AWTY 104 - Imbo (Lovely Muuuuuuuco!)

Music.

Hello and welcome to our week. There yet in exploration and education and anime. I'm your anime idiot, patrick dugan.

I'm off the market. dana hollander.

And I'm brenda mccullough.

I mean, technically been off the market for six years.

But it's official.

It's official now because Paul asked me to marry him. So I'm an engaged anime expert now. Thank you.

That ping pong episode really got you guys in the moon.

Really loved ping pong so much.

Finally bridging that final gap.

It had nothing to do with the fact that it was our 6th anniversary.

That was a coincidence. But oh, ping pong. That was planned.

Yes.

Pecker is going to be the best man. smile's going to be the maid of honor. It's going to be lovely.

He couldn't be more correct.

I'm Brendan. I'm also here whatever dumb tangent I had was less important than that.

Yeah.

Life finds a way.

One good thing happening.

Thank you. So many people were like, oh my God, this is the first time I felt joy all year. Wow, that's really nice. But also, wow, are you really bad.

I'm sorry, but Animal Crossing came out. What about that time?

That was nice.

That's all right.

That was still early though. That was when Quarantine was still going to be only two weeks. Anyway.

Had immediate joy and immediate dread in five minutes.

2020, baby. Speaking of good things actually happening for Watson this goddamn year. Dogs.

Yeah. So what's what's up with these fun dogs today?

We're watching lovely moocoo. I got to say it like that. There's like 13 years in there.

Muko.

Muko. Shit.

Muko.

You know I'm bad with names.

It's four letters. Brent. Well, I'm sorry, in the title it's about 15.

It's like half the alphabet. I don't know. I was just calling them shadow the whole time because I was getting homeward Bound fives. That's a rough movie series. Anyway. Yeah, lovely mooku. It's one I picked. It's a sure anime, so it's only twelve minute episodes, so we'll see how that goes. And it's very light on plot, so we'll see how much we actually recap. Because if for anyone doesn't know it's about a dog, that's it.

We're playing it fast and loose today because it's 10:00 A.m. And it's already almost 100 degrees. So we're trying to keep the brain power to keep the room temperatures down.

I mean, I don't have to worry about my brain putting out any more heat. It's empty in there, dane. Nothing going on up there. But yeah. Have either of you two heard of this wonderful show?

No.

Oh, delightful. From what I could tell, it was a manga that got made into an anime like most of, but it's not in shoan and Jump. It's not a big manga. It's just like here's a little it's like a Sunday. Funny. It's just like a big strip, basically. Yeah, it was never that in depth. The magnetic character is a dog who is just a dog. There's nothing special about them. It's not telepathic. It doesn't transform into a ooh OOH anime girl on a full moon. Like it's dang it, I'm out. Sorry to disappoint, but yeah, it's just, it's a very nice, pleasant powdered cleanser of an anime and it's just like, this is good. And I've watched a few episodes years ago and from what I could tell, they kept the style of the mango. So it doesn't look amazing, but it keeps it's simple. It doesn't need to look amazing. So they're just like, yeah, this is easy enough to translate into an anime. So we can work with this.

Yeah, if your main character is a dog, as long as it's cute, that's as much animation budget as you need.

So pretty much. Can I pet that dog twitter account? But as an anime, the answer is yes, you can pet this dog.

You better pet this dog.

This dog needs to be pet like all the time. It's high energy.

Alright, well, shall we get into it?

Yeah. Just for scratching off the carpet. Sorry. If you hear that, please stop.

I'm sorry. I talked about dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs, dogs. About as much plot as in this show.

Yeah, yeah, this is we summed it up. Thank you for joining.

Thank you for joining us. That's the shortest episode of Are We There Yet?

Nine minute episode. It's not even nine minutes because like two of these minutes is me talking about jasper and his rambunctious.

We have some rambunctious animals that go along with this show. So we're already in the zone and we know what's up.

Dana'S got jasper, Duke has got Rocket, which you probably heard in previous episodes. I got my roommate who likes to rub his ass against the carpet sometimes.

It's quieter, all cover.

Yeah, yeah.

But yeah, so this is delightful.

Mmhmm.

Very cute there's.

I think like 24 episodes or so. And like I said, they're shorter. So I could see it being a nice, like, pal cleanser, nice wind down after, like a stressful work and you just want to zone out for a bit. I can't imagine anyone's like, deep in the muku lore, like deep in the fans.

I'm going to do it.

You're going to go into that mine.

I'm going to write conspiracy theories, going.

To just revamp the wiki just full of inaccurate head cannons.

Komatsu is actually dead a whole time.

It's turned to Tory.

Okay, I'm going to get into it. Let's all right, so in episode one, we start with like an overhead shot of a Lovely Little town and there's someone calling for Muko. And we see muko. She's a she. In the first episode, they never referred to her with any pronouns, so I kept calling it a he. But she's a little lady.

She's also a sheb.

She is a sheb. That's what I was about to say. She's a little sheba so she's got an attitude, got a lot of energy, and she's running around with a towel and she's just, like, playing with it. And this is recurring. She likes to slide, like, on her tummy, so she goes slide. It's pretty cute.

Yeah.

