The third season of AniKuri 15 started earlier than I was expecting, beginning with Makoto Shinkai's latest work "Neko no Shuukai" a few days ago on Sunday. As usual, someone has uploaded the short onto Nico Video which in turn, was copied over onto Youtube.

Just in case those of you versed in Anime vocabulary still can't quite make out what's going on, here's a translation.

Mother stepping on Chobi's tail.

Mother: "Oh, you were lying there? I'm so sorry."

Grandmother stepping on Chobi's tail.

Grandmother: "Oh deary me."

Father stepping on Chobi's tail.

Father: "I'm home, Chobi."

Daughter stepping on Chobi's tail who grabs onto her angrily.

Daughter: "Awww. You're happy I'm home?"

At dinner.

Daughter: "Another please!"

Mother: "Aren't you eating a little too much?"

Father: "What's wrong with Chobi?"

Daughter: "I don't know."

That night...

Cats: "Those inconsiderate humans!"

Cats: "They tick me off!"

Cats: "We'll show them something that'll really catch their eyes!"

The cats imagine a giant Nekozilla attacking the city.

Cats: "The operation will commence tomorrow!"

Back in the house, Chobi is thinking about causing some pain.

Father: "What's wrong with Chobi?"

Daughter: "I don't know... Oh yeah, Chobi needs to have dinner too!"

Chobi lightens up, happy to see they care.

Afterwards, Chobi cuddles up lovingly.

Daughter: "You ate a lot, didn't you?"

Next day, Chobi gets his tail stepped on again.

Cats: "The operation will commence tomorrow!"

Well, unlike Shinkai's latest 5cm movie, there's really not many beautiful backdrops to gaze at but considering this is a short, you wouldn't have had the time to look anyway. As described in his last blog entry, it's a fairly comical 1 minute short but didn't quite make me laugh out loud. Gave me a few chuckles as I watched how the family ignored the cat and that parody of Godzilla.

Poor Chobi (reference to another short, "She and Her Cat"). So the morale I guess is, "Remember kids! If you're going to have a pet, be sure to take good care of it!"

It just had to be a story about the neglecting of a cat didn't it? Just when Shinkai's going to leave his cat Sayuri behind with his parents in Nagano early next year.