The stage is set in a world where guinea pig became car. The car that makes you relax "Molcar". Having
big round eyes, curvy butt and speedy limbs, they always explore the world with their innocent faces.
Even during a traffic jam, you can be eased just by looking at the butt of that Molcar in front of
you. Even when they cause troubles, their furry cuteness will somehow make you forgive them!?
Surrounded by situations only met by cars, it's a Mol-animation filled with cure, friendship,
adventure and furry actions!
(Source: Muse Asia)
Note: A compilation movie titled "Tobidase! Narase! Pui Pui Molcar" was released in theaters on
July 22, 2021 in MX4D and 3D.
Pui Pui Molcar is one of the best anime of recent years, and you are missing out on it. Some of the ratings and reviews might be at least partially steeped in irony due to the weird memetic following works like this, Bananya, and the 2017 CGI Pingu reboot received. However, Molcar is sincerely one of the most charming, creative, and downright surreal anime of recent years. The best part is that you can literally watch all of it in under half an hour. So, what makes Molcar so fun? Simple: it’s a surreal, adorable comedy. Each episode is only 2 & ½ minutes, so the show relies on rapid fire joke after rapid fire joke to paint a strange and fun bite-sized story. While the first ⅓ of the anime consists of cute skits involving the molcars in order to flesh out this strange world of guinea pig cars driven by tiny toy people, the rest go in different directions. Zombie parodies, spy movie parodies, a racing episode with veggie boost power-ups, a fucking Back to the Future type episode. Each episode provides a radically different story from the last so that nothing gets stale. The sheer variety on display is staggering. Molcar is able to tell all of its stories without a single line of dialogue. The sound effects, movements, and expressions show it all, and do so with such high-octane energy. How else can the show go from an episode about a guy trying to make a romantic gesture in the midst of an ice storm, to one where a superhero fantasizing molcar gets an entire character arc stemming from receiving unwarranted magical girl customizations, back to back? How else can each of these stories still sell the emotions they wish to convey while being gut-bustingly hilarious and almost sickeningly adorable? Each of the cars have their own distinct, simple personalities that are as expressive as they need to be for these gags and stories to work, as do the one-off human characters. This show would be infinitely harder to sell if not for the stop-motion felt-doll animation for the molcars themselves, and the adorable noises they make. The way they integrate the felt with the props and other stop-motion elements, as well as the occasional 2D or live-action element, adds to each of the gags. Instances like the molcars boosting during the racing episode, or the magical girl decals reacting to whatever the hell is happening in that particular episode exemplify this. It gets even funnier once you start seeing actual people and cats reduced to tiny figurines, or when an actual hamster interacts with the felt molcars. It’s the kind of cutesy multimedia production that you just don’t see very often, and that proves to be a testament to just how much fun quirky stop-motion projects can be. There’s really not much else that can be said about Molcar beyond just rambling into review-padding digressions about stuff the Akira drift in episode 9 being followed up by an Akira parody poster in episode 10. Its setting and worldbuilding is as strange as its references and parodies are eclectic. It has an insane amount of energy, as well as a joke per minute ratio that gives early Spongebob a run for its money. Pui Pui Molcar is quirky, adorable, hilarious, and unlike any other anime you’ll probably see for a good while. The styles present here may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but with only 2 & ½ minutes per episode and a variety of cute jokes and stories presented in each, it makes for a wonderful comfort show. It’s really as simple as that, so go out there and have some fun, why don’tcha?
