1. Introduction
2. Episodes 1-3
3. Episodes 4-7

Introduction

Despite already having a lot on my plate, I picked up one more Summer 2025 show besides the seven I cover in my weekly episode reviews. It’s called Nyaight of the Living Cat and it’s a comedy/parody anime perfectly tailored to neurodivergent cat-lovers like myself. The show is basically a spoof of a zombie movie, but instead of zombies, the virus turns people into irresistibly cute cats. Since this is by cat-lovers and for cat-lovers, the cats are never harmed by the human characters.

I’m thoroughly enjoying this anime so far. At first, I thought it was unrealistic and weird that humanity didn’t fight the cats, and it’s true – it’s very unrealistic. Humanity would render cats extinct in short order if they posed that kind of threat to society. But it’s not supposed to be realistic. It’s supposed to be funny. And in my personal opinion, the humor works well. I love how everything is so over-the-top and dramatic. I can see that this humor won’t work for everyone – especially not for those who feel indifferent to cats. Maybe that’s why the score on MAL is pretty low for this anime.

The music and voice-acting in this anime are terrific. The story is entertaining and the characters are lovable. If I had to complain about something, it would be the visuals. It doesn’t look bad, but the choice to make 80% of the cats 3D was an obvious budget-saving move, and it distracts me from the otherwise fine visuals. I thought a bigger studio like J.C. Staff might do a little better than this, to be honest. However, this is still a relatively small complaint when I enjoy all the other aspects so much.

So, that’s how I feel about the show generally and broadly. Now let’s look at some other notes i took while I watched the episodes.

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Episodes 1-3

First, a few notes on audio. As I mentioned earlier, this anime features excellent voice-acting and music that slaps. I love the opening and ending songs. Yuu Serizawa, who played Tsutumi, has such an adorable, slightly rough voice. I loved hearing her as well as Reina Ueda, voice of Kaoru. I also noticed and appreciated Ryouta Takeuchi, voice of Gaku. And it almost goes without saying, but I’m also impressed by Masaaki Mizunaka, voice of Kunagi. He put a lot of heart into this role.

As I watched the first three episodes, I got used to the characters. It was sad that Gaku wasn’t more of a character for longer, because I loved him. He’s the hunky, responsible onii-chan type and his voice is sexy. (Ryouta Takeuchi also played Elias Ainsworth in The Ancient Magus’ Bride, which is where I fell in love with his voice.) Unfortunately, he turned into a cat at the end of the first episode.

Aside from Gaku, my favorite character in the early episodes is Kunagi. He’s goofy yet cool, and is extremely melodramatic with his love of cats. With his cat bell and missing memories, perhaps he was a cat who somehow became human. Kunagi might even be the Origin of the virus. As for the other characters, I thought Kaoru was boring and shallow at first, but she grew on me over time. Tanishi was a big sweetheart and Tsutsumi is brave and absolutely adorable.

Some of my favorite moments were those that showed the Prime Minister (of Japan, I assume) as he was alerted to the worldwide cat emergency. I thought the humor was perfect throughout these scenes, leading up to the Prime Minister becoming a cat, too. Another funny moment I loved was when Kunagi ate the Cat Rice dish and saw trippy visual hallucinations. That scene was so surreal and random – which is exactly how I love my comedy anime.

Throughout these episodes, real facts about cats and their care are frequently dropped by the characters or the narration. One such fact is that cats are crepuscular, meaning they are most active at dawn and dusk. I guess I had forgotten that fact. Like Tsutumi, I mistakenly thought cats were nocturnal. It’s always nice to be corrected on animal facts. I’ve certainly gotten rusty since I last studied animals. Anyway, let’s talk about the next few episodes in Nyaight of the Living Cat.

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Episodes 4-7

Kunagi, Kaoru, Tanishi, and Tsutsumi spent most of the fourth episode trying to get picked up by rescue helicopters. This episode made me respect Kaoru a lot more, as she acknowledged that she felt helpless and redoubled her efforts to be useful to the group. She even carried Tsutsumi after she passed out from running around all night with an untreated allergic reaction. In the end, the helicopter only had room for one more passenger, and Kaoru decided that Tsutsumi should be the one.

Meanwhile, Kunagi distracted a bunch of cats to keep them from attacking his group. He crashed a motorcycle and got knocked out for a minute. While in this state, Kunagi saw a vision of a dark-haired man telling him to save both humans and cats. Feeling newly inspired, Kunagi hurried to reunite with Kaoru and Tanishi. Kunagi’s seemingly superhuman strength and agility make me wonder again if he was once a cat and if he still might have the abilities of a feline.

Sadly, Tanishi turned into a cute orange tabby. After that, several months passed, and the world order collapsed as the cats took over all of human civilization. Kunagi and Kaoru looked for Tsutsumi, but the shelter she was supposed to be in was overrun by cats. (However, a survivor from that shelter told Kaoru about a girl who saved several other people, and she might have been Tsutsumi.) In other news, in episode 5, Kaoru and Kunagi got to know Arata, a teenage boy with the tools and acrobatic skills of a ninja.

Arata has a cute and cool character design. In addition, his positivity and happy-go-lucky attitude are uplifting. However, Kunagi and Kaoru are better characters in my humble opinion. Something about the ninja boy seems a bit forced. Anyway, at the end of the fifth episode, we met Grandma. She’s the older lady who runs the compound where Kunagi and a bunch of other survivors now live. Grandma is so freaking cool and I dearly hope that we see more of her in the future.

In episode 6, we met the old man with the white beard, Kouji, along with his sons Masaki and Len. (Masaki looks like the person from Kunagi’s vision in episode 4). Unfortunately, Kouji was turned into a Persian cat. His sons were trapped in a room, trying to avoid being catified. That’s where the new character comes in. Introduced in episode seven, he doesn’t have a name yet, but the new addition to the team is a Devon-Rex cat with the mind of a human. Though he can’t speak, he can read words and ponder his own existence.

The unnamed Devon-Rex cat led Kunagi and his team to Len and Masaki. They decided to keep the D-Rex cat and escape together in a pickup truck. As the group tried to hurry away, a huge bear suddenly appeared with a cat riding on its head. That’s where the seventh episode ends. Although the plot is a little muddy and the character development is not always smooth, I’m still loving this anime and its distinct take on comedy. I’ll write more about Nyaight of The Living Cat when more episodes are out.

~Thanks for Reading~

Written by 7Mononoke at Anime Rants

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