I can't tell how much of this is just like, this is a cute thing that we're going to make a signature, or our animation budget is small, less using this shot.

Yeah. Ping pong was, like, aesthetically pleasing ugly. This show is just kind of ugly. It's about the dog, you know?

Yeah. It's not hideous, but it's got his own style.

It looks like it was made in the program miku miku Dance, which I don't know if you guys know what.

That is, but I have no clue.

It was a vocaloid thing, just like super simple 3d animation. But so that's when kamatsu comes and he's muko's owner, and he's like, hey, stop stretching out my towels, Muko. And then Muko Muko talks, but no one can hear her. It's just like, her thoughts. And she's just like, have a good day. And then after komatsu leaves, she goes straight back to stretching out that towel. Classic.

Hey, don't do that. All right, I'll keep doing it.

And then we get the opening. And opening music is not my favorite. Yeah, it's it's a long opening sequence that's in every twelve minute episode, and the song is, like, kind of annoying. The visuals are cute, but yeah, it's.

Just extremely high pitched singing to match, like, this cute little dog. We're going super high with it, and it does get grading after seeing it. Four minutes worth of it in the 45 minutes we watched.

Yeah. So after the opening, we go back to Muko, and she's still stretching out that towel. And then she gets distracted by her reflection and she goes up to it and she's just like, I got a shiny nose. I'm so I'm so pretty. And then she chases her tail and she falls into some water and she's freaking out because it's so cold, but it also feels nice. And then komatsu comes back, but he's like, not so stoked about Muko being in the water. And then Muko gets out and does a little shaky shake like dogs do. And then we see komatsu glass blowing and Muko is watching him. And then she leaves for a while and then comes back. And then she's like, it looks the same. Like, he hasn't made much progress. And then she goes back to stretching out the towel, and then she watches komatsu pull a bowl out of the I guess it's a kiln, kind of.

I think this one was like a cooling rack because he was able to pull it out with just his hands.

He was wearing gloves, but literally it's whatever.

Muco just calls it the box. That's the canonical name for it.

So he's like, admiring the bowl. And Muko is like, It's pretty nice, pretty shiny, but my nose is shiny.

Oh, to have the confidence of a shiva he knew in a glass blowing studio.

And he uses the ball to feed Muko, which is cute. And then Muko is like, I got to eat and get strong so I can help him with his weird thing that he does. So she wants to help him with the glass blowing, but obviously doesn't know what that is. And then Muko gets really upset and confused that komatsu doesn't have a shiny nose or a tail. And, hey, come to think of it, we don't look the same at all.

It's a strange dynamic because she can sometimes understand what he's saying because he's like, oh, yeah, I wish I could be a dog. Sometimes she's like, what? You're not? But it's not universal. So they sort of just pick and choose when communication can happen.

Yeah. I love it because it seems like Muko understands everyone most of the time, and then no one understands Muko. And it's just for once, we have a reasonable excuse for why our protagonist is so dumb.

Yeah, it's true. So Muko wishes that komatsu would turn into a dog, and then they could stretch the towel together, and it's like the next day, and Muko is playing with a rope, and she's come up with a new game where she, like, gets the rope to, like, loop, and then she slides into the loop. Very good.

Good stuff. Quality entertainment.

And then she walks out to the road, and she smells something coming up the road, and it's this big guy, ushiko. And he pulls up in his car, and right away, he just starts playing with Muko. They like rough house together. And Muko likes him because he always smells like delicious food.

He is my favorite. He's just a big, like, metal guy. The life. I want to live in Japanese mountains, hanging out with dogs, always smelling like food.

Good guy.

Can an activity be ASMR? Because glass blowing is my ASMR activity, where I could just watch that for hours and just lulls me into sleep.

Really, it stresses me out because it's glass.

Yeah. I would never want to do it because I don't trust myself enough to handle something molten hot borderline lava. But just watching it is endlessly fascinating to me.

Yeah. Watching the molten part where they shape it, that's really cool.

Yeah, I've never watched it too much. There was a glass blowing shop in my town that I always walked by and was like, that. I assume interesting stuff happens there, and I left it at that.

That's so cool. But we don't get to see a lot of the glass blowing in this show, which kind of made me sad because I was like, oh, it's about a glass blower. Cool.

That requires more animation.

Yeah, they didn't have that in the budget administration.

So the reason ushiko is there is because he is going to help komatsu set up a website so he can sell his work and make listings for classes. And Muko is like, I'll help draw people in with my rope game slide. And Mushiko is like, I think she's trying to tell us something.

Step right up. The carnival is open. One game.

Watch out.

Horrible. And then ushiko is like, do you even have Internet up here? And then they set up his computer, and they upload some nice pictures of komatsu's work. And then Usico is like, hey, we should take pictures of Muko to put on the website. Maybe we'll get cute girls to come up here. And then usiko takes one. But it doesn't capture muko's essence.

It's like a normal dog does not spark joy.

Your Instagram is going to fail with that.

So komatsu is like, oh, let me try. And then he gets one of Muko looking really excited. And Usico is like, how did you do that? And he's like, I just took the picture. And ushiko tries to take more pictures, and it's like in God, I hate myself. It's like in How I Met Your Mother, where barney stinson can't take a bad picture, except it's the opposite, where every time ushiko tries to take a picture of Muko, she just looks lame.

She's uninterested. She only has eyes for komatsu.

Yes, but yeah, they take pictures of the dog, and that's pretty much the end of the episode.

And that's episode one that's as bad as plot intensive as we get in the show. Is this the first anime protagonist talking about komatsu that has cargo pants canonically?

I can't imagine, but I can't think.

Of any other examples. In the opening, we get Usiko and komatsu, like, running around, and I was like, oh, they got some extra pockets down there. What's going on here, fellas?

I feel like I could think of characters that would wear cargo pants. Like, immediately, I was like, deku probably wears cargo pants, but I don't think he ever does.

I don't think he does, but he definitely would.

He would.

Oh, absolutely.

And, you know, it's just like, half of those pockets are just filled with, like, first aid kits from his mom.

What a woman.

And Usiko reminded me a lot of my buddy ennis. Not really, but I just had to do a ennis reference back from the bakano episode.

Sheck anyway, so yeah, what happens?

That was for me. Episode two opens up with Muko playing with a ball. She finds I'll be honest, I had a lot of just back of my mind anxiety any time I saw Muko playing out in the front of the building, because I'm just like, the street is right there. And, like, I know it's not a busy street. I know we've only seen one car in this whole series, but I'm, like, just having dogs and just having, like, an open street right there gets me anxious. I'm just like, my dogs are too dumb to stay off the street. I don't trust it.

I know how anime goes. You can't have a small child or a dog near a road. Someone has to save that dog and become the hero and then die.

And then they find out, hey, you didn't need to save that small child. In fact, if you didn't save that child, it'd be better off you died for nothing. Congratulations.

I wish god, I wish there was an episode where Muko, like, ran into the street and then, like, some random anime protagonist came and rescued rescued her and then just left.

Just like a Power ranger.

Yeah, or something.

We need you back in the city. Sorry, small dog. I got to go.

Yeah. So we open with Muko playing ball, and she just found a ball somewhere and just keeps throwing the ball around and catching it herself and then throwing it again and running up and catching it, having a grand old time, sliding around. And Muko saying she invented a new sport. She's like, I know everyone's going to love it. Now I got to come up with a catchy name for it. What's a good name? komatsu. Wait. What about komatsu? Hold on. I could also name it komatsu.

So many options.

It's the only name she has in her head. And she keeps saying it's over and over again, and I guess she's barking it, like, out loud. So komatsu comes outside. He's like, God, why are you so loud? Why are you such a yappy dog for doing nothing out here? And then he picks up Muko and holds her up, and you see just mud all on her belly from sliding around the yard. And he's like, oh, God, I don't have to give you a bath later. spoiler alert. He doesn't we never get at least not on screen. Yeah, not that we see. And then he finds the ball.

She throws her into the pond again.

I mean, that'd probably be easiest. And then he finds the ball that she's playing with. He's like, Where did this come from? You shouldn't be just playing with stray stuff that you find around the yard. Which begs the question, where did it come from? Because they're in the middle of nowhere with no one else around.

Just rolled up, I guess.

So. And he takes the ball and just starts. He says, you shouldn't be playing with just stray stuff you find and just throws it. I was like, oh, man, it's getting rid of her toy. And then it bounces off the roof and rolls back down. And when he throws it, Muko is like, silly komatsu. That's not how you play this game. You're getting rid of it. You're going to lose the ball that way. And when it comes back down, it hits the ground, and Muko freaks out like another ball. That's cheating. You can't get another ball. And I'm just like, God, this dumb fucking dog. I love it so much.

There is a very good display of just dog logic in this show.

Yeah, it's Russell. He, like, picks up the ball again and throws it over the roof again. He's like and Lucas like, can't hold onto that ball up, dude. Like, I got those butterfingers. Just kind of like, you're so bad at this game, but I love you anyway.

You'll learn this time. I've been playing this for five minutes.

So he's kind of an expert, bit of a pro. And when he throws the ball this time, it doesn't come back down. And he's like, Shit, it got stuck somewhere. And then we see, he goes to go find it, and Muko starts celebrating. I'm like, Ha ha. You lost the ball. I am the remaining champion of muco ball. I am the best by forfeit. I automatically win and just, like, kind of hyping herself up in her head.

My streak stays alive. I don't lose any scholarships.

I'm going to nationals. And then later that night, we see komatsu in this studio finishing up some glass work he was making that day. And we see muku just chewing on the towel, just ripping it apart. And as he goes to leave the studio, we see Muka still in there. muku gets a little sad saying, muku's alone, but it doesn't mean muku is lonely. And I was like, oh. And then komatsu comes back in from the door. He left, and he's like, Come on, Muko. I was like, he's still here. I also lost object permanence in this episode and thought he was gone forever. And komatsu lets Muko in and it's into the gallery. It's the front portion of his shop. So he's got the studio where he makes the glass work. And then he's got the front of the building where he sells it. So muku gets all excited and runs it. And it's like, oh, I'm in the part of the building where I'm not normally allowed. I'm only in here sometimes. There's so many shinies in here, but not as shiny as muko's nose.

