Describing microbes and bacteria as "cute" or "adorable" is not something one ever expects to do, but this is just one of the plethora of things Moyashimon manages to achieve without being overbearing or trite. With only a petite eleven episodes to play with, the first three are wryly amusing, frequently educational and, ironically for a show with a starring cast of fungus, remarkably fresh.

When the central characters of a show are the sons of sake and yeast producers, a mole-like professor with a perchance for sucking the bowels of fermenting sea-birds and a rocker-chick graduate student who is frequently treated as a missing persons case, the show is either going to be very weird or weirdly excellent. Moyashimon tends more towards the latter than the former and focuses on a young man, Tadayasu Sawaki, who can see, hear and interact with microscopic organisms such as bacteria and fungi. Far from the black-and-white electron microscope visions of these that we're used to, the microbes Sawaki sees are anthropomorphised versions, all bright colours and huge grins, they squeak and chatter about their business in a charmingly jaunty way.

Far from being kitschy mascots, their design and indeed most all of the science within the series is wholly realistic, primarily concerning itself with the process of brewing sake. Each episode augments the crazy antics of its cast seamlessly with some genuinely interesting biological processes, all told through narration and the crazy grins of the organisms involved. It's a world away from the dreary science videos of yore but whether this is due to wanton viewing or, more likely, something far more skilful at work is still uncertain. With only eleven episodes, Moyashimon is poised to become a cult favourite, although enjoyable in the opening episodes, it's easy to see how the frequent sojourns into a biology lecture could become irksome, especially when the more personal and day-to-day aspects of the characters lives are so strong.

The uniqueness of the series is definitely its strong point, from the setting to the premise to the characters, very little has been seen before and only the setup of two friends in university is familiar, even then the higher-education setting precludes it from being compared to the innumerable other "school" shows. It may be odd to say, but the distinctiveness of Moyashimon may be its greatest barrier to entry; the excellence of it is hard to summarise, keywords such as "agriculture" and "bacteria" rarely go hand-in-hand with entertaining viewing, still visuals rarely do it justice which means that word of mouth is perhaps the best chance it has. That is certainly something which carried along other sleeper shows such as the astounding and relatively recent Mushishi. Of course this is not the only thing which could turn off casual viewers, the first episode is surprisingly gruesome, featuring a seal carcass filled with deceased sea-birds, apparently a delicacy is to suck the fluids from the "fermenting" birds through the bowels; which happens to be the opening scene for the professor of the show. Enough to turn the strongest of stomachs it is thankfully not indicative of the succeeding episodes whose greatest gross-out is a student's filthy room.

The greatest praise that can be laid with Moyashimon is that each episode feels too short, ending before one has barely had a chance to settle in, it is utterly engrossing and fantastically entertaining. From the CG-live action blended opening to the Polysics adorned ending, it has a brilliant and inviting personality that is so often lost on other more drab series offerings; Moyashimon is a reminder that not all anime is fan-service, fighting or mediocrity and that well-executed imagination really does trump all.