Pucca

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Originally a cute little character created by Korean company Vooz, plenty of merchandise goodies and Web Animation series and later television series, Pucca is a young girl who lives with her uncles, a trio of Chinese chefs. Pucca is in Mad Love with her "boyfriend" Garu, a Ninja who is none too keen on her outlandish displays of affection. The series takes place in the town of Sooga, an Adventure Town with plenty of Eccentric Townsfolk, including off-season Santa, who spends the 364 other days of the year in town relaxing.

Pucca became popular worldwide because it relies on visual and gag humor rather than language, much like the Pink Panther, the Road Runner and other pantomime cartoons. Though the series has since picked up dialog, translation has worked well enough and the series remain mostly silent. Both show leads, Garu and Pucca, are Heroic Mimes, though they do laugh, sigh and make other sounds.

Tropes used in Pucca include:
  • 0% Approval Rating: No one who has personally met Dong King has anything nice to say about him, with his minions following him out of obligation and personal reasons. It's so bad, even his own daughter Ring Ring doesn't like him (not that he gives a fuck, mind you).
  • Abhorrent Admirer: Pucca is this to Garu in the Jetix series thanks to Flanderization. She downplays this more in the webisodes and Love Recipe, as Garu enjoys her company as long as she doesn't get too clingy.
    • Ring Ring takes this spot in Love Recipe. While Garu's affection for Pucca comes and goes, it's made very clear he doesn't enjoy Ring Ring's pursuit of him.
  • Adaptational Attractiveness: Dada in Love Recipe is considerably more attractive than his Funny Love counterpart.
  • Adaptational Badass: Garu was often subservient to Pucca in the Jetix series. In Love Recipe, he becomes more of an equal and is able to defend himself and have wins more often.
    • Downplayed with Dada, as he's still clumsy, but is shown to be more competent in Love Recipe than in the Jetix series.
  • Adaptational Jerkass: The Jetix series amps up the characters' more unpleasant traits for the sake of comedy (mainly the main couple), making it a borderline Sadist Show at times. Love Recipe inverts this as seen in Took a Level in Kindness below.
  • All Cloth Unravels: In "Woolen Warrior" Pucca uses this on a sheep's wool, Muji's hair and a test pattern on the TV to knit a sweater for Garu.
  • Alpha Bitch: Ring-Ring is portrayed as this, being The Rival to Pucca and (in Love Recipe at least) competing over Garu. She has her good qualities, though, with Love Recipe making her more of a Lovable Alpha Bitch.
  • American Robot: Texas Lugie and Sloppy Sue have two impressive mechas, one of which transforms from their mobile home and the other from their SUV.
  • Animesque It's Chibi art style with no noses, and the awesome Kung Fu scenes make it seem a lot like anime.
  • Anti-Villain: Love Recipe has most of Dong King's restaurant staff aside from Dong King himself and Fyah (and the latter has his moments):
    • Ayo is a complete Nice Guy who is only an antagonist for serving his uncle and Ring Ring and has no beefs with the cast otherwise.
    • Casano is just a Casanova Wannabe who is mostly interested in winning Pucca's heart (in vain, of course).
    • Ring Ring, while a lot more mean than the above two, is more concerned with gaining Garu's heart rather than helping her father's plans on ruining Goh-Rong's restaurant, even willing to do the right thing on occassion.
  • Armor-Piercing Question: The final episode of Love Recipe has one, which leads to Garu's Love Epiphany.

Uncle Dumpling: Who do you want to cook for?

  • Aww, Look! He Really Does Love Her: Despite his distant behavior, Garu proves at times he does care about Pucca and even like her back, mostly in the webisodes and Love Recipe.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Cowboy episode when Pucca gets back to back with the western Pucca.
  • Bad Boss: Tobe to his minions, though he has a point given their general incompetence.
  • Badass Adorable: Pucca, Garu, Ching, and Abyo pretty much have this covered.
  • Balloon Belly: Pucca in "Noodle Round the World" after sucking up the record-breaking noodle Garu was pulling in order to steal a kiss.