I remain in the lead and even.

Come out to is like, Why are you so smug? There's a few dogs I could say, or smug or I could tell that are being smug. But I feel like a shiva. You can kind of tell.

Yeah, for a shiva, definitely very into attention.

Yes. I mean, a shiva is a good pick a, because it's a Japanese breed, but also just high energy and a lot of personality. I had dalmatian and corgis growing up, and my cousins had basset hounds. This show would just be a dog sleeping for 80% of it. It's a good breed to follow for shenanigans and random activities. And then we see komatsu sets out three glass items he made. And he asked Muko, he's like, what do you think is the best one. What vibe you get from these. And Muko looks them over and then sees another bowl. And it's like, you could probably hold the most food in this one, or you could hold a small amount of food in this one, but it's easy to get to. And it looks at like a glass tube that kind of looks like a long stem vase for, like, flowers. And she's like, oh, you can hold more food in this one, but it'd be harder to get into. And she looks at, like a weird spiral one. She's like, oh, the fuck this nonsense?

I was with her on that one. I was like, are you showing your dog a sex toy out?

Come on, get lonely. He's in the middle or he's got to experiment sometimes. And yeah, all of his stuff is very practical. And then this one was like, what? Is this weird, like, abstract art? So Muko goes back to the first one. She's like, this one's the best, because you can get the most food out of it and it's easy to get to. And come on, it's just like, where am I?

Not.

Where am I? I'm lost already so many notes on the show. It's so complicated and hard to track.

Oh, my goodness.

But he's just wait, sorry.

Which year does this scene take place?

In 1711, I believe. A pioneer dog settling the open frontiers. And komatsu reflects that. He's like, huh. No one's really visiting my gallery lately. I got to change some stuff up. I don't think that webpage really did much for me. And he looks sad. So Muko tries to do the thing that cheers him up every time. So Muko leaps into his arms and tries to get him to catch her because that always cheers him up. But they're in the studio with all the glass work, so when she jumps, she knocks something over and breaks one of them. So come on is not great, not thrilled, not happy. So he just throws Muka outside and we see her popping her head in. Like there's little small windows on the door. So we see her popping her head in through one of those, and we just see him writing some letter. We're not sure about what. And we see him, when he's done, put the pen down in the weird spiral thing, because, like, that's what that's for. To be honest, I had the same thought. I was like, oh, weird. It's a pen holder.

Love it.

Big enough for ape single.

Maybe he only has one.

That is true. He's not doing great in the shop.

He's a glass maker, not a pen maker. And then we got, like, a little bumper between segments, and it's Muka getting our face stuck in the long glass tube, like, trying to eat food at the bottom of it. And then we come back and it's just like little sketches for a minute. And this little sketch called coincidence where it's just Muko yelling at Comazu and just yelling his name like, komatsu. Hey, komatsu. komatsu. kamasu. And just like for aggressively getting louder. And then when he turns around and looks at mucus, he like, panics. Like, oh, God, I'm so sorry.

I had nothing I wasn't prepared for this.

I don't know what this is for. This is just fluff to kill time. But it's muko.

It's still bumper.

Yeah. And then there's another one called The mysteries of Muko where Muka is showing off. It's like, oh, I got mysterious powers. I'll show you one of my special tricks. You can see my wagging tail. See how it's wagging? And then it'll stop. And we see her tail stop. She's like, it's a mystery even to me. She's like, wait, let me show komatsu. She runs over to kamatsu. It's like, kamasu, look at my wagging tail. And then it'll stop. But her tail doesn't stop because she's looking at komatsu and she gets too excited. So it keeps wagging.

It's so good.

She just loves her owner so much. And then the next day, we see kamasu is like, hey, Muko, you want to go shopping? You want to go in the car? And she's like, God, yes. Please put me in the ball here in the car. Can we roommate? Lovely. Muko just with curses. Just like muka is just cursing all the time. Like, fuck, I can't believe I found this ball.

I mean, I haven't seen a dub yet.

We got a ton.

I smell a fandom.

And muco imagines them buying, like, a bunch of different stuff for her. So she's like, oh, maybe we get a big towel. We can all rip it up together. Maybe we got, like, a ton of food. Maybe we get one of those rubber bones that when I chew over too long, it makes me go blah. And then we see them get in the car, and they're driving for a bit. We're just having fun, theorizing what they're going to get. And then they get to an intersection. They see a little girl on her dad with a big old afro. I'm guessing they play up a bigger part later because they're in the intro. And the little girl starts waving like, look, a dog.

Hello, dog.

I was like, the same. Oh, yeah, big move every time.

You got it.

And then Muka starts freaking out, like, what are these people doing? Where are they looking at? Why are they waving? Do they want to get in here? They're probably trying to get in there. They're my enemies. And while Muka is getting all excited eric, defend my territory. Protect my human. While Muka is getting excited, she steps on the window control and lowers the window. And she's like, oh, no, they're opening the window somehow. I don't know. She doesn't realize that she's doing it.

Our shields are down.

Yeah, she starts getting paranoid of like, oh, no. They're getting ready to attack. And then, you know, right as the window lower, as they pull away from the intersection, she's like, we just barely escaped. Thank, komatsu. I don't know what you did, but you got us out of there. You pulled one out there, kid.

