Nekopara

Do you like maids? OH YES I PRETTY MUCH DO! Do you also like cats? Uhm… Me? Not so much, can we move along- And do you like cat girl maids? Uhm, well, I’m not sure… Because great news if you like that combo as Nekopara has got its own TV series finally. If the adult visual novel wasn’t enough and the family friendly OVA back in 2017 still wasn’t hell adequate, the TV series is going to satiate all your cutie feline needs. Cat lovers and maid lovers are sure going to love these cat girls. You can treat them as a pet cat and at the same time not suspiciously and illegally looking like you’re some sick pervert who owns a bunch of girls. Oh well, maybe you do look like one anyway. Hey, it’s a cat’s paradise, no?

Episode 1
They ask us if we like cute cats. If so, please visit Patisserie La Soleil. Actually, I’m more into the maids than cats… Now we see Chocola and Vanilla having trouble waking up. They shut off the alarm clock. Twice. When they finally do wake up, I guess it is by tickling each other’s stomach. Once done, they go down to help their master, Kashou Minazuki who runs the said patisserie. Kashou remembers how they were just brought in and were so small. Now they are grown up and helping him out. When Kashou first opened the patisserie, Chocola and Vanilla hid in the box so as just to be with him. Meanwhile back home, we see what the other cat girls are doing. Other than Shigure who is Kashou’s little sister, we see Azuki cooking, Coconut trying to cut the fish (yikes!), Maple taking too long in the toilet that Cinnamon can’t hold on… After breakfast, Maple and Cinnamon make their way to La Soleil to help. We hear that cat girls are not allowed outside on their own unless accompanied by their masters. Only those with a bell are allowed so. But they must take a hard test and seeing all our cat girls here have one, they must be real smart, huh? The duo arrive just in time to relief Chocola and Vanilla. Otherwise Chocola would’ve just eaten the customers’ food. Later Chocola is tasked to buy ponzu sauce. Along the way, she stumbles into a bell-less loli cat girl sitting by herself. She tries to be friendly but goes into hiding. Chocola leaves her chocolate behind and believes she’ll be out by the time she comes back. When Chocola is done shopping, she returns and still sees the chocolate treat there. She returns to La Soleil and what do you know? That loil cat girl had tailed her home.

Episode 2
Realizing this loli is masterless, Chocola tries to hide her from Kashou. If only she can stop panicking and profusely sweating. This loli’s case reminds of her of her being abandoned as a kitten. As she tries to hide her in the toilet, she is almost found out by Vanilla. During dinner, Kashou wants to go to the toilet so Chocola tries to stop him from going. Do it anywhere and she’ll clean up after him! Not going to fly! Of course that loli isn’t in the toilet. Chocola thinks she flushed herself down the toilet! Will the plunger do the trick? Oh, she’s hiding in her room now. The loli is now hungry so after Chocola gets her some dried fish, she is busted by Vanilla. Chocola then tells what happened but Vanilla doesn’t think Kashou will keep her. When all the cats helped out and La Soleil and some of them want to stay here, Kashou dismissed that idea. He already has his hands full with the shop what more the pair of Chocola and Vanilla. Vanilla realizes how cute she is and remembering her abandoned beginnings, she believes Kashou will allow her to stay. Unfortunately he disallows it. They have to make sure she is not a lost cat first. Otherwise, Chocola could be charged for kidnapping! Or rather, catnapping! But don’t fear, Kashou calls cat expert Shigure. Her life mission is to help cats 24/7/52/365. While the rest finds out about her owner, Shigure has this loli stay at her place. This loli is in a new environment and is of course shy when the other cats are interested in her. But the scariest is Shigure. She can’t stop taking pictures of this cutie. Shigure than baths the loli. Just need to get used to the water. Thankfully no loli cat rape. Though, Shigure smelling her hair could be considered borderline psycho case… Then bedtime, Shigure thought she would sleep with her but this loli prefers to sleep alone on the cushion. Chocola and Vanilla worry about the loli so they huddle and sleep closely to each other. Cat yuri time?

Episode 3
Next morning, Sugarcane (temporary name for the loli) is nowhere to be found. Then they find her sleeping in the toilet. Did Maple’s bum warm it up?! Chocola is obviously worried about Sugarcane that she’s being clumsy. And Vanilla can’t help worry about Chocola. Sugarcane spends time in Shigure’s house. She doesn’t eat in a civilized manner like the rest. No chopsticks and sitting properly for her. Eating under the table with her hands. When Maple serves her the finest English desserts and tea, Sugarcane prefers the dried fish. When Maple and Cinnamon try to play with her, Sugarcane just sits by herself. Shigure advises them that perhaps she needs more time to herself so leave her alone for now. Shigure gives her a box of old cat toys. Sugarcane picks up what used to be Chocola’s favourite toy. By evening, it seems Sugarcane is nowhere around. They look for her around the house but she is nowhere. Shigure calls La Soleil and of course since she isn’t there too, time for Chocola to press the panic button. But can she just run off like that while the shop is still in business? Don’t worry, Vanilla will cover for her. Chocola looks high and low as she worries what will become of Sugarcane. Finally she finds her at the place they first met. Glad that she is okay, so why did she run off like that? Sugarcane just wants to be with Chocola. They return to La Soleil much to everyone’s relief. Chocola then makes a request for Sugarcane to stay here and she will take all the responsibilities. Vanilla also vouches for her. With Kashou giving the green light, time for all the cats to purr with this happy new beginning. I suppose they can consider Sugarcane as masterless seeing Shigure’s search online didn’t match any lost cats.

Episode 4
Sugarcane getting attached to Chocola? Vanilla jealous? Competition to be with Chocola begins? Anyway, Sugarcane is not a nuisance at La Soleil just because she can get away with her cute antics. And all you have to do is feed her and fawn at how cute she further is. When La Soleil has no customers, Chocola and Vanilla get free time to play with her. More cute kitten antics ensue. Are you dead from kawaii overload? Finally all the cat girls leave for Shigure’s place to get their physical measurements. In their undies. Yeah… I’m sure we’re all interested in their bust size. But it goes without saying that the biggest bust goes to Cinnamon. It is also at this point the girls think up of a proper name for Sugarcane. After all the food names they come up with, they go with Cacao since that is the cake they noticed she liked most when Kashou fed her. And so it is. Cacao! Back to the bust size, our innocent Cacao starts rubbing her paws on the boobs of the girls. The one she finds most comforting is Cinnamon’s. You don’t mean the way she rubs, Cinnamon entering into some sort of orgasmic ecstasy?! Next, they have this visual speed test in which Shigure plays a fast moving picture and they have to guess what it was that zoomed by. The cats are all scared of that serum pic except for Cacao. Shigure trying to teach reality? And then there is one sentence that zoomed by that nobody could guess except for Cacao. It says how much they love Shigure. She loves it so much that she wants Cacao to say it again and again! Don’t tell me this is some sort of masturbation-cum-orgasm for her?! Then they all go to the beach to have fun and talk more about food. Don’t you make me hungry now!

Episode 5
Kashou seems down. Something is wrong. Chocola thinks it is because she has been found out. All the food she stole and the plates she broke… After a good noogie from Vanilla for this confession, Vanilla thinks the shop’s sales is going down. Because that means less food for them! Gotta go help out. That means handing out name cards of La Soleil. Since this isn’t bringing in enough customers, Maple and Cinnamon suggests doing cat photo service for those who come buy cakes. Well, it’s working. Meanwhile Cacao thinks of helping by handing out name cards. However she observes how one puts flyers in the mailboxes and this gives her the idea to do the same. She distributes them as far as she can. Then she bumps into a young girl, Chiyo. Which girl doesn’t find a cute cat girl cute? She offers to help out after offering some food. Thinking she is lost, Chiyo tries to get help but Cacao keeps going off on her own. I bet those name cards are finished otherwise Chiyo would have known she lives here instead of observingly noticed Cacao looking at a confectionary shop and rightly guessing this is where she lives. But to all the patisserie she brings her, it is not La Soleil. And they end up in the wrong part of town. Because a murder of crows starring at them. They see Chiyo’s shiny hairpin and attack! OMG! Holy sh*t! Since when did this turn into some horror movie?! Both run but hit a dead end. Chiyo thought she is done for but Cacao goes into her cat attack stance and scares away the crows. Well, that was easy. Taking a break, Chiyo tells of her own story. She used to live with a cat girl before but had to leave due to her dad transferring away for work. Not too happy about it, Chiyo ran away but got lost. Her cat girl came to find her and brought her home. It is only then Cacao introduces herself? Oh well. Most cats are always sceptical at first. Chiyo hugs her and that’s when the last name card fell out of her place. Kashou realizes what Chocola and Vanilla are doing and tells them not to do this again. This is a patisserie, okay? And he is not worried about sales but coming up with a new creation for summer. I think he’s got it now. When Azuki notes she thought she saw Cacao in the streets, better not jump to conclusions and go home and check. There she is waiting for them back home. Phew. Chiyo brought her home just in time.