    • And again in "Four-Alarm Fire" after drinking a whole lake.
    • Every party guest in "Ring-Ring's party favors" after drinking Ring-Ring's contaminated punch.
  • Battle Strip: Abyo, though sometimes he does it after beating up the bad guys.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: Dada bonding with the Cat Bandits causes them to pull a Heel Face Turn.
  • Berserk Button:
    • It's a bad idea to insult or harm Garu in any form in front of Pucca. Also, don't undo Pucca's twin odango.
    • Tobe hates his minions' incompetence and Garu. In Love Recipe, do not hurt the Flower Fairy in front of him and his gang.
    • Pucca outshining her (especially regarding Garu) is this for Ring Ring.
    • Don't reject Pucca's advances in front of Casano.
    • If it's Valentine's Day, someone better give Master Soo chocolate.
  • Beta Couple: Abyo and Ching are an on-off example.
  • Betty and Veronica: Pucca (Betty) and Ring-Ring (Veronica) to Garu. Especially evident in Love Recipe.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Ching, Pucca's best friend. She's a sweet Pollyanna who knows real well how to use her twin swords, after all.
    • Pucca is usually a Nice Girl until she gets pissed off, which is an awful idea.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Casano's Psycho Ex-Girlfriend Mija seems like a harmless tourist at first glance, but it doesn't take long to show her true colors by kidnapping men she's obsessed with.
    • Ching becomes this in "The usual Ching" thanks to being Brainwashed and Crazy.
    • Ring Ring usually doesn't even bother to hide her unpleasantness, but can act like this to get something out of people.
  • Book Ends: Love Recipe begins and ends with a cooking contest.
  • Break the Cutie: Pucca on occassion. Garu in the final episode of Love Recipe.
  • Bring My Brown Pants: A Running Gag concerning Dada in the Jetix series. Averted in Love Recipe, when this only happens once.
    • Tobe and his goons do this in "Trick or Treat", after realizing "Garu" is actually a ghost.
  • Bruce Lee Clone: Abyo. He even wears the famous yellow and black jumpsuit at least twice. Ironically, his dad is named Bruce.
  • Brutal Honesty: Ayo, as nice as he is, doesn't mince words when it comes to his uncle and Ring Ring's plans, something they duly note.
  • Cain and Abel: In the Jetix series, Master Soo has at least two brothers who went evil.
  • Character Exaggeration: The TV series takes Pucca and Garu's Mad Love to really annoying extremes. Thankfully dialed back in Love Recipe.
  • The Chew Toy: Poor Dada! (Though he has more luck in Love Recipe). Santa is also this.
  • Chick Magnet: Garu and Casano. Pucca is a female example.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl: Pucca, Ring-Ring and sometimes Ching (but much less).
  • Close-Knit Community: Sooga Village.
  • The Comically Serious: Garu and Dandy.
  • Conflicting Loyalty: Garu in the final episode of Love Recipe, thanks to Dong King's manipulations.
  • Conservation of Ninjitsu
  • Continuity Reboot: The 3D third season Love Recipe functions as this.
  • Cooking Duel: Pucca's trio of uncles/adoptive chef parents often have to defend their culinary honor.
  • Costumer: Some episodes of the Jetix series are set in different time periods, such as Greece ("Gold Medal Garu"), Egypt ("Puccapatra"), and the 1950s ("Ching It On").
  • Cute Bruiser: Pucca, Ching and Ring-Ring. All of them are tiny, pre teen Action Girls with very cute appearances.
  • Daddy's Little Villain: Ring Ring in Love Recipe is a subversion. She is Dong King's daughter and often an antagonist, but she almost never participates in her father's plans, even trying to stop them whenever her father goes too far.
  • Darth Vader Clone: Dong King, the Big Bad of Love Recipe, is a thinly-veiled parody. He even invokes Luke, I Am Your Father to Garu (though it's a blatant lie in his case). In an ironic twist, he never meets the Luke Skywalker Expy Dandy.