And another flawless evasion.

This is just a buddy cop show between muku and kamatsu. But only muku thinks she's a cop. komatsu is blissfully unaware. But now that the window is down, muka is sticking her head on it's like, ah, feel the wind in my fur. Getting all excited. So many new smells. And then when they finally get to the store, kamana is like, all right, you're ready to go into the shop, muku? You've been quiet for a bit. And turns around and see that during the ride, Muko stepped on the flip the switch again and raised the window, but got her snout stuck in it. So he shot at him like, Muko now. And then after the crowds would get a little scene of Muko or of komatsu coming back and museum bought Muko one of those rubber bones. And sure enough, she chooses and goes black.

The prophecy, it came through.

A prophetic dream. Got checked, I went off.

Got it. Delicious food.

Delicious. The muko check, that's what matters. I think in episode one, I did write down one of my notes was, can a dog be a himbo? Well, or muko's case a herbo.

It's just a bimbo, sweetie.

Yeah, but that's got a negative connotation. himbo is nice, I suppose.

Either way, I wouldn't classify Muko as that.

No, just the imbo. I couldn't watching this, I could not hear fujiko's voice from laid back camp because she is just a dog. Like, she has the mentality of just a dog. Yeah, but yeah, that's episode two.

All right, we start out episode three. muko's at the vet got scratched or something on a stick and has to wear a comb. But komatsu is like, ha ha. Looking cool. Sort of old guy joking. But muco is like, Wait, I look cool. This is new. Let me check. They get home, she checks her reflection in the glass and is like, yes, I'm a fashion icon and just so adorable. Is like looking at flowers. And it's like, cone shape. We're the same satellite dish. Cone shape. We're the same food bowl. Finally, we are one. But, yeah, then komatsu is like, oh, I thought she would hate it, but here we go.

Here we go.

But then we get to that pivotal moment. This is where the drama comes in.

The climax of the storytelling up till this point.

Now, listener, I don't mean to alarm you, but muko's butt itches.

I've been scandalized.

We all know this part of the hero's journey. We've all read those stories, the call to itching.

So she has a little bandage on her butt and she's like, it's so itchy wait. Why can't can't reach for some reason, just not connecting. It's related to the code, and it's like, komatsu, help. I'm broken.

He kind of gets, like, a distressed look. I'm like, There it is. She finally realized.

So komatsu throws her ball, and she immediately gets distracted and can get on with her.

Ball is life. Ball heals all wounds.

You got to dedicate yourself.

This does remind me one of my core use growing up. Did have to have the cone of shame for a while. She got manege because we had foxes in the backyard, and she got it from one of their fur. Yeah, it was a rough time, but because she was a corgi, her legs were so short, and her head would hang so low, automatically, she couldn't get upstairs with the cone on because the cone would keep hitting the bottom of the stairs. So when she was wearing the cone, I had to, like, carrier up and cradle her like a baby. Up and downstairs all the time, and she fucking hated it.

I have to warn you, us corgis are proud breeds.

We don't like being held. Why? Why do you have to tell me that? I've never related more to a car ten in that specific. For anyone wondering, it's infinity Train.

That's an infinity Train reference scene from infinity Train.

I have seen.

Good.

I mean, I recommend the whole series, but if that's the only scene you see, that's the best one.

But yeah. So some time passes. muko goes back to the vet and gets the cone off. They're doing some fun stuff with the gay vet, hitting on komatsu and being uncomfortable with it.

I like the vet. Yeah, I think he's a fun guy. Get over it, komatsu.

Open your mind a little bit. You don't know many people out here.

Yeah.

Make a friend, potential customer. Always be networking.

Hey, you got a lot of animals here. Maybe I can make you a glass. One question mark.

You like horses? A dolphin?

Honestly, probably the most unsettling part of the vet for me was just the super thin mustache. Wasn't a fan of that.

Yeah, it was kind of cat whiskery, and I was like, Are you going for something? Yeah. Do I have to check off furry box?

That's just a default at this point.

Yeah, but the cone is off, and muko is, like, weird. I guess I only wear it when my butt itches. So I guess komatsu, next time his butt itches is going to have to wear the cone too. And, like yes. Style logic. Love it.

Perfect. When I'm wearing the cone, I'm cool, but I only get the cone when my butt itches. That means if my butt itches, I'm cool. I got to make komatsu's buttigieg to be cool.

What is hell? Yeah. So, yeah, Uchiku's website for the studio is finally up, so they're taking a look at it. But komatsu is sad because no customers have come in yet. So he's like, oh, I pay money to ujiko next time he comes here. muko, you have to bite. She's like, no, my code, my honor. But then a woman comes in, and matsu is like, she's beautiful and she's a customer with money. My dream.

She's all I ever wanted in another.

Human being able to pay me money. So she comes in and komatsu immediately like, oh, yes. How can I help you buy everything. But muko, jealous and fighting for the attention, gets a tummy rumble that she doesn't quite understand because she's growling at the stranger.

I've never done this before.

Anger.

