Out of all the strange and wondrous animated work under the Adult Swim banner comes rare jewels and underdogs. From Gonzalo Cordova comes Women Wearing Shoulder Pads, set in 1980s Ecuador. Hailing from Spain, business lady Marionete Negocios (voiced by Pepa Pallarés) is met with scorn and conspiracy as she plans to make guinea pigs pets as opposed to being on the menu. Within this culture clash (the animal in Spanish is called ‘cuy’) lies the main thread of the plot.

This is stop motion and their uncanny appearance is slightly jerky, though that is part of the charm. The only apparent surreal feature is the larger than life cow used as a replacement in bullfighting. Corruption was rife in this era and here is no different. Matador Coquita Buenasurete sleeps with Marionete and hands over breeding contacts. In the second episode, Coquita is in conflict with her new love and her work, the first big pull of the story. Hugely successful Chef Doña Quispe appears as the villain in her attempts to keep cow as a food stuff, blocking the plans to domesticate them. Marionete offers a duck as a piece offering to Doña and things fall apart pretty quickly. Further scheming seems to be afoot from all parties and should emerge as delicious in their execution.

I’d like to say I’m convinced by the whole premise, but at this stage I’m undecided. The hands of the characters in close up appear as real human live action clips, not as disturbing as you’d think. The stop motion figures are subtle and not the most eye catching. Some humour may be lost in translation and some crude jokes seen in past animation might not work well today. The setting of the its era is also convincing, as the name would suggest. The leading lady cast and Spanish/Latin American identity should find an audience away from the bonkers work often seen with Adult Swim. Yet, a mere ten minutes a piece, it leaves you wanting more from this subtle, curious offering.

Watch on Mondays live on Channel 4 & streaming after.