Episode 6
Azuki and Coconut are fighting as usual. But this time it looks like their quarrel may be going out of hand. With no solution in sight, Shigure suggests they both fight. The duo are really egging to go. But without violence! Via sports, that is. Cat fight! Literally. So we have on Azuki’s team, Cinnamon and Vanilla while on Coconut’s team, Maple and Chocola. Sit tight as they’re going to play a few games from twister to resisting the temptation of food and even a spoon relay. But I suppose all of the cats are evenly matched and it usually ends in a draw or disqualification. Then the sports we’ve all been waiting for: Butt sumo! Oh yeah. First match: Chocola vs Cinnamon. Logically you would think Cinnamon would win since her ass is thicc. Too bad that remark itself makes Cinnamon horny and she got lost in her thought that ultimately made her lost. Second match: Coconut vs Vanilla. Naturally you would think Coconut will win this one due to her longer limbs but Vanilla’s riddle distracts her and she got ring out. Final match: Maple vs Azuki. Azuki thought of doing some Jack Dempsey boxing style technique (complete with that fake Rocky BGM to boot) but she went too far and got ring out the same way Coconut did. At the end of the day, Azuki and Coconut are still at each other and the heat isn’t settling down. Hence Shigure suggests the final match: A huge obstacle course. Is this American Ninja Warrior, cat version? Both are neck to neck. As Azuki is in the lead, Coconut thinks of taking a short cut. She manages to leap further but loses her footing. Hey, I thought cats don’t need to worry about falling and can land on their feet?! Anyway, Azuki grabs her hand and pulls her up. They reach the top as they reminiscence of their younger days. Still lots of fighting but it is often because they care a lot for each other. And hence they decide to call this a tie. Oh well, time to go home and eat. Cats have it so easy… Azuki and Coconut continue their friendly animosity. Another normal day for them.

Episode 7
A storm is brewing and the cat girls are gathered together. Too bad Kashou is away on a trip but thanks to the intensity of the storm, the train also stops dead in its tracks. Shigure is supposed to join the cat girls but the traffic jam has her stuck in town. Hence our cat girls will be home alone. Oh my. What are they going to do? Suddenly the power goes out. Perfect time for Vanilla to tell a ghost story! Good thing nobody gets scared (except maybe for Maple, just barely hiding her fear). But Vanilla manages to almost pull off a scary prank with a makeup that makes her look like she has no face! The lights come back on so Vanilla has to cut short her 100 ghost stories! She really planning on summoning one?! Chocola then continues telling a happy story. But it’s boring because nothing much happens. Everybody just happy. Thus everybody takes turns to tell their own stories which is of course a twisted mix of classic Japanese tales and folklores. Vanilla trying to hijack and insert her ghost in somewhere… Of course if local folklores aren’t enough, we go international like Aladdin, Gulliver’s Travel, that little match girl and even Snow White. The power gets cut again and they heard footsteps. They thought it is Vanilla trying to prank them again but she’s right here with them. Oh sh*t. Time to be really afraid. Then a ghost girl opens the door! Cats scared out of their daylights! Turns out to be Shigure all drenched. She couldn’t wait and decided to return home via foot. I hope Shigure didn’t start thinking she killed her cats!

Episode 8
It’s morning. Azuki and Coconuts arguing. That’s normal. You know what’s not normal? Shigure spacing out. Hmm… Strange… When she cooks breakfast, she burns her food and puts too much salt. Is she trying to poison the cat girls?! Even while doing house chores, she’s still spacing out! She’s not even responding! They even make high quality food for her but she’s not hungry. Oh well, what a waste not to eat them so… They start thinking that Kashou may be ignoring her and hence she is depressed. So the best way to help cheer her up is to put her in a maid outfit and work at La Soleil? Worst, she’s clumsier than Chocola and it still doesn’t help. At their wit’s end, they have to rope in Kashou himself to help out. He talks to her and it seems Shigure finds it hard to explain this gloomy feeling inside her. Though, she doesn’t blame him or anybody else. After all, her only wish is to see him succeed ever since he moved out of their home. So could this be actually it? She claims she feels better and leaves. The cat girls suspect it is too good to be true and tail her. True enough, this is not the way home. Where is she going? Finally it leads them to a cliff by the sea. Oh dear. Is she going to commit suicide and jump off because of her unrequited love?! Wow. TV drama can teach you a lot. So the cat girls call out to her and eventually spew out all the lovely things they did together. In short, they love her. Then Shigure starts laughing like a maniac. Did that break her further? She loves this too and starts twirling. Enough for everybody to fall off the cliff. I don’t know how they get out of that and return home okay but whatever. Shigure now knows the root of her depression. She was cat deprived because of the heat. You see, during the winter, the cats all gathered and slept with her. With the summer here, the cats slept in other cooler places. Lonely Shigure had no cute cats to fill up her heart and it dried out. WTF… She thanks them for their concern and explains this cliff is where she goes to sort out her thoughts. With everything settled, the cats returned to sleeping with Shigure. Sweet dreams are back…

Episode 9
Flashback shows Cinnamon was a lonely cat. Not until Maple became her friends. Kashou and the cat girls are at the amusement park. Great way to spend their day off. Then there is this live sentai show going on. Cinnamon eagerly volunteers to be the hostage. When the host calls for a singer to sing and save the day, nobody volunteers. Cinnamon then hints Maple to do so. And when she won’t do it, she ‘threatens’ to reveal that embarrassing secret of wetting herself in the haunted house! Oh my. Did Cinnamon turn into a villain?! No choice, Maple does so and astounds the crowd with her singing. The day is saved. After work, Cinnamon notices Maple going somewhere herself. So she tails her friend to what seems to be a shady part of town. Fearing that she would doing some sort of adult stuff, thank goodness she is just working part time at a music store. Talking to Kashou and Shigure about this, it seems Maple’s dream is to become a singer. A step to realizing it is to play a musical instrument. Kashou could give her the money to buy a guitar but Maple insists she has to do this by herself or there would be no meaning. And conveniently, Kashou shows a poster of a singing contest in which the first prize is a white guitar! We see the rest help Maple train hard for this day (fake epic Rocky theme song here). We see the crowded concert hall for this contest. And you thought they could’ve offered a better prize than a guitar! Come on, organizers!!! Cinnamon senses something wrong and goes to look for Maple. Nowhere to be found. Then she finds her exiting the place. I guess she got cold feet. She is scared of embarrassing herself in front of so many people. Time for a reminder slap to come back to her senses. Now it’s Cinnamon’s turn to tell her why she shouldn’t run away (tears must have a lot of dramatic effect too) and the obligatory flashback of how Maple often helped her during their younger years. Uh huh. Remember when Cinnamon said she wanted to help you next time when you’re in trouble? Yup. Now is about the time. So thank goodness for the power of friendship because Maple gets back in time on stage to sing. And wins it!!! OMFG! So convenient. Back home, everyone wants to hear her play a song. You mean she can play this good???!!! OMFG. Plot convenience so convenient. Though, I still can’t believe the ultimate prize for that nice looking grand competition was a cheap looking guitar…

Episode 10
Remember the bell that allows cat girls to walk freely outside in society without a human company? Looks like Chocola and Vanilla’s are up for renewal. Don’t you panic now, Chocola… Cacao wants to get one too but she is deemed too young and will have to wait till she is older. Hence Chocola and Vanilla plead to the other cat girls to help train them. But at first it looks like they’re just doing their household chores… They are! Once busted, they get on to the real training. So we see the other cat girls teaching them the secrets on how to integrate with society and its rules. Pretty simple, right? Just don’t give into your cat instincts… Easier said than done. We wonder if the duo can learn properly because I think if those other cat girls also took the renewal test, they would fail right away! Yeah, they have to brave the feared vaccination one too. Don’t back out now! And so the renewal day is here and the duo go in with confidence armed with all the knowledge they have learnt. And the results? They passed of course. Shigure takes them to town to celebrate their renewal. From praying at the shrine to buying souvenirs (can they carry all that load home?) and visiting various cafes (man, do cats eat that much?). Let’s hope they don’t resort back to bad cat manners after getting their bell renewed. We are a civilized (and moe) country!

