Super Cub Anime Review: How Koguma's World Opens Up

"No parents, no money, no hobbies, no one who I can call friends, or even dreams for the future. That's right, I'm a girl who has nothing."

It's intriguing how, as humans, there is a clear distinction between being alive and actually living. Being alive is biological and can be concretely defined by having a pulse. Actually living life is different. It is the deviation from the simple urges of biology and the pursuit of something that isn't a necessity for our biological functions... or something like that.

At the beginning of Super Cub, Koguma is definitely alive. But that's just about it.

Koguma, the show's nondescript heroine, lives in the rural city of Hokuto in Yamanashi Prefecture. She lives alone, relying on a limited budget to fund her basic needs. She cycles through the mountainous landscape of the area to get to school, and she mainly eats ready-to-eat meals over rice.

The friendless Koguma usually spends her lunch eating alone. She also tends to not heat her lunch as the class microwave usually has a line of users.

Kujima: Why Sing When You Can Warble? Review: A Story About Acceptance

“Acceptance is not about liking, agreeing, or approving. It is about acknowledging that something is what it is.” 

Imagine heading home from work one day. Everything is as usual. It's been a long day: you got stuck in traffic, and you're too tired to cook, so you decide to grab some takeout from a local diner.

As you walk back to your car, food in one hand and your keys in the other, you spot a six-foot-tall Russian bird drooling as it scavenges for coins, desperately hoping to get a taste of the local cuisine.

Yeah, that's not gonna happen in this life.

But for Arata, a first-year junior high school student, that's pretty much how he meets Kujima—the cuter version of Punpun.

Arata meets Kujima in Kujima: Why Sing When You Can Warble