– –

The Series

[Rating:3.5/5]

Nyan Koi! (にゃんこい!) Is based on the shonen manga by Fujiwara Sato. It follows the exploits of high schooler Jyunpei, a guy who hates cats and has a sever allergy to them as well, but through a wild turn of events ends up having to deal with them on a regular basis. His school crush Mizuno Kaede is a girl who loves cats, but can’t have any as pets because her family has a bunch of dogs. It’s just another obstacle for Jyunpei he must overcome, but the biggest of all, is saving his life! Walking home from school one day, Jyunpei kicks a can that knocks over the local shrine’s neko-jizō-sama,the statue to the cat deity. Not only does Jyunpei discover that he can now discover everything that cats are saying, including his family’s own cantankerous fat cat Nyamasou, but he discovers he has been cursed the the deity for his misdeed. Unless he grants 100 wishes to cats, the very cats he’s allergic to and can’t stand, he will turn into a cat himself and die of an allergic reaction – to himself! Furthermore, if he tells anyone of his curse, it will only accelerate his transformation. So he has to keep it hidden from Mizuno, and his childhood friend Sumiyoshi Kanako, who’s only recently started hanging around him again ever since an argument they had in elementary school. On top of his curse, Jyunpei has the complicated romantic life of a high school boy, with every effort to woo his crush Mizuno going wrong, and a few other girls vying for his attention – even Sumiyoshi. How’s a guy supposed to save his life, hide the fact that he can speak to cats, and help them out when he’s supposed to hate them under these circumstances?

Nyan Koi! is a quick-paced comedy/shonen that suffers from its overuse of the same physical gags (for instance, Sumiyoshi is constantly whacking Jyunpei over something stupid he’s done) and in-jokes (an older, flirty, college-aged mail delivery woman often wanders through the scenes and catches Jyunpei in compromising situations with some of the girls, as do they with her). This works for a brief time, but it then becomes predictable. The series also takes a rather weird turn with a couple of magical twins who use anti-magic to fight off evil cat spirits, like it’s some sort of fantasy series.

This unevenness notwithstanding, Nyan Koi! still manages to maintain a good, lighthearted atmosphere and one can’t deny that it is a rather original reworking of this high school concept that we’ve seen so may times before in anime series. The artwork isn’t bad at all either. The girls are all rather cute and distinctive and the cats really work;  they’ve gone for  a lot of realism there while also imparting a lot of expression in their faces. My only criticism with the animation is the chibi employed, which is one anime technique that has always irked me.

Video Quality

[Rating:4/5]

We’re given a pretty good AVC 1080p encodement of Nyan Koi! On Blu-ray by Sentai Filmworks that shows very little anomalies like banding or softness, has rich colors, and is just an overall pleasing effort.

Audio Quality

[Rating:4/5]

The packaging for Nyan Koi! boldly exclaims “New English Dub”, which I suppose is great if you’re a dub fan. Personally, I always prefer to watch my anime with the Japanese soundtracks engaged. Both sound decent here, but neither is anything exceptional or reference, especially given we’re limited to two channels.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:1/5]

Nothin’ but the usual goin’ on here:

• Clean Opening & Closing Animations
• Sentai Filmworks Trailers
• Disc Credits

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:3.5/5]

A series that could have been better, but also could have been a lot worse, Nyan Koi! puts a weird twist on this high school/shonen subgenre, is lighthearted, and enjoyable to sit through.

Additional Screen Captures

[amazon-product]B00D44IQNC[/amazon-product]

[amazon-product]B00D44IQNC[/amazon-product]