Episode 11
Cacao gets permission to stay overnight at Chiyo’s place. So Chocola and Vanilla pack her bags like as though she’s going to be gone for a year. Necessary supplies, eh? Yeah, too heavy for the kitten to carry! So eventually she brings nothing as Shigure accompanies her to Chiyo’s place. So while we see Cacao having fun at Chiyo’s home, Chocola and Vanilla are having Cacao withdrawal symptoms. It’s so obvious. They forget that she’s not around and instinctively act that she’s still here. This is only half a day and we’re worried if they can even make it the entire day through. I suppose they’ve forgotten what life’s like before Cacao came not too long ago, huh? But hey, at least Vanilla has Chocola all to herself during bedtime. The next day when Cacao returns, the first thing she does isn’t to give her onee-sama a hug. Instead, she runs back to her room and hides in the box! Damn. Attempts to get her out, she just shoos them away. Azuki thinks she is in a rebellious phase as Coconuts has gone through this before. In fear that Cacao has forgotten them after 1 night, Chocola and Vanilla devise a plan to smoke her out. I don’t think they took this literally because they are doing open burning of the saury in the room. OPEN BURNING! Thank goodness no cats were suffocated to death. Then they hope Maple’s singing would lure her out but apparently Cacao just comes out to tell them to pipe down before going back. Ouch. What about feeding her the food she loves most that she never misses? She gulps the whole thing down and just returns the bowl. Desperate times means desperate measures. So before the duo can force their way in, Cacao pops out. So what gives? Apparently she wrote a thank you letter to the duo, expressing her heartfelt gratitude of all the times spent together. How cute. And there’s a cute (hideous) picture of them she drew to go along with! She says she likes them and hopes can be together forever. Aww! So sweet. Time for a big emotional group hug! Come here you little kitty.

Episode 12
Did they run out of ideas? Because physical measurements again part 2. Aside from Cinnamon’s boobs growing again and Azuki not growing still, Cacao has grown a bit and at this rate she could be taller than Azuki. Cue for Coconut and Azuki to get it on with today’s quarrel… Then it’s that same eyesight speed test to trap the cat girls into saying they love Shigure… Yeah… Because they will soon be visiting the beach, Shigure takes the cat girls to shop for some swimsuits. Cacao is the model in focus as there are hits and misses on how the swimsuits she wears. Eventually everyone has their pick and Shigure gladly spurges on them because, well, she’s going to get the payback in terms of lots of cute photos… Chocola is probably excited for the beach so she jumps the gun by blowing up Cacao’s inflatable float back home and tires herself out. At least Cacao gets a bolster for tonight. And now for the fun at the beach. Cat girls in beachwear. Meow! I thought cats hate water… Oh, none of them took it to the sea. Anyway, the watermelon smashing event, Cacao seems to target Cinnamon. Yup, she got the real melons! HAHAHA!!! Time for some drama because Cacao is then missing. They soon realize she has drifted out to sea on her float. Who gonna save her? A young girl dives in to secure Cacao. Where’s the freaking lifeguard when you need one?! Grateful for her, they insist on repaying her so she has them come to her family beach house and are treated with some cooking. Because Maple and Cinnamon’s duet is attracting more customers, soon the cat girls and their masters find themselves helping out. It’s getting busy and the queue getting longer. Yeah, La Soleil experience comes in handy, eh? At the end of the day, the family is grateful but worry if they would ever experience another brisk business again. Don’t worry. Shigure has an answer. Next day, we see some cat girls advertising the beach house on TV. Shigure has introduced to them some cat girls who were looking for a home. Life is good with cats, right? I guess dog lovers don’t exist in this anime…

Kawaii Neko Overrun: Caution, Cats At Play!
Wow. Everybody so happy. I guess life is indeed good with cats. Because I’m assuming those kind of cats with serious behavioural problem do not truly exist in this anime. Like you know, pushing things off the edge just for the fun of it and to piss off their masters? Heh. Not to mention scratching the curtains and sofa cushions just to sharpen their claws? No? Oh yeah. So good to be masters of these cat girls in this anime. Cute and obedient. And they also serve you at the café. Life indeed is so good with cats. So why aren’t we getting another season of this catty goodness?

There is really nothing special about the series at all. Not even an actual plot to begin with. Every episode feels like a standalone filler as we see about the cat girls going about in their daily lives. That is about it. I suppose only Nekopara fans can appreciate and love the TV series. Since there are a lot of cute cat girl stuffs going on in between so if you are the kind of would be impressed with whatever cats do are cute, I’m sure you’re going to love these cat girls doing whatever they’re doing because a big majority of the time, their talking and actions are just so darn adorable. Yeah. Cat girls can do no wrong, right? Otherwise it is just plain boring. Good news. No doubt it was boring for my standards, I didn’t fall asleep! So not that bad, huh?

There is nothing much for me to say about the characters seeing once you get to know them, they pretty much stay the same way as they are throughout the series. Chocola and Vanilla re the poster cat girl of the series so it is only right that they occupy a big chunk of the spotlight. Their overwhelming adorableness means it helps pretty cover up their retard. Uh huh. That is what I actually feel about their characters. Chocola being the cheerful and energetic cat girl who acts before she thinks while Vanilla is more taciturn and does not express her emotions much. Obviously Chocola being Chocola, she is more retarded than Vanilla because of her genki outlook. Sometimes Vanilla has to play the straight man (or cat?) for her but Vanilla isn’t immune to being a retard herself with some minor slip ups from time to time. Hate me all you want Nekopara lovers, but that doesn’t mean I despise them because thanks to them being so kawaii, I’m also giving them a free pass to continue doing all their silliness. Carry on being cat girls.

The rest of the other cats add some variety to the already bloated cat family because it is more fun if we have different types of cats, no? Do cats really have partners? Because I thought they usually go it alone. So it is obvious we can see the pairings of Chocola-Vanilla, Maple-Cinnamon as well as Azuki-Coconut. Oh well, best friends keep each other company. We got polar opposites in Azuki and Coconut since it is like their role to just argue with each other whenever they have the chance. Azuki being the shortest and a tsundere while Coconut being the tallest and the coolest (as well as the most mature feminine body). You can’t get anything more interesting than that, can we? Then we have the mature Maple who basically feels like an oujo-sama and the very curious Cinnamon. In the sense that she often gets turned on by the slightest and misinterprets everything in a sexual manner. Is that why she is the only one who wears gloves? Because anything she touches might turn her on? I know the adult visual novel had some erotic elements but the TV series is supposed to be family friendly! Maybe that’s the safest they can do for her without changing the basics of her character. After all, she’s got the biggest bust among the cat girls. If that doesn’t turn you on, her sexual innuendoes might! Beware Cinnamon. It’s like she is eternity in heat… All in all, they too have their weird personalities that make them retards in their own way. Heh.

Finally adding Cacao to the mix doesn’t feel like anything exciting. Just another cat girl for me. Loli version. After all, Cacao is an anime exclusive character and doesn’t appear in the original works. So I guess this is our motivation to watch the TV series? Same taciturn emotionless poker face like Vanilla. Loli version. Do we need overlapping characters? The only 2 main human characters in the series, Kashou and Shigure, I suppose they love cat girls a lot and have the capacity (physically and financially) to support them all. I didn’t play the game or watch the OVA so I’m not sure if their origins are really explained. If they just pick cat girls in the streets out of pity, who knows how many more they’ll pick up in the same way and in no time their household will be some sort of cat girl sanctuary. Better keep working hard as a patissiere. While Kashou looks like your normal responsible big brother, Shigure looks like she has a lot of free time on her hands. She dresses very nicely in a kimono and is a so called cat expert. I don’t know what else she does besides that. If not for the fact the cat girls belong to them, she can be deemed a creepy crazy stalker, the way she obsesses over the cat girls, taking photos like a maniac and such. I read she is supposed to have some brother complex over Kashou (to a point of incestuous feelings) but here she is toned down and is shown her obsession over the cat girls instead.

Because of all the pretty mundane story and characters, my mind drifted and started to think about unnecessary things. Like how the heck do these cat girls really work in this world? I mean, how the heck were they born and what are their roles in society? Because from as far as I can see, they are treated like second class citizens. Heck, in our sorry cases of our cat girls here, they were once abandoned by the roadside and only the kind soul known as Kashou picked them up. They aren’t the smartest creatures around and my guess is that their intellect doesn’t match up to the humans (though thankfully they are pretty much law abiding). That’s why they have this bell and whatever licence so as they could go outside by themselves without their human master. So what happens if they don’t? Will they start killing people? Like in the case of Cacao, how the heck was she in that situation in the first place when Chocola found her? Don’t care. Overwhelming cuteness covers everything.

And these cat girls are most probably not the same species as humans. They just look like cute girls and display some cute cat traits. Like as though they are ordinary human girls cosplaying to the extreme as cats. So what I’m saying is there room for interspecies sexual relations?! Hah. Maybe the adult visual novel have addressed this. A child born out of a cat girl and a human. Totally weird and unsettling. But I’m wondering if there are any illegal cat girl trafficking syndicate because at the same time they look pretty rare. I don’t see other cat girls in town other than those who stay at Kashou’s place. Heck, does this world even have real cats?! Yeah, it would be pretty weird to have both kinds of felines existing here. Real cat vs cat girl… Who would win?! Also, aren’t there other species like dog girls or bird girls or hamster girls or rabbit girls? No? Oh well. Cat girls only then. At least the cat girls still look hot and sexy in their undies. There’s your minimal fanservice if this adaptation has taken away your favourite erotic elements from the game.

And the other mind boggling and ironic part is how cat girls want the company and love of their master. Uhm, aren’t cats selfish creatures? Because might as well have been dog girls but I guess the creators love cats. So anyway, the cats craving for attention and for most of the time abiding the human laws, that isn’t so very cat-like, isn’t it? Like as though these cat girls are girls with some mental issues and think they are cats. Yes, cats want attention too. But not the kind of this level like we see here. Weird.

Art and animation lean towards the moe and cute expect. Everything so colourful and kawaii, it makes you want to own a cat girl. Though, the hue and colouring is a bit light. Well, the maid outfits at La Soleil are just pretty passable. Besides, the cats don’t spend their entire time at La Soleil and it is only when they are working there that they don the outfit. So I guess my maid outfit taste has got pretty high standards, huh? Oh well. Can’t get enough of your kawaii neko onna fix? At the end of every episode, different illustrations from different illustrators to brighten up your day. This anime is done by Felix Film who only so far has done the Nekopara franchise and nothing else.

For the voice acting, I thought Tetsuya Kakihara was behind Kashou’s voice. However he sounded too gay to be him. It wasn’t him. It was Shinnosuke Tachibana (Tomoe in Kamisama Hajimemashita). Yeah, sorry. But I still find his character to sound so gay. As for the other characters, those who lent their voices in the OVA were totally revamped and given new seiyuus to helm the roles. Now it is Yuki Yagi as Chocola (Hanako in Hataage! Kemono Michi), Iori Saeki as Vanilla (Tanpopo in Ore Wo Suki Nano Wa Omae Dake Ka Yo), Miku Itou as Maple (Miku in Gotoubun No Hanayome), Yuri Noguchi as Cinnamon (Goe in Release The Spyce), Shiori Izawa as Azuki (Tanpopo in Witch Craft Works), Marin Mizutani as Coconut (Misaki in Boku No Kanojo Ga Majimesugiru Sho-bitch Na Ken) and Mao Ichimichi as Shigure (Bada in ClassicaLoid). Yuuka Morishima as Cacao (Gripen in Girly Air Force) and Kaede Hondo as Chiyo (titular character in Tejina-senpai) are the only newcomers.

A lot more moe and kawaii cuteness because that is what the opening theme is filled with. Hearing Shiny Happy Days by those cat girl sextet definitely oozes with all the moe and kawaii factor that this anime is abundant with. The ending theme is Hidamari No Kaori and is sung by the duet of Chocola and Vanilla. It is a slow piece and it sounds a lot like a song you play on your graduation day in school. There is also a Cacao version of it and of course it sounds a lot cuter, though a bit bland because we all know how Cacao sounds like, right? A special ending for episode 9, Honto No Kokoro by Maple takes away all that cuteness and sounds more like anime pop with the acoustic guitar strumming pretty obvious in the background. There a couple of easy-going BGMs as well. While not exactly catchy to warrant me to want to hear them over and over again but they’re cute and fun to listen to since they often spam these few. At least, they got stuck in my head for a few days…

Overall, if your weakness are cute stuffs, you might want to stay away from this because all the moe and kawaii elements will suffocate you to death rather than the plain boring story which amounts to nothing in particular. Otherwise it is a pretty much calming and relaxing series of watching this is what it is like if cats were anthropomorphized as humans. In other words, boring. Also, the lack of any sexual content means puritan fans of the series might be furious that their cat girls are downgraded this way. Yeah, what good is it to own a litter of cat girls and not do anything ecchi to them! Atrocious! I guess such erotic content has to be cut out or toned down if you want your anime to be family friendly. Not sure if the producers are trying to bait and lure unsuspecting people to go buy the erotic game itself… Beware, though. This TV series might look like it’s okay but it could be in fact a dead cat bounce… When cat paradise become cat hell… Please, the cat girls deserve better than this. Otherwise we’d go back to watching more cute cat videos on YouTube! Cat-ch you later!

Honto Ni Atta! Reibai Sensei

Is it a must feature that all flash based animation should last approximately 4 minutes or so? Is it something about the production costs that only allows them to make short animations? Oh heck, I was only speculating that last bit. But whatever the reason, Honto Ni Atta! Reibai Sensei (literally means “It Really Exists! Spirit Medium Teacher”) is one of the few flash based animes to be released over the internet like Haiyoru! Nyaruani and Double-J. I read the synopsis that wasn’t much and came to conclude that there was no harm in watching this series. After all, I would expect nonsensical randomness from such short series. 22 episodes x 4 minutes = 88 minutes, which is nearly one hour and a half hours of my time wasted if I chose to watch this. Hah. A big part of my life is ‘wasted’ on animes so this is no different. So to sum it up what this show is about, it’s about this school teacher who is into this occult thingy. She knows everything there is to know about the other world, the world of the dead and spirits but yet knows nothing about our own, the world of the living. Can you smell something funny happening here especially she’s a teacher to a bunch of equally weird students.

Episode 1
Akiko Yoshii is looking forward to her new school term as a middle school grader. She is also getting a new homeroom teacher, Juri Kibayashi. But the boys decide to play a nasty trick by locking the door with a broom. If that doesn’t work, she climbs in from the window and coming in like a ghost! Scared the spooks out of everyone! After introducing herself, Akiko asks her hobbies. First, Juri picks student seat number 4, Saito as demonstration. Then she chants a spell to call his ancestors. Look at all the spirits flying about! A spirit possesses Juri and is going to curse them all for awakening her by tearing them apart and eating their innards! Saito can’t believe his ancestors were that evil! As the spirit further describes how she’s going to make a meal out of them, Juri reverts back to normal and introduces some wonderful beef stew. WTF?! Probably too WTF till Eri Nitta passed out. Juri then says her hobby is communicating with the dead. Eri had just awoken and doesn’t feel too good so Juri casts as spell on her. Suddenly Eri becomes rude and dominating. Seems Juri has endowed Nobunaga’s spirit within her so that she won’t pass out! Oh, now ‘Nobunaga’ is torturing the boys! In that case, Juri puts another spell on Hinako Wakamiya and this time she turns into Mitsuhide! Soon the class is on fire and like a battlefield. It’s chaos! What a crazy way to start the new semester.

Episode 2
Looks like they have to start the term by rebuilding the classroom. But the class isn’t happy that the next period will be PE because of Juri, they have been doing PE all day long when she burnt the classroom down! However there is something more distressful going on. It seems someone has stolen the girls’ bloomers. But not every girl. Those ‘ugly’ ones were exempted. Juri sees no reason in why someone would steal them till she learns it could fetch a considerable price on the internet. So she decides to look for the culprit who stole the panties. Oops, she meant bloomers. First she has everyone close their eyes and warns them not to open them. Then she starts off with a fake spirit chant that scares Saito. So back to the real thing, she tells the culprit to raise his/her hand and promises she won’t do some paralyze thingy late at night and other haunting curses! Was she going to do all that?! Shortly, somebody’s hand is raised so Juri thanks that person for the honesty and will keep it a secret between them. But she is giving away hints about that person! Who has a big sister who graduated last year? When everyone is allowed to open their eyes, Juri says the culprit is a tengu. Do you think they will buy it? Later that evening with all the bloomers in her possession, Juri remembers Eri’s word about fetching a price over the internet. When Akiko comes in to get them, she is shocked to see Juri trying them on (so she could get a feel why it’s so special) and goes insane! Yeah, she was just a step from being reported to the police as a pervert. Well, all she got is interrogated by the faculty staff.

Episode 3
Scientific Nagara doesn’t Juri much and thinks there are tricks to her occult ways. She thinks her spirit summoning is due to dead bodies buried underneath the class! Since the physical examination is coming up, Nagara is confident that her elite class will never lose to Juri’s unscientific one (insert maniacal shrieky laughter here). Akiko tries to calm both teachers down as there is no need for hostility but it seems Juri got pissed off and accepts her challenge to settle things during that examination. The first round is the hearing test as Nagara boasts how her class spoke no more than 10 decibels during lessons. Plus, her students are given vitamins that improve their peripheral nervous system. Juri chants her spell and one of her students start hearing the voice of her deceased grandma!!! Round 2 has them in a vision test. Juri sends feral girl, Chinatsu Akagi to the battle front since she has 20/10 vision. However she starts crying as tears well up in her eyes and couldn’t see a damn thing because Nagara is reading a sad story. With both sides even, it now comes down to the final weight examination. Juri has lost interest and doesn’t want to go on so Nagara had to beg her to continue by giving her deep friend roll if she wins. Juri makes a u-turn decision. Sheesh… So the winner of this challenge will be the one whose weight is the heaviest! The more the better, right? Juri summons a pair of big demons (bigger than the school!) and won the contest! The scales broke… Yeah, Nagara pretend she didn’t see anything. Later as Juri chews on the fried roll, Nagara still things those demons are huge heavy costumes. Akiko thought they can settle this again next year but they’re not going to do it anymore since it’s too much effort. Akiko is appalled that they may actually get along well. In a weird way, they do think alike.

Episode 4
A cat named Kuroneko and other distressed cats are gathering to consult the great Cat King. This is Kuroneko’s first time so he hears about Cat King’s unfathomable strength and wisdom. Upon learning Cat King is black like him, he is ecstatic that even black cats can become king seeing black cats are frowned upon society as bad luck. Once Cat King arrives, Kuroneko is shocked to see her as human! It’s Juri! She’s the cat king?! But the other cats feel Kuroneko is being disrespectful. After all, they see Juri as a cat! Are they blind?! Or they too feel Cat King takes a different form other than a feline? So the cats take turns to tell her their troubles and she earnestly replies them. Well, all I can say is that her ‘consultation’ seems pretty normal, if not odd. Ignore them? Stare into space? When it’s Kuroneko’s turn, Juri notes how black he is, like an epitome of a curse! Shock! Worse, the other cats think she is praising him! Kuroneko starts crying because no matter what he’ll still be hated. Juri tells him there is nothing bad being black because that is what makes him unique. The moment he assumes that it is bad, it becomes bad. Don’t be pessimistic and just love yourself. Kuroneko is overwhelmed over her words. But when Juri starts saying his legs are short, plump, with eyes that looked like he ate a human, like as though he’s a cat goblin, he goes into a further shock. Yeah, splitting in half. The other cats applause over Cat King’s ultimate praise. Well, if you have learnt anything from Juri, don’t take it as an insult.

Episode 5
Juri introduces her class to a new transfer student, a blonde named Emma. However the way she talks seems to be like in those olden samurai days! Akiko even thought she summoned a spirit to possess her. Of course she did not! Then Emma and Chinatsu have a lively conversation of “Nice to meet you (insert ascending number here)!”. Akiko fears they may have another idiot. They ask about her hobbies and it seems she loves playing video games. Plus, she has every game console possible. Even the ones that will have things pop out of the screen. WTF?! Since she plays too much, her parents usually hide it and so she has to go searching for it. Akiko thought Motoko Mihoro was knowledgeable about games seeing she knows the games Emma plays. But it’s due to the fact she resells them. However Emma has a problem that’s bugging her every night. Each time she sleeps, she often feels paralyzed. Juri overheard their conversation and confirms through Emma’s spirit guardian (she has one?!) that Emma does indeed has sleep paralysis. Needing to stem this problem before it gets out of hand (leading to pain and stress, that is), she has her guardian spirits report to her if ever that happens and also Akiko will gladly help out. That night when Juri is playing cards with her spirits, she receives the sleep paralysis report and rushes her way to Emma’s room along with Akiko. In the dark room, they see her uncomfortable and mentioning her body can’t move. When Akiko turns on the light, they are shocked to see all the video game pads’ wire entangling her. So that’s why she’s paralyzed? No wonder they’re so pissed off. I guess she’s really an avid gamer. Yeah, she might be having a nice dream too…

Episode 6
Juri explains the supernatural being called Zashiki Warashi (child-like beings that reside in homes). Why? Because she has one as a new transfer student in her class! Oh no. More weirdoes. She is Kame and once lived in an inn. Unfortunately it burnt down and she was hungry and lonely till Juri picked her up. Hope Nagara and Vice Principal don’t find out. Whoops… Too late. They come into her class to reprimand her of whatever ruckus but couldn’t see Kame! Looks like only children can see her. Seeing nothing is wrong, they leave but with a warning they won’t let her off if she causes trouble next time. Kame took this as an insult and decides to ‘upgrade’ the school! Oh sh*t!!! Uhm… So what was upgraded? Well, the clock turned digital. Huh? Kame goes on an ‘upgrading spree’ other things in school. Whether or not useful, that depends. Portraits of Bach looking realistic? Science lab water faucet gushing out with full water force? Principal’s statue looks so macho? And yeah, Juri has one too. She became such a beautiful person! Not only she is polite but has discarded her occult fetish! Nagara and Vice Principal thought she was causing trouble again and barge in. However they are taken aback by her proper teaching manners but couldn’t recognize who the heck she is. Kame felt guilty that she caused trouble for everyone and decides to leave school with a heavy heart. As she leaves and the rest in tears over her departure, Akiko reads a magazine about Zashiki Warashi. They don’t remain in one place for a long time and is always on the move. But the place that loses them will experience horrendous tragedies, unfathomable damage and your father may even elope with a lover! Quick get her back!!! And so, Kame gets to study and stay with the class. Phew. Major disaster averted.

Episode 7
A bunch of alien cats, Captain, Tonto and Sagan are on their way to Earth. Only 61 days and 18 hours left. Though Captain was excited when they left their home planet (actually he was crying), he’s feeling bored because well, everywhere looks the same in space. Hoping something exciting will happen, suddenly a robot zooms pass them! Doesn’t it resemble Gundam? Displaying it on the monitor, Captain thinks this robot is more robot-like than he thought. So now what? Attack! But they don’t know if it’s friend or foe? Well then, surrender! What? Why? Okay, how about chase after it? But if they do so, they don’t have enough fuel to reach Earth. The robot inches closer and gives out a distress signal. Viewing the robot’s cockpit, they see a distressful jellyfish alien (let’s call him Jellyfish for convenience). Captain can’t believe this alien could make a humanoid robot. But they still have to help him. Meanwhile Juri’s class don’t believe about this alien story she just told. Well, it was from her dream this morning. Make that prophetic dream. There were the words “Prophetic Dream” on the top right corner of her dream that’s why she believes in it! Because Juri wanted to help them badly, she turned the entire day into self study and wants to return home to help the aliens. Seems Principal is an occult freak too and wants Juri to continue her story while Nagara dismisses that unscientific crap. Meanwhile, the cats hear out the Jellyfish’s story that he was supposed to attend his daughter’s big wedding day and was in danger of missing it due to his Economic Class Syndrome till the cats came along to help. He gets emotionally grateful and won’t forget their kindness. Back on Earth, Saito mentions since the alien’s problem has been solved, there is no need for her to return to communicate with them. Juri’s mood changes to an upset one as she tells the class to return to their seats because she is going to start her lesson.

