** Warning: Major Spoilers Ahead!**
This wasn't how it was supposed to go. I was gonna have a whole year long event where I would write reviews for the first batch of anime I watched all the way back in 2001, the classics that made me a lifelong fan. What a great way to both re-watch a lot of shows I haven't taken the time to appreciate, rightÉ
Too often ever since anime became mainstream, I've struggled to stay current; many times completing shows just to say that I did, earning some imaginary "otaku cred", which isn't the best way to keep myself truly engaged or happy watching anime. But every once in awhile, my impulsive method of consuming anime would lead to a pleasant surprise.
The show I'm going to be talking about wouldn't have been my second, or even fifth choice to start off this series I had planned. I was just gonna watch an episode to kill rime, and wound up watch marathoning five. Just like the first time I had watched this anime, I was prepared for light entertainment, than found myself hooked. So I figured, why not give this underrated gem it's due?
The plot of Cat Planet Cuties aka Asobi no Iku Yo! ("We Came to Play!") kicks off when our protagonist, Kio Kakazu, comes across a buxom brunette foreigner named Eris, who has cat ears and a tail to go with her latex spacesuit. Assuming the girl is a hardcore cosplayer, Kio offers to show her the sites around Okinawa.
The next day, shock piles upon shock. There's a naked girl in his bed; after a bit of cultural misunderstanding, Eris reveals, that she is in fact, a recon officer for a race of beings called |"Catians" (yes, really), who will soon to be opening up negotiations with Earth, allowing us to formally enter into the Federation of Sentient Beings". She proves her identity by showing off her helper robot (an "Assistadroid")
But wait, there's more! Kio's childhood girlfriend (emphasis on "friend") another buxom brunette, is a junior CIA agent hoping to get promoted to go iut do field work, so she starts spying on Kio's new housemate. Aoi, one of Kio newer friends and fellow film buff, is in fact an assassin for the Japanese Immigration Bureau. Oh, and his teacher happens to be a member of a sci-fi cult called "Beautiful Contact" who wants to get rid of Eris because she isn't "alien enough" to be Earth's first contact.
Kio uncle is another secret agent, though we never find out more than that, who wants to see his safe and get with one of the beautiful girls around him.
All this is revealed in just TWO episodes! Needless to say, there's a lot going on here, and that's a big part of the charm.
I never thought I would make this comparison, but this show show has quite a bit in common with Outlaw Star. It combines so many elements and ideas that you assume it\s going to be a train wreck, but it just works, somehow.
Cat Planet Cuties is at its core a light-hearted romantic comedy, but there's also aspects of techno thriller, first contact, space opera, Hollywood action flick, even poignant tragedy, in it's DNA. The show does so many things well that you're constantly surprised; for as many tropes and cliches that it plays painfully straight, in other ways it catches you off guard.
Nowhere are these strengths and weaknesses reflected more in the plot and characters,
The show manages to somehow have its cliches and subvert them, making the show both frustrating and engaging.
Kio realizes after a few close calls, that he's become the "dude in distress", a target who can become a liability if the girls are too overly concerned. So he asks Aoi to give him some combat training. This nice bit of character development, coupled with his love of film, gives him a nice bit of personality compared to other harem anime leads, who are just "nice guy" blank slates that the guys watching the story can project themselves onto.
However, he's still annoyingly "wishy-washy", as his childhood friend Minami puts it. Just because you point out a cliche, doesn't automatically make it okay. The show tries to once again be subversive but not simultaneously, by having the girls talk with a holographic simulation of Kio, to try and work out their problems. Manami orders the pseudo-love interest to "be more honest", leading her to acknowledge her own feelings for him. But, the problem is, the real Kio always keeps his own thoughts and feelings to himself because he doesn't want to hurt anyone, allowing the tangled web of relationship drama to continue. If not for the girls themselves deciding to resolve the relationship issues, nothing would have changed. I'll come back to this later.
Eris, is far worse than Kio. She's fun, outgoing, kind, always calm in a crisis, a badass with access to everything from a skintight power suit that gives her superhuman strength, to a big rubber mallet that disintegrates clothing and weapons.
The only time she goes through any actual turmoil is in episode 9, easily the show's best episode, and that's because she's because she's being overly sensitive about someone else's pain, not her own.
When Aoi outright tells Eris that she "hates" her, due to the fact that Eris literally dropped out of the sky and not only took Kio's attention away from her, but is also a flawless girlfriend, Aoi can't possibly measure up in any way, regardless that, if she were the protagonist, she'd definitely be cute and badass enough.
Does Eris lash out? Is she hurt emotionally, does she run away? Nope, she steps up without hesitation and hugs Aoi, saying that she understands that she loves Kio too, and doesn't to hurt her. While, to be fair, there is a good explanation for why Eris is so easygoing about this, she's still just too damn perfect to be likeable, or interesting in and of herself.
Minami is by far the most interesting character. She's very knowledgeable when it comes to relationships, offering to help Aoi break out of her emotional shell and win Kio's heart, even though inside she in denial of her love for him. Due to a misunderstanding, she thinks Kio is just one of the guys, so she's resigned himself to being in the "friend zone".
