Some anime are weird in the obvious way. Some are weird in more subtle ways. It takes a special one to be both, and Uchuujin MuuMuu is definitely special. It’s odd to look at and odd under the hood. Literally nothing substantive about it is conventional. The narrative bounces all over the place like a kid with no attention span, the visuals are unique, and there’s no more singular architect of a soundtrack than Kuricorder Quartet. I don’t always know what to make of this show but thank goodness it exists.
This week’s A-part is another of those Uchuujin MuuMuu chapters that seems to come completely from nowhere, with no setup and no obvious connection to the plot (though that usually reveals itself later). A young woman is drunk at the park theatrically enough that it rather startles MuuMuu on one of his evening walkabouts. So much so, in fact, that he fetches Sakurako and drags her back there (a rather compassionate act from him, at face value). Sakurako drags the woman, Nozomi-san, home – not far, as she lives next door – and even cleans her trash heap of an apartment (which is seriously way too nice).
But wait – sweet Sakurako, with an ulterior motive? Indeed, it’s a function of her obsession with Nekopon Quest, which caused her to drop ¥252,539 (about two grand) on NekoQue merch. In desperate need of cash she takes the liberty of delivering a new fridge, which she pitches as a rental as part of the Human Regeneration Society’s new program (indeed, appliance and furniture rentals are all the rage in Japan these days). Nozomi turns out to be a pretty easy mark, no doubt in part because she realizes her life is a disaster as it stands, and winds up buying it outright. Along with a hair dryer and an IH rice cooker, all of which results in a nice kickback for Sakurako.
Nozomi winds up loosely tying into the second part, as she’s a sempai and pal of Sonoko and they now have a Tenkubashi connection. Mostly, though, this jumps right back unceremoniously into the recurring plot. Some representatives of the extremist wing are headed to Earth, and somehow Anamori-san convinces Sakurako to be the lead negotiator. We get some interesting little tidbits of information here, like the fact that MuuMuu apparently peeled the skin off a couple of scientists in a prior confrontation (weird enough that I want to know more but also kind of don’t). And maybe most relevant, that there are clans among MuuMuu’s species that rely on eating meat instead of photosynthesis for survival.
After a hilarious sight gag followed by a vaguely insulting bit of comedy, the shit hits the fan with the arrival of Admiral Carnival (Inada Tetsu), who happens to be a tiger flanked by a couple of lion lieutenants and a panther son. There’s some obvious history between Carnival and MuuMuu – the son implies that MuuMuu may have been responsible for the admiral losing a leg, but it’s not clear if that’s accurate. Carnival is here to look at refrigerators – as a carnivore that makes sense – and Sakurako does a good job impressing him with their miracles (thanks to Tenkubashi’s script). Again the desire to destroy the Earth seems to have been defused.
Unfortunately, though, a news program about the critical endangerment of tigers hits the TVs just as Sakurako is closing the deal, and all her hard work is undone. The destruction of Earth is still very much on the table and I now know way more about refrigerators than I ever needed to know. And who knew micro-freezing was even a thing? Appliance envy is a by-product of Uchuujin MuuMuu a lot of the time, and this week was certainly no exception.
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