Abandoned by their abusive parents and with only each other to depend on, siblings Utsutsu and Yume Hasegawa find themselves led astray by beautiful red butterflies that have appeared in their world. Unbeknownst to them, these crimson winged heralds trumpet the beginning of a cannibalistic nightmare—a mysterious virus known as Pupa is about to hatch.
After succumbing to the full effects of Pupa, Yume undergoes a grotesque metamorphosis into a monstrous creature with an insatiable desire for flesh; Utsutsu, on the other hand, is only partially affected, gaining remarkable regenerative powers instead. Reaffirming the resolve to keep the promise he made to himself years ago, Utsutsu is willing to sacrifice everything in order to always be there for his precious little sister.
Pupa tells the story of a loving brother's desperate struggles to save his sister while protecting the world from her uncontrollable hunger.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
Marow
When I first heard of Pupa it seemed rather interesting and worth looking forward to. Based on the horror manga with the same name, Pupa tells the story about two orphaned siblings who only have each other to rely on after severe domestic violence. However, one day they are both infected with the Pupa virus which turns the younger sister Yume into a grotesque man-eating monster while the older brother Utsutsu gains regenerative abilities. This is, to put it bluntly, an exciting premise and Pupa appeared to have all the elements to make a memorable horror anime. While there had been mixed opinions from those whohad read the manga, I figured that at the very least it would make for an experience unlike any other in recent years.
What I personally found to be noteworthy was how Pupa appeared to be the complete opposite of the recent brother and sister relationship trend in anime that often danced around incestuous undertones. Here we would instead have an older brother who had to sacrifice his own body to satisfy his little sister’s cannibalistic hunger. Rather than a cheerful outlook it was cynical one full of dread and hopelessness.
Ironically, much like a cruel joke, it was the actual anime adaptation itself that became full of hopelessness. You see, Pupa was originally announced in early 2013 yet all buzz around it quickly faded due to a lack of news. Months passed and finally a vague air date was revealed: the fall anime season. Eventually the fall anime season approached, however Pupa was nowhere to be seen. The staff apologized for the delay and announced the series would instead air in the winter anime season 2014. At this point in time there were also some bad rumors floating around, mentioning how Pupa would be a short five-minute anime and not actually full-length.
Today, we all know the result. Indeed, Pupa ended up only being a couple of minutes per episode. As you might understand, this is a format that makes the actual horror atmosphere a disservice. It is impossible to create a proper eerie atmosphere with such little time, especially if the story is to move forward in a reasonable manner. Speaking of the story, it is nothing but haphazardly told nonsense. It jumps from one event to the next with little to no explanation and ends in the middle of nowhere.
To make the story even more difficult to follow, Pupa suffers from heavy censoring for no obvious reason. It is also incredibly inconsistent – sometimes censoring a mere knife while letting loads of guns pass – and often covers the whole screen with censor beams, effectively destroying what little that was left of the actual horror.
Exactly to who is Pupa aimed towards? Fans of the manga will be disappointed with this mess of an adaptation while anime viewers will be utterly confused. I cannot come up with any good explanation myself other than that this is the worst anime I have ever seen.
literaturenerd
Overview: Little can be said about Pupa that hasn't been said already. It combines some of the more...icky fetishes together into one cluster fuck, but then censors itself and fails to even entertain those few individuals it was aimed at. Imagine if the Human Centipede or Salo was censored down to a PG-13 rating. What the hell would be the point of watching?! The brilliant plot?! The splendidly written characters and dialogue? There is NOTHING left of value! Marketing skills: -10/10 Let us do a little math. Let us say hypothetically that 1 in 1,000 people have a sibling incest fetish and 1 in 100,000 have acannibalism "vore" fetish. Assuming these unusual fetishes are independent events, the number of people with both a cannibalism and a sibling incest fetish (the target audience of this show) would be a whopping 1 in 100 million people. The global population in 2015 is 7 billion, so the target audience is 70 sick motherfuckers on the entire planet, that would actually enjoy this show. I fucking hope those 70 people are happy, because we other 6 billion 999 milllion 999 thousand 930 people are NOT!
Plot: -π/10
"I'm gonna eat you up Oni chaaaan!" "Oh yes little sister, please eat me!" (chomp) (slurp) (moans of pleasure). Rinse and repeat for 12 God Damn episodes! At least each episode is short!
Art: 2/10
As mentioned above, the bright lights of censorship prevent this from even having the macabre fun of a Cannibal Holocaust. I'm convinced that everyone involved with this production simply hated Mankind.
Overall: 1/10
"What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an Angel! in apprehension how like a god! The beauty of the world! The paragon of animals! And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me" - EVERYONE after watching this series!
eririri
Pupa is a symbolic story of an abused maiden, Yume, who upon entering puberty develops an abominable and perilous love for her older brother Utsutsu. Seemingly a series which only caters to those who are gratified by gore and incestuous lust, Pupa actually explores, more than most other “imouto shows”, the complexities of the tabooed love between siblings. Perhaps most importantly, understanding of the series’ themes necessitates recognizing the circumstances surrounding the siblings’ childhood, and the Freudian psychoanalyses which the author may well have been inspired by. Sigmund Freud pioneered the field of psychology during his time, and a significant portion of his revolutionary findingscan be summarized into the notion that powerful childhood experiences, even if the subject does not remember said experiences, can subconsciously and drastically affect the development of libido and bring about what is known in psychology as “sexual aberrations”.
Yume and Utsutsu grew up with an abusive and sadistic father, their only solace lying in each other. Utsutsu seeks comfort from his sole purpose of defending his beloved sister, whereas Yume is soothed only by her brother’s protecting arms. Yume is, metaphorically, a pupa containing the unnatural feelings imprinted into her subconscious during her childhood. Fast forward to puberty, and these feelings undergo a metamorphosis into a “monster”, in this case her monstrous lust for her brother. Both Yume herself and her surroundings realize the abominable nature of her love, yet Utsutsu remains in complete denial as Yume’s love has always been a natural and pivotal part of his life.
