Review: Bee & Puppycat – “Cats”

Alas, it is only episode 4 and we have reached the midseason finale of Bee & Puppycat. While I don’t think this show would survive a traditional 30-minute episode, I do wish it would have the same number of episodes. These short seasons are killing me!

When we last saw Bee and Puppycat, they were heading off to try to watch their favorite show, “Pretty Patrick Lunchtime”, on Temp-Bot. However, Temp-Bot won’t let them watch the show on her. Instead, she sends them off to a new job on Cat-Head Planet. Bee gets an overly large Puppycat costume as her uniform this time around. Puppycat doesn’t get a costume.

Arriving on Cat-Head Planet, they find that the inhabitants are, indeed, huge cats. They are currently all relaxing in a bathhouse cafe, eating pastries. The cats don’t notice the pair until Puppycat slaps Bee’s hand to stop her from inappropriately playing with her costume. Immediately, the cats rush over. They pick her up and start treating her like she is a cat, feeding her pastries made of fish and petting her face. Bee asks if they have a TV, which they do, of course. The cats carry her into the TV room, trampling Puppycat in the process.

Bee eats fish pastries as she watches “Pretty Patrick,” completely oblivious to the fact that Puppycat is not with her. Actually, the cats think Puppycat looks disgusting. They absolutely refuse to let him in to see the show, slamming the cafe doors in his face.

Eventually, Bee gets food all over her costume. She expects the cats to lick her clean but cats don’t do that any more. No, they want to give her a bath. Much like a real cat, Bee refuses and tries everything she can to stay out of the water. She somehow manages to escape. As she runs from the massive pile of cats chasing her, she finds Puppycat. This is when she finds out that Puppycat was not with her earlier. Bee apologizes for being a terrible pet owner but Puppycat notes that he is not her pet.

The pair rushes out of the bathhouse. Puppycat leaps out of Bee’s arms, facing the mass of cats all by himself. He sits on the ground and raises his leg in a typical cat-bathing position. All of the bathhouse cats stop immediately. One of them even starts vomiting. The cats decide they need baths and head back inside.

Once the cats are gone, Bee gets a text from Cardamon. Her toilet is fixed! After a quick cameo from the cleavage-loving crab, we join Bee and Puppycat back in their apartment. Cardamon was nice enough to record the new episode of “Pretty Patrick” for them. Puppycat, however, is exhausted and immediately falls asleep. Bee tucks him in and surrounds him with snacks. She heads off to bed herself as Temp-Bot showers Puppycat with their payment.

I think I may have loved this episode too much. Even though it has a totally different animation style, it reminded me of Studio Ghibli’s movies, specifically Spirited Away with a little bit of The Cat Returns tossed in. Both the bathhouse setting and the rush of cats chasing Bee through it had a very Spirited Away feel to it while the cat designs looked a lot like Muta from The Cat Returns. I love the way the writers and animators reference a variety of anime without bashing you over the head with it.

I also really liked the juxtaposition between the cats and Bee. I don’t think she’s ever had an aversion to water before this episode. Meanwhile, the cats were all about hanging out in the bathtubs. Adding in the fact that they thought that the very cat-like Puppycat was gross, it was almost like the cats were trying their best to become humans. This just might be my favorite episode of the series.