and lethargically-paced series is much closer to weird than funny, with odd running gags (such as an oversized cat whose presence antagonizes Becky's talking pet rabbit) that never quite click. DVD extras include a “Chalkboard Champions” contest. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: Pani Poni Dash!, Vol. 2 is slated for release on Feb. 6.] Aud: P. (P. Hall)