Is Doukyonin wa Hiza Worth Your Time?
Hello everyone and welcome to our shelter!
Doukyonin wa Hiza, Atama no Ue. first impressions is part of my Ultimate Guide for the 2019 Anime Winter Season. A guide with more than 100 pages with a first impressions to every Anime coming out in the Winter Season. You can get your own here (it’s free!).
Title: Doukyonin wa Hiza, Atama no Ue. (MAL Page)
English Title: My Roommate is a Cat
MAL Score: 7.52
Genres: Slice of Life, Comedy
Number of Episodes: 12
Broadcast: Wednesdays (JST)
Studios: Zero-G
Source: Web Manga
Duration: 23 min. per ep.
Rating: PG-13
Synopsis
Subaru Mikazuki is a novelist who hates to be around people. One day, while he is being pressured by his editor to start a new book and not having any idea what to write about, Subaru finds a stray cat. When he sees the cat, inspiration strikes him and decides to write a book where a cat is the murderer. For research purposes, he decides to bring the stray cat home. However, he just brought home much more than he thought he would.
Story
It’s a cute and relaxing story to follow. The story is around the relationship between Subaru, his cat, and other minor characters who end up appearing into their house. Until now, there is nothing much to say besides that the story is very cute and relaxing to watch. However, in the third episode, we are able to see a little more about Subaru, creating more depth both to the character and the story.
For me, the best part of the story is how in all episodes we always see Subaru’s perspective on the events happening and then Haru’s, the cat, perspective. It’s awesome to see how Subaru is completely misreading the cat he brought home.
Characters
Haru is just the cutest cat ever! Moreover, he is also pretty fun when is on the scene. Basically, Haru represents both the cuteness of a cat while at the same time still showing some reactions due to his life as a stray cat.
In the beginning, Subaru was not really my thing. However, on episode 3 he grew a lot as a character. During the first 2 episodes, Subaru just seems to be a loner who hates to be around people and completely addicted to his work and a little bit detached from reality. However, with the help of Haru is has started to loosen up his barriers and show more of him! Honestly, it is been a nice character evolution to follow.
Animation
The overall animation is very polished. While the backgrounds are detailed and clean, the character design is very pretty to watch! In fact, the guys who have been appearing on the Anime could be in a Shounen-Ai Anime, that’s how handsome they are.
Being a comedy Anime, it has those silly animations that are made to make you laugh. Things like silly faces or visual effects to make a character reaction funnier is something you will get with Doukyonin wa Hiza. To be honest, they are not the best I’ve seen and most of the times I don’t really laugh. However, it gives a certain cuteness to the show.
The spotlight goes to Haru’s design though. Contrary to what one would expect, his design is not really that pretty. Meaning, you don’t get that cat which seems to have his fur completely clean and smooth. Being a stray cat, it’s just normal that his fur is all over the place and he does not seem really that tidy up. I mean, Subaru can be a very good novelist, but when it comes to pet treatment he doesn’t know what to do. Nevertheless, Haru ends up being one of the cutest things I’ve ever watched! Of course, this is also due to his reactions… But, I believe the biggest factor to his cuteness it’s his huge eyes.
Audio
I believe the intro music speaks the vibe of the show very well. It starts with this sadder melody but develops quickly to a very upbeat song. Basically, what the show story is about. Before meeting each other, both Subaru and Haru were living a sad life, now, together, things get pretty fun!
The voice acting is also good. I think the best thing about it is how natural the voices are done. This means that all of the interactions and conversations are very smoothly to listen. Basically, if you listen to the voices without watching the Anime itself, it seems real people talking to each other. I have to say that Haru’s voice seems more of a girl than a cat though… But I guess you can’t really do a cat voice…
The soundtrack also speaks slice of life comedy all over. It is very well executed, but I believe there are some scenes that would benefit having a soundtrack behind it instead of silence…
Final Verdict
Doukyonin wa Hiza is a very strong Slice of Life Anime. It has everything you can ask for, relaxing scenes, cute stuff and funny moments. Everything is well executed and it just speaks quality over the place. However, I believe that, until now, the story does not have depth enough to recommend this Anime to everyone.
This way, if you are into Slice of Life / Cute Anime shows, watch it!
If you need some action happening, or a little more drama, then this is not the Anime for you!
Final Score: Good!
I saw people talking about it and it make me curious, it actually look quite cute and thank to you post, I will add it to my already long plan to watch list.
Always happy to add Anime shows to your long watch list! One day you will have Anime to watch until you grow old! Best retirement ever!
Seriously though, thanks for liking the post! It always makes me happy when I introduce something to people which they actually feel it’s something worthy to watch after reading my post ^.^
I’m definitely enjoying the cute cat dynamic and I really enjoy Subaru as a main character so far. This one is definitely my go to relaxing viewing for the season so far.
Well, I have to say that the relaxing Anime for me this season is Ueno-san… I know, shame on me! But, it just makes me not think about anything at all lolol
But, I’m with you! It’s been a good ride so far! Since Haru actually talks, it’s possible that it gets even better than Mii-kun xD
I had a fun time watching the first episode, but so far the anime is on hold because I’m not in the mood for this kind of SoL. But I may binge it after the season is over, because as you said, the quality is really good, and it’s cute and funny.
Yeah, it’s true that is one of those Anime shows youhave to be in the mood for it! And, to be honest, it probably it’s better to bingewatch it than watch one episode a week since it is a SoL and nothing much happens each episode xP
Not much piqued my interest this Winter (I’m actually only watching three of this season’s anime right now), but your review convinced me to give this (adorable looking) show a go! Wish me luck!
Really? Damn! That’s the best a reviewer can get, have someone actually starting watching because of what you said 😛 Hope you love it eheh
But, yeah, in general the season is not that strong…
Are you still watching Run with the Wind? I think that, of all the shows airing right now, that’s, hands-down, the best!
It’s on hold at the moment because of all the Anime I’m watching from this season… But, it’s something I want to finish to watch eheh Great to hear that, it just makes me to want to watch it even more!
I have been watching this until the latest episode, like you said the art is beautiful but the story still normal. This anime remind me of Barakamon, the same introvert main characters and almost have the same life I think. The difference would be the cat, in Barakamon the “problem” are children. However, Barakamon story is much better in my opinion, at least until the 5 first episodes.