2016-02-03

Nekojiru Theater

Nekojiru Theater (ねこぢる劇場) is a short series based on the manga of Nekojiru.  The series, also loosly related to the surreal silent film Cat Soup, originally aired in Japan in 1999.

    The series deals with two misfit cat children, Nyako and Nyatta, who live as destitute brats in a world where anthropomorphic animals live along side humans.  The children are incredibly disrespectful, vile and murderous.  The series details short exploits of them being vile and crude to various animals and people they come into contact.  They are evil cat versions of Beavis & Butthead mixed with the worst aspects of Shinchan.  From killing their pig classmate for tonkatsu, robbing their fathers employer to stealing a truck and plowing through pedestrians with it.


    This is a very low brow and horrible series.  A pointless spectacle of abuse, disrespect and outright criminal behavior.  The artwork is quite simple, with very limited animation.  The voice acting is abysmal and the plot lines, even if they are brief are pretty horrible.  The entire series only serves to show how nasty and crude the cat children and ultimately their parents are.  This is something akin to what you would expect in the Spike and Mike Animation Festival or the worst products on Adult Swim.  I am rather surprised it actually exists and wonder what sort of audience it ever had in Japan.

    The original author, Hashiguchi Chiyomi, committed suicide for unknown reasons in 1998.   Following her death, Hijeme Yamano has continued her work under the name Nekojiru-y.

    Understandably this series does not exist in North America and most likely never will.


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