Chi’s Sweet Home was an incredibly adorable anime series that is almost unrivaled in terms of cuteness. It was a sort of series that you could enjoy after a long school/work day and replace any acquired stress with wave upon wave of warm fuzzies. While it only walked away with a “B” in my review of it back in November 2014, it nevertheless ended up being a memorable series that can appeal to both younger and older audiences.
Now that a couple more months have passed… are you ready for even more? If the answer is “Yes”, Siren Visual are back with Chi’s New Address, another collection of 104 episodes that will amuse and charm you with the titular kitten’s naive adventures and experiences with the Yamada family.
Following on from the events of Chi’s Sweet Home, the Yamada family have begun to realize that keeping Chi cooped up indoors because of their residential situation was being unfair on the young energetic kitten. Despite initial plans to send Chi away to other family members more equipped to take care of her, they realize that their attachment to the kitten is strong… strong enough to convince them to move from their current non-pet friendly residence into a visually more expensive yet pet welcoming abode. These episodes depict the life of Chi as she becomes acquainted with the distinct pets that share the same complex, begins meeting the colourful personalities that roam the nearby streets and share many happy and misconceived moments with Mama, Papa and Yohei.
As with the first season, each of these 104 episodes come in at only a couple of minutes in length apiece rather than the 20 to 30 most anime episodes tend to adopt. First impressions of the decision to take on this structure may leave some thinking that the episodes will be shallow and a shell of what they could be, but surprisingly the outcome tends to be the opposite. These small episodes tend to focus on a single event which looks at one small event in Chi’s life without any pointless overlapping or need to flesh things out.
In a change from last season, many of the episodes tend to cluster together and form a major event or arc, with the episode length preventing them from straying too far from the immediate event. These episode arcs range from the Yamada’s going to greet each of their neighbours and Chi’s reaction to each, to a set of episodes where the Yamada’s decide to purchase a new car and attempt taking Chi on her first road trip.
Almost every episode oozes with cuteness, with the localization team opting to continue adding the childish flair to the English subtitles – a clever touch which highlights that Chi is still a curious little kitten still learning about life. Chi’s New Address remains a non-complex series and provides what one could call a “light watching” experience. Some episodes will make you laugh or giggle, some will make you just smile, and to be fair; a couple might have you reaching towards the remote to skip to the next episode / set of episodes. Although there weren’t any particularly bad episodes in the mix and the production team managed to keep everything fresh, after airing 208 episodes I see this as a good place to conclude the anime adaptations of Kanata Konami’s original manga. I personally don’t envision them being able to continue delivering completely fresh content in another 104 episode season.
Studio Madhouse, an animation studio renown for their work on projects such as Cardcaptor Sakura, Casshern Sins, Monster and collaborative roles on Mamoru Hosoda films have reprised their role as animator on Chi’s New Address. Ultimately the production value is lower than other recent anime series, in addition to the 4:3 aspect ratio which is almost never found in new releases nowadays. However for the experience that Chi’s New Address offers viewers, these issues can for the most part be overlooked. Chi is an adorably designed cat with everything she does being well animated, and the visuals are just as cute as the stories that complement them.
Ultimately, it retains the aesthetic appeal you would expect to see in a high-quality show targetted towards a younger audience – and I still think wouldn’t be out of place on ABC2 every afternoon. While there is nothing visually complicated like you would see in a SHAFT anime such as Puella Magi Madoka Magica or Bakemonogatari; the animation is solid, the environments aren’t technically complex and the characters better suit the cuteness that the storyline tries to get across. I don’t envision Chi’s New Address or Chi’s Sweet Home working as well any other way.
As with Chi’s Sweet Home, Chi’s New Address does not come with any extra on-disc content. However with a price of just $34.95 (Lower than most 300 minute anime releases at launch), that could be considered an extra in itself.
After watching Chi’s New Address, I retain many of the opinions I first made with its predecessor. With a good portion of anime series on the market becoming growingly complex or alternatively laden with fanservice, it is sometimes refreshing to sit back and watch something simplistic yet enjoyable. You should start off with Chi’s Sweet Home, but if you enjoyed what was on offer there, Chi’s New Address offers much more of the same.
Plus, it is one of the few series that I could call genuinely cute!
