Now Streaming: CHAINSMOKER CAT, Gleefully Running on Nicotine

Ha ha! I love to smoke! (Puff, puff, cough, cough.)

Chainsmoker Cat S1
The first episode is now streaming on Netflix. Subsequent episodes will debut every Thursday.

The first five minutes are willfully gross, detailing the poverty-stricken life of Yani, a catgirl beast living alone in a filthy apartment, filled with cigarette butts and bags of trash. To reinforce the mood, we also see her defecating, explicitly. (Plop, plop, fizz, fizz.)

Everything about her life revolves around her smoking. Her tobacco addiction is severe, and she cares about nothing else. No other person could ever replace cigarettes in her life.

Occasionally, however, Yani calls her younger sister Imoko, who responds whenever her older sister needs her help. The stench in her sister's apartment, though, has prompted Imoko to purchase a hazard suit to brave the wretched conditions.

The humor, such as it is, is all pitched to the same level: Yani smokes like a fiend! (Ha, ha.) Yani drops some cigarettes into a dog's dropping, then reasons that she can cut off the tips and still smoke them. (Ha, ha.) Yani can't get through a day's work without disappearing to buy some cigarettes. (Ha, ha.) Sickened by the smell when her hazmat helmet comes off, Yani's sister Imoko vomits over the balcony onto the landlord's head. (Ha, ha.)

The backgrounds and landscapes created by Bilbury Animation Studios are beautifully shaded and detailed, supplying a gorgeous atmosphere for Yani and her smoking to ruin. The show's source material, a manga series written and illustrated by NyanNyanFactory, reportedly explores more catgirl characters, so perhaps that will add variety.

This is a case where the first episode -- or just the first five minutes -- may deter further viewing, but I remain curious about where the show can possibly go from here.

Here's the official synopsis:

"Catgirl Yani struggles to pay her rent and keep a job while feeding her smoking habit. As her loved ones' concerns grow, she must rethink her future."

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