Pui Pui Molcar Driving School does not live up to the expectations set by the original. You heard me right. I'm the only idiot to take this show serious enough to say it.
I am by no means saying it's bad. It's a damn work of art. I have a lot of respect for the stop-motion genre as someone who spent a lot of time messing around with the concept when I was younger. It takes a lot of time and energy, and this series is impressive from a production standpoint. However, said production is less engaging than the original- in my opinion, at least.
Pui Pui Molcar season 1 is a work of art. It knows its premise is batshit and runs with it. There are frequent references to pop culture in Transformers, Back to the Future, and many other things I never picked up on- one of which being a Molcar preforming an Akira slide. It knows it's surreal, and leans into it. No punches are held back. In episode 1, the Molcars are stuck in a traffic jam. In episode 11, they're time travveling to prehistoric earth to meet actual hamsters (with a cameo by Tsumigi, the hamster who provided the Molcar's sounds. RIP legend). It slowly but surely takes itself from enjoyable to stupidly entertaining. Molcars get hijacked, there are zombies, and there's a ton more insanity that the show simply embraces.
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Pui Pui Molcar Driving School takes a step back from its absurdism and takes the approach of a more realistic and grounded setting. It's not a bad idea in concept, but it's a bit of a culture shock coming from actual time travel. The Molcars must attend driving school. There's rarely a time when this show pushes the envelope quite like season 1- save for episode 9, "Exciting! Lunar Training," where the Molcar students visit
T H E
M O O N.
It's a nice way to remember the series' wild roots. And I'm not saying that the toned-down episodes aren't bad, either, it's still a marvel of Stop-Motion and creativity. It's still Pui Pui Molcar, after all.
The sets used look better, the animation is more fluid and still experimental as always, and the emotions of the Molcars are way better put across than in the first season. The Molcars become actual characters with character arcs. I can totally see why some people might prefer this to season 1. It's still charming, and if you prefer the grounded approach, this may be better for you. I can totally see that.
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All in all, Pui Pui Molcar Driving School isn't a waste of time. Far from it: from a technical and production standpoint, it's far past its predecessor. However, it falls short of its first season by holding back far more than it once did, which hampers the laws of this previously-established world- or at least, that's how I' see it.
Basically, I'm a lunatic who thinks that season 2 of Pui Pui Molcar is slightly worse than the first for being a bit more restrained in its concepts. It's not a bad idea, and it's still enjoyable, but what was once a pillar of creativity is now hampered slightly by the laws it created for itself.
Anyway, this show gets a 10000000000000000/100. It's peak. My favorite part was when Potato said "It's Molcarin' time" and proceeded to drive directly into the sun, destroying it and stealing the light from the universe as if he was Ultra Necrozma from Pokémon Ultra Sun and or Moon. It's kill or be killed, and none shall stand in the way of his ultimate victory.
I'm a lunatic.