What’s it about? A restaurant called “Yōshoku no Nekoya” (Western Cuisine Cat Restaurant), which is located on the first basement floor of a building at a corner of a shopping district near an office area. While it normally feeds salarymen, there is a secret in Nekoya. Every Saturday when the shop takes a day off, Nekoya is teeming full of “special customers.” For the office workers, it is a familiar place with familiar dishes, but for these Saturday customers — “people from that world” — it is nothing but cuisine never seen or heard before.
Source: Anime News Network
As I began watching this premiere, something funny started to happen – time was slowing down around me, until even the most infinitesimal sigh of non-anticipation stretched across the crossroads. Seeing this, I realized that the only way to guide my way back to a semblance of reality – to another world, where I could be watching literally anything else – was to mark the time stamps of the episode that caused this strange phenomenon. I leave them here for your perusal.
00:00 All unknowing, naively hopeful, I press play
2:37 – 5:15 Several burly monster men argue over the relative benefits of eating various meat products with rice. After the first minute it dawns on me, horrified, that this might become a running joke in future episodes. There is weeping.
6:06 A dragon becomes a naked woman, and the camera pans up her body. Flames frame the screen, so we will know she is hot. I am bored.
6:24 I note with some surprise that the woman’s body is, relatively, proportioned to appear as though she could fit a full set of internal organs. I am immediately saddened by my low standards.
6:28 After taking the above screenshot, I almost forget to turn the subtitles back on. I am unsure it would have mattered.
7:39 The dragon-woman is served a beef stew with only seven items floating in it. Despite all sense, she does not demand a refund.
7:39-8:49 Hannibal did not include this much eating-porn.
9:42 The giant dragon sticks her tongue in the soup pot leftovers she brought home. This is the single cutest thing in this entire episode.
9:51 The nondescript chef man yawns. This show understands me to the depths of my soul.
10:24 The hook the marketing the girl on the poster finally shows up.
11:30 Racism allegory against monsters instead of actual racism, mark your bingo cards
12:00 So, she came through the door and ate the fzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
14:11 All demons have visible markers and coincidentally hers are cute ram’s horns rather than a slime coating or scales. This is a TERRIBLE CURSE, REALLY.
15:20 Look, just tell her she can have a job already I’ve got things to do
16:13 Is this a dad and daughter show? I mean, this pacing is still terrible, but that’s potentially cute.
16:20 They turned on the lights. The last six minutes have taken place in a dark room. Who greenlit this.
17:34 I am trying not to judge Aletta for how painfully shrill she is. I am failing. I am sure she’ll be more endearing once she stops responding to everything with Breathy Wonder.
18:00 FINALLY FFS
19:49 Whew, and I was worried this would end without a shower scene.
20:24 Yo, why do you have clothes in exactly this girl’s size. Follow up question, who tragically murdered your daughter, was it you.
21:24 You sent her back with silver to her totally unguarded haypile in a bunch of ruins. Cool. Hope you enjoy looking for a new employee next week
21:51 Way to ruin my goof with a magic protection spell, Plot Device Dragon
23:30 YOU COULD PROMISE ME A DOOR WOULD OPEN TO NO. 6 JUST AS THE LONG AWAITED REUNION WAS HAPPENING AND I WOULDN’T COME BACK
Seriously though, this’ll probably be alright if you need something to kill time with (I think I’m about the only person who wasn’t charmed). But if you’re not down for the seriously slow pace and gambling that it might get better, the premiere’s definitely not the place to go.
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