Episode 8
Nagara is bloody pissed that Juri and her girls are using the chemistry lab for their nabe session. Japanese people’s way of socializing? If not for Nagara’s growling stomach, she would’ve shoo them away and not join them and let this tiny bit slide. Suddenly the lights go out. As explained, this is going to be a yami nabe and they must eat the first thing they pick out from the pot. The winner is the one who doesn’t give up. For the first round, the girls got sweet things, Emma gets a crab meat, Juri a horseshoe crab and Nagara a kokeshi doll!!! For the second round, the girls got a little nice slice of meat while Nagara got… Hinako’s handphone?! WTF?! How the hell did that phone got in there? And she got it for her birthday present?! Before the third round starts, Juri senses something amiss because Emma seems to be getting the good stuff. Though she denies, her secret is busted when Chinatsu gets hold and breaks her night vision goggles. The third round has the girls pick out mushrooms. Poisoned mushrooms from Mihoro. Stomach pain coming… Nagara wants to stop all this and get medical attention to them but Juri wants them to continue seeing that they’re the only ones left standing and wants them to settle this. Plus, the girls don’t want her to mind them and end the battle. Viewing them as making such a mature resolve, Nagara won’t let their efforts go to waste and accepts the challenge. At the end of the fourth round, Juri is knocked out because she bit something spicy while Nagara got half a pineapple. Flipping over the other side, there is a fruits carving that wishes her happy birthday. As revealed, this is just a setup for her surprise birthday since they know she wouldn’t accept a proper invitation. As they all wish Nagara happy birthday and Juri calling a truce today, Nagara informs them today today’s not her birthday. Oh man…

Episode 9
There’s this delinquent in class called Wanibuchi. He’s troubled. That’s because he likes Eri and is having trouble confessing to her. Please note Eri is still possessed by Nobunaga’s spirit. The next class is home economics cooking so he is resolved to tell her his true feelings. He has already taken care of all the obstacles for tomorrow’s class. Beating up a guy who is supposed to be paired with her? Yeah, take his place will ‘ya. Akiko and Hinako are worried about Eri because that scary Wanibuchi is in Eri’s group. But Akiko says not to worry because he won’t turn up for today’s cooking class. Speaking of the devil, there he is. Eat your words! Seems the plan is putting sweat in the cooking. When everyone tastes and finds it terrible, he will step in to eat everything and say how good it is. This will have Eri confess to him. Hey pal, you can stop daydreaming now. Juri once again takes the easy way out, telling her students to refer to the manual for their class. Some kind of teacher, eh? While the class are in a commotion, Wanibuchi takes this chance to start his plan but Chinatsu puts an entire tin of machine oil into the pot! The entire room is on fire! Wanibuchi panics but was told by Eri to complete their delicious stew together since that is what he promised. At first he couldn’t do it due to the flames but slowly he gets the determination to do it right now. Promising to complete this, Wanibuchi shouts out loud that he loves her. The class continues to be burnt to a crisp (again) while Eri gives out a maniacal laughter. Yeah, nobody thought of evacuating? In the aftermath, Eri confronts Wanibuchi about his love confession. She thought he loved the over-burnt charcoal stew. NOOO!!! Yeah, she wants him to eat it too. NNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Episode 10
The cat aliens arrive at Earth and Captain notices its pathetic state. He thinks it should be run by higher beings like them (cue for maniacal laughter). They come into Kuroneko and are surprised there are cat beings like them on this planet. After introducing themselves from Planet Tuna-Mayo and their goal to invade Earth, seems Kuroneko tries to escape from this conversation. Captain wants him to bring them to his leader instead. To their shock, it is Juri the Cat King! A human as the king of cats? Kuroneko decides to play along with the other Earth cats to say these aliens are mad. Juri tears off Captain’s antenna and throws it away! Sagan and Tonto are appalled and think this is a sign of war but Captain (after retrieving his antenna) feels they must be calm and be diplomatic. Once again introducing themselves, their origins and their goal, Captain feels the humans aren’t fit to rule this planet that is blessed with sun rays and plentiful resources as they are exploiting it. However he will give the cats special treatment after enslaving the humans. Juri isn’t amused seeing the cats already have the freedom to do and eat what they want. The other Earth cats agree seeing cooperating would be very troublesome. Captain thinks they need to force them to cooperate when Juri again tears and throws away Captain’s antenna! His subordinates go after him and regroup. Captain reminds them that their motivation for this mission isn’t money or women but pride. Then they see an old lady giving free food to the nearby cats. Sagan and Tonto feel the cats have been totally brainwashed under the human’s control. But Captain couldn’t resist the temptation, throws away his antenna and goes join in the meal! WTF?! So where is the pride he was talking about?!

Episode 11
Hinako doesn’t really want to come to the Tanabata festival with her friends seeing she didn’t like the embarrassing yukata her mom bought. Juri and Nagara are at the festival stalls to keep a watch on the students but it seems Nagara will need to devote her time watching out for Juri who is really taken in by the festival’s spirit. They meet Saito and his friends as well as Chinatsu, Akiko and Hinako (forced to come). The guys are complimenting Hinako’s nice yukata but she thinks she’s being laughed at and runs away. Chinatsu goes after her. The guys fantasize about Mihoro in a mini yukata simply she has not enough materials to make it but to their dismay, she’s working at a stall instead. And getting paid for it. Nearby, they here Eri’s maniacal laughter because she is enjoying herself at the shooting gallery. She’s shooting the stall owner to see him dance instead of the target prizes!!! Chinatsu finds Hinako and scares her? Poor girl has had enough of it and runs away again. Meanwhile Juri and Nagara are at the Tanabata tree and see everyone’s wishes. Though unscientific, Nagara decides to write a wish just for fun. The teachers realize they both wrote the same wish for all their students to stay healthy. But soon that turns into disgust when they realize they share the same feelings. Oh, Hinako also wrote her wish. She hopes none of the wishes will come true! Oh dear.

Episode 12
Juri has her class listen up to something important. One day there were 4 guys who decided to do a kimodameshi (test of courage) at a haunted place and waited for 4 hours but nothing happened. They decided to go back but one of them mentioned something did happen. Apparently they could hear the rain the entire time when they’re supposed to be in a tunnel. Juri blows her top when there is no reaction from her students seeing this is supposed to be a scary story! Well, it’s the hot summer and she thought of telling a chilling ghost story to take away the heat. Saito decides to tell her how a real ghost story is done. One rainy day he forgot his umbrella, he decides to take a bus but spotted one waiting that wasn’t stated in the bus schedule. When he steps in, he realizes all the passengers are spirits of the dead! While the girls scream in fear, Juri is unmoved since she sees all those things every day. She throws down a challenge if they can scare her, she’ll let them skip doing summer homework. Thus begins an impromptu ghost story contest. In the middle of class. Mihoro starts off with a story of her neighbour who decided to her hometown during the Bon festival. After packing and leaving her apartment, she felt a chilling cold up her spine she never felt before. She hurried away and 2 weeks later when she return back to her apartment, she saw something terrifying: She left the air-cond on! Saito starts laughing but reprimands Mihoro she shouldn’t be telling jokes. But at least Chinatsu is scared by the ‘scary story’. Emma steps up for her turn.

Episode 13
Since Saito failed, he gets double the homework! Now it’s Emma’s turn for her scary story. Starting off with a couple of young pretty ladies at a prom (oh, the horrible drawing!), they talk about their pretty dresses and partying till they see a horrible girl wrapped in a horrible outfit. The story is cut off seeing Emma is taking too long with the intro story. Nagara comes in to chide the class for being a nuisance again. But once she learn if she can scare Juri so that she will stop whatever she’s doing, she takes up the challenge. She starts out with a good student with good grades who somehow ended up doing some unexplained mixed-up long-winded equation-cum-formula. How the heck is anybody supposed to understand that?! Suddenly the candles are blown up as Juri mentions their ghost story telling has attracted the spirits of the dead. Nagara rubbishes her claims as Hinako starts collapsing. The other kids start to feel nauseating. Juri offers to help but Nagara doesn’t want her to worsen the situation. Trying to find a scientific solution, she concludes it is carbon dioxide poisoning and opens all the windows. She tells the students about the pros of science and reasoning that the occult could never replace. However the students are still feeling sick and we see Juri exorcising the spirits. Nagara faints… Now do you believe? I guess occult is much scarier.

Episode 14
Akiko accidentally enters Nagara’s science lab instead of Juri’s room to seek an advice. However she can’t possibly tell Nagara that she wanted to ask Juri if her last life was a bug! Feeling guilty she started the conversation, Akiko decides to go with the flow and chat with her about their class lacking behind in studies (this is what Nagara thought she came here for). At the same time, Nagara can’t help about her instant noodles she is cooking and was about to eat. Both sides continue to ‘waste’ time talking on topics they probably wish the other will end soon. Akiko is going to miss her drama rerun and Nagara her perfect noodles. So when the conversation finally ended, Akiko’s rerun has already ended and Nagara’s noodle is absorbed in so much water. Mmm… Why does it taste good?

Episode 15
Kuroneko is wondering if he should eat the takoyaki and risk getting fat when suddenly a ugly starving cat, Maru comes up to him for food. Kuroneko learns Maru was once a pet cat but when his owner moved, she forgot all about him and was left behind to fend for himself.  A couple of girls are noting how ugly Maru is so much so that Kuroneko looks cuter. This has Kuroneko start feeling good all inside. I mean, an ugly person is put next to an uglier person, the former would look ‘better’, right? Because of this, Kuroneko takes Maru under his wing as he teaches him how to steal fish from the market. But since Maru is too weak, Kuroneko even shares his fish. But all this is just to make himself feel good. Kuroneko continues to take care and teach Maru the ways of their lives for several days. Then he realized Maru is fattened up, looking much better. The same couple of girls now comment how cute Maru is and that the black one ugly. Oh, it’s hurting inside. They even think of taking Maru back but Maru bares his fangs to scare them off! Maru didn’t want to go live with such owners seeing they insulted his master. Without Kuroneko, he would have never made it. He goes on singing praises about him and they were about to have an emotional hug when Maru’s filthy rich mistress comes looking for him. She regrets her actions and really wants him back. However Maru couldn’t abandon his master but Kuroneko tells him to just go because he’s a nuisance to him and that he is better off without him. Maru thinks his lies are always kind and takes up his words to return to his owner. However this is Kuroneko’s true feelings. Haha. Even cats have grudge.

Episode 16
Captain is adjusting to the nice life on Earth when Jellyfish returns to thank them because he made it to his daughter’s wedding. He feels the need to repay their kindness but why are Captain’s eyes looking like dollar signs?! Jellyfish knows their mission to conquer Earth and shows his name card that his line of work is Discount Conquering. He has lots of those Gundam robots lined up outside Earth and can vaporize the planet in 2 seconds! The cats panic but Jellyfish is eager to wipe out the humans so Captain and his team have an emergency meeting. It’s true that they initially wanted to conquer this planet but vaporizing it means they will no longer enjoy some of their favourite things. Sagan suggests all Captain has to do is refuse his offer. Nervous Captain goes back to Jellyfish and I guess he twisted his own words saying his subordinates don’t want to conquer this planet and to at least torture and tease the planet before conquering. Therefore they don’t need any assistance. Still, Jellyfish doesn’t feel right if he doesn’t help so he leaves a Gundam for them in case. Yeah, it will vaporize the planet in 7 seconds! Elsewhere Juri is explaining to her students about the weird dream she had about the Earth being vaporized. Of course they find it hard to believe. But the point of this as Juri points out is that people are unknowingly being saved and the giant robot that was left behind at Odaiba became a famous tourist attraction… Yeah, I find it hard to believe too.

Episode 17
A bank is being robbed and held hostage by a couple of robbers (We’ll call them Cowboy and Blondie for easier reference). Among the hostages include Juri, Saito, Principal and 3 sisters known as the Misfortune Sisters. Poverty? Bad Luck? Death? Oh sh*t! While waiting for the getaway car, the robbers want the hostages to stash the cash into the bag and it seems Principal agrees to help them out. As explained by Juri, due to the Stockholm Syndrome, when a person is together long enough with the baddies, he/she will sympathize with their cause. But it’s not even half an hour… Principal notes that the cash in the vault consists only of bonds from some poor kingdom which has gone bankrupt just a second ago. Poverty sister’s work? Yeah, Blondie’s wallet is also gone. Hey! The kingdom’s head looks like Steven Seagal?!  Because the robber accidentally got rough with Bad Luck sister, suddenly Principal and the robbers start looking like sick zombies! Now it’s Death sister’s cue. A sniper who can calculate the Earth’s rotation starts shooting at them! Plus, the TV news mentions an incoming meteor! It will slam into a certain bank. Oh sh*t! Time to evacuate? Blondie tells Cowboy that they should head to a beach down south if they make out of this safely.  The duo suddenly bust out wanting to be arrested. Wow. They’re crying, repenting and prostrating! Want to catch criminals like these next time? Just send in the trio of Misfortune Sisters!

Episode 18
Juri and her class are at the beach. But she is going to make the kids do a kimodameshi! They have to make their way through the spooky dark forest to the lighthouse and write their names in the notebook she left there. Since there is an odd number, Saito will be doing it alone! He pleads for Juri to come with him but she gives an excuse she is drunk and that he can take her familiar spirits with him instead! While the rest are freaked out by the real spirits, seems Eri is having the thrill of her life slicing those spirits with her sword. Can she really cut them? Along the way, Saito meets a pretty girl named Kanako as she agrees to accompany him. Kanako finds this fun as she has never played with friends her age. Mentioning she is always sick and that she just recently moved here. Meanwhile Juri is having game with her spirit when she receives a message about Saito. Saito and Kanako reach the lighthouse to see the beautiful sunrise. Kanako has a favour to ask from him. She wants him to be her friend. He agrees and in her happiness she gives him a seashell necklace as commemoration of their friendship. While Saito tries to find something to give her in return, Kanako vanishes as the sun rises! Oh sh*t! Don’t tell me! Juri rushes in only to learn Kanako is gone. She explains Kanako is a ghost. She was sick and came to a hospital at a cape but couldn’t recover in time and passed away. She wandered around trying to find a friend and since Saito befriended her, her soul is at peace and went to heaven. Saito couldn’t believe that because she had just made a friend but Juri says that’s all she needed and also knew well that she would fade out of this world by doing so. What the heck is this melodrama ending? Till we see Eri still enthusiastically slashing the spirits. Yeah, they all got done in by her. No mercy!

Episode 19
Tonto and Sagan are trying to come up with ways to defeat the Cat King in order to conquer Earth. But Captain seems to have found 5000 followers! Serious?! Why does he have a laptop?! This could only mean… Oh great. The ‘followers’ are more like cat lovers posting comments on the site! Why is Captain tweeting back?! Is he serious in conquering Earth?! However he seems to have found a weakness for Cat King: Squid. Tonto and Sagan think Captain is going to do something horribly cruel with the squid to torment Cat King however Captain is such a weak-hearted cat almost puking at their suggestions! So how? Seeing squids are humans’ popular food source, based on his internet search via Ggoole (it’s not a spelling error!), in olden times, if you give a squid to a cat, it will not be able to stand due to some toxin. But how will they cook it? Again based on Ggoole, they have to remove its cotton. Cotton? Squid has cotton? Captain tries his luck but got black ink squirted over his face! After struggling with the squid and managing to make several sumptuous squid dishes, Juri and the cats offer their thanks for the feast. They look like full and satisfied customers. So what went wrong? As narrated, the substance called Thiaminase which is toxic to cats becomes harmless when heated. On a side note, Captain’s followers increased to 10,000 supporters on his profile with comments to do his best for world domination. F*ck yeah! He loves it!

