Nyan Koi – I want more

Comedies within anime aren’t normally part of my everyday fix, because they tend to be ridiculous and highly exaggerated which make them more ridiculous than necessary. Well, I don’t know if that’s true to the full extent since I’ve only watched a few anime comedies so far, but based on them I think that I have at least some rights to express my overall standpoint toward this particular genre within japanese animation; it sucks, but Nyan Koi on the other hand doesn’t. I knew that I would love this series somewhat ever since the first episode…

Kousaka Junpei -- our leading character who attends his second year in the upper secondary and who hates cats more than anything else -- has been cursed after accidentaly slicing off the head of his town’s cat statue, otherwise known as guardian deity of cats. His unjust award is the ability to talk to and comprehend cats, let alone the annoying duty to fulfill 100 requests given to him by his furry little friends -- otherwise his curse will turn him into a cat. Moreover this pesky situation, Junpei himself is highly allergic to his hate objects, and what’s more -- he has to keep his curse a secret from everyone or else disaster may fall upon both parts.

The first thing you may notice about Nyan Koi right from the start is that it is a harem to some extent (Junpei being surrounded not only by cats, but also a few girls with whom he have some small bonds with -- including Kaede Mizuno, his love interest, and his childhoodfriend Kanako Sumiyoshi). Now, if you -- just like me -- thought that Nyan Koi’s just another pure and typical ecchi-harem series in which the protagonist gets hit every sixth minute by girls who flash their panties in every situation, then wrong; The series is more or less an easy going one with only one important focus -- cats. The concept seems at least well planned and does offer some nice aspects of comedy that one could wish. I haven’t read the original manga by Sato Fujiwara yet, but after watching 12 episodes of this particular series I don’t think it is too exaggerated in any way but instead well balanced with humour rooted in Junpei’s everyday relation with cats while he tries his utmost to keep his secret. The outcome of most situations are pretty comical and fun to follow actually, but it may get annoying sometimes.

Animation by AIC looks clean though a few character designs could have been done better at a few moments. The soundtrack sounds okay overall. As said, nothing’s exaggerated about Nyan Koi, which would explain why it doesn’t suck too much while staying away from trying to appeal more than it’s capable of plotwise, which is one of the series bigger strength. But overall I think that this anime is something that everyone can enjoy. One episode a week is enough, otherwise it would be pretty boring. Don’t know exactly why. There’s not too much more that I want to say except that I enjoyed watching this series from A to Z. A second season seems to be on its way, and to be honest -- this is the first time I am looking forward to an anime comedy prequel. I want more!

By the way, did I mention that I love the opening? ^^

Score: 6½/10