Why Chainsmoker cat is specialThis is a bit of a long read, which is why I prepared a clip for y’all as a present.
Yanineko is a show that, at first, is a crass slapstick comedy like many others. Panty & Stocking immediately comes to mind. What you don’t realise, though, is that the show is a social commentary in the garb of palatable (intellectually, not literally) comedy.
It’s no secret that Japanese society isn’t perfect, but like India, people that call it out are looked down upon. Yanineko gets around that by concealing these topics until you think about them subconsciously.
The show follows a cat girl, they’re known as beastfolk, treated as sub human (issue 1), who has a crippling cigarette addiction (issue 2), but cannot find a good job (issue 3) and lives in filthy conditions (issue 4). She is also constantly sexualised by children and old people alike (maybe issue 5). This simple show with farts and drugs and puke is able to dismantle society’s deepest secrets. The last time a show did this was NHK, but back then media literacy was high, so it didn’t need to be funny. Chainsmoker Cat is taking us back to when anime was more than just empty entertainment, and I’m all for it.
Here’s the clip, you’re welcome ;)
sundray@lemmus.org
That’s a bit of strong statement, there is probably a bunch of shows doing it, maybe in smaller quantities. I haven’t seen this cat show but often when I see a clip (like this one) it reminds me of Gintama. Gintama kinda does the same thing you are describing. Also Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei comes to mind, but there they also just straight up say things out loud. There is probably a bunch of shows that we both don’t know. Of course Japan being a country with an indirect culture, it has its own way of critiquing things.
Certainly in some countries this is more of thing like you say, but I think this is still kind of a thing in western countries with a culture of more direct critique. For example: I’m not an American but I have definitely seen the American right accuse the American left of hating America when they critique America.
But yea maybe I’ll give Yani Neko a try sometime.