I truly enjoy Ramen Akaneko. It’s a series which makes me smile pretty much start to finish, and I have a deep appreciation for any anime that can do that. Only for purposes of full disclosure, I did find it a bit disturbing that there was a big jump in rough CGI usage this episode. It’s obvious that Red Cat Ramen doesn’t have a huge budget but the first three eps were nowhere near this bad. That can be a blip, or it can be the start of a trend. I don’t think this show needs lavish production values to work, but it would kind of suck if it’s the latter.

Apart from that, however, everything continues to fire on all cylinders. All the chapters were winners this week. We start with Tamako awkwardly demurring when Bunzou offers her shoyu ramen for her comp meal. I adore ramen, but I do think working at a ramen shop one would get tired of it (eventually). In her case it’s making Tamako fat (which it certainly would). Eventually he slightly tweaks the light chicken soup he makes for the feline staff (which it’s hard to imagine Krishna is truly satisfied with).

Next up it’s break time. With only a couple of hours between closing after lunch and opening for dinner (as most ramen-ya do), it does make sense for Tamako to stick around the shop. Sasaki finally invites her to stick around and share the cats’ sacred breakroom space for a catnap. Initially she uses her phone but Krishna scolds her that this is not really a break, and Tamako winds up curling up with all the cats (especially the tiger, though Hana worms her way in). I would be in Heaven. It proves so hygge that Tamako forgets to take her glasses off and then oversleeps.

Then Krishna’s poster arrives. much to her embarrassment. It proves to be a big hit, so much so that after a petite customer and Krishna otaku bemoans that she could never finish such a massive bowl, Sasaki asks Bunzou to make a half-size version and speculates that it might make a good addition to the regular menu. Sasaki, by the way, arrived back at work in a suit jacket, because he was at the Chamber of Commerce and if he goes into public places without clothes, he gets kicked out for being a stray.

Finally we have Sabu being late for work, which causes Sasaki to send Tamako upstairs (her first time) to rouse him. Sabu has a sweet gaming rig, and as it turns out he’s a gamer (handle: “morituke cat“) who’s about to appear in a big tournament. Over his brushing (after a prolonged bout of apologizing) he and Tamako bond over their love of FPS gaming. This causes distress among the others, however, who take this to mean Sabu is going to quit the shop to become a pro gamer. He tries to explain why this is impossible (it’s a cat-and-mouse thing) but they just don’t grasp it.

Obviously this whole cast (catst?) is entirely winning, but I must say Sabu is just the best. While I love all cats unreservedly I have a special affection for voids. And somehow this anthropomorphic version manages to perfectly capture the essence of the black cat personality – it’s like a magic trick. If any cat was going to be a gamer, I definitely think it would be a void like him. If you know, you know.