Chi's Sweet Home

Chi's Sweet Home (Japanese: チーズスイートホーム, Hepburn: Chīzu Suīto Hōmu) is a manga series written and illustrated by Kanata Konami. It has been serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Morning since 2004. The manga has been licensed for North American distribution by Vertical Inc. To date, it has been collected in eleven volumes, with the most recent being published in America in August 2014. An anime adaptation in two seasons began airing on March 31, 2008 and concluded on September 25, 2009.

Story

An adorable gray and white kitten 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, the kitten mistakenly answers to "Chi" (as in "shi" from shikko, the Japanese word for "urine", as seen in the animation and manga when the main character goes "pee") and this becomes her name. Chi then has a splendid time living with her new family, learning about different things and meeting new people and animals.

Characters

Yamada family

Chi (チー, Chii)

Voiced by: Satomi Kōrogi

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 understandable to the viewers, the Yamadas cannot understand her.

Youhei (ヨウヘイ, Youhei)

Voiced by: Etsuko Kozakura

Youhei is a very small boy who finds Chi when she gets lost. He is cheerful, kind, obedient, and fond of toy trains.

Mom (おかあさã‚", Okaasan)

Voiced by: Noriko Hidaka

Mom is a housewife. She stays home with Youhei and Chi.

Dad (おとうさã‚", Otousan)

Voiced by: Hidenobu Kiuchi

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.

Media

Manga

The manga series is written and illustrated by Kanata Konami. The first chapter was released with the 22 November 2004 issue of the Weekly Morning manga magazine. So far 6 tankōbon have been released. In contrast to the serialized version, which is black and white, the tankōbon version is in full color. The manga is still ongoing as of March 2011, with an 7th volume released in the Spring of 2010. The English language version of the manga is published by Vertical Inc, 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.

Anime

The anime series is directed by Mitsuyuki Masuhara 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!" Ouchi ga ichiban (おうちがいちばã‚") by Satomi Kōrogi.

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.

Episode list

Season one

Season two (New Address)

References

Further reading

• Santos, Carlo (14 Sep 2010). "Sayonara, Krauser-sensei - RTO". Anime News Network. 
• Thompson, Jason (28 Feb 2013). "Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - Chi's Sweet Home". Anime News Network. 

External links

• Chi's Sweet Home: Official English language site hosted by Vertical, Inc.
• Chi's Sweet Home on the Weekly Morning website (Japanese)
• Chi's Sweet Travel online manga on the Weekly Morning website (Japanese)
• Chi's Sweet Home on the TV Tokyo website (Japanese)
• Chi's Sweet Home: Atarashii Ouchi on the TV Tokyo website (Japanese)
• Chi's Sweet Home on the Madhouse website (Japanese)
• Chi's Sweet Home (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Chi's Sweet Home (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia