Nekopara, Episode 5: Cacao’s Adventure

Cacao meets a little girl when she goes off on her own to help the cake shop get more business.

Episode 5 – “Cacao’s Adventure”

Hmm.

Nekopara served up a slice of life in an almost self-contained story. It’s not totally contained, because I’m sure we’ll see Cacao’s new friend again. My heartstrings are getting tugged in anticipation of Cacao joining Chiyo at her forever home.

One other thing to watch out for in a world of catgirls is that you can’t leave kittens home alone like you can with regular cats. Nekopara’s cats know how to use doorknobs! It’s a little funny that Cacao made it back home without anyone in her family knowing she got out and had her own adventure, but she’s not an adult cat, and something bad could have happened. Fortunately, it was just a case of a little cat having a big day out. Right now, Cacao is the most cat-like of all the catgirls in Nekopara. Do you know what your cat does all day when it goes out and only comes home for dinner? Maybe it makes friends with little girls too.

Heh.

Cute. Cacao is waiting for her big sisters to come home after work. Head pats are the best reward. Now Chocola and Vanilla want to get head pats from Kashou. What a bad master! He’s taking them for granted.

Cacao is getting better at her table manners. Ah. Kashou seems preoccupied. Here comes the incorrect mindreading drama on this week’s Nekopara. Jumping to conclusions, panic, and bad thoughts running away with them.

The shop might be in financial straits because Chocola is a one-cat liability! Vanilla dishes out noogies for general bad behavior. Setting that aside, Vanilla saw Kashou worried about something in the kitchen and expands that to Chocola’s financial trouble theory. Time to build a whole Nekopara episode around trying to “help.” Chocola is only worried about getting less food.

Cute maids handing out cards. Never seen that before! Cacao put one under her hat. That’s going to be important. Cinnamon and Maple are going to help too. And then Cinnamon’s dirty mind goes somewhere dirty. Stripping for cash would get her so moist! At this point, we must ask, “what wouldn’t get Cinnamon moist?” Maple is used to Cinnamon’s behavior.

Maple knows what the public wants. Cute cat pictures! Shoot. That’s a fake twitter account. Chocola and Vanilla need practice posing for glamour shots. Vanilla’s “natural smiles” don’t look so natural.

Uh oh. Cacao wants to help too. She’ll pass out cards again, but I’m more worried about her running around without a bell on. That was a big deal in the Nekopara game and OVA but doesn’t seem to be much of a thing here.

Chocola and Vanilla are playing with their own cat toys in the eye catches.

No voice? No problem! Just dump the cards in any slot you see! At least Cacao got most of them in actual mailboxes.

The Nekopara episode title is about Cacao running off on her own. She’s going to get lost; I just know it. Oh! There’s the little girl that’s in the opening credits now. Kind of a fated meeting there, bumping into each other at a corner. Cacao is shy, but not shy for taiyaki. The little girl’s name is Chiyo. I have a feeling Cacao is going to end up living with her by the end of the Nekopara season. Big sad feelings are in order!

Chiyo will help a lost kitty. It’s now Cacao and Chiyo’s Adventure. Lazy cop… Azuki and Coconut just need to fight over the best ice cream flavor. Not hard to guess that Coconut likes coconut and Azuki like red bean paste. This is also about getting Kashou’s affection, so you know you’re still watching Nekopara. Oops. Azuki almost saw Cacao. This episode would have been over much quicker.

Cacao can read hard words like Patisserie. Interesting how Chiyo knows where all the cake shops are, but not La Soleil. Whoa! Big drama. Do the crows want to attack small children? Or maybe just the cat because they’re territorial? Or just the sparkly thing? Anyway, run! Ooh. Cacao protects Chiyo! They’ve bonded. Not much of a growl. Just sayin’.

Wait, she can talk? The Nekopara audience knows this, but Chiyo doesn’t. Aw. Chiyo misses her grandmother’s cat girl. Cacao is a licker. She likes to lick. Oh, after all that, she finally introduced herself to Chiyo. See? Always hug the kitty, because then clues just drop on the floor. That card Cacao put under her hat would have solved things a long time ago too. But we needed an adventure!

And Kashou was only worrying about a cake recipe. That’s slice-of-life drama. But Chocola and Vanilla finally got their head pats. Happy ending for everyone. Fun. Cacao made it home and had her own secret adventure.

Artist Kani Biimu shows us that some catgirls do like baths in the Nekopara end card.