English Dub Review: Nekopara “A Lost Kitten?”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Welcome back to Nekopara which, as we all know, is Japanese for lady-cat fetishist party. Anyway, we begin right where we left off. A stray kitten has followed Chocola home. Oh, by the way, it is a real cat, not a little green-haired girl wearing a kitty hat like I originally thought. Later in the episode, we learn for certain she is one hundred percent cat—or cat-human hybrid, whatever the mythos of this world dictates. And yet, for some reason this green kitten—who I’m going to call Minty for now—wears a kitty hat over her regular ears.

At first, Chocola tries to keep her hidden, getting into all sorts of “hilarious” hijinks in the process. She doesn’t want Master to catch them because of an off-hand comment about not wanting any more cats that he made when the café first opened. Vanilla discovers the kitten first, and talks Chocola into telling Master. To the white cat’s surprise, he reiterates that he doesn’t want any more cats, and is more concerned about finding this kitty’s true master.

Chocola and Vanilla are empathetic toward this wayward traveler, because they were abandoned as kittens and lived together in a cardboard box before Master and Shigure took them in. It was clearly a devastating and lonely time for them, and it explains why they share such an inseparable bond.

Since Master is just a pastry chef with soft eyes and hard abs, he has to call his sister so she can tell him what to do. Don’t worry, Vanilla helps him use the phone because dialing that many numbers is sort of a daunting task for him. Bowled over by her brother’s complete lack of awareness, Shigure volunteers to take Minty in until they can either find her master or come up with a permanent solution.

The house cats are a little uneasy around their visitor at first, especially Coconut who gets finicky and weird because she’s about as sharp as applesauce. Azuki, the shortest but toughest cat in the pack—she’s basically their Joe Pesci—convinces Coconut that Minty is scared because of their staggering size difference. The others soon warm to the little girl, and before too long they all start doting over her.

The cats are pissed when Shigure informs them that the baby will be sleeping in her room that evening. Before bed, she takes Minty into the shower with her and cleans her from head to toe, paying special attention to her hair and fluffy tail. While Minty is troubled by the shower at first, the bathing experience puts her in a complete Zen state before it’s over. Finally, instead of sleeping in bed next to Shigure, the kitten appears more comfortable curled up at her feet.

 

Our Take

Compared to the premiere, this episode had a plot, character building, and everything. It was almost like watching a whole new show. Of course, there was still a bunch of lady-cat fetishist bric-a-brac to fill out the run time—because at the end of the day, that’s what this show is really all about.

I’m glad to have deciphered the power dynamic between Shigure and her brother. Since Master is the café owner, and presumably the bread-making, bread-earner, it initially looked like he was the head of household. Now, however, it’s absolutely clear that’s not the case. If the family’s well-being was left up to Master, they’d all be in serious dire straits. While he may be the face of the operation, if pressed, he wouldn’t be able to navigate his way out of a pair of dungarees.

How about that tragic backstory for Vanilla and Chocola? At least now we know Vanilla isn’t sexually attracted to her foster sister. There’s nothing untoward going on in either of their minds—I hope—they’re just extremely close because of their shared hardship. There’s no telling what else those two went through, and it’s unlikely they’d even remember. They were very young, and it must have been a harrowing time. In truth, I don’t really want to think about it anymore.

I’ve got to say, Minty is quite a delight. It’s always nice to have a sweet, yet mysterious character to wonder about between episodes. This mystical imp has a story to tell, that’s for sure. Green-haired kittens with raggedy “cat hats” don’t just appear from out of the ether. But like Vanilla and Chocola, this little one has likely gone through some shit and needs to be able to trust other people before opening up. So far, Shigure and the others have treated her well, but it’s going to take more than that to fully win over this introverted infant.

I still don’t quite know what to make of Nekopara. Even though we were given many more story elements this week, there were still flashes of weird sexual hang-ups rife for the fetishists to glom onto. Damn, though. I’m saying “fetishist” so much in these reviews I feel like that guy, Colonel Bat Guano, from Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. You know, he kept talking about perversions while that other guy kept rambling on about his precious bodily fluids. Anyway, it’s a pretty solid film; you should really check it out.