Chi's Sweet Home

In the beginning of summer a very sweet and endearing anime began airing called Chi’s Sweet Home. I thought this was perfect for my children, as I am always looking for good anime for them to watch. This 3 minute per episode series ran for 104 episodes and ended recently.

This anime follows the daily life of a kitten named Chi who, having gotten separated from her family, was adopted by a human family until they could find a place for her to live. The story follows all of the trials and tribulations cats and cat owners go through with the humans trying to figure out what the cat wants and the cat trying to figure out why the humans can’t understand what it wants. From things like visits to the vet, litter box training, scratching on the furniture, etc. Mundane things that cat owners go through every day. So you would think to your self with this vague description that this is a pretty boring show…woo, a show about a cat, which are lazy, doing normal things that cats do. I mean it doesn’t talk, it isn’t magical, it doesn’t go and fight demons or teach the young child of the family it lives with that he is the greatest martial artist in existence. The series is just about a cat and a family and them living together. Yet, after watching all 104 episodes, a number of them multiple times, I would have to say this is an entertaining show.

First off, Chi is pretty damn funny, as kittens tend to be. She does pretty stupid stuff and explores to her hearts content. She’s also pretty feisty and holds grudges. Out of the family, the father is the next most entertaining characters. He represents one of the typical Japanese male stereotypes; easy going, humble, apologetic, pathetic and not really in control of anything. The mother of the family is the one known for discipline and decision making. While the child, Yohei, is a 4 year old, doing what 4 year olds do. Chi runs the house and the humans try their best to contain her wild spirit as much as possible, especially since their lease forbids them to own any pets.

The animation is cheap, but works well with the premise and delivery. The story is mundane and the situations are all normal. What really works with this series is how they show the mundane and normal. Nothing is out of the ordinary but some typical anime techniques are used, like the blurry feet for speedy running. What really impressed me was the attention to detail about the every day life of a cat and the characters facial expressions, most notably with Chi. Chi’s dialog along with the way they drew her went perfectly well in expressing the situation and even emphasizing it.

If you have young children, are a cat owner or just like nice slice of life stories, this is a good one to get. With full episode length, including opening credits (which my kids sing to), the total running time for the series is a bit over 5 hours. I don’t see this series ever coming to America, or probably any where else, but a DS game was released recently…I’m, just glad my daughter doesn’t know about it or I would never hear the end of that. This was a fun series, I enjoyed it, my kids love it, I have recommended it to a number of people I know and I will still play it for me and the kids.

UPDATE: Both this series and the second series are currently streaming on Crunchyroll.