There are several factors which gives rise to this interpretation. Yume morphs into a monster in a set time-cycle, and requires feeding in this cycle. This is comparable to the menstruation cycle which initiates during puberty, and the cyclical inclination to sexual activities which arises from it. While this depiction is blatantly simplified and even sexist, it is not completely unjustified as a symbolic representation of an especially anomalous case. The infamous feeding sessions are, as many suspected, metaphors for sexual intercourse. Both parts are reluctant to this act; Yume is afraid of hurting his brother for her own selfish desires, while Utsutsu is unable to derive sexual enjoyment from intercourse with his sibling, hence his suffering during feeding. Yet, he is unable to leave his sister in misery, and Yume imminently succumbs to her lust. Interestingly, neither characters perceive the act as perverted or sexualized, further proving the psychological derangement of them.
As Yume and Utsutsu fall deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole, their conflicting feelings are depicted as outside forces which seek to interfere with their relations. Both are chained and tormented by unknown institutions, which they are eventually forced to confront and demolish. Perhaps they shatter the barrier erected by the morality of society, as symbolized by the slaughtering of the soldiers? Or do they overcome the innate biological repulsion toward incestuous acts, symbolized by the malign scientists? Yume’s and Utsutsu’s struggles with themselves as well as each other are undoubtedly convoluted, and Pupa provides an interesting and unconventional depiction of this strife.
Any analysis above is only that of the writing and themes, and it is important to keep in mind that the anime is an adaptation by studio DEEN of the manga original. As is widely established, the animated Pupa’s production values are certainly not top-notch. While the animations are completely inexcusable, I personally do not find the art or sound too terrible considering that most shorts are not visual spectacles. Though this is rather inconsequential in its evaluation. More importantly, the short length of the adaptation has simplified the story to the point that it scarcely contains anything beyond vital plot elements. Add to this the frequent interruption of the narrative and the pacing problems it imposes, it becomes rather difficult to form an emotional attachment to the characters or the story.
In conclusion, I do not think Pupa deserves all the ridicule and hatred that is being dished out. It provides a fascinating and unique symbolic illustration of the overused incest trope, complete with a hint of psychoanalysis that it deserves. Yet, when subjected to the magical touch of studio DEEN, it becomes a terrible series from every perspective other than the psychological.
Laora-inn
This anime, I think, can't be understood literally. It's a story about complicated and extremely painful relationship between brother and sister who were abused by their father since early childhood. The siblings are alone in whole world, adults are some kind of threat for them; so they begin to build their own world, their... cocoon of maturity. The beginning of anime underlines: it's a story about siblings' love, and, actually, there IS a lot of love. Maybe, too much. But children haven't ever known what "normal" love should be. Their father abused them, their mother ignored them, and such type of relationship was "so itbe" for them. They are used to be beaten and to protect each other; now they are alone, they are closer to adults by age (but aren't adults YET), they can be free of abusing... More than it, their abuser wasn't interested in them during some time.
But they love each other so, so much, how should they express it? They were beaten and protecting each other before; now they are not beaten, can't feel pain and take more pain to protect the other.
And yeah, there is the virus, "Pupa" (which seems an allegory of being teenager, not child and not adult), and sister must hurt her brother to stay a human, not a monster. Literally she _eats_ him, but he's regenerating from time to time - he is also infected, regenerating is his only possibility.
All of us can understand the subtext of biting, eating and drinking blood - a sexual desire. The scenes between brother and sister, when he "helps" her, looks more like sex, than like anything else. They are partially naked, they are moaning, touching, she hurts him, he is bleeding, like a virgin girl - gender roles are vice versa, and this is the dark side of incest, like in manga "Berserk" (Serpico and Farnese), there a girl is absolutely dominant. But in "Berserk" we have other setting, the sexual desire's expressing more literally, and the parents are not so abusive - as a result, Serpico and Farnese are not so crazy for pain. They can express their love with other tools.
Brother and sister in "Pupa" can't. Why? Because they are only pupas, cocoons. So their relationships are painful and horrible - they are not used to normal life, normal love, all is complicated and causing pain... now.
But their cocoons may become butterflies someday - this is meant to be an adult.
You can understand "Pupa" only with allegorical thinking - and tremendous scenes from series are just footprints of reality, fantasies built around feelings grown in sadistic family.
Fantasies, in which brother sacrifice his body for sister - not vice versa. He is her victim, her food, her desire, her crucified love; all we know that men can be cruel and love in one time. Women can too - anime shows it.
Here we have a system of forbidden motives - incest and awful bloody love as the strongest. But it's definitely LOVE, mixed with desire and need in own sibling to be alive, to be a human; our morality's protesting, because most of us have good parents and don't know how is it to be beaten every day.
With the fact that this anime is short (imho it's good; I could understand the main idea and like it, now I'm interested in manga) and that it's thought to be a horror, not a family drama about teenagers who are siblings and love each other in forbidden way... I think it's not strange that it is underrated.
Personally I had my pleasure to watch it - story and characters are real for me, I liked music and art... And extremely liked subtext of the story.
Franzor
People must be overreacting. There’s no WAY Pupa is as bad as everybody says. There must be SOMETHING good about it… right? Now I’m the type of person who whenever I hear about a show everybody says is bad I get this sudden urge where I have to watch it and see just how bad it really is. And before I started Pupa I sat down and said to myself “Okay, I don’t care what people say. There must be something good in this show and I’m going to put my full effort into finding everything good in this anime! I’m gonna find something to enjoy!”Sadly my strategy did not go as planned. After about a minute in, the show quickly turned into a disgusting, messed up gore fest. “But I’ve seen plenty of messed up shows and movies before that were still good! So if I just look past all the gore in this then I should still be able to enjoy Pupa for the story and characters!” Well… That plan didn’t work so well either.
The story is utter crap. So much so that I almost don’t even know what the show was about other than Yume and her brother Utsutsu Hasegawa get infected with the “pupa” virus that turns Yume into a flesh-eating monster and gives Utsutsu the ability to regenerate from any damage no matter how severe. And because of this regeneration ability, he has to serve as her… food source. Pupa is 12 episodes and each episode is only 4 minutes long. So as you would probably expect from such a short show, the story is rushed. Very… VERY… rushed! The show is constantly jumping around from plot point to plot point with almost no connection between scenes. And apparently the writers also thought it would be a good idea to have practically every episode introduce a new major plot point that raises many big questions but then completely drop said plot point after the episode and never go back to it or bother to explain anything.
