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It has been a long road for the cult classic series Bee and Puppycat, and fans of the fantasy-dramedy are now able to return to the whimsical, colorful style of one of the last decade’s most well-known animated webseries. The show was initially conceived as an ambitious crowdfunded project from the animation studio Frederator and creator Natasha Allegri, a veteran from the earlier days of Adventure Time, being funded at the height of its popularity in the 2010s for a series of web shorts. Serving as an expansion and a soft reboot of the property, the new series, Bee and Puppycat: Lazy in Space has recently been added to Netflix, giving fans a chance to revisit the whimsically relatable cult classic.

Bee and Puppycat centers around its protagonist, Bee, a twentysomething who drifts between temp jobs on a pastel fantasy island. When she is visited by a chibi companion, Puppycat, she becomes recruited for a series of cosmos-spanning assignments for a variety of affectionately strange alien creatures. Juggling these whimsically bizarre tasks with the perhaps equally quirky inhabitants of the island, the show’s 16 episodes slowly unfold the larger picture of who Bee is and where Puppycat comes from.

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The series’ tone is nonchalant, whimsical, and relatably comfortable. Its original rendition comes from the zeitgeist of the first half of the 2010s, spinning off as one aspect of Adventure Time’s success alongside Frederator’s other webseries, Bravest Warriors, and the ubiquitously influential Steven Universe from fellow Adventure Time alum Rebecca Sugar. Bee and Puppycat was a definitive part of this 2010s moment, although Lazy in Space’s surrealistic humor and naturalistic tone both give it its own distinct voice and make it into an ideal starting point for audiences who may have missed the original series.

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Of particular interest for this new series is the increased involvement of the Japanese animation studio OLM, Inc. Lazy in Space sports an increased level of co-production compared to the previous webseries, and Allegri oversaw much of the creative involvement in Japan, alongside the art directors Hans Tseng and Efrain Farias. On a surface level, the anime influence of Bee and Puppycat was always very apparent in the show’s kawaii aesthetics and the quasi-magical girl wardrobe changes present at the beginning of every temp job adventure. On a more intuitive level, though, the show’s art style hearkens more towards classic Osamu Tezuka graphics in its simple and comfortable design choices.

The character designs and framing of the show’s shots take on an almost graphic-design sensibility. Much of the show’s charm is in the held expressions of its human and animal characters between shots, and much of the humor can be found in their asides and idiosyncrasies. It is a kind of charm best captured in the quirky outfit transformations of a chibi cat temp worker, and it is a kind of humor that is best captured in that same chibi temp worker’s casual muttering of “oh no” while hurtling directly into the sun.

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Lazy in Space tells its story in broad, often indirect strokes. There are several main points of plot, including Bee’s origins and a series of strange alien hands that attack the different job sites of her and Puppycat’s adventures, although the information is presented at a leisurely, calm pace. There is a definite overarching plot to get interested in, but it is told in a way where the bulk of the show is in its deliberate character interactions and relaxed style, always accompanied by self-assuredly down-to-earth voice directing and a bright, piano-heavy score. The exchanges are humorous and heartwarming, and any particular moment’s deficiency in one of these qualities is usually made up by an adequate presence of the other.

Even if spoilers were given as to its protagonists’ fate, Bee and Puppycat presents its story in a chill enough way to where the atmosphere is always paramount. It’s a show that is less about rushing from plot point A to plot point B, and more about floating down a lazy river in which quirky housing and rent shenanigans are on one side and an intergalactic donut bakery is on the other. Bee and Puppycat’s kawaii aesthetics and naturalistic style are certainly something that has a targeted focus on the shojo demographic, and someone who isn’t already plugged in to that wavelength may not to be the most intense watching. That said, that was never the point of Bee and Puppycat. The point is to be a comforting and watchable intergalactic pastel dark ride, and it’s hard to deny the show charmingly sticks that landing.

All 16 episodes of Bee and Puppycat are streaming now on Netflix.

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