English Dub Review: My Roommate Is A Cat “An Encounter with the Unknown”

A cute premise with a lot of room to grow.

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Acclaimed mystery author Subaru has just lost both of his parents in a tragic accident. No one knows exactly how to comfort him, and over the next few years, he becomes increasingly misanthropic and withdrawn. At the same time, though, his fame grows, and his reclusive and cold demeanor is tolerated by his publisher so long as he keeps pumping out hits.

Subaru has also just received a new editor after his last one fell ill. He wants to get to know Subaru as a person, but the author pushes him away. Later, Subaru visits his parent’s grave and is accosted by a stray cat. Subaru is initially uninterested in the animal, but after he notices an uncanny resemblance to his mother, he takes the stray in. This turns out to give Subaru the exact burst of creativity that he needs to write his next book. He starts writing non-stop, but he soon forgets to eat. The cat tries to give Subaru some of its food, but he refuses to eat it.

Eventually, not taking care of himself catches up with him, and Subaru passes out from hunger. The cat stays by his side offering his food bowl until help arrives. Subaru’s editor, having not heard from him in a while, breaks into Subaru’s house to find the author incapacitated on the floor. After he brings him back around, he notices Subaru’s final scribbled notes, which form the perfect ending to the story the author had been writing.

Once awake, Subaru realizes that he must have eaten some of the cat’s food in order to survive. Deeply ashamed of this, he tries to push it out of his mind. He goes to the cabinet to get some tuna, as a reward for the cat’s saving of his life. The cat, for its part, is ready to move on, as it believes its life debt is repaid, but once it sees the tuna, it knows that it’s not going anywhere. The two size each other up, and they realize that this could be the beginnings of a beautiful friendship.

Our Take

Not a lot happens in the first episode of My Roommate’s a Cat, but its intention is not to dazzle you with action or plot machinations. This is a simple story about a man and his animal that is going to rely more on emotional beats than intricate story. “An Encounter with the Unknown” succeeds with fly colors. It’s touching, funny, and left me uplifted by the time the credits rolled.

A show like My Roommate is a Cat relies on very few moving parts. There were only four named characters in this episode: Subaru, the cat, his editor, and his neighbor. So, it was important for each of them to function effectively in the plot, as well as to set up their arcs for future episodes. It’s very much like a dish with only a few ingredients. A wrong proportion of anything is sure to throw the entire thing off. Luckily, My Roommate is a Cat has some great narrative control.

Subaru’s neighbor is a habitual liar and is incredibly immature. He waltzes into Subaru’s kitchen and eats the author’s food without asking. He was only in one scene, but because the show portions its rudeness so well, it was an effective shift from the rest of the episode, and now I care about how he’s going to interact with the cat. Subaru’s editor has a much bigger character arc. He’s set to be Subaru’s only human friend. He has a couple of scenes on his own to express his wants and needs, and enough to show that he’s hurt and confused by Subaru when the author treats him poorly.

This story, though, is about a pair of characters, and My Roommate is a Cat pulled off an interesting little structural maneuver at the halfway point this week. After we get to the home-life part of the story, where the cat keeps offering Subaru its food, and Subaru passes out, the story rewinds. We see the same story again, but this time from the cat’s perspective, accompanied by inner monologue. Maybe it’s just because I’ve been covering shows with narrators for months, but a show that doesn’t talk directly to me did wonders for my immersion.

This perspective switch is effective for a number of reasons. The time that we spent with Subaru at the funeral and with his editor can now be spent on the cat’s back story. It’s a stray who has a litter that it’s separated from, a dead sibling, and a wise old stray that has taught it some life lessons. The narrative economy of this part of the story was pretty impressive. I feel as if I already really have a grounded foundation in the cat’s character, maybe even more than Subaru, and I care about their relationship.

The other advantage of this structure is with setup and reveal. We are unsure why the cat is giving Subaru its food. When we see the story from Subaru’s perspective, it’s assumed to be because the cat is offering Subaru a tribute, but when we switch point of view, we see that the cat is actually trying to save Subaru from dying, as it noticed that the author hadn’t eaten in some time. While this is a simple trick, it is very effective.

I think that really sums up My Roommate is A Cat. It doesn’t go for a lot, but it hits nearly everything it does out of the park. It’s interesting to see a show that’s so self-assured in the small story it’s trying to tell and doesn’t feel the need to push for any kind of twist in the pilot. Not everything works, the funeral scene especially is a little awkward, but I’m really looking forward to future episodes and seeing this world slowly expand into something comfortable and lived in.