Did I mention this show was messed up? Because holy crap is this show messed up and overflowing with disgusting gore! But not messed up in a good way like Higurashi but rather messed up in a way that just makes you think “WTF am I watching?” There are three cannibal scenes in this show that are all very graphic and one of them is literally an entire episode of just Yume eating her brother. Now this could have been a rather thrilling or creepy scene but they portrayed it in a sexual way and he seems to enjoy being eaten by his sister and all I can say to that is… “Who gets turned on by this!?”
How could I describe the characters? Let me see uh… Flat. Boring. One-dimensional. Hollow. Bland. Idiotic. Unrelatable. Unrealistic. Unlikeable. And absolutely NO character development whatsoever! Honestly that’s really all there is to it. I mean what can I say. The characters were TERRIBLE in every possible aspect.
The soundtrack was also crap. Neither the intro nor the outro were anything special and the only track that stood out was the piano instrumental that they played whenever they showed Yume eating her brother and the only reason it stood out to me was because of how unfitting it was to the scene.
The art style in this show was… interesting… but I hesitate to call it “good” Now I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the censorship in this show. However I was lucky enough (and by that I mean unlucky) to see an uncensored version on YouTube in glorious 1080p and the art style was certainly graphic and… detailed (at least in the gore) so I’ll give it that.
Now for the verdict. Pupa is an abomination and as I mentioned before I tried to find good in this show. I really did. I spent the entire show desperately searching for even the tiniest thing besides the art style that I could call even halfway decent thinking “Come on Pupa! Give me something good! Please! Anything I can praise! ANYTHING! AT! ALL!” But as much as I tried to find good, every waking second of Pupa was complete and pure badness and I do not recommend this show to anyone unless you’re like me and like to watch shows just to see how bad they are. Even if you’re into this type of messed up gore there are still plenty of shows out there that are messed up and still have great stories and a cast that doesn’t suck. Or even if you are into cannibalism then just go watch Silence of the Lambs or High School of the Dead or listen to the song Evil Food Eater Conchita. Anything! Is better! Than Pupa! I mean if you really want to see something that's messed up and still good then go watch A Clockwork Orange.
Thanks for reading.
Whotfreads
Throughout all the hours I spent watching anime, I have never experienced such greatness. This anime transcends your classic anime tropes and brings a whole new light to the horror genre. After finishing this masterpiece, I had to sit down and reconsider all the other things I could have done in those 48 minutes. I was also forced to skip lunch as I couldn't bring myself to consume food after witnessing such greatness. While a lot of people would move on after watching this I certainly can't as it made a very large impact on me as a person and as me as an olderbrother. This anime showed me the importance of family bonds and how I have many things to learn from Utsutsu. Overall, this anime truly was a hidden gem that changed my entire viewpoint on anime and exceeded my known boundaries to establish a new standing as one the greatest shows to be ever created. After all, there is not a single other anime that made me think long and hard on all my life choices and how it led to me watching this.
Edit: I stopped watching anime after this
LPGeneratorx
"Onii-chan, you're delicious." ~ Yume Pupa, otherwise known as Onii-chan the anime, is a so-called "anime" which I first stumbled upon in the review section on MAL. It caught my attention when I saw the low scores it got. I thought to myself "It can't be that bad.... Right?" I could not have been more mistaken. Pupa's story revolves around the brother-sister relationship of Utsutsu and Yume. Two orphaned siblings who have to support each other to live on. That is, until a deadly disease dubbed- "Pupa" infects Yume (much like the way this show infected the anime community, ironically). This new disease causes Yume to have ainsatiable hunger for humans. And the first person she eats, is none other than her brother, who comes back to life after being infected as well.
The story has a surprisingly decent premise, which promises a decent anime of the horror genre. Unfortunately, that was the only positive part of this entire anime.
Now for the laundry list of flaws.
While the premise of the story is good, the actual story is rushed to an unimaginable level. This is mainly due to the fact that each episode is no-more than 5 minutes long, yes, only 5 minutes per episode. It's plainly visible why the story is so rushed. It is impossible for the writers or anyone to explain the story to the viewer when every episode has a maximum of 4 minutes of actual story, the rest being OP and ED times.
Speaking of the writers, the script of the show is the most unintentionally hilarious thing you can imagine. The script for every episode contains at least two lines of Yume saying - "Onii-chan" in the most incestuous way possible. This failure of scriptwriting can easily be found in the infamous episode 6. The entire 4 minutes, it shows Yume, eating her brother, and saying Onii-chan, OVER, AND OVER AGAIN. For the entire episode.
Now on to the technical department of the show.
Seeing as each episode is so short, you would expect every episode to have at least tolerable animation. But no, of course not, life isn't fair. Even the animation is a victim to the lazy disease that seems to have affected everybody involved in the show.
The music of the show is tolerable. The opening isn't half bad, and considering the size of each episode, the music isn't terrible either. But unfortunately, the disgusting lack of talent that went into the voices of the characters is what drags the score down. It's probably not the fault of the Voice actors that the characters suck, more so the writers faults for giving them such shitty lines to read.
As for the characters, I've got nothing to say. None of the characters go through any kind of development, and how could they when every episode is only 5 minutes long?! If I had to say anything about the characters it's that Yume and her "Onii-chan" are two of the worst characters anime has seen.
In all honesty, I'd suggest this anime to everyone. It needs to be seen by all, as an example of how to not make an anime. Who knows, you might even enjoy it, although I highly doubt it.
Pros:
+...Uhhh... Good incest ?
Cons:
-Short episodes
-Hurl-Inducing art and sound
-Inexcusable scriptwriting
-Terrible characters.
What do those Cons spell? SHIT.
