English Dub Review: Nekopara “Cacao’s Adventure”

 

 

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Chocola and Vanilla find themselves in another hair-brained scheme when they think Master is worried about the patisserie’s finances. The shop has been slow for a few days, so what else could it be? And so, these cats get their asses in gear and start patrolling the unsuspecting public with unsolicited advertisements.

Cacao, being the easy-going kitt she is, helps her new sisters and even puts one of Master’s business cards under her hat for safe keeping. But then, Cacao pulls a total Cacao-like move and wanders off without telling anybody.

Of course, by this time, the other cats are distracted because Cinnamon and Maple came up with a very photogenic idea. To help boost sales, they offer to pose for pictures for anybody who buys a cake. If fact, they’ll do any cutesy pose the client requests—nothing dirty, only cutesy. Thus, the fetishists are kept at bay for another week.

Anyway, let’s move onward to Cacao’s “adventure.” As soon as she separates from Vanilla and Chocola, the kitty gets lost almost immediately. For a cat, she has an absolutely putrid sense of direction. I mean, seriously! The city isn’t big or crowded, and she even happens to walk past Azuki and Coconut in her travels.

Luckily, she runs into a young girl name Chiyo. This kid is not only responsible; she also loves kitties, and will do anything to help Cacao find her way home. First, she takes her to the police, but they live in such a lazy little hamlet, the cops often leave the station unmanned. Next, the girl tries to tell an adult, but Cacao runs off before the woman can offer any assistance.

Once Chiyo catches up to the baby cat, she makes a peace offering and shares a fish biscuit with her. Cacao responds positively, but just like when Chocola found her, she won’t say her name or who she belongs to. She doesn’t say much, to tell the truth, but Chiyo loves her anyway.

After Cacao heroically saves Chiyo from a relentless murder of crows, their relationship grows even stronger, and the girl feels comfortable enough to confide in her. She tells the kitten a sad story about how she once lived with a full-grown cat. The two of them were inseparable and often ate fish biscuits together. Sadly, they had to part when Chiyo’s father got a new job and the family was forced to move away.

This tender moment leads to Cacao telling the girl her name, and admitting that she lives above a patisserie. Chiyo takes her to pastry shop after pastry shop in an attempt to find her home. She has no success until Master’s business card falls out of the kitten’s hat. This allows the girl to bring Cacao home before any of the other cats even notice that she’s missing.

Dammit! Be better, Chocola and Vanilla!

 

Our Take

The Nekopara world has opened up a smidge, and we’ve now added a little girl into the mix. Chiyo is a solid character right off the bat, with a rather compelling backstory. It’s a shame we had to be introduced to her through Cacao who was once again acting irresponsible.

When Chocola first found the kitten, it was okay that she didn’t know her name or who her master was. As far as we were concerned, she was a stray cat with no moniker or home. However, now that we’ve seen her do the exact same damn thing with this little girl, it makes one wonder if she was ever homeless in the first place. Now I’m trapped in a harrowing limbo, realizing that Cacao probably has an original master out there that misses her very much. Also, her real name is probably Minty.

The other cats took a bit of a backseat for this outing, and yet we still checked in with each of them at least once. For example, Azuki and Coconut were shown to be so at odds with one another they missed a chance to save Cacao from her own destructive behavior. Also, Chocola and Vanilla had one job—to keep the kitten safe. Nobody asked them to save the patisserie, and any idiot could see the store wasn’t in danger of closing.

With that being said—come on, Master. Do you really have to get so bent out of shape when you can’t come up with a new cake? It’s a goddamned bakery and NOBODY cares. You’re stressing out your cats for no reason. Not to be over-dramatic, but it would’ve been your fault if Cacao got hit by a car or was harmed in any way while on her “adventure.”

The only other thing of note in this episode was that Shigure didn’t make an appearance. And to that, I have no opinion one way or the other. I can’t say for certain, but were I forced to guess, I assume Shigure is nobody’s favorite character. In fact, she’s a bit much sometimes.