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.