Bit by bit we’ve been wading into the backstory of all the feline characters on Red Cat Ramen. Tamako may in fact be the one whose story is still least exposited – we only know she was at what sounds like a black company and very little about it. It was Hana’s turn in the spotlight this week – though that’s not the name most people know her by, as it turns out. In a world where cats and prepare and serve ramen, one being an idol is hardly a stretch. Especially given how prevalent cat videos are on social media anyway.
Aside from more CGI than usual this week (Ramen Akaneko doesn’t have that much of it, but it doesn’t do well at all hiding it) I thought the Hana – or should I say Love Pipi – storyline was a hair (pun intended) clunky by this show’s high standards. Ramen Akaneko’s recent string of social media fame catches the attention of a a Youtuber, who immediately recognizes Hana by the heart on her chest. And with that we know why she really kept her fur so short all the time since joining the restaurant.
Pipi was a big YouTube sensation from what I gather, but got in trouble because she got a piercing (ROFL), So it was like, she was accused of cruelty to herself I guess? Her former owner (manager?) Yoko (Ueda Reina) comes to the shop to try and bring Love Pipi home, but Hana is resistant and Sasaki comes to her aid. For a minute this looks like an exploitation kidnapping thing, but as it turns out Hana and Yoko actually love each other. And in fact Hana feels bad about the abuse Yoko took for not being attractive enough to be Pipi’s human, which prompted her to get plastic surgery. Not the strongest construct of the series, if I’m honest.
The best part of all this, in fact, is that the shop lawyer Rin is in the place, in costume like the closeted nekozuki she is – a costume with an Elvis wig, in fact. She too intervenes, eventually convincing Yoko to take it outside and stop disrupting the business. When she does she leaves her wig behind, which Sabu promptly plops onto his own head (in the “Daily Akaneko” he comments to Rin about how small her head is). This has the effect of defusing a very tense downer of a moment, though Sabu’s reaction when they thank him indicates he was playing it straight with the wig.
The only B-plot this week involves Shirosaki-kun, the young odd jobs fellow with the cat allergies we met several episodes back. He’s rather a more important person to the shop than it seemed, as it turns out. He designed the platforms and special utensils to make it possible for Ramen Akaneko to be a cat-run business. And Sasaki in turn throws all the work he can the lad’s way as he’s trying to save for college (Sasaki is such a nurturer, truly).
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