GonzyChan
Have you ever felt that itch in the rims of your ass crack that happens when you don’t wipe long enough? If there were ever an anime to signify that horrible itchy feeling in the most monstrous example of that region, Pupa would no doubt fit that description. Never has there been hype so decimated after a rocky development schedule, season after season. It will go down in the books of how not to screw up your production schedule, or it will bite you and your credibility. People like me were curious to see what Pupa had to offer in the horror genre in anime becauseit’s not often we get to see much horror-themed anime come out these days. Then all of our expectations suddenly dropped when this was announced only to be three minutes long. Judging by how I viewed the 36 minutes of content through the whole show’s run time, this was something that was just not finished.
Why may you ask? The art style looks inexcusably low-budget, even for three-minute show standards. Hell, Ai Mai Mi looked like it had quality production compared to this. Especially the background artwork, where the colors look almost like an elementary school student painted it with a thin paintbrush. The characters' designs are at least slightly tolerable, considering they look like actual people in most cases.
Now the animation part is where it gets hilarious. There is one instance where an ambulance car is driving, and you can tell, even from the crappiest quality stream imaginable, that the wheels are not moving whatsoever. It almost looked like the animator didn’t bother to put any frames on any part of the car, so he dragged it with the mouse. These are only a few of some of the glorious hilarity that transpires from the lackluster animation. Unfortunately, the networks airing it felt embarrassed to bother showing the animation, so they decided to censor almost 80% of it.
I usually don’t discuss censorship in the shows I review, only because they’ll eventually release the uncensored Blu-Rays later. But considering how universally panned this show is, I can’t see this ever having that kind of royalty shortly. It is often a cringe-worthy experience to sit through censors in a horror anime that covers up the disgusting gore and blood, but with Pupa, the way they censored certain aspects felt disjointed. For instance, there is one scene where Yume eats her brother’s flesh, and obviously, they edited this outright. Then in another episode, we are shown a room filled with dismembered bodies scattered in a hallway, badly drawn by the way, yet it isn’t censored. Why? Was it because it wasn’t in motion? Or was the animation so horrible from Yume’s flesh-eating that they demanded that no one see it fully? Either way, it felt like an unnecessary decision.
Pupa’s plot leaves a lot to be desired, which is the understatement of this entire review. I would complain profusely about how unfocused the whole structure is and how each episode does not feel connected to each other in the slightest. Reading these negatives might leave the impression that it is poorly written. However, it almost feels like an unfinished product once you watch Pupa. Almost as if they were initially going to go for a standard 23-minute episode show, but somehow their work got corrupted halfway down the line. Considering they had to delay this for another season seems like the most logical reason for this.
Could Pupa have been a great show had they been more careful with their development schedule? Who knows. That other reality is all but shrouded in mystery from our own, and we may not ever see that happen if they decide to remake the entire adaptation and make one that is more faithful to the source material. I would put this up as a grand cautionary tale for people who want to get into the business of TV production. Will this be considered one of the great classic bad anime alongside Mars of Destruction or considered an avant-garde masterpiece like Tsui no Sora by trolls? I would argue that the latter would be the most likely scenario. God help us.
Grade: …………
Accountof_anime
Story 1/10 Very uncomfortable in some scenes. Specifically the scenes in which Yume eats out her big onii-chan brother. The incest connotations were weird and made the overall experience awkward. The story was very simplistic and easy for my miniscule thinking module to comprehend. I could feel it shrinking in size as I watched Yume moan onii chan as she lovingly ate her big brothers flesh. Overall Very strange and out of pocket. Art 7/10 Dose drawings were pretty damn fire bro. No cap finna cop some merch bruh. Honestly everyone guves criticism on this shows art but it honestly isn't as bad as most people say itis. It had a sort of charm, much like the anime of the 90s and early 2000s did with its older feeling art style.
Sound 5/10
Ok. Nothing special. The occasional moans of "onii chan" made me feel like my life has meaning. Again very peculiar. Although we see no real incest on screen the connotations are there and in full force. The creators surely intended it.
Character
Not that bad. The characters were pretty decent. My friend liked the purple Mafia government guy or whatevers outfit. It was a fine design. Yume and her brother whose name I will never remember in my life were kind of cool I guess except for when they were fucking.
In my friends words "the abusive dad is a chad. This is where you fight King Dee Dee Dee."
Enjoyment 10/10
I watched with a friend so our constant commentary added a degree of enjoyment to the show and made it a lot better than it would have been had I watched alone.
OVERALL
"But Maria is mommy, 10/10.
I wanna do mouthful mode on Maria"
-my friend Adam
swellrhymes
Ah, infamous anime, my favorite. I recently had the pleasure to experience Pupa. Scratch that, because it wasn't a pleasure at all, it was a nightmare. When i first heard of this anime i thought it wouldn't be so bad, since the horror genre in anime is usually quite the enjoyment. I was wrong on so many levels. Story: 1 Very little development. It was hard to follow. Useless dialogue. I mean who need dialogue anyways? We can just have an episode of pure "onii-chan... onii-chan.." I mean the episodes aren't too long. 4 minutes in fact. Minus of course the time of the OP and ED totalingin 3 minute episodes. Yes the creators still had the nerve to include the OP and ED in every single episode! I still have no clue what the story was about. The only episode I enjoyed story wise was the last episode. In fact if the series was like the last episode I wouldn't mind at all
Art: 2
I actually liked the art, although it could have been way better. Imagine very little movement, and sometimes the voices being out of sync with the lips of the characters. At Least we got some nice animated violence right? let me touch up on that. THE CENSORSHIP WAS HORRIBLE. It was weird how they would censor out some things like a guy pulling out a knife but then they would show some guy getting his eyes plucked out. I'm not sure why even censor anything at all.
Sound 3:
There wasn't much sound, thats why there is such a low rating. It would be a 1 if it wasn't for the music. Not much to talk about.
Character: 1
No development. Characters were all pretty typical, and the ones that seemed interesting had very little on screen time. It was a cliche older brother who loves his sister and little sister who depends on her older brother. It got old, quick.
Enjoyment: 1
There was no time to enjoy, like i said before. The episodes were so short, and confusing, it was hard to digest. It was supposed to be scary but i found myself laughing at times wondering "what in the world am i even watching."