Episode 20
Juri, Chinatsu, Mihoro and third year delinquent student, Akira Yajima are on their way to Mt Cat. Akira has lost her cat, Romeo and was introduced by her childhood friend Mihoro to seek Juri’s help since she is into the occult. Since Romeo and Akira have been together since young, this could mean that Romeo is quite old and his sudden disappearance means he may be at Mt Cat, a place where cats gather, live, train and bath. But any human who becomes lost there will be possessed by cats in human form. Juri didn’t want to help out but with Akira forcing her to help (can you fight that delinquent stare?), I guess she has no choice. Juri wonders if Romeo has forgotten about her seeing cats who come here have abandoned their lives with humans. Akira has proof that Romeo is quite close. A picture that shows Romeo looking like a delinquent and scratching her?! Scars of love? Juri warns not to be fooled by the cats even if they seem polite and kind because it’s just a ruse to deceive them. But it’s epic fail from the start seeing the cat inn owner warmly welcomes them! The girls are invited to dip into the hotspring but were warned in time by Juri they must not or else they will be turned into a cat because the water is from a cursed spring. Then walking through the souvenir halls, they are tempted to eat the delicious snacks. But again Juri cautions them not to fall for the cats’ tricks and eat them as they too will transform into cats. Akira sees Romeo but he doesn’t recognize her. Did he really forget about her?

Episode 21
The cats think they are here to kidnap Romeo and attack them by splashing the cursed water. Romeo seems to be enjoying the fun splashing the water too!!! Mihoro and Chinatsu got splashed and a part of them turned into a cat. Juri got so pissed off that they want to turn them into cats so badly that she transforms into a cat and attacks them back. Romeo accidentally splashes on Akira but she didn’t turn into a cat. Seems it is just regular water. The cats are restrained and Romeo hasn’t forgotten who Akira is. But he tells her to go home instead. There is another reason Juri didn’t tell them why cats come here. That reason is to die. Romeo would be 80 years old if he is human and he didn’t want Akira to see him in such a miserable state. He tells her to get a new kitten but Akira tells him to screw it because there is nothing wrong of her taking care of him till he dies. She wants to be with him. Romeo notes how independent she has grown to be. Someone who was once a cry-baby. He laments they were born on the same day and raised together but can’t be together forever. He has a last wish for her: Let him say goodbye with a smile. Akira cries all the way on the train back home. Juri comforts her with a tale that there’s a legend that cats change their fur in heaven to return to their owners. Chinatsu instantly cries over that touching story!!! WTF?! Isn’t she overreacting?! Akira is confident she will get to see Romeo again.

Episode 22
Hinako for the first time is walking back with Mihoro and Chinatsu from their summer remedial class. Usually she never liked walking home with others. Chinatsu spots Kuroneko sleeping on the street (I thought it was dead!) and took the liberty to draw white outlines like as though it’s a murder scene! The trio stop by a shop to get ice cream but Chinatsu is disheartened her soda flavour has been sold out. She settles for the cola flavour instead while Mihoro shares her coffee flavour with Hinako. They continue their journey after having their fill. At the tracks, Hinako part ways with them since her home is in the other direction. Hinako wanted to say something more than just waving goodbye but couldn’t bring herself to say it. So a normal goodbye is good enough for her. Hinako meets Juri on her way. Juri notes how Hinako reminds her of herself during her younger days. She thinks they are pretty alike but Hinako doesn’t think so.

Honto Ni Hen! Yabai Sensei (It’s Really Weird! Oh No Teacher)
Eh? So it ends just like that? Well, I’m not saying it is a bad ending seeing the nature of this series which has no real plot whatsoever but I feel it could have ended on a better note. At least have all the characters in the final episode as a big final goodbye. But then again, that is my opinion and I shouldn’t have high hopes on flash based animes. Even if this anime is supposed to be about this teacher and her hobbies in the occult, it doesn’t seem to be that overwhelming. I mean, due to the random antics, you’d be trying to understand what is going on rather than be preoccupied with that premise. Yes, we have the subjects of spirits and ghosts touched in nearly every episode but as a break in this format, some episodes were pretty much focused on the cats and those aliens. I don’t see how they are related to Juri and her class besides as a variety and side distraction.

Each of the characters has their own peculiar habits that make them likeable (not to mention a weirdo). Like the sporty and cheerful Chinatsu whose emotion can instantly swing from happy to sad if you tell an arguably sad story (even if it wasn’t sad in the first place). Hinako is people shy, Emma the funny foreigner with penchant for video games while Mihoro is so darn poor that the things she do feels like a joke but nevertheless always smiling (albeit a little creepy). Doesn’t anybody get concerned seeing Eri has been possessed by the spirit of Nobunaga since the first episode?! So Wanibuchi still likes her even if she’s a different person? Maybe it’s the inside that counts. Yeah, good luck pal trying to get the warlord to fall in love with you. I thought Akiko would be the ‘main’ character but she was somehow ‘absent’ not in just the last or few couple of episodes. If I remember, the last episode she made her actual screen time appearance was in episode 16 whereby she went to talk to Nagara. Speaking of that science teacher, I feel she using her scientific approach is just an excuse to join in Juri and her class. She may not show it and it may not look like it but deep down I have this feeling that she really wants to be part of the fun. See how she’s always coming to Juri’s class whenever they make a ruckus? If she really wanted to tell them off, she really, really, really would have. Say, what happened to Kame? I thought with the class deciding not to let her go, I thought she would be a regular, if not making cameo appearances. But I guess she just made a one-off appearance only just like Maru, the Misfortune Sisters and those foreign bank robbers. The bunch of alien cats are a bunch of jokers. Invading Earth is such an easy job but due to Captain’s faint-hearted nature, I guess it is better for them to blend in as Earth’s cats and live off the kindness of kind humans, eh? They can add their names to the list of failed invaders like Ika Musume and Sgt Keroro. I wonder how Juri ended up as the Cat King too. Did she possess some cat spirit? Is she a reincarnation of a cat? It’s odd that every cat except Kuroneko and the alien cats see her as one. But I guess she has no qualms being one either.

As I found out, the seiyuus voice multiple characters for this series. At least 2 of them. For instance Kaoru Mizuhara (Gisen in Hyakka Ryouran Samurai Girls) does the voice of Juri and Kuroneko. Maybe it saves cost? But seriously, I wasn’t paying attention the voice acting closely enough to really tell that they are voiced by the same person. But they did a good job in sounding like different characters. Others include Akiko and Nagara by Miyu Matsuki (Yoshinoya in Hidamari Sketch series), Chinatsu and Captain by Nozomi Sasaki (Nanami in Bokura Ga Ita), Eri and Kame by Emiri Katou (Kagami in Lucky Star), Emma and Tonto by Ayano Yamamoto (Nae Tennouji in Steins; Gate), Mihoro and Sagan by Ikumi Hayama (Matsuoka in Mitsudomoe), Hinako and Maru by Mai Fuchigami (Maekawa in Denpa Onna To Seishun Otoko), Wanibuchi and Romeo by Yuuki Ono (Pin in Kimi Ni Todoke) and Saito and Jellyfish by Shinya Takahashi (Masao Murasako in Shiki). The only seiyuu who voiced a single role is Ayana Taketatsu (Azusa in K-ON!) as Akira. Yeah, I can recognize that voice anywhere as long as she sounds tough or reprimanding. There are 3 ending pieces for this series and are all sung by Meaw. I don’t know, they just sound weird to me. The meow-ish Pair being the first one for the first half followed by the upbeat “lalala” Owakare Bayashi and the final casual dreamy Neko Kuronikuru lasting for a meagre 3 episodes!

Next time you have a teacher who can communicate with spirits and do exorcisms, make sure you don’t get her to be a medium to communicate with your dead ancestors. You might be finding out a thing or two about the skeleton closets in your family that you really don’t want to know. Would you like to be haunted by the ghost of your past so to speak? And if she is the kind who loves dancing, she would summon up the undead and zombies and do a Thriller dance ala Michael Jackson! Besides, what the heck is Juri doing as a teacher when she can open her own business as a spirit medium? She is so friendly with some of them and can even play a card game with them! By being a teacher, what is she trying to teach her students? Hell, is she even properly teaching her students? When you can see dead people at any time, I guess you can say that every day would be a ghostly affair. Definitely not for the faint-hearted.