[18+] NEKOPARA vol.1 | Review and quick plot summary

Long time no blog... I haven't had much time to read VN's lately because I became addicted to Final Fantasy XIV. My parents also really want me to find a boyfriend if anybody makes 6 figures and is interested. Anyways, this one only took like a day or two to read so I'll blog about it. I don't know how we got here.

NEKOPARA Vol. 1

Creator: NEKOWORKs

Released in 2014

In a world where science has progressed, mankind have genetically engineered real life catgirls to fulfill an unforeseen public demand for high maintenance ethically questionable pets... Regardless of the details, some guy named Kashou runs away from home to become a baker, but unbeknownst to him, his two pet catgirls decide to follow... And before you ask, yes he will be having sex with them. 

There are multiple volumes, but so far I have only read this first one. The game's R18 content is purchased separately but of course I had to get it to make a fair review of the experience as intended. Totally. I read the Steam version in English.

SYNOPSIS

There's really not much else I can say. In a world where having a pet humanoid 'catgirl' who looks and acts like a 10 year old child but with feline appendages is completely normalized, the protagonist is just trying to become independent in society after leaving home. That's it. That's the whole game. Also his family has 6 cats (of the humanoid variety) who all will probably be having sex with him at some point. I don't know.

HEROINES

CHOCOLA & VANILLA

Kitties love their boxes!!

Chocola is a mixed brown cat while Vanilla is a mixed white cat. They're twin sisters!! Chocola is silly and genki and works hard!! Very cat!!! Vanilla is silly and more straight faced than her sister, but equally silly. More on the tsundere side by like maybe 5%. Cat.

REVIEW

STORY: D| The story is extremely simple. Kashou runs away from home to be independent and start a bakery, but his cat girls follow. He must struggle to learn how to both manage a business and look after catgirls at the same time. The depiction of business is extremely fictionalized and you don't see basically any of the work he has to do there besides baking. There's no account of finances or how he can afford his huge apartment either. All that's focused on is his slice of life with catgirls.

CHARACTERS: C| There's not much to explain here. There's a guy. There're cat girls. There's a brocon sister. They're alive. The cats act cat-like most of the time in that anime girl pretending to be a cat sort of way.

ART: A| The art is cute. The H scenes have animations which is pretty advanced technology for the average VN, but seeing as how this VN really has no content otherwise I'm guessing that's where all the funding went.

EROTICNESS: D| This game was beyond not titillating. Something about catgirls who act like babies going meow meoww nyaaa isn't doing it for me. But I'm sure it's getting somebody out there's rocks off.

FINAL SCORE: Meh

It's okay for what it is I suppose. It's a relaxing short silly read, something braindead to get through when you have nothing better to do. I read this mostly while waiting in queues in FF14. Meow meow nyaa. I early pulled in fucking Syrcus Tower because I was distracted reading catgirls and somebody got pissed off at me like... girl it's fucking CIRCUS TOWER who gives a FUCK. Anyways.

In general, I find the world building more intriguing than the actual contents. Catgirls are extremely deprived of any semblance of human rights in this universe, which I suppose in context makes sense since they are technically just human shaped cats. But still. I would not be adverse to reading more in the future to see if I can see more into the darkness which consumes the author's vision.

CONTENT WARNINGS:
There's nothing to warn about... it's baby. Unless you're counting the INCEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I won't go into details but it's nothing serious. Regular anime game surface level shit.

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Very quick plot summary:

Kashou is from a traditional wagashi (Japanese confections) family and was expected to follow his parents' footsteps in wagashi making probably, but he has a passion for baking western confections so he was forced to run away from home in order to pursue his dreams. However, at his large two bedroom apartment, some boxes he wasn't expecting arrives... containing... HIS CATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While his family has been passionate about raising catgirls, these two he had saved off the streets himself. They were starving baby catgirls and he brought them home... and so he sees them like his daughter kitties... yes you see where this is going. They would do anything for him, so they also ran from home to chase after him with the help of Kashou's sister, Shigure who did the packaging and covering the shipping fare probably.

Also note, there is a short explanation on how catgirls were a huge trend at first, but after many were abandoned on the streets due to being more of a hassle to care for than owners had been expecting, production rates were drastically slowed.... this just like bunny purchases after Easter... 

