Day Eighty-eight - Pucca: Kung Fu Kisses, Episodes 1, 2, and 3, "This almost feels like cheating."

Based on a Korean design campaign, Pucca is a series of short episodes that feature the eponymous Pucca, a boycrazy preteen of little words (she only seems to laugh and emote, only communicating via thought bubbles and actions), whose sole purpose in life seems to be to torment a would-be ninja named Geru with her unwanted affections.

Each episode is seven minutes long and is just a quick vignette that somehow involves Pucca and her one-sided, but often sucessful, relationship with the unwilling Geru.

The first of the three I watched was entitled "Dance, Pucca, Dance" and consisted of a costume ball that Pucca forces Geru to go with her wrapped up as a sunflower so that he cannot escape. Her own costume is that of Geru's normal wear so that, when Geru's sworn ninja enemy shows up, she gets attacked instead of Geru.

The second was Soap Opera in which the lowly dishboy, Dada, is shown to be in love with the mean siren with a Queens accent, Ring Ring. While crying in his kitchen, he meets a magic dish soap fairy who makes him look and act suave, but only if he stays squeeky clean.

Prince Not So Charming was the third and followed a rich playboy as he tries to court Pucca, who only has eyes for Geru. Of course, Geru finds out about this and agrees to help him, dressing the slavic accented trust-fund baby in his outfit so Pucca mistakes the two. Once she sees through the outfit, though, she'll have none of it, so the playboy ships Geru off to a desert island solving both their problems, happily... or so they think.

Due to its length, I really did feel like I was cheating when I sat down to watch Pucca, which is why I decided to watch three episodes into order to consume a comparable block of time as a regular television series. It showed up on my queue and piqued my interest by looking cute in a weird Hello Kitty kind of way, so I decided to give it a shot. I had no idea it would be so vapid... let alone so short.

I suppose that its brevity is a blessing in disguise, as there's no real content to be had aside from its style. There's very little in the way of visual gags, but the few that are there (like the DEVO band hats and the Zoolander references) are mildly clever. Unfortunately, they really are few... and so far between. Coupled with a lack of substance, no real story, and a single-track mind when it comes to character, pretty much every episode is an exercise in crass boredom.

There's also that undercurrent of sexual harassment that just bothers the heck out of me.

I'm sure it's supposed to be cute in a Sally and Linus kind of way, but Geru obviously wants no part of Pucca's affections, having to be physically restrained while she pummels him with kisses and cuddles and going out of his way to avoid and misdirect her only to be foiled at some point during each seven minute-episode.

I think, if the sexes were reversed, folks wouldn't find it nearly as cute and I'd just point and yell at their hypocrisy.

The kawaii art is literally all the show has going for it and that's not enough. The only application that I can see for this show is playing in the background of an anime store... on mute... behind a display selling the Korean company Vooz's (who created Pucca) kitsch accessories and stuffed dolls.

I can't recommend this show unless you're an uber-fan of the recent trends of kawaii design.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~