I feel like that because this is definitely something Rocco does where he is genuinely excited and wants to see people, but that comes out as barking, just like your friendship, friendship. So she comes in and she's like, oh, yeah, I just moved in down the street. Oh, you have a website? I didn't know. Fucking all that money. So muko yells, is like, Get away from him. He's mine.

He's mine.

Harlot.

Home wrecker.

So she gets put outside and is pressed up against the door, like, no, I have to be in there. Keep him safe.

Let me in. Let me in.

But at that time, ushiko comes up holding the corn dog, and the code of honor is gone.

She attacks. She's all riled up and just launches at them.

So they're chatting in the shop. The customer is like just poking around, looking at stuff. He's like, oh, do you have a menu here? He's like, oh, no, I just have the website. We haven't made that. And in his mind, he's like, I'll make a menu. It's a list of the prices for all my items. Perfect. that'll help. Okay. And he's like, oh, do you have an iced coffee? I love one. He's like, oh, I'm a terrible host. Of course. Let me go get some for you. And goes back to his fridge, pours some, like, cold brew and gives it to her. She's like, oh, this is spectacular. Did you make this yourself? Like, oh, yeah. The rim of the glass is a little bit wider. It's just a little easier to drink from it. It's a nice design. She's like, oh, I guess the glass is nice too.

Oh, fuck.

She meant the coffee. So at this point, a very bloody ushiku comes in, just terrifies this girl. And of course, it's just all the ketchup from the corn dog all over his head for muko knocking him over. But he also falls in love. Finally, another person in this I don't even know if I can call it a village as far as some stretch of highway.

So far we know that komatsu studio is there some sort of stores there, and a veterinary office. For all we know. Nothing else exists.

That's all you need, baby.

They live in a liminal space.

Now that ushiku is also in love, trying to chat up this woman. She's like, oh, so do you have any specials? Like, what do you have to eat around here? And they finally connect the dots and they're like, oh, you think this is a cafe, don't you? Well and he pulls, like, a curtain to the side showing the kiln, and he's like, this is a glass blowing. I don't actually have food to sell you. So later that night, they're just sitting out front, embarrassed, and he's like, I guess I didn't have a real customer after all. And we leave on that nice, sweet note.

I do like, though, when they realize or when the woman realizes it's not a cafe. You can see muko in the background with, like, ha, like, above her dummy. Yeah, there's a lot of reactions and just noises muko makes that actually generally got a good chuckle out of me. There's one after she's eating, she starts talking to komatsu, and food is just billowing out of her mouth while she's, like, talking in her head. I'm just like, God, what a dumb animal. I love it.

But yeah. So those are our three episodes.

Yeah.

Short and sweet to the point. So are we there yet?

I do think this is adorable, but it is mostly fluffy.

Much like the dog, it's very fluffy.

Yeah.

This is controversial. This is not my favorite version of this kind of thing. I wish that muko had a different voice or didn't talk because I thought she was, like, I don't know, a little crazy. It was, like, too high energy for me to be like, oh, yeah, this is like, a relaxed show. Like, it didn't feel relaxing to me because of the way muco spoke.

She sort of had, like, little kid energy rather than just, I'm very excited to be here, but I'm also an adult you can listen to for extended periods of time.

Honestly, if it was a little kid, I'd be down. But it's obviously a grown person doing this high energy childlike voice, and I'm.

Just like, yeah, it's like a kid hopped up on sugar and has a three day weekend from school. It's like, we just got chill for a bit. But, I mean, I feel like the voice fits the sheep and the energy level for them, but yeah, I can understand what you're saying, where the setting feels like it's supposed to be a very chill, relaxed show, and then this high energy dog is kind of, like, jarring. And if it's lonely, you to sleep, Muka's voice is definitely going to wake you up.

I sent you guys a TikTok earlier of tofu chan. I like him. He's very good. chiva makes tiktoks and Internet videos.

Even dogs are youtubers now.

Get with the times.

It was fun, but it was, like, a little exhausting. A little yeah, it got to be a bit much.

Like, I feel like this is something that could benefit from a dub where they just are able to tone it down, though.

Less screamy. But I feel like that's also kind of the point of muka being, like, the protagonist and narrator and stuff. But yeah, this would be one to wind down with after work. Unless one to wind down with before bed, I guess.

Yeah.

But it is very much fluff. Like, if I did continue watching it, it would probably be like one episode a day. I don't know if I would bin just, you know, this whole series in.

A weekend or something.

Yeah, on your most recent rewatch of bleach, just every once in a while to take one just very anger.

It wouldn't even be between bleach episodes. it'd be like every five minutes. I needed to look at something else for a while besides fuck kubo designs. Just getting mad. Well, it was at least a nice palette cleanser from the bullshit I've been bringing lately.

Yeah, we just needed something light and fun.

Just mindless not 17 story arcs overlapping each other.

Beautiful. Well, since I since these are shorter, I have a little game for you two to play so we can keep the ball rolling. So woohoo. Can you step into my game show? Set it's just off to the side. Dana, I set it up in your closet. I know you haven't utilized that space yet, so yeah, just step in there. And I have a studio.

Oh, wow. I love it in here. Oh, a name tag. I put it on. I put on the name tag. I roll to put on the name tag.

