Nyaight of the Living Cat — a feline-flavored take on post-apocalyptic cinema.
Nyaight of the Living Cat arrives as one of the more delightfully daft entries in recent anime, blending B-movie horror references with unabashed cat worship and absurdist comedy. At its simplest it’s a parody of zombie cinema where the shambling undead are replaced by irresistibly cute (and highly contagious) kitties. For viewers who love cats, cult films, and off-kilter anime concepts, this series offers a weird little reward — though it’s far from perfect.
Table of Contents
Overview: premise and streaming
The premise is gloriously simple: a viral outbreak dubbed the Nyandemic turns humans who touch infected cats into cats themselves, and civilization collapses under waves of adorable, dangerous felines. The survivors—most notably Kunagi and Kaoru—traverse a post-apocalyptic landscape trying not to hurt any cats while staying human. The show streams on Crunchyroll, and its comedic identity is built on rapid-fire pop-culture nods and visual gags that skew heavily toward U.S. horror and action movie fans.
Plot & tone: comedy, horror and parody
Structurally, each episode reads like a compact homage to a different horror/action trope. Episode titles are cat-and-movie puns (think “Meow Am Legend” and “Commeowndo”), and scenarios range from bleak supermarket chases to the delightfully ridiculous — cats controlling elephants and gorillas in sequences that resemble goofball monster cinema. The series purposely avoids real tension; it’s too silly to be frightening and too scattershot to remain relentlessly funny, but it’s frequently charming in its commitment to the bit.
Serial vignettes
Rather than focusing on deep serialization, many episodes are episodic set-pieces: escape missions, item retrievals, and defensive stand-offs. The show’s willingness to detour into bizarre, standalone sequences (hot-spring chases, gadget-driven hijinks) keeps the pace varied but also makes the middle stretch feel episodically uneven.
Characters: archetypes with a cat-obsessed twist
Primary characters Kunagi and Kaoru serve more as archetypal anchors than as fully fleshed protagonists. Kunagi is the haunted, cat-loving wanderer; Kaoru is the high-school-girl-in-a-sailor-uniform survivor—both deliberately minimal so the story can spotlight the world’s oddities. Supporting players steal scenes: Kaoru’s brother (who runs a cat cafe) appears in post-credit vignettes giving oddly earnest cat-care tips, and Tsutsumi, the allergic-yet-devoted friend, provides both comic relief and a useful in-world alarm system for approaching cat danger.
Memorable supporting cast
Highlights include a buff, pink-haired samurai-esque girl and a sentient Devon Rex cat named Jones, whose meows are translated into action-movie one-liners via a jury-rigged device. These peripheral figures give the show personality and occasional emotional beats amidst the silliness.
Humor & references: niche, clever, and occasionally exclusionary
Most of the comedy lands when the viewer recognizes the references. The show leans heavily into Western horror/action film callbacks, so audience enjoyment is proportional to familiarity with those genres. When the jokes work, they’re gleefully meta; when they don’t, the series can feel like it’s running on one concept for too long. The narrator’s enthusiastic asides and the cafe post-credits segments add a quirky layer of “cat science” that both lampoons and celebrates cat culture.
Visuals & production quality
Here the series falters. The palette is often dark and muddy, and animation is frequently limited, with action scenes relying on shortcuts and uneven CGI. For a show that escalates into giant-animal spectacle by the finale, the production sometimes struggles to match the scale of its ideas. Still, certain set-pieces—especially the climactic, unhinged animal attacks—deliver enough visual audacity to justify sticking around.
Pacing & writing: a mid-season lull
The biggest structural problem is pacing. The concept is a strong hook, but stretching a single gag across twelve episodes exposes shortcomings in comic timing and narrative momentum. The middle episodes can feel repetitive and slow until the plot shifts into a crazier, more ambitious direction in the finale, which leans into full-blown, “Attack on Titan but with cats” levels of spectacle.
Who should watch Nyaight of the Living Cat?
– Cat lovers with a high tolerance for goofy premises.
– Fans of B-movie horror and action who enjoy spotting references.
– Viewers looking for an offbeat, short-form binge rather than serious drama.
If you prefer tightly written, character-driven anime, this probably isn’t for you. But if you enjoy absurd premises executed with enthusiasm, the series delivers intermittent laughs and several genuinely memorable moments.
Where to stream and read more
You can stream the series on Crunchyroll (external link). For context on zombie and parody cinema that inspired some of the show’s gags, see this overview of the zombie film genre (external link).
Watch on Crunchyroll | Zombie film — genre overview
Final thoughts
Nyaight of the Living Cat is an acquired taste: gloriously silly, occasionally brilliant, and sometimes frustratingly thin. It earns points for imagination and sheer audacity—there are moments of pure, unexpected joy—yet it’s held back by inconsistent pacing and uneven production values. If you can grin through the mid-season doldrums and appreciate a show that prioritizes gags and cat adoration over dramatic cohesion, this nyan-demic is worth a watch. Otherwise, treat it like a quirky midnight snack rather than a full-course feast.
