This is review number 101 and its part of the Summer 2011 anime. It’s Nekogami Yaoyorozu and it’s a twelve episode anime about a cat god and her human buddy. It’s a really nice anime but it requires a bit of patience to fully enjoy it. Let’s read on.

Story

This anime is about the everyday life of a cat god who was kicked out of heaven because she is a lazy bum good for nothing. Her parents asked her to go down to Earth and stay there. She now lives with a human girl who runs an antique shop. The anime is mostly about the cat god and her fellow gods spending time together and getting into some trouble along the way.

Taking the Pants Off

People would’ve probably just passed through this anime and didn’t give it a second look. I kind of understand because this is anime a bit dull and plain. An anime released in 2011 shouldn’t be dull and plain yet this anime remarkably is. There is nothing in this anime that you haven’t seen before and almost all of its elements worked against it. Here’s my qualm though, I kind of liked it and now I’m in a weird place where I need to write a review about an anime that I know people wouldn’t enjoy yet I actually did. Trust me, this is my third re-write of this review because I’m trying to grasp the reason why I liked and hated this anime. This is the problem with being unbiased sometimes, you see things on both side of the fences and you don’t enjoy seeing the view.

Anyways, let’s talk about this anime. The one big problem about this anime is that the first episode introduced all the characters and it already had an already established status quo. The cat god, Mayu, was kicked out of her house in heaven but the next scene we see is her in a house with a girl. So there was a time leap and the anime kind of just told us that the events in between wasn’t important but it actually is. Out come a bunch of characters who casually speaks to one another as if they’ve been introduced already but they weren’t. The anime immediately told viewers that this is what we have: a bunch of characters talking to one another. It’s now the viewer’s job to catch up with the anime. Most first episodes start out strong with an exciting premise but this anime opened with a yawner that will hardly interest you. The one thing that made me want to watch about this anime though is the way the characters interact with each other.  I’m not saying it’s great but there is some pretty impressive blending here. Also, I don’t judge on first impressions. “This anime will get better” is what I said to myself.

This anime will only start to get good though after the third episode. It’s a bit hard going that far though because almost everything about the anime is dull except for the character interaction. If you do reach the third episode, it’s when things finally fall into place. The characters will start to grow on you and the anime’s pacing will start to make sense. I’m not saying you’ll love the characters right away because there is very little to make them shine but if you’re patient enough, they will eventually grow on you. The anime has a very simple set up but it’s both a good thing and a bad thing. It’s a bad thing because the anime is a bit too “simple” with almost nothing to cut through it. There isn’t a single story line that the anime builds until the end. The episodes are all stand alone and mostly centers on a strange event involving the characters. The only thing linking them is that new characters are introduced on some of the episodes and they reappear on later ones. That also sucks a bit because at first I thought I can just skip through some episodes but I realize I can’t. It is a good thing the story is simple though because it’s an ideal type of anime you watch on TV just to relax. No complicated story and no distractions. It’s just laid back simple fun which I truly appreciate. It’s a forgotten kind of approach on anime because almost everything now needs to be compelling and intriguing. Once upon a time though, there were anime you just watch on a weekly basis just so you can have fun while watching them. There used to be a lot of simple anime with non-episodic plots. Shows like Love Hina, Sorcerer Hunters and even Galaxy Angel that was just out for fun and nothing more. Nekogami Yaoyozoru is like those anime except it’s a bit unappealing than the ones I mentioned.

Like I said, the character interaction is it’s only saving grace. The story is non-episodic and they come off as a bit predictable. Why watch an anime if you already know how it will end? This anime is of the Comedy genre and it’s flat. It most certainly won’t make you laugh. Believe me, I tried and forced to laugh but it won’t. It’s just too simple to even try and make you laugh. Even the characters are a bit flat because they didn’t have a proper introduction. There are a lot of negative aspects in this anime that it overwhelms its good parts. This anime is just meant to be watched for simple fun and nothing else. Oh, don’t marathon it as well. It won’t do you any good and you’re just punishing yourself.

