Every few years, we get an anime that is truly a masterpiece: a work that excels in every area to create something that not only entertains greatly, but explores themes so deep that they leave a lasting impression on those who watched them and on the way that anime and the world moves forward in the future. These anime are indeed rare – we are lucky to get one in a year, but by some miracle, we managed to get two such anime in a single season. It’s hard to imagine a better way to begin the decade than with these two series. One of these is, of course, Interspecies Reviewers, and the other is the anime that we will be talking about today: Nekopara.
Many great stories focus on dystopias: from worlds that are blatantly dystopian such as Orwell’s 1984, to ones that are more morally grey, and could even be perceived by some as utopian, like Psycho-Pass. What’s so special about Nekopara is how it manages to be both of these simultaneously, giving it a lot to say about the implications of our own desires as well as the fact that we live in a society, and the direction that that society might be headed in.
The first deceptively genius thing about Nekopara is its name, a combination of “neko” (the Japanese word for “cat”), and “para”, the start of the word “paradise”. Or, at least, that’s what the name seems to be, but there’s more to this series than meets the eye. There are many other words that begin with “para”: “paranoia”, “parabola”, “paraphilia”, “paradox”, etc. Which one of these words “para” represents is hotly debated amongst scholars (my money’s on “paraphilia”), but it sure as hell ain’t “paradise”… at least not for everyone involved. Sure, it may be appear to be a paradise at first glance: who wouldn’t want to be surrounded by a bunch of really cute and attractive cat girls who cater to your every need? But this perspective doesn’t consider life for said cat girls.
Now, a more conventional dystopian horror would probably present the oppressed class as struggling and visibly tormented by their unjust position as slaves and sentient pets within this society, but instead we are shown something far, far more terrifying: they are totally complicit in and content with their oppression (apart from one character, who’s tail is truly the most haunting of all, but we’ll get to her later). The world of Nekopara has managed to successfully convince the cat girls that they don’t deserve basic human rights: that they are less than human, that they are better off living to serve their masters, that they must never go outside without their master unless they wear their bells. And they never once question these ideas. Nekopara isn’t just about how society oppresses us, but also how we allow it to continue to do so, and that is something truly bone-chilling.
But it’s more than merely our complacency in our own oppression that’s being challenged by Nekopara, but also the fact that we may actually be idolising this sort of oppression when put upon others for our own benefit. After all, the series masquerades as a paradise for the viewer to self-insert themselves into, enjoying owning a bunch of cat girl pet slave waifu things, whose sole existence is to serve and please them. This series makes the viewer think: “Would I have been in favour of the subjugation of women and people of colour if I was born a century or two earlier? Am I in favour of the ways in which minority groups remain oppressed today?”.
While cat girls serve as a useful metaphor for many oppressed minorities, such as people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, or weeaboos, they are also of literal significance. If our society has the same view of cat girls that Nekopara does, then we may ourselves become such a society once Elon Musk has successfully created genetically engineered cat girls. In fact, how excited people are for the scientific research being conducted into the field of genetically engineered cat girls is quite concerning: what will be their fate?
Our society could easily become the dystopia presented to us in Nekopara. We may look back on this anime much like how we look back on Serial Experiments Lain today: more relevant many years into the future than when it came out. Indeed, Nekopara is a truly visionary work, and the scariest part is that we won’t even realise that we’re in a dystopia – most of the population will think that this is just the natural order of things, ignorant to anything other than the status quo.
“But what about the based, woke and red-pilled individuals who see the true horror of their society?” I hear you ask. “Surely they’ll be able to save everyone from this hellhole, right?”. I wish that were the case, but the most terrifying thing of all about Nekopara is the way in which it shoots this sentiment down multiple times throughout its story through the use of the character Cacao, the only character we see in the series who doesn’t see the oppression of cat girls as a good thing.
Perhaps the most important thing about Cacao is how difficult it is for her to speak: this represents how society denies those who go against it of a voice: you can’t spread your ideas or influence change; you will just be silenced. But it’s not just that she can’t communicate properly: she can’t escape either. At the start of the series, she is a stray cat, this being her attempt at self-actualisation: to become something other than a lesser being who lives solely to serve her master. But she is found by Chocola and taken in by this horrifying system. Each time she tries to escape, which the other characters interpret as her merely “getting lost” (because who could possibly want a life other than to fulfil their natural role within the hierarchy?), she is found once again. The message of the series is clear: there is no escape from society. No matter what we do, we live in a society. And what could possibly be more of a depressing realisation than that?
Story: 10 – The genius thing about the story of Nekopara is just how naturally it integrates these oppressive structures into its world-building. Layered with metaphor and meaning in every shot and every line of dialogue, this is truly one of the most masterfully crafted stories in the history of not just anime, not just television, but in all of storytelling throughout all of time.
Character: 10 – The characters of Nekopara are some of the most hauntingly realistic characters in anime. The way each of them has developed their own unique psychological coping mechanisms to delude them into being content with their unjust society is handled in a way that seems to have been brought about by the propaganda that the society has fed them. We see this process gradually happening to Cacao, one of the most tragic and sympathetic characters I’ve ever seen, as she loses her independence to become yet another slave to her “goshujin-sama”.
Art/Animation: 10 – Nekopara’s visuals expertly convey the fetishization of the cat girls, which is a significant part of what leads to their dehumanization. The way it presents them as being incredibly cute both serves to help us see what the humans of the society see of them, as well as giving us increased sympathy to their plights, even as they themselves remain unaware of them.
Sound: 10 – The voice acting complements the character designs of the cat girls in adding to their fetishization, while also being far enough from anything you would hear in real life that it feels like something’s… wrong here. This is an important part of leading the viewer to the conclusion that society isn’t supposed to be this way. The background music that plays mostly consists of the same track playing over and over again as it becomes increasingly grating, fitting the mood of the series perfectly. The track might seem nice at first, but it quickly becomes something that sounds far more sinister and unpleasant.
Enjoyment: 10 – I was hooked. Each week, I was so excited to watch the next episode and find out which elements of the world and character psychology would be explored next, and it’s been a long time since an anime has made me think this deeply or filled me with this much existential dread.
In conclusion, Nekopara is one of the greatest pieces of cautionary fiction that has ever been conceived. It may not be for everyone, as it may cause you to slump into a two-week-long depression, and it certainly isn’t an easy watch, but if you want to experience some of the greatest political and philosophical epiphanies of your life, then Nekopara is absolutely a must watch.