Overall: 1
Maybe I am missing something big. Some sort of physiological message is supposed to be embedded in my mind now or something. Maybe I am too young to understand something like this. Perhaps one day in my dying bed I will remember "Pupa" and figure out that "Pupa" infact told me the meaning of life, and i just now understood it. We will see, I'll keep you guys updated if i figure out something. I don't know. This is all personal opinion, It was a waste of time. But the hour of viewing time went by so fast, I didn't even feel time move.
If you have a spare hour and want to experience the wonders of Pupa, by all means go ahead.
Will I ever want to experience Pupa again? Probably not.
Any feedback is much appreciated on this review. I am a total noob at reviews, I am seeking to become much better.
Visceras
Well .. where do I even start .. the thing is that there are anime so bad, that you actually find them good.. like Mars of destruction .. what i mean is that some anime are so bad but because of being so bad they are also funny. This one, Pupa.. is so bad, that it is bad at being bad. Did you get that? One sentence to resume the anime: Wtf just happened ? 12 eps long, each one with 2 min lenght, i wasn´t expecting for something good .. but this? No this is the SHIT. Let's get started.. Story: 3/10. This shitmakes no sense, i mean plot holes, missing parts, stories left behind, anything that you can imagine.
Some few examples..
Yume, since she was born, she had a virus. Well that's okay .. so why the virus only awaked after 14 years or whatever her age is. She only turned into a monster after 14 years.
Her brother, gets infected when Yume bites him. Surprisingly he gets the same powers so why he does not have to deal with the sister's problem (she only can eat humans in order to calm down the monster inside of her), is he special or something?
She was born with all her teeth, clearly normal doctors will find it really weird (it is theorically impossible to born with any kind of teeth). But fuck normality, here they didn´t gave 2 fucks about that.
A secret team of scientists arrests Yume and her brother in order to investigate them. They knew what they were, but still there is no protection at all. They operate an monster with no precaution .. ofc they would get killed.
There is even more of this.
Art: 6/10. Well at least something had to be good. Even though 60% of the show is composed by single frames and the background is almost non-existant, the gore is well made and i actually enjoyed it. WATCH THE UNCENSORED VERSION.. the censured version the only thing that you see, is a black screen.
Sound: 4/10. The opening is acceptable. But the OST .. wow .. you gotta watch the 6th episode with censure. The tracks that they use to ease the anime are so pathetic .. just .. really bad.
Character: 2/10. Well .. what characters? I just didn´t gave 1/10 because we do have a background story not so bad. The characters are at least pathetic. Their reactions, their emotions.. Yume basically says "Oni-chan" throughout the entire show, and her borther only says "Yume", that's all i know about them..
Enjoyment: 2/10. Bad .. really bad. The last episode I was literally with my mouth opened because I just couldn´t understand what i was watching. The overall anime just looks pathetic.
Overall: 2/10. Well, this anime is really bad for sure. But .. i reccomend it. Why you ask? Because i defend that we have to give a chance to great anime , the top anime and also the worst anime out there.. we have to taste the great and the bad, in order to really know what is good and bad by contrast. By doing that i think we can get our judgment more accurate.
Another thing is that everyone who calls themselves "anime watcher" should have the worst anime on their lists ..
Rawrzz03
I really hate making reviews in which I'm criticizing so bad an anime but Pupa is just the worst anime I've ever watched so I had to make a review. Starting with the story... Wait, what story? I mean, yeah, the plot exists, but what can be expected from a 4 minute episode where the opening and the ending represent half of the time? Nothing. The action is so rushed that you barely understand a thing, especially when there are also flashbacks. I didn't read the manga (although I was recommended to) so I had no idea what this anime was about, and after I finishedit, I still have no idea what this is all about.
Art is meh. Nothing special. I could say that the gore parts are not that horrible and the characters have a decent look but this is really not important relative to the whole series.
Characters: awful.
Utsutsu and Yume have this well-known brother-sister relationship where the big brother would do anything for his lil sister. He even lets her eat his flesh which is way too awkward, especially when Yume is rather happy and doesn't see any problem in eating her brother. Oh..those family bonds..
Again, the episodes are so short that we can't see any development of the characters, just one episode (or 2) dedicated to their past so we learn a bunch of useless and incomprehensible things.
Enjoyment: NO
What should I enjoy about this? I remember this episode when, for 2 minutes, I had to watch Yume eating his brother while saying "Onii-chan". It was pathetic. I like gore animes but this one, even if it is some kind of gore, is a joke! Basically, there is no point in watching this anime. I saw about 10,000 people planning to watch it. DON"T. It's a total waste of time and there are lots of good animes out there.
Overall I rated 1. I would've rated it 0 if I could. Seriously.
WithLoveNSqualor
*Disclaimer: This is my first review* From the very first lyric of the opening theme, "Don't go past here(Going past here is dangerous)" that should have, ironically, told me enough about this anime. Its dangerous alright, and not in the way they intended it to be initially, NOOOO, its dangerous in a completely different way. I am a fan of a good horror anime, especially the ones that are just psychologically fucked up, that it creeps you out just by thinking about it. Surely enough, Pupa is one anime that could screw you over psychologically... in different waysSo what we have with Pupa is an anime that actually LOOKS pretty decent.
Think of it as a dish made by, lets say, Onodera(Nisekoi) or Himeji(Baka To Test), we know the dish looks amazing, but eating the dish is a totally different thing in general.
Then, said dish has to be eaten 4-5 minutes at a time, over and over... just... ughh
From the incredibly complicated, and all over the place plot(if you could even call it that), to the clunky animations, the INCEST, the lack of common sense between characters(despite popular belief, shouting at a severed pair of legs, repeatedly, isn't going to make it stand up, and reconnect itself to the owners torso.), and most of all, the friking length, Pupa is a class A example of the word "Dreadful".
Its a total mystery how I was able to watch all 12-episodes of this god-awful mess of an anime.
So do yourself a favor, and go watch it.
Yeah you read that right, watch Pupa. Think of it as a survival game, how long can you possibly watch it?
mercury1980
Ladies & Gentlemen, I now present to you the best anime of all time "Pupa". Directed by Tomomi Mochizuki and produced by Studio Deen. It has great animation, great characters, a deep story and I really was surprised to the point I go defenseless. Never mind let's get onto the review. Pupa is an anime about Yume and her "Onii-chan" and you know I hate them. I will only give one positive thing in this anime. The opening theme and the ending theme were ok. The opening theme gives a tone that is creepy and the ending theme gives a sad tone. The rest of theanime can be summed up in 5 simple words: "I DON'T GIVE A ****!" From the story, characters and animation. They put nothing into this anime, they just shot it right out saying "Here, anime fans, eat our crap!".