  • A Day in the Limelight: In the Jetix series, Ching, Dada, Abyo, Tobe, and Ring-Ring all get oneshots. The three chefs get two.
  • Deus Ex Machina: These happen all the time.
  • Digging to China: Inverted; one episode of the Jetix series has the characters winding up through a hole in a Western (in most every sense) counterpart of Sooga, whose version of Garu (who is a cowboy drifter here) takes a liking to Pucca; but then there's Pucca's own counterpart...
  • Dumb Blonde: While none of the Pirates are really bright, Monk in particular is a special kind of stupid, as seen in "Garu In Jail".
  • Eagle Land / Everything Is Big in Texas: Texas Lugie and Sloppy Sue are both type 2 Americans. They throw packs of dollars into the faces of the people of Sooga, pollute the environment with crude oil and smoke, make people unhealthy and fat with their greasy and unhealthy fast food, and generally just wreak havoc with their obnoxious personalities and their indifference to the people of Sooga.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
    • In "The Dong King Mascot", Tobe and his gang grow fond of the Flower Fairy mascot, and blow Fyah's deception once they see him attacking her.
    • The Pirates may be... well... pirates, but they do care about each other a great deal, as seen in "Garu in Jail".
    • Fyah has a nephew called Ayo whom he gets along relatively well, and does hold some affection for Ring Ring (even if it's not returned).
    • Averted with Dong King, as he and his daughter Ring Ring can't stand each other.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: In Love Recipe's final episode, Tobe, Ring Ring and Fyah all oppose Dong King's Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum just as much as everyone else, with the first two joining the fight to protect their home.
    • In the same episode, Ring Ring briefly renounces her crush on Garu due to the possibility of Brother-Sister Incest, and is pissed off upon learning it was a lie.
  • Eyes Always Shut: Pucca, except for one episode in which a sock turns her evil and her eyes are opened for a few seconds. Her eyes are shown to be red.
  • Faceless Masses: The Jetix series has these, rendered as blue and pink waist-high smiley faced gum-drop people. Averted in Love Recipe, as they're instead a Cast of Snowflakes.
  • Far East: Sooga village and its denizens have elements of Japanese, Chinese and Korean culture.
  • Flanderization: The Jetix series does this to the characters to the point of being a world of Jerkass. This is thankfully undone in Love Recipe.
  • Foreshadowing: In the Pirates' introductory episode, it shows three of them, but Bruce's wanted posters establishes them as a gang of four. The missing member makes an appearance 8 episodes later.
  • Friendly Enemy: Pucca has this with each series' Rogues Gallery, being willing to help them and consider them friends as long as they don't do anything reprehensible. This is shared by the rest of Sooga Island's inhabitants.
  • Friendly Rivalry: Garu and Abyo are best friends and like to spar with each other from time to time.
    • A one-sided example is Goh-Rong's chefs' attitude towards DK Restaurant.
  • Fun with Flushing: Pucca pulls a drain under the lake after saving Garu from a shark. They get stuck in the pipes and Dada inadvertently saves them while unclogging one of the toilets, freeing them both.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: All the time. Notably the birthday episode, where Garu glared at an animate statue who made a farting noise and dropped a brick. And not five minutes later, the police station falls down to reveal Bruce sitting on the toilet.
  • Go-Karting with Bowser: As long as they don't pull any evil scheme, the protagonists have no problem being friendly to the bad guys.
  • God Is Flawed: Master Soo is a well-intentioned God of Good, but his many artifacts cause a lot of problems.
  • Hate Sink: Ring Ring in some episodes of the Jetix series, particularly "He Loves Me Not". She becomes more sympathetic in Love Recipe, with this role being transferred to her asshole father Dong King.
  • Head Pet: Won, Ching's chicken. She needs her or else she'll feel no reason to be alive. They're best friends after all.
  • Here We Go Again: "Feud Fight". It starts with the chefs going separate with their restaurant because of Dada's clumsiness and ends exactly how it started, only worse.
  • Heroic Mime: Pucca and Garu, though they do make some noises here and there.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: Pucca's uncles Dumpling, Ho and Linguini, though it isn't specified if they're actually related.
