# Chainsmoker Cat

> **TL;DR.** Chainsmoker Cat (Japanese: Yani Neko) is a black-comedy manga about Yaniko Sato, a catgirl with a severe nicotine addiction who scrounges cigarette butts and dodges rent while her friends, sister, and landlord try to salvage her life.

- **Category:** Anime & Manga / Seasonal TV Adaptations
- **Stage:** emergent
- **Age:** 21 days
- **Origin date:** 2026-07-02
- **First detected:** 2026-07-04
- **Canonical URL:** https://earlyterms.com/term/chainsmoker-cat
- **Sources:** 7 primary URLs

## Definition

Chainsmoker Cat (Japanese: Yani Neko) is a black-comedy manga about Yaniko Sato, a catgirl with a severe nicotine addiction who scrounges cigarette butts and dodges rent while her friends, sister, and landlord try to salvage her life. Kodansha has run it in Weekly Young Magazine since February 2023.

The term broke out globally when [Bibury Animation Studios' anime adaptation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chainsmoker_Cat), directed by Taku Kimura, premiered on Japanese TV July 2-3, 2026, with Netflix simulcasting it worldwide the same week, splitting viewers between disgust at its addiction squalor and admiration for the animation studio's polished craft.

## Example

Episode 1 pairs cinematic-quality animation with cigarette-butt collecting, filthy apartment squalor, and toilet-humor gags — a contrast critics singled out as the show's defining shock. Some Japanese viewers reportedly dropped the series after one episode, while others called it the funniest premiere of the season.

## Analogy

It's an anti-smoking PSA wearing a cute catgirl costume — the cuter the art, the harder the addiction hits.

## Why it's emerging now

Bibury Animation Studios' anime adaptation of the 2023 Kodansha manga premiered July 2-3, 2026 on Japanese TV and Netflix worldwide, and its collision of polished animation with cigarette-addiction squalor and toilet humor split viewers between disgust and admiration.

## Related terms

- *alias:* Yani Neko
- *parent:* catgirl anime
- *parent:* seinen manga
- *related:* Weekly Young Magazine
- *related:* Bibury Animation Studios
- *related:* Kodansha
- *related:* Summer 2026 anime season
- *related:* Netflix anime simulcast
- *related:* anime-expeditions

## Sources

1. [Chainsmoker Cat — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chainsmoker_Cat)
2. [Anime News Network — Winter 2026 Manga Guide entry](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/seasonal/2026/winter/chainsmoker-cat/.231344)
3. [IMDb News — key visual and premiere date reveal](https://www.imdb.com/news/ni65779690/)
4. [What's on Netflix — weekly uncut global release](https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/new-comedy-anime-series-chainsmoker-cat-set-for-weekly-uncut-netflix-global-release/)
5. [Dailyhunt/Indiatimes — Japanese viewers reportedly dropping the show](https://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/indiatimes-epaper-indtimes/why+are+japanese+viewers+reportedly+dropping+chainsmoker+cat+anime+after+just+one+episode+the+reason+is+wilder+than+you+would+ever+expect-newsid-n718670504)
6. [The Review Geek — Season 1 Episode 1 review](https://www.thereviewgeek.com/chainsmokercat-s1e1review/)
7. [Chainsmoker Cat manga, Chapter 1 (Comix)](https://comix.to/title/ygv1-chainsmoker-cat/9387174-chapter-1)

---
_Generated by EarlyTerms · https://earlyterms.com/term/chainsmoker-cat_