Sorry, for the outrage. I can't forgive anime companies like that. I don't care if it is Winter Season or not. A crap anime is a crap anime no matter what you say. Crap anime should not be made. I have never been as angry as I was since I reviewed "Ultimate Girls", one of the worst anime I watched.
First, was Ultimate Girls in 2005.
2nd, Amnesia in 2013.
And now, Pupa.
How dare you do this to us.
STORY (1):
There is no story. The story just jump from scene to scene sporadically with no continuity in the episodes. Not only that the episodes are just 4 minutes long each. For slice of life or comedy, it is all right. But it is not all right when doing it in an action, mystery or horror anime. In fact, the main story glorifies incestuous cannibalism. The younger sister eats her elder brother and that's the story. It is basically a romance story, not even a horror anime.
ART (1):
The animation looked god-awful. The animation was like a 9 year old started painting or maybe the animation was made with murky toilet water or acid. Not only that there is unnecessary censorship like the guy holding a knife in episode 8 was censored.
SOUND (1):
The opening and ending songs are boring and dull to listen to. Even though the opening and ending theme gave some tones, I still find the opening and ending boring to listen to. Even the music in the anime. I don't have to go into detail because it's not worth talking about.
CHARACTER (1):
Huh? Where are the characters? They're just puppets. They're not even characters. Puppets do not have any connection.
CONCLUSION (1):
This is what is wrong with the anime industry. They keep releasing shitty anime in the winter season. Why is that? I really feel terrible for everyone in the anime community after watching this anime.
If the anime industry continues to release shitty anime in winter season, I am now starting to feel worried about what will happen in the near future in the anime industry.
I feel that it becomes a much bigger rant than has nothing to do with the anime. But I have to say it is so bad that I have nothing more to say. I already summed it up. The anime has terrible animation, wooded characters, no chemistry or bond between any of the characters. The story is weak. This anime is a huge steaming pile of s**t.
And for the 1st time in a year I give it a solid 1 out of 10. Terrible from start to finish. The worst anime I have seen. Avoid this anime like the red butterflies.
JacklynRyner
There will be a time in our lives when we'll undergo something so awful that we'll try desperately to block it from our memories. Allow the pathetic excuse of an anime, Pupa, to be one of those awful experiences. I mean, it was listed as horror but I didn't realize it would be so scarring that I'd want to write it out of my mind completely. Seriously, it was so bad, it was almost laughable. At first, the story seemed somewhat appealing but the fact that each episode was only 4 minutes long was a bit questionable. There was no way that a story such as thiscould be condensed into just twelve, four minute episodes. That still rings true. Granted, if it was longer I would have dropped it in a heartbeat. The story gets a 4, since it could have been something. I guess I'm just feeling generous today.
The art was... different. It wasn't totally awful but it just didn't feel finished. It felt like they let a child paint it but the kid got bored and fell asleep. I feel the same way, young child. The gore was alright, but as a major fan of horror, I've seen better. Way better. Although, I will say that I liked how they were represented as bears when entering the past. Oh, how I wish I could enter the past and decide not to watch this. Art: 3, and only because I understand that child on a spiritual level.
The sound was so absolutely awful that... you know what, no. Can I just walk away right now? Can I just get up and leave? The sounds when she was chewing were so bad I can't even put it into words. There was an episode that was pretty much cannibal porn - it was literally her eating her brother for 4 minutes while she internally whimpered 'onii-chan' over and over until your ears started to bleed and your brain exploded from so much WTF it's not even funny.
The only redeeming quality when it comes to the music is the opening, which was just catchy enough for me to sit through for thirty seconds before all hell broke loose in the few minutes that followed.
I'll give the show credit for bringing forth a whole new kind of incest. She eats her brother, in the least sexual way possible. The characters were one dimensional, and there wasn't any effort in making them otherwise. Their pasts were interesting but not original.
Music and Characters get a 1.
Enjoyment: no.
Final Verdict: Burn it and all memories of it before your brain rots.
rae-ok
I randomly discovered this anime, and I don't think it's that bad, but it obviously isn't good either. I was very shocked by the gore tbh. I didn't read the synopsis or anything like that so, that completely caught me off guard. Another thing I didn't really like was the fact the episodes were only 4 minutes. I wasn't sure about the anime starting, but I honestly think it had potential. It's got a good story line (to me at least). I heard that the manga makes more sense than the anime so, I plan on reading that to make sense of whatever the heck thatanime was supposed to be.
P.S. I don't know about other people, but to me some of the scenes seemed kind of incest-ly and it's gross.
bennitori
Lots of people were calling this anime one of the worst of all time. I kept thinking "come on, it can't be that bad." Oh it is. I'll give it credit that it succeeded in creeping the hell out of me. But I'm pretty sure most of it was unintentional. Story: 1 I can hardly even understand what is going on. There are points in the "story" that seem to contradict each other. Plus the story is told in 4 minute episodes, so by the time you get into the swing of the episode, its halfway over already. So you have no time to figure things outlike "where the hell are the characters" or "why the heck is any of this happening." Not only that but it feels like the episodes got scrambled halfway through because there are "flashback" episodes that ruin what little of a continuity this story had to begin with.
Art: 5
I will give the anime credit for having a unique-ish look. And there is a design later on that reminded me of a Resident Evil like monster. But other than that the colors are unpleasant, but not in a way that accentuates the horror. Some of the characters have scars?/tattoo? like things on their skin that make no sense. Plus they keep bringing in this teddy bear stuff in an attempt to make a visual metaphor, but it just highlights how pathetic the whole story is.
Sound: 5
The sound does its job. Plus the opening music is legitimately creepy. But when you have the characters acting as ridiculous as they are, its hard to take any of the sound seriously. Whoever they got to play the brother sounds like he's choking and having an orgasm at the same time whenever he screams/pants. And then everyone else is completely un-noteworthy.