You do great.

Yay.

Oh, I got in that one. I stab myself with a pin.

So, yeah, I have a little game for you. It's called Anime dog or anime God.

Holy shit.

So I have a list of names of characters from anime. They are either an anime dog or an anime god. And you need to guess and choose which is which. So a fun little bonus. One of these is both.

Wow.

I have an idea for that one. I'll save it. But we'll see.

So the rule for guessing the one which is both, if you guess and you get it wrong, you cannot guess it again. But it's worth two points if you're able to get it.

Okay.

Having a little complexity to this game.

Yeah, it's got rules.

Okay. So I will have you buzz in by saying your own name. Just so dana shit. Just so we can have some order for who's getting to guess first. I tried to go not too common with these, but I'm also not aware of your anime knowledge. So we'll see.

You are, after all, the anime idiot of this show.

Yes. Like, some of these, I can tell are popular, but I'm like, okay, sure, why not? Okay, are we ready to play?

Are we ready to play?

Yeah. Brandon yay.

All right, ready? Our first option. beldan dana. Dana. Yes.

That's a dog.

That is incorrect.

Brenda. That's a god.

Yeah, I guess I should have. Also, Brendan guessed first. I'll have you buzz in so we can guess who can guess first and then the other person can either agree with it or disagree and could also get points. So we'll do that in the future. But Brendan gets a point for round one.

Yes.

This is a god from oh, my goddess.

Okay.

That is a good dog name, though I was taken aback because I'm like, I can fully imagine a dog named bell dandy.

See, here's the thing. I don't know anything about space dandy, so I thought this would be a dog in space dandy because isn't that the same cowboy as cowboy bebop, right?

Yeah, I believe it's the same creative team, but it's much sillier.

Yeah, but they got dog and cowboy bebop.

Anyway, maybe that dog name will come up.

So number two, apo.

Brenton. Go, dog.

All right. I will agree and you both get the point. This is a dog of the anime space brothers.

Space brothers. All right.

Yeah.

Just researching some of these. I was like, some of these are shows I want to see.

Put them on the list.

Yeah. I'm going to add some.

It sounded like apa from avatar the last airbender.

So I said, see, I was getting mad doing research for this because some places were like, yes, best anime sidekicks, momo and apa.

That's like, motherfucker, son of a bitch.

Even I know that. Count.

Rocco dog.

Easy. Best anime dog.

Okay. Next we have boogie pop.

Dana hookynap. That's got to be a god.

I'm going to agree. I can't imagine even an anime dog being named that.

You are both correct. This is a dog from boogie pop phantom.

What is the show about?

Boogie pop?

Because it's in the title.

Yeah, it's about like, I guess a ghost god thing that comes out every once in a while. I don't know. I didn't totally read the phenomenon. Needed to find some god name.

Well, that's a good one.

Yeah.

I tried to go for ones that could go either way.

Well, you didn't do it with this one.

It's obviously a god fair.

Next up, we have aqua brendan.

Brendan god.

I'll say dog for argument's sake.

This is a god.

This is can I get a bonus point?

Oh, sorry. Yes. It should have let you guess. That's more fun.

I've already watched it, so I had insider trading knowledge with that one.

Yeah, I think this is the only one on this list that I had seen. All right, next up we have Yatto Brendan. Brendan.

God.

I'm going to do it.

I'm going to say both tina gamble.

I'm sorry, Dana. This is just a god.

Truly a god.

It was such a neutral name.

I was like, yeah, I could definitely see it being both. I could definitely see a protagonist running out to catch the busts or to catch his ride and tripping over a dog with a piece of toast. And I'll go, and you got to get out of the way.

But, yeah, this is a god from the anime noragami. Sorry, got lost in my note.

Oh, I should have known that. I love noragami.

Well, yeah, I mean, you didn't fuck up because you got the point, but, yeah, I should.

It was in your brain.

I mean, you both know how terrible I am with names. I forget them while I'm watching the show, let alone years after.

All right, next up, we have charo.

I know it's neither, but I also know charo is in a 70s entertainer dance. The line some was on Nick and nut. That's not an option, but that's the first thing I say. Go, Dana.

Dana dog.

Agree.

All right. Yes, you got it. It's from anime lil charo.

Little charo.

Well, that deserves a Google.

From what it looks like. It's about a small dog that gets lost in New York, and it looked familiar. It seemed like something that would have been on, like, a pbs or something. It feels like something I saw along, like caiyu type things.

Shit.

We got to watch this fresh shit. It looks like a koala bear with a big old noggin.

Well, they got a ds game.

Let's play.

All right, well, next up, we have sadaharu Brandon.

Dana.

I'm giving it to Dana.

Okay. God.

Dog.

This is a dog.

Yes.

Dang fallen behind.

This is from gintama.

Oh, it's a big dog. Very little about gintama. Besides, it's a comedy series. It's got a big old dog and, like, 700 chapters of the manga.

Sounds right up your alley.

Yeah. Surprised I haven't read it.

All right, next up, we have hollow. Oh, shit.

Dana.

Dana.

God. But I think I got if Dana.

Is right, it doesn't matter if I agree or disagree. I'm not going to play my hand yet, so I'll agree.

