Chi's New Address Review – 72,5/100

The first season of Chi’s Sweet Home showed us exactly how awesome cats can be, so I was looking forward to its second season. Unfortunately, it fell victim to the number one pitfall of all comedies out there: it lost its inspiration! Such a shame! The first season had a set of absolutely hilarious and classic episodes, while the other episodes always managed to put a smile on your face through the antics of Chi and later Blackie. The second season does have its share of funny episodes, but those are nowhere near as memorable as they were in Season One, and the lesser episodes really become more and more tedious to sit through as the series goes on. In my opinion, the creators shot themselves a bit in the foot when they created the premise for this series. The first season had a red thread running though it: the fact that Chi lived in an apartment in which pets weren’t allowed returned often, provided some nice tension and made sure the series evolved as it went along. In Chi’s New Address, Chi’s owners move to a place in which pets are allowed. As a result, the rest of its episodes can simply be divided into two categories: episodes in which Chi runs around and meets someone, or episodes in which Chi breaks something. Sometimes the creators try to bring in a bit of extra dimension by putting both in one episode, but there is a general lack of direction throughout the entire series, and as it goes on the episodes get more and more repetitive. Especially the episodes in which Chi randomly causes trouble have been done to death by the end of the series. But that’s not the only thing that deteriorated. For some reason, the animators also lost their inspiration. In a lot of episodes, Chi only has two emotions: neutral and happy. There’s nothing in between! While the characters were so charming in the first season, they were turned into a bunch of bloody stereotypes during the second season. Chi is way too often just happy for no reason whatsoever. Happiness should be spontaneous, not granted or forced. At the end of the series, the creators do close off with a serious arc again, and to the show’s credit: it is enjoyable. They had a nice idea for it, and it was executed decently, although it really tended to be melodramatic during the heavy bits. Especially that final episode is horribly forced and cheesy. This series is supposed to be seinen, not kodomo! Overall, it’s one thing for a comedy to stop being funny, but Chi’s New Address screws up in a lot of other areas as well. Thankfully, this summer seasons premiered a show called Kuruneko, and it’s everything a good cat-show should be. So yeah, if you like cats, go watch Chi’s Sweet Home’s first season and Kuruneko, but stay away from this one.