Character: 1
I literally have no reason to care about anyone in this anime. The last episode made a very small effort to make me care. But by that point I was so fed up with the stupid plot, confusion, and complete frustration with the characters contrived and stupid characterization that I couldn't give anymore of a crap about the characters. And some flashback about them as kids was not going to change that.
Enjoyment: 1
Like I said before, this anime creeped me out. But for the wrong reasons. It's hard for me to get invested when the story makes so little sense, and it's hard for me to feel scared when the characters are acting so illogical. I should have been creeped out by the cannibalism. Instead I was freaked out at the writing choices.
Overall:1
It's almost impossible to make an anime that doesn't look and/or sound pretty in 2014, so production values don't even matter to me with an anime like this. When you get down to it, this is an anime with a torture porn like plot, that could have been scary. But because of the 4 minute limit on every episode there was no time to establish anything that was going on. And even if you ignore that, the characters were archetypes at best. The plot holes were so large, and so all over the place that they confused me. So by the end I was more frustrated with the show than anything. I do not recommend this anime unless you want to see an example of virtually non-existent continuity, and the worst characterization I've ever seen.
LIQfilms
So your little sister has turned into a horrible, disgusting, man-eating monster. What do you do? A: Attempt to Kill her B: Flee C: Allow her to eat you since you suddenly have the power to regenerate. If you answered C then you're right! If you have no clue what on Earth I am talking about then consider yourself lucky that you haven't seen this anime before. With the previous OVAs I have reviewed you COULD argue in their defence that the reason why they were so bad was on account of their age and that they were made at a time in which Japan was going through aneconomic crisis. This still doesn't make the OVAs I've talked about any good but at least it can act as an excuse when defending them. Pupa has no such excuse since it was made only two years ago and to this day remains one of the worst anime ever created.
I watched this show when it was initially airing and I was even more confused, disgusted and appalled by each passing episode. Not a single part of the anime makes a bit of sense and the character development and narrative is the most nonsensical thing I have ever witnessed. It's about two siblings who were beaten as children and as a result grew a rather intimate relationship with one another. While walking one day in the park the sister turns into a monster for NO REASON and devours and rips apart people that happen to be in close proximity. The anime hints at the sister's sudden transformation being a result of something called the 'Pupa' but it's never explained to us in the slightest and feels like such a lazy way to explain this event that it comes across as being forced. The brother, upon seeing the massacre his sister has inflicted upon these poor innocent people still sees this beast as his own sister and not some disgusting monstrosity. He opens up his arms to embrace his monster-sister (which sounds like I'm referencing Monster Musume or something when I think about it) but the sister ends up killing the brother instead. But don't worry! The brother somehow has the power of immortality and no matter what damage is inflicted upon him, he will regenerate! From that point on the sister fills her appetite by feasting on her brother's back while the show tries to present these scenes as being sexual complete with awkward moaning and the repeating the lines "Oni-chan" every second.
If that plot synopsis sounded absolutely insane that's because it is! The anime is only four minutes in length and does a terrible job at developing its characters or just telling a simple coherent story. There is another plot that runs aside the one I just mentioned in which some generic organisation are researching the pupa...or something. They never make it clear what their purpose was in the slightest! So the plot is horrible and the characters are terrible. The animation is just as bad! It's so uninspired and dull to the eyes! There is a lot of blood-shed and the such which was heavily censored while it was airing so for people like me who watched this trash two years back we were just essentially watching a black screen. The only thing I found that was okay the opening which is only thirty seconds long and is more interesting than the entire show.
This anime is the very definition of awful. It has nothing. It's an empty shell with no ideas and a plot so disgusting that I want to kill myself. There is nothing to laugh at either since everything in the show is so terrible. Stay away from this one. If you're really curious then just watch the Onii-chan eating scene. Anymore will kill you.
(Part of LIQfilms 12 Days of Christmas - Day 7)
BanjoTheBear
(This has been adapted from my reddit thread) The world is filled with every manner of creature. From the red cardinals of North America to the tiger sharks of the Pacific Ocean, the range and variability of the Earth's organisms are quite the sight to see. But this is only at the macro level. At the micro, one can find strange cells and harmful bacteria. And the worst offender of them all is the dreaded virus. It's only directive is to infect the host it attacks, and depending on the type, particular outcomes can be found. Pupa is like a deadly virus: unwanted, unneeded, and completelyunhealthy for anyone involved.
STORY
Pupa begins with Utsutsu being greeted by his younger sister, Yume. While waiting for her brother, she is attacked in the park, leading to a rather otherworldly development.
The entire series runs at just under forty minutes. Even if one were to give the show a little leeway in terms of progression, the amount of plot holes that exist are too egregious and many to warrant it forgiveness. What purpose did the monster dog serve? Where did Maria's character go? Why is Yume capable of growing tentacles? How did Utsutsu obtain the virus? Who did their mother get impregnated by to birth a demon baby? All of these questions and more are raised, but are either never answered, skipped over, or blatantly ignored to proceed to the next set of unexplained plot points.
Another of the show's faults is its inability to properly keep its tone in check. It dips and dives without rhyme or reason, and never really settles on a specific presentation. It tries to take itself seriously when showcasing past trauma, frightening with the blood and screaming, creepy with the supernatural beings, and insanely cute and happy to round everything off. Most of the time, one is laughing at the absurdity of the situations taking place. And coupled with the missing narrative and these abhorrent disconnects in expression, it causes the entire experience to come off as a complete mess.
Digging deeply into the despair that Pupa delivers, one discovers a literal delegated theme. In essence, it tries to convey the notion that not everything can be done by one's self. That a certain amount of support is required to accomplish particular tasks. This is clearly seen with Utsutsu towards Yume; he becomes the sustenance she needs to survive. At the same time, Yume supports Utsutsu by eliminating the people causing harm towards him. Even their mother technically receives help from their father. The issue, though, resides in the huge disparity between what is rational and what is reasonable. Utsutsu's example is cannibalism; Yume's is murder; and Sachiko's is physical abuse. When one thinks "support," these ideas never come to mind. It's entirely nonsensical, and is perpetuated further by Pupa's lack of a coherent story.
