Nekopara, Episode 2: A Lost Kitten? Cat’s Paradise Found!

Chocola takes in and tries to hide a stray kitten. Shigure welcomes the lost kitten into her home.

Episode 2 – “A Lost Kitten?”

Hmm.

One thing I was curious to see was how Nekopara would treat the cat girls as characters. In most slice of life anime, the setting and characters follow school aged children as they interact with each other through their common experiences. I love seeing slice of life anime outside this conventional setting, like Natsume Yuujinchou, which looks at Japanese spirits becoming friends with a special human. In Nekopara, we have another unconventional slice of life comedy where cat girls are more than pets, but what are they in relation to their “masters?”

The situational comedy in the episode answered that question. We saw Chocola try to hide a stray kitten who followed her home. This is the kind of plot you see in live-action sitcoms where one of the children in a family tries to keep a pet. The secret is always found out by the older siblings and later the parents. The children ultimately learn some life lessons about responsibility. What this means for Nekopara is that the cat girls are the masters’ adopted children. I’m assuming the eroge elements are being put aside, so I’m going to ignore that extra spice of “family relations.” Well, there’s one exception. I’m paying attention to what’s happening between Cinnamon and Maple. Cinnamon is totally making a yuri thing happen there.

Heh.

We got a proper opening credit song and sequence.

Uh oh. Little stray kitten doesn’t know what a Master is. Aw. Chocola sympathizes because of how she and Vanilla were abandoned. Come on. Chocola should explain to Kashou what happened, but she got hung up on a stray comment about him not being able to take care of more cats.

How long can she keep the little kitten hidden? Let’s find out!

Vanilla is very pragmatic. She couldn’t stand the temptation of waiting in front of the tuna slices, so she waited somewhere else. Vanilla is easily impressed with Chocola’s feat of running errands. Maybe it’s a little dig at Chocola’s usual errand-running skill? Why, yes. Chocola is getting wise to Vanilla’s creepy fingers.

Ho ho. Little kitten has never seen a toilet before. Don’t fall in! Yay! Literal toilet humor! Vanilla says they don’t go potty in random places anymore. Anymore! Ah. Vanilla knows about Cinnamon’s damp panties…

Aw. Kitten likes dried sardines, but she’s going to get thirsty. No, Chocola! You don’t have any milk for her!

Cat’s out of the bag. Vanilla found the kitten.

Chocola found the dried sardine snacks, but Vanilla just wants more of that tuna in the eye catches.

Ah. Shigure called Patisserie La Soleil a “cat’s paradise,” which is where the title of the story comes from. Nekopara, banzai! You can see that Coconut and Azuki are tired of hearing this nonsense. Coconut wanted to live there too, but Kashou said Chocola and Vanilla were more than enough to keep him busy.

Vanilla knows Kashou is too kind to say no when it comes to cats, but somebody has to be the adult in this world. Shigure is very passionate about humans digging holes if they abandon cats.

The kitten has a nice hat, but she doesn’t know what a Master or a house is. Shigure took her home. Chocola misses out on a little sister.

Coconut has quite the sniffer. She’s curious! Okay, it’s time for cat lady pictures. Aw. Coconut still thinks she’s the kitten of the Shigure household. This is normal. That kitten is scared of water and baths. Aw. Those cat’s pajamas are too big. She’s also not ready to sleep with Shigure.

Chocola and Vanilla are glad to have each other.

Whoa. The great artist IshiKei makes Coconut and Azuki have fun-filled evenings in the end card.