[HorridSubs] Puchi Pura Revival! - 01 [1080p HEVC 10bit AAC][2234043A].mkv

" Puchi Pura Revival!

/ Hajimaru Yo~! "

Warm, pastel colors, bleeding in from the edges of the screen.

As the image resolves, we see four middle-school third-year students in matching uniforms, sitting on cushions in the middle of a traditional clubroom. Each girl taking up a side of a square kotatsu, their lower halves hidden under the shared blanket.

They sip green tea from their respective yunomi cups, and occasionally take a senbei cracker from the communal dish in the center of the table, biting into each one with a polite, soft crunch.

Beside them, on the tatami floor, a kerosene heater glows red as it warms the room.

Outside the window, snow can be seen drifting lazily and silently down.

The purple-haired girl yawns, stretches her arms out. "Aahh, you know," she says, "usually first episodes like this take place in the springtime."

The other three girls look up from their cups, and turn to face the girl, who falls backward now, her back hitting the tatami with a soft Thump.

She folds her hands behind her head. As we close in on her face, subtitles appear and reveal her name: LOTTE.

"… I guess it's supposed to symbolize rebirth and all that," she says. "I mean, you gotta admit, starting in wintertime is just kinda weird."

Sitting across from her, a girl in glasses, looking flustered, stammers out, "L-Lotte-chan," as she nervously brushes her hair, "th-the fourth wall …" Subtitles above her head read: HANAKO.

Lotte, ignoring her friend, continues on, "But maybe we're allowed to do things differently!" She sits up again, eyes lit up. She extends her arm, points a finger to the air. "After all, this is our third series! So maybe we've earned the right to do whatever we want!" Lotte turns to the corner of the room, as though there's a camera there, makes a V with her fingers, and winks. "That's right, folks! We're back on primetime!"

To Lotte's left, a black-haired girl, unperturbed by her friend's antics, as though she's grown inoculated over many years, retorts, without missing a beat, "'Primetime'? Lotte, we're an otaku anime. We air after midnight." Above her, subtitles read: TOMOE.

Hanako, growing increasingly panicked, protests, timidly, "G-guys … Please … The fourth—"

Lotte slams her fists on the table, visibly startling Hanako.

"I got it!" declares Lotte. "The animators just didn't want to animate the falling cherry blossoms! That's all it is! That's why we're in the middle of winter!"

Tomoe side-eyes her friend. "… You're still on that?"

The remaining girl, who's been staring absent-mindedly at the senbei platter in front of her all this time, remarks in monotone, "If they can animate falling snow, surely they can animate falling sakura." Subtitles read: SANA.

Lotte turns to Sana, points an accusatory finger. "Ho-houuuu … And when did you become such an expert on the intricacies of genga and douga!?"

Sana looks up, blankly. She slowly turns to her left. Then her right. Then back to Lotte. Sana, quizzically, points a finger at her own chest, as though surprised to be addressed.

Tomoe, unamusedly, mutters under her breath, "(Who else would she be talking to …)"

Lotte reaches under the kotatsu, pulling out an entire arsenal of mechanical pencils, timing sheets, and an artist's lightbox.

She slams them down in front of Sana, and stands up, hands on her hip. "Then animate me some cherry blossoms, if you're so great!"

Sana, looking determined, balls her fists, and nods with a sharp exhale. After tying a white cloth headband with a red circle around her head, she grabs the pencils and starts to work immediately, putting her head down and scribbling furiously on a blank sheet.

Lotte sits back down, apparently satisfied with herself, and grabs another senbei cracker.

As the Flower Arrangement Club (Tentative) continue their carefree club activities, we see various shots of the town outside, covered in snow.

On telephone poles, as well as a community bulletin board, several MISSING posters can be seen, all depicting a smiling green-haired student.

Each poster reads:

MISSING - HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL?

"MIYANAMI MIDORI"

Back in the clubroom, a long period of silence, save for the sounds of Sana's pencil scratching on paper.

After some time, Tomoe dispels the silence with, "… I wish Midori were here."

"I wonder where she is," says Lotte. "She's been gone so long. I hope she's okay."

Hanako says nothing, looking uneasy.

Lotte sighs. "We can't start the series properly without Midori! She's our 'heart', after all!"

Another tense, awkward length of silence.

Lotte taps her fingers on the kotatsu. "… Sana! How are those cherry blossoms coming along!"

Sana looks up from her stack of keyframes, blank-faced. Guilelessly she tilts her head in confusion. "… 'Cherry blossoms'?"

Lotte grabs the stack of papers, looks through them. Sana has been drawing sketches of the FAC(T) members as muscular pro wrestlers, in outlandish outfits, this entire time. Lotte's caricature in particular is wearing a luchadore mask.

Lotte simply stares back, stone-faced, without a word.

"Well," she says, changing the topic, "anyway, never mind that. … But! We gotta do something to pass the time while we wait for Midori." She looks around the table, at her friends. "Suggestions, ladies? I'm open to anything. We can't just do nothing."

Tomoe mutters, under her breath, "(Even though we did precisely that for two seasons? …)"

Lotte claps her hands together, grabs a toy microphone from out of the kotatsu. "Alright! Flower Arrangement Club (Tentative), assemble! What do we do in the first episode!?" She points the microphone at Tomoe.

