No one was more surprised than me that Uchuujin MuuMuu was confirmed as a two (consecutive) cour show this week. But it’s the “surprised and delighted” kind, as I’ve really come to love this disjointed fever dream of a series. I haven’t seen much evidence that it’s popular, though I couldn’t say for sure, so as is usual this was surely decided in advance. Given that the manga is ongoing it’s unlikely to be a complete adaptation even so, but I feel like I’m playing with house money at this point, because if any show ever seemed like a probable one and done, it’s this one.
FLCL is the sort of series whose spirit seems to pop up in the most unexpected places, given that it’s among the most influential anime ever made. And I was really struck by how much that spirit lives in Uchuujin MuuMuu. It’s hard to quantify – more a “you know it when you see it” kind of thing – but it’s there. FLCL had an enormous budget for the time and two of the biggest powerhouse studios in anime had to co-produce it, so demanding was the production. Uchuujin MuuMuu is a product of the relatively humble OLM and clearly relying on craft and wit to overcome a modest set of resources. But it doesn’t matter – its embrace of inspired lunacy is as genuine as it gets.
The big MacGuffin this week is hay fever. It’s a huge deal in Japan with its massive annual rainfall, and Sakurako suffers from it (much to MuuMuu’s horror). Her explanation is deft if graphic, but MuuMuu tells her that all plants died out on his world long ago. This bridges neatly into the topic of air purifiers, about which Tenkubashi naturally has very strong opinions. I’ve always known those “negative ion” machines were a massive scam – they scream it from every pore. But, he says, there are good ones out there. And he sings of praises of Swedish design, highlighting the need for good purifiers in a land where it’s too cold to open the windows for half the year.
However, the elephant in the room is the giant spaceship in the room (the room is Kanagawa, actually). And when a truck crashes into the Human Regeneration room, you can bet there’s a connection. The driver is a serval cat named Dry (Yoshino Hiroyuki). He’s from the radical wing, it seems, and so is that ship. They’ve concluded that human technology is too backward to really help them restore their own civilization (well…), and the planet should be converted into a supply depot for a trip to a world with better gadgets.
Dry is a piece of work, that’s for sure. But MuuMuu is more than he can handle, as their confrontation proves. Dry refers to MuuMuu as being from the assassin’s group (and as “Patchwork” MuuMuu), and he’s certainly got some skills on display here. He subdues the serval quickly enough, but the planned attack from the mothership is the problem. That is, until hay fever rears its ugly head (if you’ve seen or read War of the Worlds, this will look very familiar), and the invaders have broken their aircon arm wrestling on it. And this also gives MuuMuu the chance to peddle some air purifiers (with HEPA filters) to the serval gang. But you get the sense that this is a crisis deferred, not averted.
It’s all great fun, as usual, and as always Kuricorder Quartet’s unmistakable soundtrack is a huge part of it. Knowing now that there’s another 12 or so episodes of time to work with I have to reset my expectations of where Uchuujin MuuMuu might go with the story from here. This is one of those anime where you really need to sit back and enjoy the ride, though, so I’m not going to obsess over that question – I’m happy just to enjoy the ride.
