My Roommate is a Cat Episode 11 Review
As cute as Haru is in this series, for me it becomes more compelling when the episode focuses on Subaru, and very much more interesting when it examines Subaru’s emotions in dealing with his parents’ passing. The series begins with the funeral but then seems to just skip ahead and other than establishing that Subaru was on his own, it doesn’t seem significant, but as the series has continues on it has been surprising in that the dead parent trope is more than just an establishing point. This anime seems like it actually wants to look at the process of someone coming to terms with their relationship with their parents and deal with their loss.
Admittedly, it is still very slice of life and doesn’t seem to want to become too much of a downer, so it isn’t exactly diving head-first into dealing with grief. But in its own quiet way it is having Subaru confront the reality of his parents’ love for him, that he wasn’t able to respond to at the time, and realising that it is all just a little bit too late to change that.
As a result, this episode, while it took awhile to get going, was kind of the great penultimate episode. We got to see Ookami’s brother again and he apologised unnecessarily for how he treated Subaru when they first met which kind of brought that sub-plot to a close. We had Subaru trying to get Haru into a cat carrier and failing which was the only real interaction these two had this episode and was our daily dose of adorable. We also had Subaru relying on his childhood friend to feed Haru while he was away.
Because yes, Subaru is taking his editor’s advice and going on a trip to help him think of an idea for his new novel. Almost on impulse, though spurred on by his realisation of what his mother had done with the garden, Subaru has decided to take the last trip his parents had planned to take but didn’t get to complete. This brings on a lot of reflection for Subaru as well as some happy moments and overall it is just a great part of the episode for seeing how far he has come as a character since he adopted Haru.
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Then of course we get the ending where a storm rolls in and his plane is cancelled and Haru’s home alone. It is about as dramatic an ending as something this low key could get without totally shifting the tone and it works well enough as a build up to the final episode.
For those only watching for Haru, this episode offers little. Haru is in the episode but her moments are very much diminished as the focus is very much on Subaru. I really liked it but I can imagine those waiting for cute Haru moments might find the episode a little bit dry.
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Karandi James
- My Roommate is a Cat Series Review
- Episode 1: Adopt a Kitten, It Could Save Your Life
- Episode 2: If I Sit On It, It’s Mine – So Says The Cat
- Episode 3: The Beginning of the Journey For The Cat and The Writer
- Episode 4: From One Person To Another – Must Be A Conspiracy
- Episode 5: This Week Witness Happy Sparkles From Pet Ownership
- Episode 6: The Awkward Cat Belongs With An Awkward Human
- Episode 7: Finding Value In The Unexpected and Uncontrollable
- Episode 8 and 9: Dreaming of the Past and Protecting the Present
- Episode 10: The Quiet Joy of Sharing a Meal
- Episode 11: The Overnight Trip That Awakens Emotions
- Episode 12: You Don’t Know What You Got Til It’s Gone
- Images from: My Roommate is a Cat. Dir. K Suzuki. Zero-G. 2019.
Great points! I love how we get to see Subaru’s development over the episodes and the things he realizes when overcoming things outside of his comfort zone. I shed a tear inside every time something reminds Subaru of his parents like the teacup sets and gardening 😭
His relationship with his parents and his feelings of regret are being really well conveyed at this point. Looking forward to how this resolves.
I wanted to see Haru’s side of the water and kennel incidents, honestly. That would have been hilarious! 🙂
Maybe we’ll get it next week?
Honestly, I didn’t mind the limited Haru time this week. It felt right that Subaru got this kind of focus at this point. I love Haru and think she’s adorable, but emotionally I think it would have just messed with the tone of the episode if we’d cut from Subaru to Haru this week.
“emotionally I think it would have just messed with the tone of the episode if we’d cut from Subaru to Haru this week”
^^ This.
Personally, I probably would have preferred if the show had just showed the two of them concurrently, ya know?
That would have been a bit different, but probably could have worked.
I think we can put Roomate firmly in the slow burn category… Many of the previous eps have seemed a bit repetitive, but I can’t think of a single one you could leave out without diminishing the impact of this ep.
And I loved the heck out of Taro playing in the water.
I agree. Subaru’s journey has been a very slow one with each encounter kind of building to this and honestly, it was worth it. There’s been enough cute Haru moments to keep the rest of the episodes alive and not feeling dull, but this is definitely one where the reward comes at the end when you see where it has all come together. Admittedly, we still have one more episode, but this is a pretty great way for the season to come nearly to a close.