Kashou isn't happy at first because he's not confident he can raise two catgirls alongside managing his own business, but they are too kawaii and love him so he gets put in a position where it's too hard to refuse them. He has a heart to heart with Chocola and Vanilla who want nothing more but to be with their master <3

catgirls engaging in cat activities

The opening of the bakery goes swimmingly as his sister appears to do all their advertising for them and buying his first days stock of baked goods. She brought the family's other four cats as well so they all eat the stuff together. We also become aware of the fact that catgirls require documentation to be allowed outside unsupervised. Their 'independent action permit' being displayed as a bell collar. All the faimly cats except Vanilla and Chocola have them, so there is a tutoring sequence as Shigure helps prep them for the exam. They eventually pass with a score similar to what I had on my driving test. Bad, but passing.

Kashou tries to keep up with the needs of his two kitties but is perplexed when they start going into heat. The two claim that if their sexual needs aren't met, they will die, so he convinces himself to have sex with his cats. It's soon cleared up that this was a lie Shigure persuaded them to tell in order to 'help things along'. Regardless of the reason, Chocola and Vanilla go from not just being Kashou's cats, but his 'catpanions'. In JP its' aineko' like love cat. Very silly terminology. Also it's completely socially acceptable and people keep asking him like oh are they your catpanions!? Kawaii! I can see why you'd pick them! And he also thinks to himself thinks like oh catpanions are pretty nice huh... honest and straight forward unlike human girls! Bruh is there anything you'd like to open up to the class about. Also side note, Shigure is very obviously in love with her brother, but she is happy to hand him to their kawaii cats she helped raise. I guess.

Anyways, one day Kashou collapses from disease so his catgirls run outside to find a doctor. Sadly, they forgot their permits! The cops immediately try to arrest them and assume everything they say is a lie since "catgirls are committing crimes these days so it's not uncommon for them to lie". Typical pig bastards. Kashou has to drag himself out of bed to find them, bringing their documentation as he was so worried about them. As soon as their permits are checked, the bastard cop leaves without providing any additional assistance to poor Kashou who is dying of fever. The catgirls sob and cry as they all walk home together.

After Kashou recovers, he bonds with Chocola and Vanilla more extensively. They go on a date and it feels like a guy chaperoning his tween daughters, but of course in reality it's a man chaperoning his (age unspecified but they age like real cats do so assume the number is low) catgirl catpanions. They then go home and have crazy sex where he blows like 10 loads everywhere. Side note, earlier on when the catgirls were in heat, Kashou states that as a human male he is incapable of getting hard too many times... What's the truth? Should he seek a doctor? Also, in case you were wondering they do clarify that catgirls cannot conceive with humans, only with catboys. They're different species after all... which then begs the question, where are the catboys? Just kidding, those are in the spinoff title, NEKOPARA Catboys Paradise.

Kitty date at the aquarium

In the epilogue, Shigure brings all their cats as well as herself to help work part time at the bakery to prevent Kashou from overworking again. Surely this will be expanded upon in vol.2.

One of these girls is not a cat, but Shigure pretending to fit in.

Final Takes

It's exactly what it says on the tin. I'm just wondering, will he he have sex with the other family cats? Does this count as cheating? What constitutes as cheating if this 'catpanions' are just his pets and have no human rights? Since they're called catpanions and not 'girlfriends', does this naturally insinuate being inherently different from a human relationship? Will the power dynamics be addressed? Is keeping catgirls something akin to slavery? Is it not, because catgirls are 'just cats'? Do catgirls  truly have lesser intelligence than humans, or are they just permanently 'childish' since their lifespans are much shorter? Is having sex with your catgirl unethical? Are catgirls unethical? Who invented catgirls? Why did they open up with saying they're a result of genetic engineering? Did capitalism have a play in how things ended up like this? Are the other installments just more shenanigans? Definitely. I can see it already.

I mostly read this because I feel Nekopara has become a meme at this point? It feels like everyone has read it. Everyone not including any of my friends... who is this everyone? Why did I feel propelled to read this? None can say.

Currently, the real VN I'm reading is Chaos;Head, but the protagonist pisses me the fuck off so it's taking a while. Hope I finish someday so I can blog about it!