I want to preface this review by saying that everything that I will say in it is completely unironic. With how stacked the Winter 2021 season was, it might be extremely off putting to many people when I say that it is “the anime of a season” and a “legitimate masterpiece”. How can a children’s show about guinea pig and car hybrids be considered that good? Pui Pui Molcar is a kids show that comprises 12 two and a half minute shorts, which all in all take up around a half hour to finish. It really isn’t the type of show that you should even sell to a person, since it takes such a short time to complete. It isn’t even like it even has an actual premise. The setup for Pui Pui Molcar revolves around the antics of guinea pig and car hybrids called Molcars. There isn’t exactly an overarching plot outside of the individual episodes outside of the individual characters. The short runtime, the general premise, and the target demographic may sound like flaws to an unsuspecting person. What’s absolutely genius about Pui Pui Molcar is that it turns all of its flaws into its biggest strengths. Straight from the first episode, the first two things that are immediately noticeable is that the whole show uses stop motion animation and there is absolutely no dialogue. This show is the first anime that I have ever seen that fully commits to these two choices, and it works completely in the show’s benefit. Every single Molcar is extremely expressive, which leads to every emotion that they feel being extremely well telegraphed through their faces. The lack of dialogue isn’t exactly a factor due to how the Molcar’s faces just tell you what is happening just by their faces. The stop motion animation is also absolutely beautiful. I cannot overstate how gorgeous the animation can look at times. Every single moment is filled with vibrance and joy. The best looking episode by far is Episode 8, which still absolutely blows me away watching it. However, animation isn’t the only thing that this series has for it. The one of the highlights of this show is in the plots of every episode. The limited two and a half minute runtime for each episode leads to every single episode being told in a very efficient manner. This type of efficient storytelling is something that is rarely seen in anime, and really in any medium. A creative would have to be extremely talented in order to fit a lot of quality content in a runtime of only two and a half minutes. However, Tomoki Misato pulls this off wonderfully. There is no filler in every episode, which means that every single one feels dense with content. A lot of the episodes like Episodes 2, 5, 6, 10, and 11 have plots that are more intriguing than they really deserve to be, with better character arcs than most stories can imagine pulling off. The humor of this show is also top notch. If you have seen a cute video of an animal on the internet that made you laugh, watching an episode of Pui Pui Molcar is like amplifying that feeling tenfol. Every episode is packed with hilarious visual gags that always land. With the joke density of every short episode, it is astounding that nearly every one lands. The actual premises of the episodes do a complete service to every single strength that this series has. Due to the show being episodic, there is no real reliance on keeping a consistent plot. This factor means that every episode can go as off the deep end as they can without feeling unnatural. You could dedicate an entire full length review like this one to every episode, due they each possess their own brilliances, so I’ll keep it short. Episodes 1-5 and 12 are all pretty standard all things considered. They are what you would expect from this type of show. It doesn’t mean that it is bad, far from it. They are all very enjoyable and hilarious episodes to watch. Episodes 6-11 on the other hand, are a lot more interesting. Episodes 6-11 are each different types of genre parodies. A zombie apocalypse to time travel to an action movie, are all genres that end up being parodied in this show. Nearly every single moment of these episodes are an absolute delight to watch, since the fact there are no rules as to what the show can do makes every moment unpredictable. What is best about the show is that it never really sheds its main strengths while doing this. In nearly every episode the amazing animation and top notch visual gags are in full force. Watching this show weekly ended up being a treat, since the sheer amount of variance between the concepts that this show tackles always made thinking about what could happen next enjoyable. As I went on and on through this show, I just kept on asking, how? How does this show defy all expectations and become a masterpiece? How is every episode consistently amazing to the point of perfection? How is this even possible? Pui Pui Molcar feels like the best case scenario of what any show with any premise could be. Pui Pui Molcar sounds like a show you would call a masterpiece because of an ironic joke. However, through its stellar animation, wonderful visual gags, and legitimately amazing plots, Pui Pui Molcar shines through and becomes an unironic masterpiece. _now watch it please, it is out on netflix, and if you don’t watch it, i’ll take anime away from you_