ANIMATION
Pupa is rather dull in regards to both the art and its actual animation. This is taking into account the uncensored version only.
The art style is often very dark, taking on a drawing or painting effect for its backgrounds. It comes off plain, but gives this effect that what one is watching is almost dreamlike. The contents are also quite gruesome: liters of blood, chopped limbs, and masses of flesh are common within each episode. It's all rather graphic; this is not a show for the faint of heart.
The character designs are weird because they follow Pupa's odd trend: almost zero explanation. Utsutsu's red facial mark, Yume's transformation, and Maria's leg scars are given no pretext at any point during the show's duration. The only article that is given any amount of attention is Yume's hairpiece.
The actual animation usually rests below average. It picks up during the eating scenes, where mouth movements, alongside the tearing of flesh and organs, become the norm. Otherwise, characters are almost always shown standing around, sitting down, or laying back, with only the spurting of their blood seeing velocity.
CHARACTERS
It's very difficult to talk about the cast of Pupa. The reason is that half of them are given "importance," but are then subsequently never used afterwards.
The worst offender of this technique is Maria. Donning a witch-like hat and menacing eyes, she randomly appears near the start of the show. She acts as a sort of observer, taking a lot of interest in the monsters that are Utsutsu and Yume. However, following a startling revelation, she disappears. From then on, she is neither shown nor alluded to in any fashion. While the plot itself is usually disjointed, what she could have potentially brought to the table would have been interesting, or "relevant," to say the least.
The same goes for Utsusu's and Yume's parents. The father, with suit and glasses, was abusive towards not only his wife but to his own kids. Mr. Hasegawa's inclusion served one purpose: to instill some sort of drive within Utsutsu, causing him to always want to protect his little sister. Again, though, not only is this "development" given little context but the father is never actually seen; he exists only in flashbacks. All of this says nothing of the mother. Sachiko's long brown hair and calm expression hid her true feelings. She was fearful of the daughter she gave birth to, knowing the kind of beast that she was. In order to reaffirm her reality, and to "escape" from the dream she felt trapped in, she accepted the pain given to her by her husband. Beyond giving Yume an origin (but still with no justification as to Yume's condition), Sachiko fades from the show. All of them -- Maria, Mr. Hasegawa, Sachiko -- and other unnamed characters only serve to further the inconsistencies that already exist.
Therefore, the only characters that at least maintain connections to the anime are Utsutsu and Yume. The former is the older brother. Sporting a feminine-looking hairpiece, a red-mark, and plain looks, he harbors a deep love for his little sister. This characteristic is shown from the beginning and never falters, causing his entire development to stagnate. He does nothing other than becoming the food source for Yume and screaming due to pain from time to time. And Yume is no different; her initial abomination provides an interesting outlet to explore, but is immediately dropped. Instead, she never seeks to alter her path or find any type of solution, reciprocating the same "love" that her brother gives to her. Both are one-dimensional, flat people that never see growth.
This is odd, considering the characters' supposed theme. The title of the anime is "Pupa," after the name of the virus that has invaded both Utsutsu and Yume. However, the show constantly refers to butterflies. Why is this? Going biological for a moment, the butterfly is a creature that follows a simple life-cycle: larva, pupal, adult, and repeat. Thus, "Pupa" isn't so much about the disease as it is about the apparent state of the characters. A pupa is normal and boring on the outside but contains a yet-to-blossom magnificence. And that's the show's intended message; that one's outer "ugliness" doesn't reflect a person's potential inner beauty. Utsutsu and Yume are mysterious monsters on the outside but caring humans on the inside.
This point is lost, though, for two reasons: one, it's muddled with an overwhelming feeling of lost realism. The lack of audience-relation persists, because the topics themselves are too perverse to give the characters the opportunity to seem human. Two, and following the analogy depicted earlier, it's a cycle, not just a stage. Because the characters themselves never grow, never transition, to that next part of life, they always remain a pupa. The siblings' inner beauty, like the motif, remains trapped and unable to escape from within; a figurative "death by suicide."
SOUND
The OP is somewhat quick, but also somewhat lame. The transition in the beat is awkward, the instruments are boring, and the final "Pupa" chants are rather silly to hear.
As for the ED, it's not that bad. It contrasts heavily with the show's darker tone, bringing about high vocal singing and soft piano playing.
The soundtrack contains melancholic violin pieces and more ambient, chilling ones to provide an appropriate feeling for the situation at hand. Besides this, though, the tracks are completely forgettable, and are not designed to be listened to outside of the show itself. If anything, the sound effects -- the crunching, munching, and scrunching of flesh and bone -- were always gross to hear.
Voice-acting sees average to below-average performances for the entire cast. A special shout-out to Nobunaga Shimizaki for his role as Utsutsu, having to scream probably for three-quarters of the anime.
ENJOYMENT
Part of the likability of an anime like this is in its innards (pun intended). That is to say, one cannot be fazed by "horror" or gore when attempting to partake in what it has to offer. For me, the show never came off as frightening or creepy, mostly because it was imploding right from the get-go. As for the graphic nature of it all, I consider myself rather desensitized and therefore had no qualms looking at the pools of blood or the organs of those killed.
This anime is not quite at the "so bad, it's good" level. It's definitely atrocious, but I couldn't help myself from laughing or finding amusement at some of the scenarios. Maria correcting Yume about what she did, the entire episode that was basically a sexual innuendo, and the non sequitur that is the finale are all easy instances to point to that should have been "serious" but simply come off as highly humorous.
When you think about terrible anime, Pupa should come to mind instantly. With its ridiculous story, forgotten and stale characters, and unintentionally funny showing, it's a miracle that this one was even green-lit in the first place.
SUMMARY
Story: Terrible, plot-holes, tonal shifts, and unrelatable theme
Animation: Bad, brooding, bloody, and boring art, "unexplained" character designs, low actual animation
Characters: Terrible, underutilized, underdeveloped, with unfocused motif
Sound: Bad, bad OP, okay ED, bad soundtrack, average VA work
Enjoyment: Bad, gore galore but laughing all the same
Final Score: 1/10
