Behold the Existential Horror of a World Where Cars Are Living Guinea Pigs

PUI PUI Molcar is a new short-form, stop-motion anime showing the troubles and tribulations of a world where cars are guinea pigs. It’s pure comedic insanity.

Now, let’s back up a bit in case I’ve lost some of you. I don’t mean that cars have been replaced by guinea pigs—like that humans use them as mounts and ride them about like horses. I mean that cars are still cars but they are also guinea pigs.

Image source: PUI PUI モルカー【公式】 on Twitter

I’m also not saying that cars are guinea pig-shaped but are otherwise normal cars. The cars are living breathing creatures with a mind of their own that people crawl in and drive around (though it’s questionable at this point if the steering wheel actually has any control over the creature or not). They eat giant leaves of cabbage instead of needing gas and run using their wheels like legs.

But to make things worse on an existential level, these guinea pig cars are clearly more intelligent than their miniature counterparts. In fact, while they lack the ability to speak, it is likely they are as intelligent as humans—so I guess that makes them slaves?

Image source: PUI PUI モルカー【公式】 on Twitter

The first episode is set in the midst of a traffic jam. One human has outfitted his guinea pig car with headphones. No, I don’t mean the owner’s wearing headphones (though, he is), I mean the guinea pig car itself is also wearing headphones—and has speakers attached to those headphones for good measure. As they are both amply distracted, neither the driver nor the guinea pig car notice that the light has turned green. So the traffic jam has little chance of ending.

It’s then that an ambulance guinea pig gets stuck at the end of the line. The guinea pig car in front of it becomes concerned—doubly so when the ambulance guinea pig turns around and lets it peer into its back where a person is dying. This guinea pig car—not its owner—becomes so distressed that it unilaterally comes up with a plan to get past the traffic jam so the ambulance guinea pig can get to the hospital: crawl over all the other guinea pig cars. Luckily, the other guinea pig cars think this is a great idea and soon it becomes a giant game of leapfrog. And as the owners are now no longer stuck in traffic, they are more than happy with the outcome.

The second episode is even more existentially terrifying. A gang of bank robbers, having forgotten to prepare their own guinea pig car, hijack one parked on the street—by pointing a gun at its head. They then throw a mask on the crying, shivering guinea pig car, making it an accomplice to their crime.

A high-speed chase then ensues (with the robbers throwing out giant carrots to distract the guinea pig police cars). Luckily, the hijacked guinea pig car is scared shitless—literally as it turns out. It ends up pooping out all the money the robbers stole and creating a trail for the police to follow.

Image source: PUI PUI モルカー【公式】 on Twitter

Though when the police burst in, the poor guinea pig car can do nothing but hide in the corner, afraid not only for its future but its very life. The police, however, simply give it a medal and send it on its way. It then returns to where it was stolen from—and its owner hops in without even noticing the hero medal pinned to its passenger side window.

Pui Pui Molcar is both incredibly cute and entertaining—and super dark the more you think about it. It’s likely the best three minutes of TV you’ll get each week this winter season.

And as for next week’s episode? Well, it’s all about a cat stuck in a hot car… a hot, living, guinea pig car. This could get real dark real fast.