Pui Pui Molcar is a strange anime. It involves Guinea pigs that are cars. Each episode has its self-contained story and the tone of the anime definitely feels like it is targeted to kids. Despite that, Pui Pui Molcar became one of the most popular anime in 2020 in Japan. It really can’t be underestimated how popular this anime got: Millions of views on each episode, hundreds of thousands following the anime’s twitter account, each tweet getting tens of thousands of likes. Vtubers are talking about it, twitter is making insane amounts of art for it and Netflix has picked it up for their anime catalog. What the hell is so special about this anime? So I already explained the concept: Guinea pigs that are cars. Each episode we see a different Guinea pig car doing their own thing. Sometimes we see them in a traffic jam, sometimes we see them in racing competition and sometimes we see them fighting zombies. The scenarios are delightfully wacky, but that is par for the course with kids anime. Yes, this anime is made for kids. The anime airs on a children television and the tone of the anime is really family friendly, but why do then lots of adults follow it? Well let’s start with that the anime has no dialogue whatsoever. It sometimes has japanese text, but the characters never talk in a language. This way, not only japanese kids can watch this anime with ease, anyone around the world with a brain can watch this anime easily. Secondly, the animation. The anime uses stop motion animation, with a dash of traditional photo animation and green screen. The stop motion animation looks great. It is flued and satisfying to watch, but it also has enough stilted snaps to make the comedy hit good. Some of the dust/smoke/cloud effects look especially good and when the anime goes into action scenes the stop motion looks seriously impressive. The way humans/other animals are animated is also really funny and good looking. But by far the best thing about the anime is that it is insanely charming. The Guinea pig cars have adorable designs and make heartwarming squeaky noises. Each episode has a fun twist and a short but heartwarming and wholesome story, sometimes even hilarious. The music is bubbly and fun. The anime is just a great time. Never thought I would be saying this: Pui Pui Molcar is a contender for best anime of Winter 2020. Yes, in one of the most stacked seasons of all time, which includes shows like Attack On Titan, Horimiya, Mushoku Tensei, Wonder Egg Priority, Yuru Camp Season 2 and many more banger shows, I feel Pui Pui molcar is one of the top contenders for anime of the season. Not just that: I consider this anime one of the best short anime ever produced. It is short, sweet, adorable, charming, well-animated, memorable, and most important of all, set out something to do (make an anime that people of all ages can enjoy) and it succeeds in it. The only real complaint I have is that I wish this anime had longer episodes or had more episodes, but hey, that is just a sign of how good this anime is. Watch this if you have some time to spare. It literally takes less than half an hour to watch all the episodes, and you will waste no minutes of your life watching it. It is great for kids, it is great for adults, but most shockingly, it is great for weebs.
~~~_This article is best read with a sarcastic tone in mind. The normal review's down below. Enjoy._~~~ There's good anime, then there's great anime. Then there's anime greater than that, and anime far better than that. Then there's hentai, which is something by itself entirely. But at the top of it all lie the greatest the Japanese have to offer in animation, and I firmly believe _Pui Pui Molcar_ deserves that spot. ~~~__SPOILERS AHEAD__~~~ Great anime should have great storytelling, and this one blows other great anime out of the great water. Right off the bat, you are absorbed into the world of Molcars and their daily antics, as they plow through each other in a traffic jam, race through a carrot-filled track, become accomplices to crime, save a kitty as a magic hamstergirl, survive a zombie apocalypse, travel back in time to when molcars were simple hamsters, and ultimately have a wild party. What most media fail to execute flawlessly in their respective genres, this one absolutely nails in less than three minutes! It's impertinent to call this some mediocre, half-assed show that should be dismissed as some Pengu rip-off (if you did, first of all, __how dare you__). This show tackles themes your miniscule brain couldn't even comprehend (to be fair, it takes a