is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written and illustrated by

Kanata Konami is a Japanese manga artist best known for her cat manga ''Chi's Sweet Home''. Her first manga was published in the magazine Nakayoshi in 1982. Both ''Chi's Sweet Home'' and have been published in English by Vertical (company), Vertical Inc. ...

. It was serialized in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

Weekly Morning is a weekly Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Kodansha. It debuted in 1982 as . The digital edition of the magazine is titled . In 2006 a spin-off magazine called was launched (formerly bimonthly), featuring stories like ''Saint ''� ...

'' from 2004 to 2015, with its chapters collected in twelve ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. The manga has been licensed for North American distribution by

Vertical Inc Vertical is a Japanese novel and manga imprint of Kodansha USA Publishing. Founded in 2001 by Hiroki Sakai, in February 2011, the company was bought by Kodansha (46.7%) and Dai Nippon Printing (46.0%). The company was consolidated into Kodansha ...

. An anime adaptation lasting two seasons aired from March 2008 to September 2009. A

3DCG 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...

anime television adaptation lasting two seasons aired from October 2016 to September 2018.

Story

A grey and white

kitten A kitten is a juvenile cat. After being born, kittens display primary altriciality and are totally dependent on their mothers for survival. They normally do not open their eyes for seven to ten days. After about two weeks, kittens develop qu ...

with black stripes wanders away from her mother and siblings one day while enjoying a walk outside with her family. Lost in her surroundings, the kitten struggles to find her family and instead is found by a young boy, Youhei, and his mother. They take the kitten home, but, as pets are not allowed in their housing complex, they try to find her a new home. This proves to be difficult, and the family decides to keep the kitten. While being

housebroken ''HouseBroken'' is an American animated sitcom created by Jennifer Crittenden, Clea DuVall, and Gabrielle Allan that premiered on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox on May 31, 2021. In August 2021, the series was renewed for a second season which prem ...

, the kitten mistakenly answers to "Chi" (as in ''shi''- from ''shikko'', the Japanese word for "

urine Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excretion, excreted from the body through the urethra. Cel ...

") and this becomes her name. Chi then lives with her new family, learning about different things and meeting new people and animals.

Characters

Yamada family

; : :Chi is a small grey and white kitten with large eyes. She is easily distracted and does not have much experience of the world. Chi is particularly attracted to small moving objects, but is scared by larger animals, especially dogs. Although her speech is audible to the viewers, the Yamadas cannot hear her talk. It is revealed her mother called her "Sarah". ; : :Yohei is a little boy who finds Chi when she gets lost. He is cheerful, kind, obedient, and fond of toy trains. ;/ : :Mom is a housewife. She stays home with Yohei and Chi. ;/ : :Dad is the working man of the house, a graphic designer who often works from home. He is very fond of Chi and wants her to like him in return, but he is often called upon to do things that make her angry with him such as taking her to the vet or trimming her claws.

Manga

The manga series is written and illustrated by Kanata Konami. The first chapter was released in issue 6/2004 of the

manga magazine. 12

were released. In contrast to the serialized version, which is black and white, the tankōbon version is in full color. The manga ended in June 2015. The

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

version of the manga is published by

, and is oriented left-to-right like an American comic, instead of the typical Japanese right-to-left format. One reason for this could be to avoid confusing its young reader demographic. It has also been translated into

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

as ''Chi - Une vie de chat'' by Glenat.

Anime

The anime series is directed by

Mitsuyuki Masuhara is a Japanese anime film director at Madhouse. He was born on December 5, 1973, and has been with Madhouse since 1999. Masuhara started at the company as an episode director, before directing the short film ''Clamp in Wonderland 2'' in 2007 an ...

and produced by Madhouse, the first episode aired on 31 March 2008. The episodes are 3 minutes long and equivalent to one chapter from the manga. The opening theme is "Home is the best!" by

Satomi Kōrogi is a Japanese actress, voice actress, singer and narrator from Tokyo. She is affiliated with Production Baobab. She is best known for her roles as Chi in ''Chi's Sweet Home'', and as Himawari Nohara in '' Crayon Shin-chan'', Misty's Togepi and ...

. The second season of ''Chi's Sweet Home'', called ''Chi's Sweet Home: New Address'' (チーズスイートホームあたらしいおうち ''Chi's Sweet Home: Atarashii Ouchi''), began airing 30 March 2009. The show was dubbed into French and began airing in France on

Piwi+ Piwi+ (formerly Piwi) is a French pay television channel for children aged 3 to 6, owned by the Canal+ Group. History Piwi was first launched on October 20, 2002 as a preschool block on Télétoon for Les Minitoons, and then on December 3, 2003 a ...

in September 2014. On September 5, 2016, the series began airing on

Radio-Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

. In the ''

'' magazine's 22nd and 23rd issues of 2016, it was announced that the manga would receive a 3DCG anime television adaptation that began airing on October 2, 2016 called ''Chi's Sweet Adventure'' (こねこのチー　ポンポンらー大冒険 ''Koneko no Chī: Ponpon-rā dai bōken''). An English-dubbed version of the first season streamed on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

on April 21, 2018.

Episode list

Season one

Season two (''New Address'')

References

External links

''Chi's Sweet Home'': Official English language site hosted by Vertical, Inc.

''Chi's Sweet Travel'' online manga on the ''Weekly Morning'' website

''Chi's Sweet Home'' on the TV Tokyo website

''Chi's Sweet Home: Atarashii Ouchi'' on the TV Tokyo website

* {{Madhouse, state=collapsed 2004 manga 2008 anime television series debuts 2009 anime television series debuts 2009 Japanese television series endings 2016 anime television series debuts Anime series based on manga Animated television series about cats Comedy anime and manga Comics about cats Discotek Media Kodansha manga Madhouse (company) Seinen manga Slice of life anime and manga TV Tokyo original programming Vertical (publisher) titles