The episodes have some basic set up to them and they are mostly divided into three types. The first type is episodes about a random god and some trouble it causes on the characters. Just like the first episode, the characters are scrambling to chase off the god of poverty that wandered into their town. The second type is the simple kind of episodes where the characters just hang out and do random things together. There are episodes like telling ghost stories or helping a mangaka with her work. I like these episodes because the characters play off each other and their individual charm gets to shine for a while. The third type of episode is about Mayu and her relationship with Yuzu, the human girl who owns the house she lives in. These episodes are particularly deep because they explore some dramatic moments of their relationship like the incidents after Yuzu’s parents die and the events on how they first met. This is the special part of the anime but you first must not overthink the anime and just have fun while watching.

The characters are nothing special but they do have a specific role in the anime. Like I said, they’d slowly grow on you and pretty soon you’d feel a bit disappointed that a particular character didn’t show up. I personally enjoy seeing this bankrupt CEO appear on the anime because he is just so random talking about his life after all his money vanished. You just need some patience to enjoy the anime and it will eventually pay off. The characters aren’t much but they are the only ones carrying the show. Some of them will easily get annoying though like the guy who loves Yuzu. The anime often pokes fun of his retarded ways when he is thinking of Yuzu and it gets old fast. They introduce new characters though so the character dynamic often gets a good shuffling.

The anime had a bit of conflict in the later parts where the episodes did become episodic but it’s honestly just away for the anime to have an ending. It’s not really that good and I actually lose interest at hat part. It’s weird, I know. The only time the anime had a story is the only time the anime became uninteresting. Why? It’s because the anime is just simple fun. No serious story needed. Now the charm of the anime isn’t strong and it floats in a sea of negative elements but I honestly think it’s not bad. It’s not great either. It’s OK and OK is fine by me.

Sight and Sound

The character design is simple. I actually like this kind of design because the simplicity makes the characters more pleasing to look at. If you look closely too, some of the characters have some big boobs on them. I love how some fan service is able to make its way on the character design. It has some “moe” on some of the characters as well. They were cute and they were paired with some cute voices. The outfits are pretty nice as well. There is a large range of outfits in the anime from simple shrine maiden clothes to some frilly dresses.

The animation is simple as well. There were some action scenes but they don’t stand out as much. The background is pretty plain as well. There are some nice scenic shots from time to time but the anime is mostly just plain background. You often have to spot the gorgeous backgrounds.  There is also some manga panel style in some of the anime which features another story about a girl and death god. It’s a pretty nice easter egg in the anime.

The anime’s OP is “Kami-sama to Issho” by Haruka Tomatsu and Yui Horie. It’s sung by the two main characters: Mayu and Yuzu. It’s a nice bonus and the song itself is pretty decent. It’s a cute song with pretty cute lyrics. The blending of the voices is probably the best thing about the song. The OP sequence really captures the anime. If you want a clear idea of the anime just look at the Op sequence. The characters are doing random stuff like flower viewing or picking potatoes and that’s the basic charm of the anime. It’s pure random fun.

The anime’s ED is “Oh My God♥” by Haruka Tomatsu. I particularly love this song because of Haruka’s voice and the song’s feel is really nice. It starts out slow then picks up pace when it hits the chorus. I love it. The Ed sequence just features the characters doing poses and stuff.

The anime has another ED song.  It’s “Yaoyorozu Ondo” by Haruka Tomatsu and Yuuko Sanpei. It’s really cute. It’s a funky song with a really nice beat. It’s my favorite of all the songs in the anime. The sequence is a flash animation style of the characters dancing to the song. It’s really nice and I’m a bit bummed youtube doesn’t have the ED sequence.

Overall Score

4/10 “It’s a pretty nice anime if you want to just sit back and relax and just enjoy some silly random fun.”

The anime is OK. That’s it. I’ve said all I can say about this anime and it’s up to you if you will like it or not. There are some nice things here. In the overall look of things though, this anime is sadly forgettable.