[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Chi’s Sweet Home first impressions: now that’s what I call a lolcat
It’s fair to say that I’m a cat person. Cats make great companions because they are intelligent, affectionate, relatively independent and show some degree of loyalty; like dogs or other humans I suppose, but with less mess. In fact one of the only downsides of where I’m living now is the ‘no pets’ policy because I think the presence of a furry, overfed feline curled up in a corner somewhere really makes a house a home. Not to mention of course that any creature that can sleep 23 hours out of 24 and still find the barefaced cheek to yawn afterwards obviously knows something we don’t…
Got milk?
Cat-themed anime therefore holds a special appeal for me and carries with it a feeling of serenity, relaxation and, more often than not, good-natured comedic cuteness. Chi’s Sweet Home has plenty of this feelgood comedic cuteness - it’s a whimsical and inoffensive island of iyashikei relaxation with a healthy dose of kawaii for good measure as it follows the adventures of a grey kitten who is separated from its mother and is rescued by young Youhei and his family. I’m fully aware that childlike fare such as CSH seems like something of a niche interest or ‘just for kids’ but as Sasa pointed out the other day there’s plenty of call for iyashikei in the seinen demographic too; especially when the rat-race of today’s world is becoming increasingly hectic. After spending around 50% of my journey home from work today in standing traffic for instance, this is just what I needed.
The show takes the form of a series of short vignettes that follow on chronologically but don’t really build into a complex narrative. I don’t think the original manga took a 4-koma structure, but it certainly has that simple, episodic feel of the other minimalistic piece of whimsy that was Kogepan. I’m half-hoping Chi finds his/her mother again but at the same time Youhei and his family are so caring that staying with them instead doesn’t seem like such a bad life.
Shower! Noes!
For all its uber-minimalist art style and storyline, CSH is another reminder of why I’m such a Studio Madhouse fanboy. While the character designs are simple to the point at which Lucky Star’s look like high art, whoever is in charge of Chi’s expressions and mannerisms has obviously spent a lot of time observing cats. From the movement of Chi’s ears to the way his/her rear end wiggles when preparing to spring are all drawn and animated with remarkable attention to detail; similarly the dorama of having a bath and the portrayal of a kitten’s favourite pastime of playing with shoelaces FOR NO REASON AT ALL and falling asleep without warning afterwards are absolutely spot-on.
I’m in ur animes eating ur shoez
Watching Chi’s Sweet Home is watching a young kitten go about its everyday and uneventful life - nothing more and nothing less. This is understandably boring to anyone who doesn’t like cats or has an aversion to innocent cuteness of any description but otherwise I can’t see any reason why you shouldn’t watch this. After all, each episode is only five minutes long anyway, so it’s not exactly a big chunk taken out of your day. Personally, I’m finding it to be a sweet and refreshing change that’s heart-warming, laugh-out-loud funny and generally awesome without even trying.
Posted on April 8th, 2008 @ 8:16 pm
Chi’s Sweet Home has become the one anime everyone in my family wants to watch- and who can blame them?
Posted on December 1st, 2008 @ 7:38 pm
its sooooo cute, I have a cat equals Chi =33 … someone knows where this is anime for download?
Kissus