Rina SatouIbuki KidoNaomi OzoraAkari Uehara
Nyanko Days
Episode 1 also reviewed here: Anime 1st episodes 2017: N
Medium: TV, series
Year: 2017
Writer/director: Yoshimasa Hiraike
Original creator: Tarabagani
Actor: Akari Uehara, Erii Yamazaki, Ibuki Kido, Mikako Komatsu, Kazusa Aranami, Mayu Udono, Naomi Ozora, Rina Satou
Keywords: anime
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Format: 12 two-minute episodes
Url: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=18832
Website category: Anime 2017
Review date: 13 April 2018
Nyanko-Days
Its total running time is shorter than one normal anime episode, because it has a closing title sequence. It's based on a four-panel manga and I don't even imagine that that's a gag manga. The show's not funny enough for that. It's just about a schoolgirl, her cats and a couple of classmates who may or may not also like cats.
Is it good? Not really. I only watched it because it's so short. However it's not noticeably bad either. It's inoffensive cute anime filler, acceptable if all you want is to pass a couple of minutes. It's also two stories in one, which can be confusing given the format's brevity. Two minutes is short even for a short-format anime, so in practice it's liable to lurch between A-mode and B-mode with tiny arcs of two or three linked episodes.
A-mode is Yuuko and her cat-girls. They're the size of real cats and they all belong to real cat breeds. The show's taking trouble to characterise them as cats with cat-like behaviour, which is unusual for anime cat-girls. A lot of this show feels like real stuff that real cats do, e.g. knocking over your drink, killing your computer game, shredding the paper you'd been using, etc. These cat-girls are destructive, although it's all innocent and there's never a shred of malice in it. That said, though, the show has made them cat-girls rather than real cats, which means they can talk to each other and they'll occasionally do things like try to read books. They're not always being written as real cats, so for instance their gag situations might be more reminiscent of those of a small child, while Yuuko's quite fond of taking them out for walks (eh?). This looks natural, admittedly, because it's a girl covered in cat-girls. That's normal in anime. You don't think twice about it. However I shouldn't think taking your cat for a walk is an activity many cat owners would recommend.
B-mode, though, is Yuuko and her classmates. She's a loner who doesn't naturally make friends, but being seen with your cats is liable to attract other cat lovers. There's one in her class, a rich girl called Azumi who's the best at everything. Azumi's super-popular and has earned it, because she's nice. It will be hard work trying to overcome Yuuko's lack of confidence and make friends with her, but talking about cats should do it.
These modes don't really fit together. They'd feel like less of a mismatch in longer episodes that could include material from both, but as it is you'll have A-episodes and B-episodes that feel completely different from each other. A-episodes are cute. That's all there is to them, really. B-episodes, on the other hand, are telling a character-based story about overcoming the protagonist's issues and making new friends. This is quite cute as well, admittedly, but in a different way.
The show's okay. It's quite nice. I don't mind having watched it, although admittedly I deleted it immediately afterwards. Ep.5 made me laugh and I appreciated the cat-girls being genuinely cat-like. However I think it would have been better with longer episodes, since the super-short format makes it feel a bit choppy. It's a "depends if you're in the mood for it" show, really.