The already-chaotic Chainsmoker Cat anime is adding another voice to its messy little universe: Yumi Hara has been cast as Shizue Satō, the mother of lead character Yani Neko.
According to the anime’s staff, Shizue will show up in the show’s seventh episode, which airs on Thursday. For a comedy built around bad habits, trashy apartment energy, and catgirl nonsense, bringing in Yani’s mum could be a fun way to poke at the “how did she become like this?” side of the character — or just make the situation even more unhinged.
For anyone not plugged into this one yet, Chainsmoker Cat, also known as Yanineko, is based on the manga by Nyan Nyan Factory. The series is set in a world where humans, catgirls, and similar species live together. Its lead, Yani Neko — real name Yaniko Satō — is a catgirl with an extreme smoking habit, an apartment full of ash and cigarette butts, and basically zero self-control whenever she tries to quit.
This is not exactly a soft, wholesome catgirl anime, bro. The original manga is known for gross-out comedy, toilet humour, and frequent drug or alcohol use by characters, so the anime sits more in the “messy adult gag comedy” lane than the cute mascot lane.
The main anime cast includes Yūko Natsuyoshi as Yani Neko, Misato Matsuoka as Yaku Neko, Yurie Funato as Hame Neko, Ayaka Shimizu as Kansai Neko, and Shiori Izawa as Aruko Neko. Hara’s addition as Shizue Satō expands the Satō family side of the story, even if the source announcement only confirms her role and episode appearance for now.
Behind the scenes, Taku Kimura is directing the anime at Bibury Animation Studio. Kimura is linked to works including Kairyū to Yūbinya-san and the Star Wars: Visions short “Tatooine Rhapsody.” Scripts are handled by Takashi Aoshima, whose credits include Himouto! Umaru-chan and The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You. Riki Matsuura is on character design, while Keiichi Suzuki is composing the music.
The opening theme, “Nanmonee,” is performed by rock band Wasureranneyo, while Necry Talkie performs the ending theme “Kemuri to Blue”. Additional staff include Yukiko Maruyama and Shōtarō Yoshino of Atelier Musa as art directors, with Hisashi Yonezawa as compositing director of photography.
The anime premiered on July 2 at 24:30 on Tokyo MX and BS11, effectively making it a July 3 late-night broadcast. It later began airing on AT-X on July 25. The source also notes that WWWave Corporation’s OceanVeil platform is streaming the anime as it airs.
One interesting detail for anime fans tracking different cuts: Chainsmoker Cat has two versions. The “Evil Dragon Unleashed” version is described as respecting the work’s directorial intent for some episodes, while the “On-Air” version is made for terrestrial TV broadcast. In Japan, the former is available through services including AT-X’s premium channel, AnimeFesta, DMM TV, Fuji TV On Demand, Hulu, Netflix, and Anime Times, while other services carry the broadcast version. OceanVeil streams the “Evil Dragon Unleashed” version.
Analysis / why it matters for Malaysia and SEA readers: this is the kind of niche comedy anime where voice casting can genuinely change the flavour of a scene. If you follow seasonal anime from Malaysia or elsewhere in SEA, Hara joining as Yani’s mother gives episode 7 an extra reason to watch, especially if you enjoy offbeat adult gag series rather than standard cute-girl comedies. That said, the source does not state any Malaysia-specific release or platform availability, so don’t take this as a local streaming confirmation.
The manga is serialized in Kodansha’s Young Magazine, with Kodansha releasing volume 13 on August 6. Seven Seas is publishing the manga in English and released the third English volume on June 16.