Chainsmoker Cat (known as Yani Neko in Japan), Bibury Animation Studios’ currently airing anime about a cat girl who loves smoking, has recently cropped up as a topic of discussion during the 292nd Youth Committee meeting of Japan’s Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization (BPO) due to its depiction of “illegal drug use” in a scene featuring “self-injection.”
When plans to adapt NyanNyanFactory’s 2023 manga Chainsmoker Cat into an anime were first announced, fans were understandably surprised and somewhat concerned that it would be heavily censored considering the focus on various kinds of addictions in its story, as well as other adult-oriented elements. Then the first episode of Bibury Animation Studios’ adaptation was released on July 3, and everyone else figured out why its fans were shocked that the manga was chosen for adaptation in the first place.
Nudity, drug use, poop stuff—it all made its way into the anime in (mostly) uncensored glory. However, as spotted by Automaton, where once fans were worried that the series might be stripped of its identity, instead the presence of all these elements has resulted in a different kind of concern and criticism. On July 28, Japan’s BPO watchdog debated the appropriateness of the show’s content after soliciting “opinions from viewers.”
It’s important to note here that the BPO never actually mentioned Chainsmoker Cat by name in the meeting, but instead refers to it as “a late-night weekday anime set in a society where humans and ‘beastmen’ (characters that personify cats) coexist.” Given the date of the meeting and the anime’s description, though, it’s pretty clear which show they’re referring to.
Viewers apparently took issue with the fact that (per machine translation) there “were scenes of the use of what appeared to be an illegal drug,” with one of BPO’s members specifically making note of “a scene of self-injection.” Based on the date of the meeting, this is presumably referring to the second episode of Chainsmoker Cat, in which the protagonist’s friend, Yakuko, is shown injecting a needle into their arm. When caught, Yakuko, who is quite clearly very high, hurriedly exclaims, “This is a vaccine!”
For context, in the manga, Yakuko is a frequent drug user, although the anime never explicitly refers to the substance they are injecting as “heroin.” Japan’s BPO didn’t reach a consensus on Chainsmoker Cat’s depiction of drug use, but the committee member in charge of the meeting stated that they believed the scene in question “is within acceptable limits in terms of freedom of expression” and that the anime deserved leniency due to “broadcasting late at night, a time when children are not watching.”