high IQ to truly appreciate this). The scene where Shiromo gets forced to turn to a life of crime before eventually redeeming themselves? Makes me cry every time. The one where Teddy gets a boost during the race but crashes headfirst into the fences? Masterful. The scene with an actual hamster? Meta as fuck. It's one of the reasons why this work of art should be preserved, to be enjoyed for eons to come. Oh, your anime has multi-season arcs and complex character development? You're watching a dozen episodes of hamster cars doing weird-ass shit, you think it's got time for that kind of bullshit? Your anime has a thought-provoking and harrowing plot that would leave any viewer confused? You're watching a dozen episodes of hamster cars doing weird-ass shit, that's all you need to know! Your anime is animated by the finest in the industry and has a million dollar budget? You're watching a dozen episodes of hamster cars doing weird-ass shit, even a middle schooler could make it as an art project! All your arguments are invalid before what could be the pinnacle of human creativity. You're looking at anime perfection, folks. ヽ(✿ﾟ▽ﾟ)ノ ~~~_Here's the normal review:_~~~ The show follows the daily lives of creatures known as Molcars, hamster cars made of felt, and you'd be forgiven if you'd just want to squeeze those little munchkins to death. The use of felt works really well, much like what _Rilakkuma and Kaoru_ have done (oddly enough, both are made by different studios, but I haven't checked whether they share the same staff). Each episode runs about three minutes, and watching through the whole thing only takes up almost half an hour of your time. It's quite a harmless show, so it's great for when you want to watch "anime" with the family and not get suspicious looks afterwards. It definitely got a chuckle out of me, and most of the time I sympathize with the molcars as they shiver in fright or confusion. It's pretty great! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ #~~~★★★~~~
~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/1uylfHt.png)~~~
# ~~~__Spoiler-free review__~~~
[This review may contain mild-to-minor spoilers for the 12 episodes of molcar.] Pui pui molcar is a psychological horror TV short released in the year 2020 alongside jujutsu kaisen and attack on mid.The episodes are only 2 minutes long and the show has little to no dialogue outside of gibberish, so naturally, there are a lot of questions raised about the lore. The premise of this series is that Guinea pigs evolved into cars over time(somehow, it's never explained) and co-exist with our human society. The show features many molcars, but it's limited to it's main quartet when it comes to the main focus: Potato, Choko, Shiromo and Teddy... Wdym there were 5 of them? Abby? Wtf, I thought that was Shiromo this whole time. Whatever. I guess it's my fault for speedwatching. Anyway, the show is rather episodic, each episode focusing on different genres and scenarios these characters are in, and while the characters don't talk, they're quite self-aware that these scenarios are being created for them and play the part they're supposed to. This may have inspired kekkai sensen to invent a time machine and use this formula first. Maybe it even inspired the beloved series gintama to do the same(molcar does have police officers, after all.) So anyway, what does the summary of this review entail? Well, it's cause I have many questions about how this series functions. Namely, where did the zombies come from? Why did they genderbend Marty McFly? If molcars evolved from Guinea pigs, why are Guinea pigs live action while molcars are cotton? What was with that plot point about one of the molcars wanting to become a superhero so a paintjob turned him into a magical girl? How many people died in this universe because the molcars kept running them over? Honestly, these questions intrigue me way more than they should and it becomes very distracting. I know nothing about this universe, nor the way this world functions. I also don't get the lack of exploration into what molcars mean to this universe. Like, for some reason they're spies and do a whole bunch of shit, but they still obey the humans? What do the humans do in this universe if molcars take up all the jobs? It honestly feels like the same as our universe but the cars are cute and have feelings of their own, so because of that slight difference, everything must be named after these cars? Why do molcars matter so much in this universe if we humans still oppress them? Why do guinea pigs evolve into giants with their own somewhat intelligent conscious, yet cats are given the stupid treatment and never allowed to evolve? Idk maybe they should have just explored the politics some more. Maybe even the worldbuilding which is never expanded upon beyond episode 11. Nothing in this show makes any sense.. Anyway, best thing I've ever seen, 10/10.
