Chainsmoker Cat ‒ Episode 11
I was fortunate enough to take my first ever trip to Japan just this past summer, and I am very excited to finally have the ability to watch an anime like this and do the “Leonardo DiCaprio Whistles and Points at a Thing He Recognizes” meme reaction from Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. This week, multiple generations of catgirls (and their psychology unstable human chaperone) go on a trip to beautiful Kyoto and feast on matcha-flavored treats. I also got to take a trip to beautiful Kyoto and feast on matcha-flavored treats! The catgirls visit the cracker-eating deer in Nara, and I also got to give crackers to the deer in Nara! The gang visits the “dark anus” of a local temple to learn how the beastfolk were once forced to wear skimpy swimsuits and be whipped with bondage gear for the shogun's pleasure. I, too…okay, I have to admit that my visit to Japan did not contain any horrifically titillating tales of sexual subjugation. I'll have to ask my wife to keep an eye out the next time we fly out.
If you had told me that Chainsmoker Cat would become one of the summer's coziest comfort shows after I was finished washing out my eyes and mouth and nose in the aftermath of that season premiere, you might have ended up with a face full of pepper spray and a restraining order, because I don't remember inviting you into my bathroom, you freak. By now, we have all come to terms with how much we actually enjoy just spending time with these gross, smelly cats. This week sees the show dramatically paring down its raunchy excess to provide an experience that is almost — dare I say it? — normal. Sure, Yani encounters a sentient Deer King who waxes melancholy about the slow but inevitable decline of his once proud civilization, but this is the woman who unconsciously repelled an invasion of hellspawn with her asshole stank. A smoke break with the depressed, lonely monarch of the ancient deer empire is just another Tuesday, by comparison.
Here is the surest sign of how badly Chainsmoker Cat has broken my brain: Late into the episode, we check in with our beloved Landlord, who is enjoying a quiet and shockingly functional night at home without any of the catgirl shenanigans to distract him. He enjoys a meal and some warm sake, he checks in on a quaint local ghost-hunter show, and he turns in early with only a mild jumpscare from Penpen to disrupt his affairs. It's all so peaceful, and yet all I could think the entire time was, “This son of a bitch had better start doing something gross and pathetic with that sex doll we all know he keeps stuffed in that closet, and he'd better start soon.” It's gotten to the point where some dark, atavistic part of my brain now demands the disgusting, depraved antics that we've been subjected to all season. I nearly breathed a sigh of relief when the Landlord started getting busy with his vinyl mistress.
As the season winds to a close, I am struck by how much I am going to miss these losers and their deeply stupid lives. All the little scenes of Imoko and Yomuko bonding on their class trip are so wholesome, and even the older catgirls' day out goes off with almost no hitches whatsoever. It's unfortunate that poor Saori's manga is getting cancelled, but hey, the gang survived the violent car crash that Saori got them all in when she heard the news! That's Chainsmoker Cat in a nutshell, isn't it? Life sucks most of the time, but you get by as best you can with your friends and your vices of choice.
Episode Rating:
James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.
Chainsmoker Cat is currently streaming on Netflix and OceanVeil.
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