    • As for the kids, there's Garu/Abyo and Pucca/Ching. Dada and Dandy are the Those Two Guys version in Love Recipe.
  • Hopeless Suitor: Ring Ring has Dada (Jetix series) and Ayo (Love Recipe). Ring Ring herself is this to Garu in Love Recipe.
    • Anybody who pursues Pucca will be this by default, due to them simply not being Garu.
  • Hot Amazon: More like Cute Amazon, but hey. A whole episode is dedicated to Ching trying several plans to get Abyo's attention, and only succeeds when she saves his life.
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: In contrast to the clumsy Dada, Dandy is this, taking culinary duties whenever the Chefs aren't present.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Casano is willing to help Pucca with her crush Garu, only getting angry when Garu rejects her.
  • Incredible Shrinking Man: Garu does this in "Cat Toy" to avoid having Pucca kiss him.
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Most of the antagonists, standouts being the Vagabond Clan in the Jetix series and The Pirates in Love Recipe.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
    • Abyo is arrogant, loud, and brash, but he's a loyal friend and usually means well.
    • Pucca herself is quite self-centered, clingy, and gets angry easily (mostly in the Jetix series), but otherwise is a sweet Nice Girl who is willing to help others (including her enemies) and go through hell for those she cares about (especially Garu).
    • Even Ring-Ring can be this, though is more evident in Love Recipe.
  • Karma Houdini: In "Noodle Round the World" Pucca gets away with eating her guardians' world record entry before it can be judged just so she can steal a kiss from Garu. Her guardians are just happy that they finished the noodle, but she didn't know this.
    • A justified example with Love Recipe. In "Master Chef of Dong King?", Pucca and Garu purposefully hid Dada's betrayal of Goh-Rong due to understanding his reasons for doing so. Since Dada pulls a Heel Face Turn upon realizing the chefs do appreciate him, it's not that big of a deal.
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch:
  • Kindhearted Cat Lover: Dada, as shown in "The Cat Bandits".
  • Knight of Cerebus: Dong King in Love Recipe is the only villain who is always treated seriously.
  • Ladykiller in Love: Parodied with Casano, Pucca's third season's Hopeless Suitor.
  • Laxative Prank: The titular "Plunger Soda" functions as this, which turns into this trope once Garu, Tobe and his gang drink it. The former makes it to the toilet after much struggling, while the latter two ain't so lucky.
  • Lethal Chef: Pucca gets this portrayal in Love Recipe, all the more ironic given her uncles' Supreme Chef status.
  • Like Brother and Sister: Pucca and Dada. In Love Recipe, there's also Ring Ring and Ayo.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: Won serves as this for Ching. If she's not in her head, she grows incredibly weak (though Love Recipe shows any bird can give her strength).
  • Love Epiphany: Love Recipe features one instance from Garu regarding Pucca. He even blushes when seeing her afterwards.
  • Mad Love: Pucca and Garu's constant cat-and-mouse chase for her to steal kisses, though to what degree depends on the media.
  • Made of Iron: Pucca, although mostly for a Running Gag.
  • Make Me Wanna Shout: Ring-Ring (again) example here (begins at 5:42)
  • Martial Arts and Crafts
  • Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Love Recipe has an example in "Master Chef of Dong King?". Turns out Dada stole Goh-Rong's Special Sauce for Dong King's restaurant due to feeling unappreciated by the chefs. He changes his tune upon seeing DK's Restaurant treating him even worse, and he realizes Goh-Rong's chefs do value his presence in the restaurant.
  • Motor Mouth: This is one of the few examples of a trope whose aversion was subverted. In the episode "Trial By Fury," Garu is called to the witness stand. The scene cuts to Judge Santa telling him to step down, after which he whispers, "I thought he'd never shut up."
  • Never Bring a Knife to A Fist Fight: Pucca never fights armed, and though Tobe uses a katana, he's lucky if he can get a swing in edgewise.
