The God of Poverty is coming to town! As Mayu and Yuzu are already living at the edge of financial disaster, could this mean the end? Don’t worry, this is a comedy.
What They Say:
“The God of Poverty’s Inspect+”
It’s Mayu. Since I was banished from the Takamagahara, I ended up staying at an antique shop in this town called Yaoyorozudou. While I was enjoying a quiet life due to the kindness of the owner Yuzu, a scary rumor floated our way – the God of Poverty was coming to this town. We have to do whatever we can to prevent that. I don’t want to be poor!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Nekogami Yaoyorozu, being simulcast here under the name Cat God (which is a direct translation of Nekogami), is based upon a manga created by FLIPFLOPs, which is serialized in Champion Red Ichigo. The story centers upon a cat goddess, Mayu, who lives in an antique shop owned by Yuzu Komiya. From the short description available, it should have a vibe somewhat reminiscent of Kamichu!, a world where gods are running all over the place, but not in a serious manner. I expect a lot of slice-of-life silliness. Let us see what is what.
From the extremely cute opener, which shows lots of silly antics involving cat girl goddesses, my initial expectations, if the opener is not one of those lying ones, you know, shows where the opening animation promises a lot and then delivers nothing, then this could at least be a pleasant way to pass the time. And from what happens, it seems expectations are going to be fulfilled. The world is filled with gods and goddesses of various sorts, but instead of spooky supernatural dangers, we have cute situations. Following what is a traditional story involving gods, the town does happen to fall into danger of a sort: the God of Poverty has come there. Of course, being an anime focused on cute, the Poverty God is a cute little girl in tattered clothing carrying around an old stuffed bunny and paying for beer (yes, a supermarket clerk sells a can of beer to someone who probably stands all of 3 feet tall without batting an eye; he paid more attention to the fact that the little customer paid for the beer entirely in small change).
As usual, the other gods get some advanced word that the God of Poverty is headed towards their town, and so Gonta (that is a nickname, his full name is too long to remember), the God of the Harvest mobilizes (literally) the other gods to form a blockade and set up defenses. Including a tank. All a little too late, since the God of Poverty is already there, and what’s worse, has broken the strap on her sandal, which means that Poverty will be hanging around longer. Now we start to get introduced to other gods, and a strange assortment they are. Sasana, a very pretty cat girl goddess, is Mayu’s betrothed. No, you read that right, even though they are both girls, their fathers arranged for them to get married when they were children. Sasana seems very excited by the prospect, though Mayu does not, since she would have preferred to have a husband, not a wife. Also at the anti-Poverty checkpoint appears Meiko, a spoiled, imperious princess (revealed later to be the granddaughter of the God of Destruction) who was once befriend by Mayu, so that while Meiko retains her haughtiness, she, too, has feelings for Mayu, perhaps stronger than Mayu would like. It feels like this episode is trying to catch us up with the story very quickly (the manga has been running since 2007), and the battle between Sasana and Meiko for Mayu’s hand in marriage would appear to be an old running gag, which those of us who are being exposed to this story for the first time are quickly being let in on.
Of course, despite the attempts of Gonta and the other gods to prevent the God of Poverty from invading Inari, the town where they live, Shamo, the poverty god, was found by Yuzu, the sweet as sugar friend of Mayu. Yuzu can’t help but take pity on little Shamo, and even takes her home with her, avoiding the divine blockade entirely. Apparently, Yuzu is one of those human versions of Belldandy: no, she has no secret divine background or powers, but she is just plain good to everyone and everything. She not only fixes Shamo’s strap, but even gives her a bath and treats her to iced tea. With sugar in it. Sugar? Shamo has not been treated like a kid, and thus perhaps meaning treated well, like this for a long time. Of course, when Mayu and the other gods get back to Yaoyorozudou, they discover that Yuzu, who should be lying on the ground comatose, with no motivation and no sense of where her wallet went, is actually just fine. It would appear that Yuzu, while a normal human being in all other respects, has one unusual trait: she’s immune to the supernatural effects of the God of Poverty. But considering that Yuzu and Mayu already live just a step or two above the poverty line to begin with, it may also be that they would never notice any such change in their lives.
In the end, with the other gods assembled and ready to challenge Shamo to a fight in order to expel her, Yuzu interrupts and expresses her shock at how badly the gods are acting towards what appears to be a poor little friendless girl (she’s completely unaware of Shamo’s true nature). Even after Gonta tells her that Shamo’s the God of Poverty, Yuzu feels no differently. At this point, Shamo decides to step in, as she does have some power in this situation. She declares that the protective deities of the town are acting very immaturely, but she’s not going to pass a negative judgment on the town. Here is where Yuzu, without knowing it, has saved the town, as her goodness and kindness impress Shamo greatly, enough that Shamo will pass by on to another town.
So, everything will be fine, thinks Mayu. But then a deliveryman drops a huge box at their front door, and Mayu finds Shamo in front of their TV playing with what looks like a PS1, saying that she just wants to play one more game before leaving. Is Poverty deciding to hang around? We’ll see.
The ending song is a soft gentle number, but not very memorable.
Episode 1 of Cat God does pretty much what I expected it to do. It spends a good deal of time introducing us to the characters, but manages to do so fairly quickly and without too much boring expositional dialogue, preferring flashbacks to achieve that purpose (the opening flashback with Mayu’s backstory was quite natural, but the flashbacks for Sasana and Meiko seemed a little more forced, not flowing naturally with the movement of the action, as if you have to hit pause and go look up who a character is). Yuzu, the human friend and perhaps we could call her caretaker of Mayu, is introduced mainly through her actions, as we do not know her full story yet. While the plot of this first episode is nothing new (Kamichu! also had a run-in with a God of Poverty), it is executed well enough, with plenty of light touches, and even a slight hint of social commentary (the supermarket that Shamo drives into bankruptcy was owned by a smug and greedy asshole of a CEO, who gets his comeuppance when Shamo decides simply to stand on top of the store, causing it to go out of business. The lesson? Don’t gloat if you’re doing well).
But all of these things are done with a light touch. Even with a “world-ending” drama as this situation could be, the tone is not heavy or bleak. The color palette is quite bright and cheerful, reinforcing the comedic and bright feel to the series. The level of detail and artistry, whether in static or action scenes, is not particularly high, but you don’t really expect them to be for this type of show. The character designs are mainly cute (with Yuzu being very attractive in a more mature way compared to the child-like gods), and thus they tend to be slightly more formless and less sharply defined. That is not to say that AIC Plus+ has fallen short in their work, not at all. For the kind of show this is, something light and in a way, insubstantial, this level of animation and detail is just fine.
In Summary:
Cat God offers a light-hearted look at a world inhabited by visible gods, focusing on the title character Mayu, a cat goddess in temporary exile from the home of the gods because of her mischief. In many ways, it is similar to Kamichu!, another show that showed the interplay between the world of the divine and the world of man, though that one had a very different type of god involved. The comparison holds, however, in that both shows are light in tone, playing for gentle laughs, not supernatural spookiness. It’s not a classic for the ages, but it’s not a dud either. If you are looking for a cheerful comedy to brighten your mood, this show might be just the thing for you. If you want more serious fare for your entertainment, with heavy drama and action, then while you won’t dislike this show, it’s not going to leave a strong impression on you.
Grade: B+
Simulcast by: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 4GB RAM, Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard