Tim Maughan is trying to get people to share recipes over on his site today. As all my recipes involve production lines, HACCP plans or confectionery equipment I’ll never personally afford, in response I am finally launching Horrors of Animated Food Hygiene, an idea I’ve had in my head ever since seeing Yakitate Japan.

Today: Higepiyo Episode 28

Higepiyo is a 2009 anime about a bearded chick. Not just any bearded chick, but the last man in Japan with the heart of a samurai. In this episode, he drunkenly falls into a cake shop’s flour, and the shop’s staff debate whether they can use it. With the help of some very spurious logic, they decide it’s fine to use the flour. Because chicks come from eggs and cakes often contain eggs and alcohol. That’s some gloriously spurious logic right there.

Despite Higepiyo being upfront about the contamination, the cakes sell like they are hot.

There are no depictions of any negative health repurcusions in this anime caused by the sozzled hirsute avian contamination of the raw ingredients. In fact it suggests dipping hairy drunk yellow birds in your flour will increase your business.

It is truly a HORROR OF ANIMATED FOOD HYGIENE.

It took a couple of views for me to appreciate this odd show, possibly due to the perfunctory animation early on.

A salesman is struggling to sell a particular chick, due to it’s unusual size, posture and depressed demeanour. Though probably mainly due to the fact it has a beard. People don’t like to buy birds with beards it seems.

Finally a family decide to buy it, albeit for a variety of bizarre reasons. But when they get it home they discover it has a huge appetite, can use a fork, sleeps in a bed, reads the newspaper and watches the news on TV. The beard it turns out, is perhaps the least odd thing about Higepiyo.

The last part may be a clue to Higepiyo’s bizarre nature, as just before the episode ends, there’s a report of chicks having been stolen from a research centre the day before.

If you’re like me, and enjoy short absurdist gag anime, then definitely check Higepiyo out. It’s not as strong as Akitaro Daichi’s work in this area, but Atsushi Takeyama’s work here is still pretty funny. And certainly one of the better new short shows from this season.

K-ON

Kyoto Animation are getting their money’s worth out of those musical instrument animation algorithims they used on Haruhi.

Higepiyo

Grumpy faced bearded chick anime based on the grumpy faced bearded chick manga by Risa Itou (Ebichu).

Slap Up Party -Arad Senki-

MMORPG adaptation. Despite that I quite like the character designs, feel like a through back to 90s designs. Hard and angular rather than the softer design choices you see so much of nowadays. The trailer though makes it look like sub-Slayers rubbish. Oh well.