Chainsmoker Cat, titled Yani Neko in Japan, is an airing anime from Bibury Animation Studios about a cat girl who smokes heavily. The series has become a subject of discussion at the 292nd Youth Committee meeting of Japan’s Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization (BPO), following complaints about apparent illegal drug use and a scene involving self-injection.
The anime adapts NyanNyanFactory’s 2023 manga, a story built around addiction and other adult themes. When the adaptation was announced, some fans expected significant censorship. The first episode, released on July 3, instead demonstrated that the production would retain much of the source material’s provocative content.
Nudity, drug use and toilet humour all appear in the adaptation, largely without censorship. That decision has now produced a different concern: viewer criticism about whether some of the material is appropriate for broadcast. The issue was discussed on July 28 after the BPO invited opinions from viewers, as reported by Automaton.
For readers who follow unusual Japanese pop-culture stories alongside arcade news, the BPO’s wording is notable. The organisation did not identify Chainsmoker Cat by name. Instead, it described a late-night weekday anime set in a society where humans live alongside “beastmen”, or characters representing cats. The meeting date and those details point clearly to Bibury’s series.
What prompted the complaint?
According to the meeting summary, viewers objected to scenes showing what appeared to be an illegal drug. One committee member specifically referred to a sequence involving self-injection.
The discussion presumably concerns the second episode. In that episode, Yakuko, a friend of the protagonist, pushes a needle into their arm. When discovered, Yakuko appears visibly intoxicated and quickly claims, “This is a vaccine!”
The manga presents Yakuko as a regular drug user, although the anime does not explicitly identify the injected substance as heroin. The scene’s presentation, rather than a stated identification of the drug, appears to be the central point of concern.
The BPO’s position
The Japan’s BPO watchdog did not reach a formal consensus on the depiction. However, the committee member leading the meeting said the scene fell within acceptable limits for freedom of expression.
They also indicated that the anime should receive some leniency because it airs late at night, when children are not expected to be watching. The discussion therefore raises questions about how broadcasters balance adult material, context and scheduling without establishing that the series breached a specific rule.
Chainsmoker Cat is an unusual example of an anime attracting attention not because its adaptation softened the manga’s identity, but because it carried controversial elements onto television. Its BPO discussion will be of interest to anyone tracking the boundaries of adult animation, censorship and broadcast standards. For more visual entertainment coverage, explore RETROCADE’s arcade videos and arcade machine buying guide.
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