  • New Powers as the Plot Demands: Pucca will sometimes have a new power out of nowhere when it suits the plot. Like when she used her hair buns as a beacon to contact aliens. Lessened in Love Recipe.
  • Nice Guy: Ching, Dada, Casano and Ayo.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: Love Recipe proves that, when not against Garu or Pucca, Tobe is incredibly competent at his job. He dismantled Fyah's charade for attacking the Flower Fairy in "The Dong King Mascot", and backstabbed both him and the Pirates to get Goh-Rong's treasure in "Villains, Unite!", which would have been a straight The Bad Guy Wins scenario had not been for a certain twist at the end.
  • Ocular Gushers: Pucca creates a literal waterfall when she can't find any of her friends on her birthday. The blast get turned on Garu and knocks him away! She does this to Bruce and her guardians in "The usual Ching".
  • Official Couple: Pucca and Garu, obviously, with Abyo and Ching as the Beta Couple.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Tobe is Garu's sworn rival. In a sense Abyo also fits, though more in a friendly way.
  • Parental Substitute: The Chefs to Pucca. In Love Recipe, they extend this to Garu, which may be why they ship them together.
  • Personal Raincloud Pucca gets one that turns into a hurricane.
  • Pet the Dog: Love Recipe's final episode has Tobe, the DK Restaurant staff and Ring Ring of all people cheering upon Goh-Rong's victory over Dong King.
  • Pretty Boy: Garu is described as one in Jetix's opening song. The third season has Dandy.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Master Chang and Officer Bruce, especially in Love Recipe.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: Garu is apparently better at knitting than Pucca is in "Woolen Warrior". He also has a red heart on his jumpsuit although it doesn't indicate his interest in romance.
    • Abyo has worn women's clothing at some point in both series, and has little to no problems with it.
  • Reality Ensues: Since Christmas is once a year, Santa often has to pick up various jobs for the rest of the year to make a living.
  • Redshirt Army: Tobe's Ninjas all wear the exact same suit.
  • The Rival: Tobe to Garu, and Ring Ring to Pucca.
  • Rule of Funny: The whole show pretty much lives off of this trope.
  • Running Gag: Various; the most frequent is Abyo randomly tearing off his shirt, which comes close to being a Once an Episode event.
  • Scenery Porn: The web episode "Fragrance of Spring".
  • Scout Out: The Dragon Girls.
  • Serial Escalation: The TV series seems to thrive on becoming as weird as possible, then topping it. Santa is secretly a ninja ex-thief? We got that. A jive-talking, lounge-singing dragon being added to the supporting cast partway through the series? We got that. An entire episode revolving around a sock that turns anyone who touches it evil? We got that. The web animations and Love Recipe are a bit less bizarre.
  • Serious Business: The three uncles' perseverance to be the best noodle cooks in Sooga.
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend: Garu for Pucca most of the time, though the web animations and Love Recipe hint he does like her back, he's just too shy to admit it.
  • Shipper on Deck: The Chefs and Ching are particularly keen in shipping Pucca and Garu.
    • Pucca herself is very supportive of Ching's crush on Abyo and often helps her out.
  • Shout-Out: The Jetix series does this a lot. One episode even features a character who is a blatant reference to Lara Croft.
  • Single Woman Seeks Good Man: This is why Pucca and Ring Ring are so smitten with Garu.
  • Something Completely Different: We've had Tarzan, Jacques Cousteau, Roman games, and more.
  • Sore Loser: Abyo has a bit of a problem with accepting defeat, though he pales in comparison to...
    • Dong King. His entire motivation for destroying Goh-Rong is because he was defeated by Uncle Dumpling in the past. After being defeated again in the final episode, he tries to have Sooga Island destroyed.
  • Spaghetti Kiss: Done with Pucca and Garu in "Noodle Round the World" with the world's longest noodle. Again in "Full Moon Pucca". Pucca tries to do this in "Cat Toy" but Garu manages to quickly escape.
    • Love Recipe reuses this gag in "Amnesia", though it's to recover Pucca's memories.
