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.
