As is often the case with shows in that niche, I seem to be writing these posts mostly for my own edification. But that’s fine – I enjoy doing it. Ramen Akaneko is just one of those series that makes me smile almost nonstop. I said  from the beginning that it had a leg up, being about two of the things I love most dearly. But it still had to deliver the goods, and it does that. One secret, as I’ve said, is that this is played razor straight. It’s our world if cats just happened to be able to run (and own, and manage) a ramen-ya. Along with all the things that go along with that…

One of the realities of ramen is ramen nuts. Bloggers, obsessives. In fact one famous blog (in English) is even called Rameniac, which is roughly what Hana uses to refer to the three dudes asking a lot of questions. She knows her script very well (turning it on like a light switch, indeed), but gives Sasaki a warning that the photo rule might soon come into dispute. Ramenuts are serious about that stuff, but fortunately one of them is also a cat lover (like all cats, Sasaki can sniff them out every time) and smoothes things over. But you can bet some blog posts are coming, pics or no.

Next up Tamako (who’s eating a salad because the free ramen and gyoza is inevitably expanding her waistline) spots Sasaki-nyan riding in the back of a fancy car. The next day Krishna-san notices something is off because Tamako smells different (this is a tiger after all) and starts to explain things. But she changes her mind, turning it over to Sasaki to tell his own story. Turns out he’s the CEO of Ramen Akaneko – and the owner. He bought the store with money he inherited, which he also used to set up a fund for “cats who want to become (more?) independent”. He also rescued Krishna (half-Siberian, half-Bengal) from the zoo – where her shy nature was ill-fitted to the setting.

This is certainly an interesting twist – Sasaki has a house and butler even though he usually stays upstairs at the restaurant. Another comes in the form of Mama-san (unmistakably Paku Romi), the owner of next door’s Bar Rat. She’s concerned because she used to be the one to brush Krishna during her shedding season and hadn’t been asked this year. Mama seems to have an excellent relationship with the Akaneko team – she even buys gyoza to resell to her customers when it gets hot. She also expresses concern that Tamako might get tendonitis – a subject that’s come up multiple times already.

Tamako asks – quite naturally – why Red Cat Ramen doesn’t sell beer itself. Sasaki tells her that he wanted to but Bunzou was against it, on the grounds that he often had to deal with drunk customers at the food cart. Hana (who slips up and refers to herself in the third person) concurs that she doesn’t want to deal with that, and as Sasaki says, there would be pluses and minuses to it.

Finally, Sabu has been busy – he’s tweaked the gyoza recipe by adding qin cai to it (sounds delicious). Tamako’s arrival is a boon for Sabu – he has a human taste-tester now (we learn in the omakes that he got in trouble with Bunzou for sampling the food himself). Bunzou is a little miffed but Sabu is a scamp, like all voids – and he is, after all, the one in charge of the side menu. Once more it seems like the best job in the world (Tamako’s) got even better, but the downside is certainly obvious. I doubt I could resist if I had access to free ramen and gyoza six days a week (my current ration is about once every two weeks).