  • Stalker with a Crush: Pucca, on occasion. Ring Ring becomes this in Love Recipe.
    • Mija in the Love Recipe episode "A Scary Woman" takes Pucca and Ring Ring's behavior up a notch while completely lacking their redeeming traits.
  • The Stoic: Garu, foiled because Pucca's schemes to steal a kiss succeed often. He's Not So Stoic in Love Recipe, with Dandy taking up the mantle.
  • Sugar and Ice Personality: Garu is very much this, mostly in the original web shorts and Love Recipe.
  • Supreme Chef: Pucca's uncles and Dandy.
  • Sweet Tooth: The titular Yeti in "The Legendary Animal, Yeti" loves sweets, which is why he was following Rain Boy for all the episode.
  • Terrible Trio: The Vagabond Clan; Chief, Shaman, and Clown. Not exactly evil since most of their schemes center around getting food.
  • Thick Line Animation: The first two seasons employ this.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: One episode of the Jetix series is all about Garu trying to perfect a move and Pucca's interference constantly both impeding and progressing the progress. He perfects the technique, making him intangible. Pucca attempts to glomp him, but fails, giving Garu a much needed happy ending.
    • Another episode gave the Chew Toy Dada a temporary level in badass, using his janitorial skills to fight in a tournament. Love Recipe has even more of these, particularly when he gets to keep the formerly villainous Cat Bandits as pets.
    • There's a food drive for the Vagabonds in "Jingle Cans".
    • While they don't realize it due to Pucca following them, turns out Santa did give The Pirates a present.
    • As seen in Not-So-Harmless Villain above, Tobe often gets the upper hand whenever he's not fighting Pucca and Garu.
    • Fyah finally gets some sort of win at the end of "The Disappearance of Goh-Rong" two-parter, managing to give Edward his just desserts.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Love Recipe does this to most of the characters, especially the main ones, compared to the Jetix series.
  • Tranquil Fury: Pucca doesn't need to scream in rage to let her opponents know she's pissed, especially when they've hurt her beloved Garu. Garu himself is no slouch in this department.
    • Ring Ring usually reacts with Unstoppable Rage whenever she reaches her Rage Breaking Point, but after learning of her dad's latest scheme hurting Garu in "The Disappearance of Goh-Rong", she calls him for more information with her Yang side marks on her face yet having her usual soft tone of voice, only showing her true rage when meeting his newest servant Edward later on.
    • In "Super Banana Donut" everyone save for Abyo and Ring Ring react like this after being freed from Fyah's titular scheme in that episode.
  • Tsundere: Pucca and Garu themselves.
  • Ultimate Job Security: Dada screws up so much it's a miracle he hasn't been fired, though this is lessened in Love Recipe.
  • Unholy Matrimony: Tobe almost had this with Chief in one episode, before the love potion wore off.
  • Unknown Rival: Dong King has a beef with Uncle Dumpling ever since the latter defeated him on a cooking contest. Dumpling, for his part, doesn't seem to know who he is.
  • Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: Santa Claus. No, really. He's had A Day in the Limelight episode or two, but he's mostly there to be whatever strange job is needed, from ticket taker, to "guy in a frog costume." Since he only works his well-known job one day a year, he seems to have a lot of hobbies and side jobs.
  • Verbal Tic: Officer Bruce ends all his sentences with over. (Over.)
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: Pucca, when Garu is in trouble. Despite being very peaceful and child-like, she can be roused into the most powerful martial artist in Sooga.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Pucca delivers a wordless one to Ring Ring in "Winter In Sooga Island", after her Yang side unintentionally ruined Christmas for everyone in Sooga Island.
  • Wholesome Crossdresser: Averted with Casano, as him pretending to be a woman comes across as cringey to everyone else, with only the Chefs buying into his disguise.
  • Yandere: Pucca, mostly in the Jetix series. She's more of a Clingy Jealous Girl in the web shorts and Love Recipe.
    • Love Recipe features a worse example in Casano's ex-girlfriend Mija, who kidnaps him, Uncle Dumpling, Bruce and Garu.


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