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MANGA.TOKYO > Anime Reviews > Winter 2019 > My Roommate is a Cat Episode 3 Review: I Touch You

My Roommate is a Cat Episode 3 Review: I Touch You

by Naja B

2 weeks ago

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We’re back with another touching episode of My Roommate is a Cat. This week we get to see the new roomies being more hands on as they navigate the difficulties of cohabitation.

Plot

Subaru reminisces about his parents and wonders if he could have done more to get along with them when they were alive. Meanwhile, some uninvited guests threaten Haru’s new home…

Original Japanese Title: 君に触れる

Episode Highlights

Hindsight is 20/20: Most of Subaru’s perspective is taken up by a few extended flashback sequences about his recently deceased parents. These scenes give us key insights into the events that shaped Subaru into the introverted novelist he is in the present.

Somebody’s Watching Me…: Things get a little supernatural in this week’s episode. Subaru and Haru are visited by some unexpected guest. The appearance of the spirits/ghosts was an unexpected shift from the usual slice of life feel of the series. I signed up for a cute anime about a guy and his cat, and then BAM ghosts… It comes completely out of left field and I don’t know if it fits with the overall tone of the series.

Themes & Trivia

Cat’s are weird: Haru spends most of the episode spazzing out, jumping around and hissing at nothing and every cat owner I have talked to says that this is the norm.

Haru: Subaru named his cat Haru after reading a children’s book he used to read with his mother. Haru’s name is written with the kanji 陽, which means ‘sun’ or ‘sunlight’.

Comments

This was the first episode where I genuinely enjoyed the Subaru perspective of the episode. It was heartfelt and damnit if I didn’t tear up when he had that flashback about his parents dying! Up until this point Subaru was little more than a throwaway character for me; he was just too generic to carry the story on his own. This week’s episode changed all of that. Suddenly, Subaru wasn’t just that guy with a cat; he was a sympathetic character with a tragic backstory for whom I actually cared about. Hell, I’ll admit that I liked his portion of the episode more than I liked Haru’s perspective and that’s pretty damn impressive.

Haru’s perspective was weird. In previous episodes Haru’s weird behaviors were the result of some kooky cat quirk… but, ghosts… really?! You mean to tell me that Haru was protecting the house against the ghosts of Subaru’s dead parents… riiiiiiiiight.

I wanna hold your hand

The ghost thing aside, this was a really sweet episode that gave some great insight into Subaru and how he is coping with the deaths of his parents. He’s finally being treated as a character in his own right and not just the straight man to Haru’s antics.

I’ll be back next week with another My Roommate is a Cat review, but in the meantime, be sure to check out MANGA.TOKYO’s other amazing Winter 2019 reviews!!