Summer 2026 Anime: Chainsmoker Cat

Synopsis

Yaniko is a catgirl who lives in a small apartment building in Nyagamihara, Japan, and is addicted to smoking. Regardless of the damage to her environment, her psyche, or her family, almost all the money she gets goes towards buying new cigarettes. Her obsession to smoking is very unhealthy, but can she escape her addiction?

Comments

Dany Muhammad (The Indonesian Anime Times)

No, Chainsmoker Cat isn’t an anime that promotes smoking. In fact, smoking is portrayed as a very unhealthy activity. The protagonist, Yaniko, is a cat-person who has a very unhealthy lifestyle. Besides smoking, she’s also unemployed, drunk, and dirty. The main point here is not about the smoking activity itself, but how Yaniko and other characters can break free from their addiction.

To illustrate their message, Chainsmoker Cat isn’t afraid to show the dirty side of humans (or, in this case, cats). Yaniko’s living space is filthy. There’s nothing good about her lifestyle. The anime is willing to explore that its characters are dirty and in unhealthy living conditions. The audience is supposed to be uncomfortable with it, and the anime delivers that. For those who have addiction experience, Chainsmoker Cat will stab you right in the heart.

Which is a good thing. By showing this side of addiction, not only does it make the show more relatable, but it also makes it more effective for those who want to escape their addiction. People who want to escape their addiction will be more encouraged because they don’t want to see themselves as Yaniko. The problem will be in the future episodes, will it actually address Yaniko’s problem and just treat addiction as comedic material? If not, then Chainsmoker Cat will be a huge missed opportunity.

Facts and Figures

Screenshots and Trailer

The Indonesian Anime Times