Quick Summary • Best Moment • Setup • Delivery • Other Posts
Cat Planet Cuties Episode 1 – Quick Summary
In Cat Planet Cuties episode 1, “The Cat Who Fell to Earth,” Kio Kakazu brought his uncle a bag of beers to help celebrate the memorial of his grandfather’s passing. There, his uncle suggested he needed to do more to enjoy his youth. In fact, his uncle introduced him to a young woman who had just arrived. She was attractive from head to toe – including her literal tail and cat ears. Kio found Eris so attractive that the tail and ears were an afterthought. But not everyone felt that way! Why has Eris come to Earth? Who is the super-powered young woman whose mission saw Eris’s ship crash land? And why is Kio’s childhood friend Manami Kinjou initially unfazed by Eris’s cat ears and tail?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Favorite Quote from Cat Planet Cuties Episode 1
Eris raised a reasonable question! Capture from the Blu Ray.
One of the things I’ve always liked about this show is how Eris is casually brilliant. She doesn’t make a big show of it. She even seems to make intellectual mistakes from time to time. But in most cases, it’s because she drew a logical conclusion from faulty data.
And honestly, how often does that happen to all of us?
In this episode, Kio did something that I found frankly shocking. He asked Eris, the alien he had just met, to house sit for him. Seriously, when’s the last time you asked an alien to watch your house? Crazy, right?
He explained that she just needed to hang out. She didn’t need to answer the phone or go to the door. She just needed to chill.
With a slight frown, she said (18:10), “That’s not how I’m familiar with looking after a place.”
To be honest, I thought the same thing!0
Favorite Moment from Cat Planet Cuties Episode 1
I might be mistaken, but I get the impression Aoi did not appreciate the idiot’s casual cruelty. Capture from the Blu Ray.
Setup: The Misleading Title That Wasn’t
When I decided I was going to review this show to cover the the gaps in my publishing schedule left when NieR:Automata Ver1.1a announced its delay (and maybe to cover after the 20 episode run of The Eminence in Shadow), I planned to question the title Cat Planet Cuties. I was going to say that it reminded me a little of Bodacious Space Pirates. I was going to argue that the title Bodacious Space Pirates was misleading – the show’s actually a solid science fiction exploration of privateers! My plan was to say that Cat Planet Cuties undersold this show’s science fiction framework. After all, the show plays with some great sci-fi concepts.
Then Kio bowed in greeting to Eris and freaked out over her breasts.
“Oh, yeah. I remember now,” I thought. “It plays with some great sci-fi concepts. And it’s really forward with its ecchi content!” But, I’d already decided to review it.
I have no regrets.
But you might! So if you don’t like ecchi titles, please do skip my reviews of Cat Planet Cuties!
The opening featured a solid action sequence with interesting tech. Capture from the Blu Ray.
The open featured some solid action. A character we later learned was Aoi Futaba tried to stop a drug smuggling ship by using her super-powered battle suit. The captain self-destructed and killed his own crew, so we knew that the show wouldn’t shy away from violence. But for most of the episode’s runtime, I forgot about that.
Eris’s introduction was a lot of fun. Seeing Manami try to accept that a stranger was staying at Kio’s house, only to see Eris coming down the stairs, almost wearing a shirt, was likewise a lot of fun. Learning that Maki Itokaz belonged to a group called Beautiful Contact, and that she and her group were opposed to Eris simply because she was a cute human-form alien? I thought that was hilarious!
Delivery: Do Not Cross Aoi!
By the ¾ mark, the humor and good-natured banter had me all relaxed. Then my favorite moment happened.
Aoi’s handler picked her up to give her a new mission. He seemed to be rude, dismissive, and generally an idiot. It was from that perspective he teased Aoi, asking what her friend Kio would think if the handler casually disclosed Aoi’s real job and personality. The dude had figured out Aoi was a little sweet on Kio, so he decided to give her a hard time about it.
“I don’t care. I’ll just transfer schools,” she said (20:24). I thought, “Wow. She’s more forgiving than I would be.”
Then she corrected my misunderstanding. She manifested a very large caliber handgun, pointed it straight at the back of his head, and said, “I will kill you before I do. I won’t do it because you obstructed the mission, or some other elaborate reason. I will kill you because I want to kill you.”
He tried to say that the car would crash and she’d be killed, too. But we already saw her in action. She survived a boat blowing up. A low-speed car crash would be less than an annoyance.
She even blew out the windshield to emphasize her resolve.
I think even the idiot understood her perspective by this point. Capture from the Blu Ray.
You know I like strong female characters. I remember back to the first time I watched this series. This was the moment I switched from, “Wow, this is kind of fun” to “She rocks – I have to watch this.”
I almost feel sorry for Kio. No, I lie. Dude’s one of the luckier main characters in situations like this. He’s not incompetent himself; and he’s surrounded by women who are absolutely able to take care of themselves. This series was a lot of fun; I’m looking forward to sharing my favorite quotes and moments with you!
What did you think of Eris’s interactions with her ship’s navigation system? What were your favorite moments? Feel free to let me know in the comments!
Cat Planet Cuties Episode 1: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- The Otaku Author: Cat Planet Cuties (Episode 1) – The Cat Who Fell to Earth
- Lost in Anime: First Impressions – Asobi ni Ikuyo!
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Cat Planet Cuties Episode 1: The Cat Who Fell to Earth
- Cat Planet Cuties Episode 2: I Dropped By
- Cat Planet Cuties Episode 3: We’ve Come to Stay
- Cat Planet Cuties Episode 4: We’ve Come to Kidnap You
- Cat Planet Cuties Episode 5: We’ve Come to Rescue You
- Cat Planet Cuties Episode 6: I’ve Practiced
- Cat Planet Cuties Episode 7: We’ve Come to Swim
- Cat Planet Cuties Episode 8: We Had a Duel
- Cat Planet Cuties Episode 9: The Grand First Assisteroid?
- Cat Planet Cuties Episode 10: We Came After You
- Cat Planet Cuties Episode 11: I Came Looking for You
- Cat Planet Cuties Episode 12: I Came to Find You
- Cat Planet Cuties Episode 13: Come Drop By
One of the shows I remember moderately liking and little else about it. I refuse to think of it as “Cat Planet Cuties”, though. While I think of “Bodacious Space Pirates” as the “Mouretsu Pirates”, too, I’m not that opposed to the translation; it works pretty well (at least in some dialects of English). But this show will always be “Asobi ni Iku Yo” to me. Why? I just love the title. I’m not sure if it works like that in Japanese, too, but to me it feels like a playful take on “We come in peace,” a cliché 50ies SF-movie line. (The words, if I’m not mistaken, translate roughly to “We come to play,” or “We come to hang out”. I simply love that title.)
I’m glad you pointed this out! “We come to play” sounds so much more in line with the series’ vibe! I didn’t know about that, so thanks!
It reminds me of Interviews with Monster Girls. I think the title actually translates as Demi-chan Wants to Talk, which I like better.