Chainsmoker Cat

Episode 7

To be perfectly honest, I am glad this week's episode of Chainsmoker Cat turned out so obscene and idiotic. Don't get me wrong; I have very much enjoyed the fact that the show has been able to flex its muscles as a work of legitimate storytelling and all. Let's not kid ourselves, though. A chief appeal of Chainsmoker Cat is its brazen dedication to being supremely gross and stupid, and to look damned good while doing it. I will happily endorse regular peeks into the melancholy undertones of these crazy cats' lives, and you know I am gobbling up all the bizarre worldbuilding tidbits we've been getting. That said, I think this might just be Chainsmoker Cat's finest (half-)hour, because it showcases such a pristine balance of the weird, the ridiculous, the offensive, and the achingly sad. Sometimes, “fine art” really means “watch a degenerate furry accidentally summon a Nicotine Demon and then subsequently send him crying back to the dark pits of hell with the power of her offensively disgusting lifestyle and rancid farts”.

The best thing about this episode is that it's the first episode to so expertly utilize nearly every single member of its supporting cast. Sure, Hameko Easygoing Anal Angel is regretfully unavailable to provide the show with opportunities to poke fun at modern influencer culture and jump scare us with a piss joke or two, but we get to meet Yani and Imoko's deceptively sweet mother, so it all balances out. In addition to the ongoing adventures of the Yani Neko clan, we get to check in on a clearly quite troubled Yaku, while Aru is going through such terrible alcohol withdrawals that her tremors simulate an earthquake that leads to what may be the funniest bit of the entire season so far.

We'll get to Oya and His Furry Sex Doll's Bogus Journey in just a moment. For now, I have to point out how perfectly characterized Yani and Imoko's mother is. She plays the role of the quaint, quietly loving mother who just beams when she gets the chance to spend time with both of her daughters, but she's also the kind of woman who will shamelessly pinch two cigarettes from her daughter and relish the sweet taste of filtered smoke, only to immediately start spritzing air freshener and chugging breath mints the minute Imoko walks in the door. And does Mama Neko have anything to say when Yani is getting berated by her younger sister for being such a stinky influence on their home? Of course not. She just waits for the next opportunity to slink away and sneak another puff of her daughter's smokes. Absolutely sinister.

Outside of the delightfully bizarre pre-credits sequence, the best gag of the episode has to go to everything that follows poor Oya getting so caught up in Aru's alcoholism-induced earthquake that he ends up trapped outside of his apartment butt-ass naked and with his beloved and almost certainly foul-smelling sex doll stuck to his raging erection like a skewered hog. I don't think Chainsmoker Cat has made me laugh harder than when Saori comes upon the man and tries to make some feeble excuses for the situation that won't immediately land Oya on a sex-offender registry, and Oya can only beg the woman for the mercy of a quick death. Wait, I might have just lied to you. A playback of the dashcam I keep on my desk for just such an occasion shows that I might have laughed slightly harder at the following bit, where Saori brutally judo chops Yani into unconsciousness to protect the landlord's…well, whatever a pathetic creature such as this has to cling to when he had vigorously humped the last of his allotted human dignity into the crusty crevices of a silicone beast babe. Lost, like tears in the rain.

So, yes, this episode of Chainsmoker Cat really does have it all. The only thing keeping me from awarding this episode a perfect five stars is the sneaking suspicion that it does still have even greater surprises left in store. Either that, or I am waiting for an episode to combine Yani's farts, Anal Angel's urine, that one lump of dog crap from the very first episode, and Oya's fermented Fun-Dip for the ultimate showcase of reckless debauchery.

Shit. I think…I think I may have just written the greatest sentence of my career…

Episode Rating:

Chainsmoker Cat is currently streaming on Netflix and OceanVeil.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.