I always like it when anime teaches me a new word. But as one of them, I’m kind of ashamed that I didn’t know the Japanese word for cat lover for “nekozuki”. I mean, it makes perfect sense but it just never occurred to me. As a nekozuki and a ramenzuki (that one I made up) Ramen Akaneko definitely has an “in” with me. Any time you combine two of my passions in life there’s every reason to think I’m going to like a series, and the manga here has a pretty decent reputation (and not bad sales, either).

Of course the idea of a ramen-ya run by cats is ludicrous, but no more or less ludicrous than Shirokuma Cafe or innumerable other animanga that follow the template. No country loves anthropomorphism more than Shinto Japan, and no animal receives the treatment more than cats. I like to say that I really knew Japan was the place for me when I saw that the cat food section at the supermarket was twice the size of the dog food section (the opposite of how it is in the States).

While the production (from the almost brand-new E&H Production) is nothing special, it’s perfectly fine for this sort of show. The idea here (obviously) is that the titular ramen shop is totally cat-owned and operated. One day a young lady named Yashiro Tamako (Orihara Kurumi) shows up for a job interview but instead gets upsold into a bowl of shoyu by the shop’s salesgirl Hana (Kugimiya Rie). The first customer of the day, Tamako notices a counter sign warning that the odd cat hair in the ramen is unavoidable, and disclaiming any responsibility.

Eventually she manages to blurt out the reason she’s there, and the boss cat Bunzou (Kenjiriu Tsuda – always nice to see him getting some work) realizes he’s forgotten the appointment. The “interview” consists of one question – “what do you think about cats?”. And her answer – “Actually I prefer dogs.” – gets Tamako hired. As Bunzou explains, not only are most of the customers nekozuki, but so are most applicants when he tries to hire a human. And that’s not the best formula for success, which Bunzou doesn’t explain but which I totally get. I’d be terrible in that job.

It struck me watching this that while obviously it could never happen, if somehow you were able to have a ramen shop run by cats, it would be a monstrous success here. They’d eat it up (no pun intended). The big problem is indeed cat hair in the food, and Tamako’s main job is pretty much brushing the staff. That includes Sabu (Murase Michiyo), a black cat who’s the sous chef, and Sasaki (Sugiyama Noriaki), the general manager. Oh, and one more – Krishna (Hayami Saori). She gets called into action when a scammer tries to threaten Bunzou into paying up when he finds a hair (he says) in his ramen. It’s Krishna-chan’s job to deal with this occupational hazard – which she’s suited for, since she’s a tiger. And she also makes the noodles…

All in all I just found this really funny and charming in a low-key sort of way. All the cats are still cats, each with their own personality which runs true to life (as any nekozuki would tell you). Hana is a vamp, a princess who “takes a while to get used to people” (such a real cat thing). Sabu is a typical mischievous scamp of a black cat. Krishna is the most absurd, a tigress who’s extremely shy and demure and hates confrontation. Sabu and Hana have a box fort in the office which Tamako unthinkingly cleans up (exposing Sabu’s hidden snack cache). But the one thing they all – even gruff Bunzou – have in common is that they love being brushed (and shed enormous amounts of fur in the process).

My cat and ramen itches are very much scratched. I’ve talked till I’m blue in the face about “that spot” on the schedule, and this looks like summer’s best candidate for it so far. Pretty much all the boxes are checked here – relaxed, quirky observational humor, cuteness, a bit of a Shinto connection if you squint, and not too plot-driven. The other thing about this niche is that the series tend to be mostly ignored and generally underrated, so I would expect that to happen with Ramen Akaneko too. But it’s certainly off to a promising start for me.