All right. This one was.

Both. She's from Spice and Wool.

Yes. You got it. I'll yeah, I'll I'll give you that point because you still got it, but yes. Yeah. This is a furry wolf god.

Yep.

Do I also girl with ears and tail.

I think I get the point because I knew where she was from.

Yeah, I'm giving this one to Dana.

But do I also get one? Because technically it's a dog, but I.

Knew what she was from?

No, you also get the point, but I'm saying whether I agree or disagree with what you said, the answer was correct because it was a god and a dog.

But the point is, I'm going to say because, Brendan, you are very much in the lead.

Thank you.

She's a god in that show. Okay. I know nothing about that series.

Well, now you do.

Now she's a god.

All right, next up, we have ODA. nobunaga, brendan. Brendan.

God, he sounds like he knows. So I'll agree.

That seems outrageous for a dog's name. I can't imagine.

Wait, no. Do you actually know?

I don't actually know. It just sounds like okay, then I'm.

Going to say dog.

Okay.

Dog is my final answer.

Dana gets the point.

Yes.

Who knows her dog?

Okay, this is the one that I definitely want to add to the list. The series is called ODA cinnamon. nobunaga. And it's about the Japanese ruler ODA nobunaga. Being reincarnated as a shiba enu.

Shit.

Wow.

I heard about this, like, a few months back. Yeah, I forgot about this.

But he is also very pissed because he's like, mmm, shiva enos aren't technically Japanese, so it's just very stern ruler in a dog body. I'm like, hell yeah.

Very big bushy eyebrows. ODA cinnamon. What a name.

All right, we got just a few more. Next up Izanagi Dana. Dana.

I'm going. God.

Yeah, I'm going to have to go.

God, you both get it. Brendan, I thought you would be on top of it. This is from persona Four. The animation technically the game first, but still anime.

Have you played persona? Do you know how many personas are in that fucking game? I don't know any of their names.

I lost track in the description. This is the first one that you see.

Yeah, that makes sense. That's probably fair.

I was like, maybe Brendan will get this. But I mean, you still got it.

There's the main one, there's Jack Frost, and then there's a big horrifying one that looks like a dick. That's all I remember.

Hell yeah.

About that series, which is why I.

Haven'T investigated it's also like a minimum 70 hours, jrpg. So you're in it for the long haul.

All right, just two more. We have shiguri summa.

Brandon brendan dog.

I will say god, brendan gets it.

This is a dog character from Fruits baskets that apparently gets stuck as a dog gets fully animorphed.

Yeah, I think it's like a harem animate. Reverse harem.

Reverse harem, yeah.

And then all the beautiful boys also turn into animals. So, like, one's a dog wants a cat, one's a cow. I think I know very little about it.

Yeah. I just know romantic anime animorphs and that's it.

That's all I needed.

All right, and last one, blanc.

Brandon. Brandon, can I phone a friend? No. Dana, what do you think it is? My friend is dana, why do you go first dog when you go dog block?

God, Dana gets the point.

Yeah.

Dog from Hyperdimension neptunia.

Okay, no, nothing about that one.

All right. But yeah, it's very close. But Brendan is our winner for eight to seven.

Wow. Good job, Brendan.

I was expecting okami to be in there. That's why I was saving my both card. Yeah, it's an anime dog.

God, I didn't get that deep in my research.

That's just a fun game. I don't even know if it's an anime?

Nah, it's just a game.

Yeah, so then it would so you lose.

That's why I didn't play that card.

Fair, but yeah. Thank you for stepping into my game show studio. You're welcome to enter your homes again.

Thank you.

I want to go back to my home. What if it's nice here? What if there's less silver fish in the game studio than, say, somewhere else I might live?

Oh, my God.

Fair. Yeah. You're welcome to set up shop. Just don't move any of the signage.

Fantastic. I'll sleep under your desk.

All right, well, perfect. Thank you for joining us this week. We had some fun with dogs. We had some fun with gods.

What a hoot.

What else?

I had a great time.

But, yeah. So, what do we have going on next week?

Next week? I believe we have a listener recommendation from ripping quest on Twitter for glitter Force. I don't know much about it, but it sounds very magical. Girl ask.

Yes. I totally forgot that it was my pick. Thank you for being on top of that. But yeah. So, if there's a show you the listener would like to recommend, you can send your recommendations to us through our email, Are we There yet@gmail.com? Or reach out to us on Twitter or Instagram are we there yet? On both. And, hey, if you haven't subscribed, or if you're able to leave us a five star review, that's very helpful and we appreciate it.

Wouldn't hate it, but, yeah.

You can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Mr. Patrick dugan.

You can find me on Instagram at queen. Period. Weebu and on Twitter at queen underscore weebu and queen underscore Weebu.

Art you can find me on Twitter aBTS Brendan, which stands for Almost Better Than Science, which is a video game podcast I do about the same time as I do this one.

Thank you to camille Ruley for artwork. And thank you to Louis zong for theme song stories. You can find all of louie's music at Louisong bandcamp.com. Thank you, and we hope you'll join us next week as we learn to live with animals.

Goodbye.

Go pet a dog.

Art so good.

Music. You.