"Well," says Tomoe, "We could … do actual flower arrangement, for once. You know, like what our club says it does, on paper?"

Lotte answers with a mock-buzzer noise. "Bzzzt! Rejected. That's boring. … And besides, we're still just a (Tentative) club." She turns, points the microphone at Sana next.

Sana stares with her usual blank face at the microphone, and taps it a few times with her finger. Finally, she says, "… I want to go river rafting in the jungles of South America."

Lotte, without missing a beat, replies, "Our club funds won't cover that." She turns finally to Hanako. "Hana-chan! … Go!"

Hanako fidgets nervously on her cushion, cross-legged. After working up the courage, she offers: "… H-how about a w-welcoming party?"

At the suggestion, all faces turn to Hanako.

"You know … f-for Micchan?"

The other three girls continue staring, surprised.

At the lack of response, the nervous girl's face falls. "… No good?" she asks, anxiously thumbing the hem of her skirt.

Lotte's face lights up. She shakes her head. "No, Hana-chan! That's a great suggestion!"

Tomoe smiles slightly, and assents. "I like the sound of that, too."

Sana crosses her arms, nods sagely. "The Great Sana voices her approval."

The clubroom buzzes with energy, as they begin to discuss ideas about Midori's welcoming party.

"… We should make a nice banner …"

"… Oh, oh! I'll be in charge of snacks, and drinks …"

"… We should invite Kanemoto-sensei, too! …"

"… I can't wait to see the look on Micchan's face …"

"… What do we have to work with? Maybe we have some supplies already," says Lotte, energized, as she walks over to the supply closet.

She slides open the closet door, crouches down, and begins rummaging through the years of accumulated clutter.

The other three members peek over Lotte's shoulder, into the darkness.

"Geez," says Lotte, unearthing various artifacts from the past. "… When's the last time we did a proper cleaning?"

Tomoe snarkily replies, "Not for a decade, at least."

Lotte continues to dig through the pile. Looking at some of the items with nostalgic fondness, and others with apathetic indifference, she tosses each one behind her onto the clubroom tatami floor, all the same.

The other three pick up the discarded items, and comment on the memories they bring back.

"… Oh, I remember this!" says Tomoe, holding a portable stove. "That camping trip was really fun."

"Hee hee," giggles Hanako, examining an old stage script. "It was really fun when we performed the play for the culture festival."

Sana picks up a crumpled maid uniform, and sniffs the fabric. "I wonder if this still fits me …"

"Gyaaaa!"

Lotte's sudden, sharp yelp cuts the three girls' reminiscences short.

Tomoe, Sana and Hanako look up, alarmed.

"What is it, Lotte?" asks Tomoe.

Lotte begins pulling at what looks like a girl's arm, trapped underneath the mountain of junk.

"It's … an arm," says Lotte, struggling to free the rest of whatever the appendage is connected to.

"It's wearing our school uniform," notes Sana, peering from behind.

Hanako watches, stunned. "That's not a … real person, is it?" she asks, in a thin, fearful voice.

"It feels like it's … stuffed with straw or something."

"A doll?" asks Tomoe.

"I dunno," says Lotte, still pulling. "Guys. Come on. Help me out with this."

The four girls begin working together to free the rest of the object.

"… Pull … harder …"

"Stop, Lotte, not like that … You're going to break it!"

"Here, lift—lift this up first …"

"Okay, okay, I got it—here, everyone, pull this part, okay?"

"Yeah, got it. Okay, girls, altogether now, ready?"

Then, the four voices in unison, "Se … No …"

And with a final Yank!, the object is finally freed, as the four girls fall backward onto the tatami floor.

Lotte, wincing, rubs her sore bottom. "Ouch … I-te-te-te …"

As she recovers and opens her eyes, we, along with the FAC(T), finally see the object revealed in its entirety.

Sprawled out in front of the closet, is a lifeless, green-haired, twin-tailed straw and fabric effigy of a middle school student, staring back at them with unseeing glass eyes. Its doll-like mouth frozen in an uncanny grin.

Nobody speaks for a long time.

"Is that supposed to be … Micchan?" Lotte wonders aloud. "Why would someone put this here?"

Tomoe adds, "Why would someone make this?"

Sana leans in and sniffs it. "It smells like … It smells like my bath towel, when I don't wash it for a few weeks."

Tomoe mutters, "(You should wash your towel more often, Sana …)"

Lotte picks up the life-sized doll, sits it up, and props it up against the clubroom wall.

The effigial Midori stares off in the distance, grinning.

"Well …," says Lotte. "Until Midori gets back, maybe this will have to do."

"I don't like it," says Tomoe. "It gives me the creeps. Why are its eyes so … real-looking?"

Hanako fidgets nervously. "I-I feel sorry for it. It w-was trapped in there for so long …"

Sana looks at it, her head tilted. "I wonder how flammable it is."

Tomoe side-eyes her friend. "… That's a weird thought."

Sana nods, eyes closed, and strokes her chin. "Yes. Yes, I am incredibly strange."

Lotte shrugs. "Well, whatever! We still need to plan our party. Let's go see what the other clubs have for materials. There's nothing else in our clubroom."

As the four girls exit the clubroom, talking amongst themselves, their voices growing more distant, we stay in view of the false Midori.

Glass eyes stare off into the distance unblinking.

The doll grinning.

Grinning.

… Grinning.