If you’d told me I’d be watching an anime episode about growing coriander, I don’t know exactly what I would have said but I’m pretty sure I would have laughed it off. But that’s Uchuujin MuuMuu, a show that dances to the beat of its own drum if any ever has. It just doesn’t give a flip about trying to be normal or do things in a normal way, that’s clear. To vibe with it you have to be OK with a certain disjointed quality that seems to an offshoot of that, a quality I think is quite intentional.
No topic is too esoteric for this series to geek out on, which as a lover of cats and esoteric knowledge is A-OK with me. Aircon is pretty universal though, especially in Japan. To be honest I’m not totally sure exactly how the pieces fit together with this chapter – that was true for the B-part as well. But the gist of it is that a professor who teaches an “easy A” course (every university has a couple) tortures his students by refusing to let them use the AC (which in Japan I believe is classed as a human rights violation – or should be). Naturally the aggrieved students go to Tenkubashi for help, as he’s already gamed the system on their behalf once.
How this aircon thing devolved into a big political football I don’t know, but it brought on some PTSD for MuuMuu. “Stickin’ it to the man” is something the Prez can always get behind, but every time he gives the students a leg up they get greedy and ruin it for themselves. We run through swamp coolers (which really only work in dry heat, which makes them largely useless in Japan) and free-standing mobile A/C units (also largely unusable). Turns out the prof is apparently doing this to confiscate the cooling devices the students bring in and sell them (I guess?) but he gets his just desserts.
The subject than turns to cannabis, sort of. It’s such a third rail in Japan that even a passing reference like this one is pretty unusual. Sakurako winds up getting asked by the head of the rakugo club to help him out in the basement of the engineering building, and Miwa being suspicious (I would say quite rightly) follows her down there. Turns out the guy is actually growing coriander – again, for reasons I’m not totally clear on. But “girls love it” (they do?) so there you go. But coriander grown in that dank dungeon has no taste, which is one if the least surprising things I’ve heard lately.
So now the wheel of geekery turns to hydroponics, about which both Miwa and Sakurako (she’s been paying attention at club) are surprisingly knowledgeable. And this actually proved to be among the most practically useful info MuuMuu has learned so far, indoor photosynthesis and all. His mind turns to the struggle with the progressive faction and how he can leverage this technology, and there are hints the last of the key players from the OP and ED are about to be introduced in a way that loops this development in. Whether this is a full-on turn to plot for the rest of the run I don’t know, but selfishly I kind of hope it isn’t because slice of life is what Uchuujin MuuMuu really does best.






TQ
July 18, 2025 at 8:15 amFor all it’s wonderful goofiness, there’s always been a serious streak running through this show – in fact, a literally deadly serious streak. It’s not at all clear that our cat-adjacent friends are the “good guys” in their conflict. Siberia isn’t convinced yet that humans are worth saving. For all the cuteness of Decimaru being infatuated with Sakurako, he’s still in love with a slave girl in his mind. And it’s been hinted many times that MuuMuu was, and still is, a very dangerous customer. This is not to say that the “other side” is any better, and I’m sure that Sakurako will eventually save us all, but it’s definitely not the typical dynamic you see from the “alien seeks help from Earthlings” genre.