Nekopara, Episode 3: That Girl on My Mind

The stray kitten adjusts to living in Shigure’s house, but both she and Chocola miss each other.

Episode 3 – “That Girl on My Mind”

Hmm.

Nekopara appears to be settling on slice-of-life comedy for the first half of the episode and then drama and catharsis for the second half. That’s formulaic, and if every episode follows this pattern, that cadence will make the season boring. I hope Nekopara doesn’t fall into that narrative rut, because I found some fun things starting to get emphasis in this episode.

First, Nekopara has established their running jokes and gags for the season. Cinnamon has sex on her mind and her targeted life partner is Maple. The yuri is strong in this one! Maple has a small bladder and her frequent trips to the bathroom are enough to keep the toilet seat warm so the stray kitten seeks it out. That’s good humor right there. There are more, like Shigure relying on her cat network on the internet and the size difference between Azuki and Coconut making their frequent spats hilarious, so we can enjoy the familiar material filling out the slice-of-life plot each week.

Second, the music was more prominent this week in Nekopara than previously. I think it was because there were fewer lines of dialogue as we focused on the stray kitten getting used to Shigure’s household, and since she doesn’t talk much, the other cats didn’t have that much to say either. The light and airy background musical score accompanied the slice-of-life elements well.

Finally, the stray kitten actually talked! She’s going to have to get a name soon and it’s not going to be “Sugarcane.” Since all the cat girls in Nekopara have names based on sweets, I’m curious to see who names her and what it will be. We will have to wait until next week for that momentous occasion.

Heh.

Is Shigure going to introduce every Nekopara episode with this “Welcome to La Soleil” sequence?

The little stray kitten likes to stray. Azuki and Coconut go straight at each other first thing in the morning. Oh, so that’s where she was. She found the warm spot on the toilet because Maple goes to the bathroom so often.

Aw. Chocola is preoccupied with the stray kitten. I see lots of jokes in Nekopara coming because of her absent-mindedness. Vanilla loves her clumsy sister. Nori no tsukudani (nori seaweed boiled in soy sauce) is not supposed to be spread on toast, but apparently, Chocola likes it. Vanilla breaks the 4th wall.

First nori on bread instead of rice and now Chocola can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. Chocola is worried about the stray kitten, but Vanilla is more worried about Chocola. She just put her uniform on backward!

Azuki is calling the stray kitten “Sugarcane,” but nobody likes her doing that. Maple doesn’t like the name, so she’s searching on “Oooglo” for baby kitten names. And naturally Cinnamon must go crazy over have babies. She’s got such a dirty mind! Just how long is Cinnamon going to think about sex here? She’s insatiable!

That kitten is so good at disappearing! She’s also a feral cat. Eating on the floor with no hands.

Azuki insists on this “Sugarcane” name, but nobody is buying it. Coconut is fired up because she gets to be a big sister now. I just realized that with all the catgirls in Nekopara, almost everyone will have a fang and will do the snout smile at some point. :-3 Aww. Coconut is disappointed in herself because she’s still a kitten and wants to play with paper rolls and ribbon.

Azuki shows how being a competent big sister is done. Oh ho. Coconut has better reach than Azuki, though.

Meanwhile, back at the Minaduki household, the stray kitten gets hungry after seeing an aquarium on TV. Maple is so fancy with afternoon tea. The stray kitten would prefer the dried sardines she shared with Chocola. Stray Kitten just wants to eat something. She doesn’t need this tea lesson. Cinnamon doesn’t care either. Uh oh. Stray Kitten is going to start thinking about Chocola now. Nekopara needs to give Stray Kitten a name soon because it’s awkward to keep writing “Stray Kitten.”

Shigure was able to match that orange ribbon on the Stray’s cap for her little overalls. That’s attention to detail. Cinnamon shouldn’t be teaching the Stray how to “play house” at her age. Jump rope might be too advanced as well. Aw. The Stray wishes she could hug Chocola.

The eye catches give an excellent plot summary for the first half of Nekopara‘s episode.

Aw again. Chocola is trying to be strong in not admitting she misses the little stray. Vanilla noticed her sister’s struggles. Uh oh. The stray has gone missing again! Panic! She’s really missing. Coconut! Don’t do it! And all the cats are down from silver vine (matatabi) overdose. Cats have a similar response to catnip, which is found in the West, while the silver vine is found in China and Japan.

Chocola got the call and zoom! But not yet. Kashou and Vanilla understand Chocola’s feelings and they let her go look for the Stray. Huh. This hat-and-overalls combo is popular with the kitten set. Shigure must have been following fashion trends. Predictably, Chocola finds the kitten where they first met. This quiet stray kitten seems smart. Man, that’s amazing how she just appears out of nowhere. I loved the animation on Chocola’s face as it progressed through many emotions. Nekopara is giving us shades of healing anime here too. Aw. The Stray needed to comfort Chocola by holding her hand. This is good stuff. Officially sisters.

And so, we learned that Kashou never had a problem with taking care of one more cat. He just said that one comment after he opened the shop and wanted to discourage the other catgirls from sneaking in through parcel service. Well, now that the stray has transferred over to La Soleil, she should be getting a better name than Sugarcane. We’ll just have to wait for the next dramatic development when we discover her origins and all that entails, but for now, we have a toddler cat living with Chocola and Vanilla.

The awesome artist @kaguyuzu shows Maple brushing Cinnamon’s hair in the end card. Also, you can check out all of Nekopara‘s end cards as the season progresses at the official anime website.