Pupa

I've watched lots of anime in my time and it's not hard to categorize the anime and I often know what to expect but one thing I've not yet been able to get my head around are minisode anime. First was Yami Shibai whose short episodes where separate stories in their own right, each delightfully frightening; then I watched Turning Girls where the short episodes made an erratic slice of life show; and most recently was RWBY, which is technically an American web series, with the most plot based minisode series. Now I've found 'Pupa' a series where the episodes are roughly 4 minutes each and there's only 12 of them! It's probably the shortest series I've reviewed.

Yume and Utsutsu are completely dependent on each other, they became close after being abused by their dad as children and now that they're on their own the two couldn't be closer. On their way home Yume sees a red butterfly and suddenly changes into a flesh-eating monster; she's contracted the mysterious 'Pupa' virus! Her brother is not easily deterred however, and he stays by Yume's side and lets her feast on his flesh whenever she's hungry. Fortunately, Yume isn't the only monster, Utsutsu has inexplicable regenerative powers so Yume can feast as much as she likes and he just regenerates at the end of it! The short series shows the pair struggling through their new way of life.
On the front of things, Pupa is 48 minutes of gore and incest there's a whole episode devoted to Yume eating Utsutsu and the pair are restrained and tortured. Things get incredibly violent! However you can argue alot of symbolism. I won't bore you with the details but there are theories that this is actually and in depth look into how negative childhood experiences lead to psychological derangement. In this instance, the abuse from their father has caused an unhealthy relationship between Yume and Utsutsu. Also the parent's of the two are interesting in a psychological point of view. The mum believes Yume is a monster from birth and her abusive partner brings her pleasure. There's only one episode about this but I'd love to know more!
It's also worth noting that although I've discussed the pairs 'incestuous' relationship, it is never firmly established in the anime but their over reliance on each other combined with the sexual nature of Yume's feeding make it pretty clear what it's about. However the whole show is pretty ambiguous so it's completely up for debate!
I haven't read the manga but I understand that to fit the plot into 4 minute episodes they've had to strip the plot to it's bare bones and sacrifice any explanations. As such the plot is illogical, poorly paced and inconclusive. It is a bit annoying that the episodes don't flow into each other and the slight teasers into the characters past is infuriatingly tantalizing! And the ending is so pathetic that I have to wonder if the show was suddenly cancelled! But the horrible pacing is something inexcusable when one episode is full to the brim with back story but another is just 4 minutes of Utsutsu being eaten you know something has gone horribly wrong! this is easily the biggest flaw of the entire show.
Moving on from the plot, one thing I love about all these minisode series is that the producers are more daring with the animation style. Of course, it's really a case of cutting corners to save on production costs but the results are always something a bit different. In Pupa, you can really see the low budget; none of the animation is smooth! But some of it is interesting! I like how they use teddy bears to represent the characters in certain scenes and the last episode's chibi style was super cute! It's nothing amazing but it is nice to break away from the same old from time to time!!
In conclusion, the plot is chopped beyond recognition but I can see it's potential and I definitely want to read the manga now! But as for the anime itself, the animation is cheap and the plot is terribly paced. It's only 48 minutes long but if the curious plot has you interested I'd recommend you cut out the middle man and go straight for the manga because the manga can't be any worse! But you have been warned that this is a very dark anime with lots of blood and guts. It's supposed to make you feel uncomfortable, so if you're not ready for that, just stay well away!