At first, she's refreshingly laid back, even teasing Kio about bringing "a hot foreign girl" over to his house right after meeting her, without a hint of jealousy.
Once the other girls show up, she becomes one of my least favorite anime archetypes: the Tsundere.
Tsundere are meant to be characters with hidden depths, characters who have problems communicating their feelings, and should be sympathized with. Too often, they come across as abusive jerks. At different points, remembering, the show being what it is in part (wish-fulfillment erotic fantasy) Kio accidently catches the girls in the nude or in their underwear. Each time, Manami, throughs stuff at him, puts him in painful headlocks, even shoots at him with a semi-automatic machine gun!
That last one was the worst, because Manami literally threw herself out of the bathtub, and chased after the bad guys naked on a motorcycle.
At no point clearly oogling the girls, spying on them, or groping them. He's not Fukuyama from Girls Bravo or Ataru from Urusei Yatsura who deserve what they get .
He's clearly flustered and nervous every time this happens, which makes it uncomfortable to watch. While this over-the-top slapstick can work in animation, imagine if the characters genders were reversed; it's a kind of character and comedy style that will problematic nowadays for obvious reasons.
If not for her genuine "sisterly" moments with Aoi and the understandable heartache she's going through as her best friend's life is changing rapidly, leaving her, sad, confused and lonely, I actually would've hated her character.
The rest of the cast is either one-note or just their to fill a quota. Ania, a fantastically rich girl who leads a cat-obsessed cult, literally has nothing to do but give the heroes resources when they need it, and to look cute.
Janis, the main antagonist, a member of the Dognasians, (yes, really!!) is there to be a threat to the Catians mission, and while she is a credible antagonist, this being a 12 episode show, she gets no backstory or personality outside of her stone-cold serious personality and drive to destroy her enemies. While that serves to make her dog pun-laden dialogue funnier, it doesn't make for an interesting villain.
Eris' crewmates are meant to be obvious stand-ins for Star Trek characters: The motherly,wise captain, the snarky,cooly professional doctor, the youngest member, who wants to just go out and explore and be given more responsibility, and the fun one, to round it out. The characters are their because they're hot, or to provide a bit of exposition or help to move the plot forward,
Other elements are either used well, like Kio's teacher, who being a fan of obscure hard sci-fi featuring scary incomprehensible aliens, is hilariously exasperated with everything going on around her. But the Beautiful Contact group sub-plot goes nowhere, the cat-worshipping cult sub-plot goes nowhere. For every great idea, or bit of character development, there's no much stuff unresolved.
Episode nine may be a self-contained story, but it's easily the highlight of the show, covering hard topics like grief, the repercussions of creating human-level AI, attempted genocide, and, oh yeah, a loving homage to pulp sci-fi. You really won't be prepared for it, and I wish the show could have shown that kind of poignancy throughout, but at least this song is awesome enough to make up for ir:
You're probably unaware of this, but the Cat Planet Cuties novel series is quite long. According to Light Novel Database (LNDB), the series ran for 20 volumes, each book on average 250+ pages.
Clearly, a we're missing a lot of content. Unfortunately, the novels are not available in English. Had the show been released just a few years later, it might've been (it might still be, hopefully) picked up by a North American distribution company. Too often, though, in Japan, light novel adaptations are intros, basically glorified commercials, for the source material. Only the most popular properties get multiple seasons, let alone full adaptations. Animation is expensive, and too often cult classic gems like this show are pushed to the wayside.
And while the English light novel market has grown exponentially, with novels now being translated before the shows even premiere, it doesn't take the sting that we don't get to see this fascinating universe in it's entirety.
It one way, Cat Planet Cuties has a satisfying conclusion, though.
After another good fight sequence, Eris, Minami and Aoi all confess their feelings. Then, right after, Eris drops a bombshell; since females outnumber males 8 to 1 on Catia, her home planet, polygamy is the norm there.
The show ends with all the leading ladies kissing our MC, declaring their intent to share him; Kio, or course, is too overwhelmed to say anything.
That surprising resolution to the romance, coupled with all the clever sci-fi humor and references, push this from a guilty pleasure to a legit good show. It leaves you satisfied, but also intrigued. The heroes beat the villains, but not permanently. Earth has been given a brand new space elevator for Christmas, greatly advancing Earth's space program. Kio even gers a chance to shine in the final fight with the help Eris' power armor.
The show ended on a high note, stringing together the last three episodes in a tight mini-arc to keep you interested in the story, rather than just be episodic.
Keep in mind also, that, at the time, I thought it was rare for harem anime to end this way (ironic, considering how often this type of resolution was popping up in other manga and novels).
The point is, that to me, it was a great twist. Maybe not so shocking now, but considering how many shows still have an obvious "best girl" love interest, it still earns praise from me.
If you're a sci-fi fan, you;ll definitely enjoy this a lot. Not as much as a classic series like Irresponsibel Captain Tylor, perhaps, but Taking out the humor though, there's plenty of character development, cool action, sweet romance and funny times for everyone.
An easy 4/5 score from me.
Next time, a more nostalgic sci-fi/action/romantic comedy show. Which also features a kick-ass sexy cat girl. It's not a fetish, I swear!
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