Here’s a good way to completely bum yourself out on a Saturday. Watch this episode of Urusei Yatsura. While there’s the usual slapstick and goofery, there’s also a really depressing tale of a dead cat at the centre of it.
For this is the episode we are introduced to Kotatsu Neko, the sumo wrestler-sized ghost cat who Ten befriends and brings home. When it finds Ataru’s kotatsu, it sets it up on the stairs and won’t budge. Leading Ataru to be stuck in his bedroom with Lum, much to his discomfort.
When Cherry and Sakura try to exorcise it, we see the tragic tale of Kotatsu Neko’s life. A stray kitten in what appears to be the Edo era, he tries to get some shelter from the cold under various kotatsu, but beaten and left to die in the snow. So in his vengeful state he becomes bakeneko (Cherry and Sakura expressly use the term and he we see him as small cat stand on his hind legs as he swears vengence).
Meanwhile, Mrs Moroboshi tries to leave home when her husband orders expensive eel dishes for Cherry and Sakura (Sakura seemingly as big a sponger as her uncle).
Eventually Cherry successfully exorcises the ghostly cat from the stairs, when he points out to him that the kotatsu doesn’t reach the electricity socket from there. This doesn’t put him to rest, mind you, he just moves up to Ataru’s room where he plugs it in.
The cat scenes, both the flash back and the scene where Kotatsu Neko is introduced breaking up a fight between stray cats and dogs have some really nice animation. Like Genma in Ranma 1/2, Takahashi’s design for Kotatsu Neko is wonderfully simple and so he’s often a lot more expressive in animation than more complicated designs are. He’s also a nice break from the usual motormouths on the show, in that, except for the flashback, he’s totally silent.
Kotatsu Neko remains in the series, often seen sharing a drink with the Headmaster in the school. Two islands of calm in the insanity of the series.
—
Kotatsu Neko is voiced by Tomohiro Nishimura
Screenplay: Kazunori Ito
Storyboard: Kazuo Yamazaki
Director: Junji Nishimura
Animation Director: Kazuo Yamazaki
