AIC is one of those animation studios that really puzzle me. Most larger animation studios have multiple animation teams that can work concurrently but AIC seems like the only animation studio that so formerly breaks it down; there’s AIC, AIC Plus+, AIC Spirits, and AIC A.S.T.A.. Each sub-studio has done good work, for example, AIC A.S.T.A. was responsible for the excellent comedies Tenshi Senshi Sunred, Sora no Otoshimono (which is getting a second season and was just licensed 
) and Bamboo Blade. AIC Plus+ with the slice-of-life/comedy G.A. Art Design Class and AIC Spirits with Ga-Rei: Zero. Of these studios AIC A.S.T.A. has been the most consistently good studio and the most inconsistent has been AIC. They did very well with Sasameki Koto, Asu no Yoichi!, but only slightly good work with Nyan Koi and yawn-inducing work with Ookami Kakushi. With Mayoi Neko Overrun being produced by AIC, this makes prognosticating the quality extremely difficult but it was worth a look.
The owner of a rundown bakery known as the Stray Cats likes to take in strays, be them orphans, cat-girls, or an occasional rich girl with a lack of friends. She also likes to travel the world, helping those less fortunate then herself, leaving the strays to struggle together to keep the bakery open (the bakery’s main selling point is the beauty of the owner which only brings in so much money).
Perhaps the strangest thing about Mayoi Neko Overrun is the lack of an overall director; each episode is directed by a different person. The results of this production decision – being wildly uneven (genuinely good/hilarious one episode and a real snoozer the next) and the story feeling very disjointed – seem obvious to me and leaves me scratching my head, trying to figure out why an animation studio would want two completely unnecessary strikes against it’s own show.
Another problem with a setup such as this is the tone of the show is off. It is possible for a show to be both comedic and emotional/drama-esque, Key shows for example, but it takes a fair degree of talent and mastery to do it right. And, apparently, it takes a single overseeing director that can weave the various threads together and get them to work because Mayoi Neko Overrun has failed to successfully pull this off. When the show is in comedic mode it’s to the detriment of developing the characters and story and when it’s in serious mode it’s to the detriment of the comedy and keeping the show entertaining. An overloaded semi-tractor trailer has more agility then Mayoi Neko Overrun.
The show is further hindered by it’s characters, or, more exactly, the lack of development of the characters beyond their initial stereotypical character-types. At the start of the show we had the clueless, kinda loserish, male main character; the violent, easily angered female childhood friend to the male main character that harbors deeper feelings for him but doesn’t realize she has these feeling but for some reason gets angry when other girls pay attention to him; the mean and haughty rich girl who’s unconsciously unhappy with life and just needs a friend; the perverted male sidekick who’s just interested in 2-D girls and being an otaku. And seven episodes in we still have these stock characters.
If Mayoi Neko Overrun was a full-tilt comedy then developing the characters would not have been so important but it’s not and so developing these 1-D characters into at least 2-D characters would be much appreciated.
I can almost hear the voices that will be out there reading this post and thinking – this show sounds bad, how did it get a C+ and not something lower? I’d respond by saying that it’s amazing how a smallish percentage of a show being legitimately good brings it’s overall score up when the rest of it is doesn’t out-right stink. Two episodes have stood out so far, eps. 4 and 6; if the whole series could have been as good as episode 4, Mayoi Neko Overrun would be a solid B show and if the whole series could have been as good as episode 6 then Mayoi Neko Overrun would have been a solid A show. What made these two episodes good was the show pushed itself into 100% full-tilt comedy mode with a heaping helping of absurdity. It was deliciously good; much better then the slice-of-life/drama/comedy show Mayoi Neko Overrun is trying to be and not succeeding at.
At this point, I can’t recommend this show to anyone; even the most devoted cat ears fans would be wasting their time with Mayoi Neko Overrun. Part of me wishes I could just drop this show but the occasional flashes of competence makes another part of me worry that I might miss something good and, since the latter takes precedence, I’m left watching this mediocre title. The upside to this is that I will be able to definitely say if Mayoi Neko Overrun is worth a watch or not – keeping others away from it, if it’s not and getting people to watch it, if it is.