__~~~Review em português de PUI PUI Molcar, escrita por dopopo. ~~~__ PUI PUI Molcar é com certeza um dos melhores animes que eu já vi, e chega perto de ser o melhor anime de 2021, sendo passado apenas por Sonny Boy. Mas você deve estar se perguntando, Dopo, isso me parece muito mais um desenho para crianças do que algo realmente bom, qual o motivo de você gostar tanto disso? A resposta é simples, mesmo com um formato extremamente fofo e infantil, Molcar consegue contar uma história que retrata perfeitamente diversos problemas sociais da atualidade. Entre os temas discutidos, podemos ressaltar, capitalismo, vício, a polícia causando agressão extrema, degeneração da mente humana, poluição, egoísmo, maltrato aos animais, escravidão e muitos outros. O interessante de Molcar, é a capacidade de retratar temas sérios e ao mesmo tempo transmitir um sentimento de paz jamais sentido pelo espectador, assim podendo ser apreciado tanto pelo público infantil quanto por pessoas adultas. O episódio dos zumbis deve ser meu favorito, expressando perfeitamente o egoísmo dos seres humanos, a cidade onde se passa a história sofre de um ataque de zumbis e o desespero se alastra, mas a crítica social aparece na hora onde os Molcars tentam pegar um hambúrguer dos zumbis, e com um visual storytelling praticamente perfeito, o preconceito racial foi tratado de uma das melhores maneiras que eu já vi, e mesmo depois de terem decidido dividir o hambúrguer, deixando a carne para os zumbis e os vegetais para Molcars, um deles acaba sendo infectado pelos zumbis, e agora mesmo estando sempre do lado de seus amigos da mesma espécie, ele se volta contra eles. Também podemos destacar o episódio que retrata a poluição e também maltrato aos animais, nesse universo os Molcars são dirigidos por humanos, e só isso também ja é capaz de dizer muita coisa sobre nossa sociedade, mas nesse episódio, o humano dirigindo o Molcar decide jogar lixo na rua e assim cometendo uma ultraje ao meio ambiente. Mas o seu Molcar acha que aquele lixo é na verdade comida e engole tudo sem nem pensar duas vezes, o humano por sua vez, começa a tratar aquela situação como uma relação apenas entre lixo e lixeira, jogando cada vez mais lixo para seu Molcar comer. img2200(https://i.imgur.com/9HmdGQL.jpg) Mas agora com toda a seriedade, PUI PUI Molcar é uma das coisas mais fofas, charmosas e surreais que eu vi em um tempo, cada episódio tem apenas 3 minutos mas consegue entreter 3 milhões de pessoas e com certeza até mais que isso. Eu altamente recomendo PUI PUI Molcar pra qualquer pessoa que esteja lendo isso, tenho certeza que você irá gostar, ou até mesmo amar. __NOTA FINAL: 80/100__ (btw é a minha primeira review no site, aceito todo tipo de crítica construtiva para melhorar)
When I watched the first episode of PUI PUI Molcar I had no idea what to expect, but whatever underlying expectations I must have had were exceeded. It was an instant plan for me and I’ve rewatched it too many times. I’ve shown it to family members with an expectant grin and even people I would not expect to enjoy this goofy show have watched it with a smile on their faces. img220(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/690525234331254835/804013571435659294/EsGIDZaVoAAUM3X.png?width=720&height=475) In an industry constantly evolving and innovating, nothing screams ‘breath of fresh air’ more than stop frame animation done right. The use of felt isn’t completely new to anime, see Pop Team Epic or BEASTARS, but to have the whole show be made from felt is something new (to me at least). I have spent many hours using felt myself, it’s one of my favourite hobbies when I have the time spare for it so I know the amount of time this must have taken just to get the characters together, let alone the actual animation of them. The ability to express the emotions the Molcars have in a medium with less freedom of movement in it compared to other stop frame media such as plasticine takes skill- they are expressive and you can easily see how they feel through the use of both their faces and the noises they make. img220(https://puipuimolcar.mgae.com/images/modules/product-module/meet/pui-pui-molcar-shiromo.png) It’s very short and of course without any dialogue it does make it more difficult to actually have a story, but even then the episodes do have compelling stories (as much as a few minutes could compel someone). For example, the episode where Abbey becomes a magical girl mol, I think that episode is really sweet. It doesn’t need to have a complex plot, it’s just funny and silly and I love it for it. Ah yes, the episode where a guinea pig is used as a getaway car for a bank robber and then gets back in time for its owner to drive home? The episode where a guinea pig ambulance has to drive over a chain of other guinea pig cars because there’s a car blasting music too loud to hear that it needs to move? Molcar. I can say nothing else. Despite the whole series taking place over around the same length as a standard anime episode, each of the molcars have their moments to shine. I have even made my own little molcars! I love how they turned out, I bought the eyes especially and I’d like to share them with you: img220(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/488780748502073366/829753240110891123/IMG_3781.jpg?width=507&height=676) img220(https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/488780748502073366/828655767099801621/IMG_3744.jpg?width=490&height=676) One is inspired by Potato, the other Teddy. The smaller one took me almost a week, the bigger one 2 weeks (on and off most evenings). While this is mostly just a rambly mess, I highly recommend Molcar, not just for the meme- it is genuinely one of the best ways you could spend half an hour of your time <3 youtube(https://youtu.be/jMA46qg4MLE)