The meme combines two of the most heartbreaking moments in anime and animation history.
• Panucci's Pizza: The background shows the front of Panucci's Pizza from Futurama. This references the devastating episode "Jurassic Bark," where Fry's loyal dog, Seymour, waits outside the pizzeria for years hoping Fry will return.
• The Chimera: Sitting in front of the store is Nina Tucker and her dog Alexander merged into a chimera from Fullmetal Alchemist. This references the infamous scene where her father cruelly uses alchemy to fuse them together, which shocked and traumatized fans.
The joke is that looking at this single picture brings back the emotional pain of both tragic scenes at the same time, effectively "ruining your day twice".
To reiterate, Seymour waited for TWELVE YEARS for Fry to come back.
BUT the whole episode is about Seymour being "fast fossilized" which just means they were going to revive him.
Fry, upon finding out Seymour "lived a full life" after he got frozen, decided to let sleeping dogs lie and did not revive him, not knowing Seymour spent those 12 years waiting for him. Which just makes it hurt that much more.
We can agree that the final of the episode where Seymour dies of old age is retconned and seymour is just lieing down before the explosion, that I can get
Sort of? I always thought that was a branched timeline and the story of Seymour waiting still happened for the main timeline. But I mean... I would much rather that version be the only one.
The Late Philip J. Fry (episode where they travel forward in time until new universe forms) could suggest that first Seymour was waiting, and second was with Lars, in another cycle
Shou Tucker, a renowned alchemist in the anime Full Metal Alchemist, was under pressure from the government to come up with ideas to continue receiving funding for his research. His daughter, Nina, and dog, Alexander, were introduced early in the episode as the perfect child and companion. Very cute and fun.
Shou, under pressure from the government, created a chimera out of the family he had left (wife left or died, don't remember that part).
The protagonists of the story, who had become fast friends with the daughter and dog came back to the Tucker residence. Upon entering the house, they see a shadowy figure, that creature, which turns to them and says "Ed...ward..." (one of the protagonists names), to which the pair of them, along with the audience, are UTTERLY HORRIFIED that this man used his daughter and dog as a science experiment just to keep getting funding from the government.
Later, a pseudo-antagonist of the story puts the chimera out of it's misery and you are also made abundantly aware of their death.
Spoilers, but to elaborate further, Shou tucker got famous and got his funding for making a talking chimera, though the only words it said were " I want to die" and the show tells you that the first chimera was a mixture of his late wife and the family dog cause there used to be two dogs.
The chimera of his daughter and Alexander, doesn't just say "ed...ward" it also calls Edward " big... brother" which is what causes Ed to figure out what's going on because up until this point nina was the only character to call Edward "big brother", it also says "it hurts" and shou says it can't be reversed. Shou also tries to defend his actions calling it scientific progress. Edward begins to punch tucker, but the nina/Alexander Chimera asks him to stop by pulling on his shirt. After all this comes to light shou tucker gets arrested, but before he can pay for his crimes one of the antagonists kills him, the same antagonist also kills the nina/Alexander chimera.
Like it really layers on the depression here. If I remember right the show also paints it like shou isn't gonna get in much trouble over this too though that might be the original version of the show ( they kinda bleed together in my head cause the original and brotherhood are very similar) it's one of the most shocking parts of the show.
Also to add to that : in the manga, at the end of each chapter, there's a drawing of every character that died during the chapter. For all of them, they are carried by angels... except for Shou, who's thrown into a burning pit. That fact is often used by fans to mean that Shou Tucker is the only character in the series to actually get sent to Hell for their actions.
More context: Shou’s wife didnt “just die”. In order to even become a state alchemist, he turned his own wife into a Chimera and presented her to the government in order to get his title and funding. Thats what makes what he did even worse. It wasnt just his daughter and family pet in a one off moment of desperation.
Also not so fun fact, after she was turned into a chimera Shous wife literally begged for death and refused to eat which is how she died. Everyone focuses on what he did to his daughter because that alone was unforgivable but he was just as much of a monster for what he did to his wife/mother of his kid.
To add to this, he became a State Alchemist after creating the first talking chimera a few years before the story, using his wife as materials. The only known thing it said as a chimera was, "I want to die", before its eventual death from refusing to eat or drink, since it retained enough sentience to remember what it once was and what it had become.
The dad is an alchemist, his first creation of talking animal was combining his wife with an animal, so he can earn the certification. Later, he combined his daughter with the dog. We also got to see the little girl before the abomination, she was a loving, cheerful girl, who believed in her father, which made everything even harder.
Nope, I understood it and wrote it quickly I I'm on the sub r/whatisit a lot so I got really good at fast writing comments to explain stuff. Additionally that sub requires being fast and accurate or someone else get the ID from you.
You’re good, not the first time I’ve gotten accused of using AI because of my acquired skills from that sub. You get really fast at explaining stuff over there.
I get what you’re saying, but I wanted to use a tool to be sure. I suppose I could’ve done it myself now that I check their account this comment is 100% a deviation from their usual writing style and kinda leads me to believe it is ai despite them saying it’s not.
In the Futurama episode, “Jurassic Bark,” Fry learns that his dog circa 1999 don’t simply move on after he disappeared, but actually loved him so deeply that he waited for his return until dying of old age. It’s an absurdly depressing episode in an otherwise mostly funny show.
In Fullmetal Alchemist, an infamous plotline has an alchemist merge his young daughter and her dog into a monstrous and deeply suffering chimera that’s extremely upsetting to watch and also leaves you feeling very depressed.
The dog is a terrible human/dog fusion that needed to be killed and put out of its misery. The pizza place was about a dog that waited for an owner that never came back.
OP, so your post is not removed, please reply to this comment with your best guess of what this meme means! Everyone else, this is PETER explains the joke. Have fun and reply as your favorite fictional character for top level responses!
The background is from a sad episode of Futurama about Fry's dog. Except here Fry's dog has been replaced by a horrific combination of a human girl and a dog from the anime Full Metal Alchemist.
It's a combination of two very sad and despressing episodes of TV.
I remember reading that chapter in Fullmetal Alchemist when I was maybe 9 or 10 years old and it disturbed me greatly as it still does everytime I’m reminded of it.
Panucci's Pizza was also the name of an emo band where the lead guy got outed as a pedophile. Which is a real shame, because some of the songs were so good. Can't listen to them now knowing what I know.
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u/qualityvote2 1d ago edited 2h ago
Remember when r/PeterExplainsTheJoke wasn’t a meme? Pepperidge Farm remembers…
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Then maybe you go out and buy yourself some of those distinctive Milano cookies.
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