Mameshiba

Mameshiba is an anime with very short episodes that are meant to be fun and cute and as long as you watch this anime with the expectation that it's just a simple, silly show then you're chances of liking it are high.

It's not a groundbreaking short. Many of the episodes feel similar and some of the jokes do not make much sense in English. That being said, I enjoyed this short anime. It made me audibly laugh more than once and that's great for a show that has 30 second episodes. The art is kiddish and brings out the cuteness of beans with dog ... faces. The sound and songs are forgettable but not terrible. Enjoyment factor is pretty high, I didn't feel like I wasted my time with a show I would have never even picked up if it hadn't been so short. I look forward to new episodes of Mameshiba, that's what makes this short a winner.

The fact that all the episodes are free to view on youtube is also a plus!

The plot is the same in each episode so you won't miss a thing, but each has a different mood to match up with the punchline.

The art reminds me of a kid's show, which lets viewers know that it's just a short film and isn't too intense.

The sound is effective and helps elaborate the mood. The mameshibas are voiced by kids in a serious and matter-of-fact tone which amuses me every time.

Peoples' reactions to the talking mameshibas are pretty realistic. However, in the beginning everyone had the same reaction in the end, but later on it was different. If they wanted to ... do that, I wish they'd mix it around in the beginning so that each ending was unpredictable. But I guess they broke this pattern to surprise us.

Since the first few eps had similar endings, I'd crack up every time. The reactions later on were still amusing to watch, but I still liked the repetitive reactions from earlier, it fits in with the childishness of the story.

Overall, it was funny and creepy. I watched it all in one sitting not only because of the length of the episodes, but the hilarity kept me going.

Huh. Where to start with Mameshiba? It's certainly a unique little experience. Much can be gleaned from its title alone, which roughly translates to "beany dogs" or " little bean dogs". What you see here really is what you get, and is an experience I'd liken to a fever dream more than anything else. Beginning with the strongest aspect of Mameshiba, the story, this anime, if you can even call it that, consists of a smattering of astonishingly brief vignettes, less than a minute each, where someone interacts with food that has beans or bean-like things in it, like peanuts ... or pistachios, when they notice one of these morsels moves or makes a noise. Upon further inspection, they discover the Mameshiba has revealed itself, bestowing some bizarre trivia that goes on to either ruin their day, their appetite, their concentration, or their composure. This formula is not only the tentpole of the show, but is all the show is. There is nothing else about it. Without this formula, the show wouldn't exist. It is the strongest aspect for that reason alone, but it also manages to be genuinely funny in its absurdism. Beyond the story, nothing else about Mameshiba is really notable.

The art is shoddy and amateurish, though the designs of the titular Mameshiba are pretty cute.

The sound meets all basic standards of quality, doing only as much as it absolutely has to. Though, there are some musical moments which prove pretty catchy.

The characters are essentially nonexistent in their substance, and I wouldn't expect them to be anything else in a title this fleeting, so I'd even venture to call it a wise decision. In lieu of favorite characters, I'll state my favorite of the beany dogs, those being the endamame bean and red bean, mainly for their silly natures and particularly comedic interactions with their humans, the businessman and detective respectively. Overall, there's not really much else to say about this weird little anime. It's a bizarre and vanishingly brief moment, but not a forgettable one by any means.