This show is fucking disgusting, and yet here I am every Thursday watching. Anime for adults that tackles adult themes. It started out as a manga and can now be found in animation on Netflix.
This anime follows beastfolk in their apartment complex and the many addictions that they navigate. Beastfolk are human/animal hybrids that carry cat like characteristics. Our main character is Yaniko Satou who has a nicotine addiction. She can be found working solely to afford cigarettes, smoking in her filthy apartment, or bumming cigs off her neighbors. Although the show focuses on cigs (and a poop gag here and there) I can’t stop thinking about Aruko Sakai.
Aruko Sakai is a beastfolk, or catgirl, that has an alcohol addiction. This character surely has me concerned at times. This could be due to my own struggles with alcohol. (This September marks 6 years of no booze for me.) When we are first introduced to her character she’s in her room pouring up some alcohol. Yaniko stops by cause Aurko lets her smoke in the apartment and provides free booze.
“Ow wow. The tase of all this booze is nothing but the cherry on top. It’s nothing more than the first step on the path to euphoria.” – Aruko after serving up Yaniko, a mixed beverage. Both of them lay down and allow the alcohol to take hold. Yaniko with a cigeratte in her mouth, and Aruko connected to a bottle of booze via a long straw in her mouth. At some point Aruko throws up in her sleep, thankfully her roommate Kaoruko comes home at the perfect time, sees this, and places her on her side.
In following episodes, we can see how Aruko’s alcohol addiction is affecting her. She has health problems, isn’t doing well with her classes in college, and is experiencing withdrawal symptoms. She can’t go one hour without alcohol or else she succumbs to the shakes. This makes me think of a time in undergrad where my hands were shaking due to my alcohol usage. Chile, that was so embarrassing and I hope no one noticed. Alcohol is one of those vices that’s pretty popular. Accessible to those over 21+ and liquor stores aren’t hard to find. Now I grew up in PA, so seeing alcohol in liquor stores was the only thing that made sense to me. Imagine my surprise partying in NY, stopping by CVS, and seeing that they sold alcohol. Mind. Blown. PA didn’t start allowing alcohol in stores until the summer of 2016. My relationship with alcohol is often thrown into introspection when I let it. Makes sense this would come up for me while watching.
The depiction of addiction is messy; real. As episodes go on you see how this society pushes beastfolk towards addiction. Beastfolk are discriminated against, monitored by the government, and hyper-sexualized. How uncomfortable it must be to live in a world under heavy surveillance where your body is constantly pulled into question. (Sounds familiar don’t it?) Speaking of being hyper-sexualized, the lanlord of the apartment complex has an obvious sexual attraction to beastfolk. In one episode the landlord is shown engaging in sexual acts with a blow up sex doll that has beastfolk features. We’ve only seen cats as beastfolk, but his sex doll resembles a dog. Human like body, with dog ears and a snout. There is even a function within the toy that allows for a locking mechanism. The locking mechanism resembles what happens when canines mate. (Quick info: when dogs are doing the deed they might become stuck to each other after. This is because the males penis has swelled and can’t easily remove itself. Yes, this is painful for the female.) The more we see of him we see that he has a hard time controlling his boner in certain situations.
Lack of self-control from most characters is something that shows up frequently in this show. Lack of self-control is the foundation of this show.
I’m not gonna lie, there are some scenes that have me looking at my tv like this.
I haven’t been watching much anime, but like I said in the beginning I’m tuned in every Thursday for this one.
Addiction can take precedence over one’s life and lead to isolation. At least here we see Yaniko isn’t alone. Even though she goes to her friend’s homes because they don’t complain if she smokes, at least she’s in community.
Oh! I forgot to mention. A fun tidbit of the Chainsmoker Cat opening credits is that they reference popular movie scenes where a character is smoking. One of my favorites was a reference to Ready or Not (2019). Yaniko can be seen in a bloody dress outside of a mansion lighting a cigarette. Just how Grace sat down to light her cigarette after a long stressful night.
I think it’s worthwhile (and fun) to analyze media. Media literacy is a skill that I’ve been exercising more lately. Along with understanding certain tropes, I’m digging more into style. This has been coming up for me as I watch movies. Questions that arise: why was it shot like this, how was it shot like this, what is this specific shot called, how are Black characters used in storytelling, etc..
Not much of a breakdown on the entire anime, more of an observation.
Would I like a season 2? Yes.
Will I be reading the manga? Maybe. It isn’t available on Libby so I’ll have to do some searching.
These were some of my thoughts in re-watching the dubbed version. Maybe I’ll have more as new episodes drop.
Thank you for reading, and thank you for being here with me. Have you seen Chainsmoker Cat? If so, what do you think of it? Leave a comment, I would like to hear from you.
Lingerie Slayer 
Thoughts?