Original Run: January 9, 2019 - March 27, 2019 Number of Episodes: 12 Genre: Slice of Life Based on the Series Created By: Tunami Minatuki and As Futatsuya
***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for My Roommate is a Cat. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
Some time ago, Subaru Mikazuki (voiced by Kensho Ono) lost his parents in a freak accident. For his entire life, Subaru has had trouble interacting with others and grows extremely nervous whenever out in public. Since the death of his mom and dad, this problem has only gotten worse.
Fortunately for Subaru, he has managed to make a living as a popular mystery writer. And when he was having trouble coming up with his next story, inspiration struck thanks to a most unexpected encounter – running into a small black and white cat.
Although having never taken care of an animal before, Subaru adopts the tiny creature and names her Haru.
Alternatively, Haru (voiced by Haruka Yamazaki) is a stray Tuxedo cat. She has spent her entire life in constant vigilance to ensure her survival. Thus, she is unsure when one day, an unknown human takes her to a strange, new place. However, this human gives Haru food and a place to sleep, so she doesn’t mind all that much.
As both Subaru and Haru get used to each other’s presence, they soon grow incredibly close. After a while, they both begin to realize how much they mean to one another.
Series Positives
I guess it’s true what they say about those who assume:
It makes an ass out of U and me.
Given its title, my initial assumption towards My Roommate is a Cat was it would be a silly little series about the misadventures of a dopey house cat and her human. There would be a ton of wacky shenanigans, and the show would try its hardest to be a memorable comedy.
In actuality, although My Roommate is a Cat had its comedic moments, this was, by no means, a humor-focused series. If anything, this was a slice-of-life anime with a persistent tinge of sadness. But before YOU assume, this show’s brand of sadness was mostly centered on regrets and past mistakes. The much larger message was something far more hopeful since this was a story about moving forward and growing.
As an aside to that, I also had a sneaking suspicion Haru, the titular cat, would be of the talking-feline variety. And if this were the jokie-joke show I initially imagined it was going to be, that might have been warranted. But given how this series started (again, persistent sadness and all), that would have resulted in an uphill battle I don’t think could have been won.
Fortunately — because that’s how I see it — Haru was not that. However, she did have a distinct personality, and as such, she rose to become the best character in the show.
Haru couldn’t communicate with Subaru through words, nor he with her, but that didn’t stop My Roommate is a Cat from giving us her perspective. It was a good thing too since this was when the show was at its most ingenious.
As a person who has and loves cats (and if they are reading this, hello Daisy, Cody, and Sherbet, miss you), seeing the world through Haru’s eyes was both fun and believable. The way Haru problem solved, her reasonings, and her priorities were undoubtedly basic. Or, at least, they would have been basic had Haru been a person. Being a cat, especially one that had lived most of her life on the streets unsure of where her next meal would come from, Haru had more sense and drive than some human characters I have seen in other shows.
When My Roommate is a Cat switched to Haru’s point-of-view, I will admit, sometimes things got so sickeningly adorable it was almost criminal. More often than not, though, this story and the atmosphere it built was rather sweet; if not full on touching.
In a nutshell, what I’m getting at is: If you know someone who is toying with the idea of getting a cat, this show could easily sway their decision. Whether you think said person being in charge of another living creature is a good idea or not, I will leave that to your own judgment when you are deciding who to watch this series with.
And I really do suggest you give this show a look.
My Roommate is a Cat proved to be a lot more than I could have expected.
Series Negatives
In terms of what this series did wrong: If Haru’s storyline was the stronger, then Subaru’s was the weaker; a.k.a., his was nowhere near as interesting.
That isn’t to say Subaru’s perspective was boring, problematic, or even bad for that matter. It just wasn’t as good as his cat’s. To be fair, though, I’m coming at this situation from a specific – possibly morbid — angle. I have seen Subaru’s story too many times.
Here is another character who lost their parents in a tragic accident, and who only found light from their crippling darkness once they began taking care of someone – or in the case of this show – something else.
Wow, even though I was the person who wrote that, such a statement could not be any more pompous. I’m not sure how else you could read the last paragraph because it sounds as if I am dinging this show because it did something well, but apparently not well enough. That doesn’t seem right.
My Roommate is a Cat was solid, and I will stand by that. There wasn’t much of anything I found problematic with this series. Nevertheless, I am compelled to give you what I feel is a much-needed heads-up:
Please, please, please know what you’re getting into.
This show’s goal was not to leave you rolling around on the ground in a fit of laughter. The story was not afraid to touch certain buttons. It wasn’t that My Roommate is a Cat did anything wrong, but it suggested ideas I didn’t want to think about.
The problem with heavily injecting sadness into a story is that when it is done right, that means it’s really f@#$ing sad. Therefore, if you go into My Roommate is a Cat expecting nothing besides sunshine and rainbows, you are going to have one hell of a wake-up call.
Final Thoughts
This was good. This really was quite good.
I suppose if you are a cat lover, then you will find this series to be way more entertaining and relatable than if you are not one. And even if you aren’t, I’m confident you will find plenty to like about this story.
The narrative was well-told, the characters were strongly defined, and the atmosphere was precisely what it wanted to be. Thus, don’t go thinking it will be anything else. Trust me, although that may appear to be an incredibly vague thing to say, you will know what I mean should you decide to give this series a chance.
And with that, I utterly recommend My Roommate is a Cat.
But these are just my thoughts. What are yours? Have you seen this show? What would be your advice concerning My Roommate is a Cat? Leave a comment down below because I would love to hear what you have to say.
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For Anime Hajime, I’m LofZOdyssey, and I’ll see you next time.
During one of my early reviews of the series, I too mentioned the recurrent theme of tragically lost parents (both in this show and anime in general). The very next episode made the deceased parents very real and basically smacked me in the mouth for smarting off in my previous post. We’ve seen the situation ad nauseam, but this show built into a surprisingly effective use of it.