Nobody saw this coming. Not the fans of Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Season 3, who waited two years for Rudeus Greyrat’s triumphant return. Not the devotees of Science SARU’s breathtaking Ghost in the Shell remake. And definitely not the Japanese streaming giant Niconico, whose servers lit up with over 500,000 views in two weeks for a show about — we swear this is real — a chain-smoking catgirl living in a tar-stained apartment with absolutely zero life goals.
Welcome to summer 2026, where Chainsmoker Cat (Yani Neko in Japan) just pulled off the anime upset of the year.
The Rankings That Broke Anime Twitter
On July 21, 2026, Dwango’s Niconico — Japan’s most interactive streaming platform — dropped its first half Summer 2026 viewership and engagement rankings. The metric? Not just raw views, but the full “energy score”: views, real-time comments, and community participation between July 1 and July 13. And the results sent shockwaves through the anime community.
Here’s the top 10 that nobody can stop talking about:
- Chainsmoker Cat — Bibury Animation Studios
- Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation Season 3 — Studio Bind
- Ghost in the Shell (2026) — Science SARU
- BanG Dream! Yume Mita
- Kaiju Girl Caramelise (Otome Kaiju Caramelize)
- Reiwa no Dara-san
- Saga of Tanya the Evil Season 2
- Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia
- The World Is Dancing
- Kamui: He’s Behind You
Let that sink in. A raunchy comedy about a nicotine-addicted catgirl — with a protagonist who literally spends her days hunting cigarette money in a disgusting apartment — outperformed Mushoku Tensei, Science SARU’s Ghost in the Shell, and the long-awaited return of Saga of Tanya the Evil.
What Even Is Chainsmoker Cat?
Created by NyanNyanFactory and published by Kodansha in Weekly Young Magazine since February 2023, Chainsmoker Cat follows Yani Neko (literally “Nicotine Cat”), a catgirl whose entire existence revolves around one thing: getting her next pack of cigarettes. She lives in an apartment coated in tar residue, has no meaningful employment, and occasionally hangs out with other beastmen who share her substance problems — including Yaku Neko, a catgirl addicted to various drugs including marijuana.
The anime adaptation, directed by Taku Kimura with scripts by Takashi Aoshima and music by Keiichi Suzuki, began airing July 3, 2026, on Tokyo MX and BS11 (censored) and AT-X (uncensored). Netflix handles international streaming rights, while Seven Seas Entertainment publishes the English manga — currently at 12 volumes in Japan with the first 5 volumes either released or announced in English.
The production studio? None other than Bibury Animation Studios, the team behind shows like The Quintessential Quintuplets and Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall. Which makes the whole situation even more surreal — that a studio known for wholesome rom-com is responsible for the most unhinged anime of the season.
“How Did This Get Approved?”
The Niconico comment sections tell the real story. Episode 1 alone racked up over 500,000 views in roughly two weeks — numbers that would make any seasonal blockbuster jealous. But the audience reaction was a bizarre cocktail of confusion, horror, and genuine fascination.
Some of the most popular real-time comments flooding Niconico:
- “How did this anime project even get approved? (LOL)”
- “I swear here and now that I will never smoke.”
- “This is secretly an anti-smoking anime.”
- “This feels like something straight out of the Showa era.”
That last one is telling — the show intentionally leans into a retro, almost nostalgic aesthetic that older Japanese viewers recognize. And despite literally being called Chainsmoker Cat, a significant portion of the audience has ironically declared it the best anti-smoking PSA of 2026. When Yani Neko’s apartment serves as the most unflattering portrayal of nicotine addiction imaginable, the message writes itself.
On MyAnimeList, the series currently sits at a 7.09 score with over 92,000 members tracking it — numbers that are climbing every week. Reviews range from “a perfect embodiment of Kenny Ackerman’s quote that everyone is a slave to something” to viewers being “utterly horrified within the first five minutes.”
Why This Matters for Summer 2026 Anime
For Mushoku Tensei fans, this isn’t a disaster — Season 3 still crushed it, landing comfortably at #2 and edging out the heavily promoted Ghost in the Shell remake by Science SARU under director Mokochan (known for Inu-Oh and The Heike Story). The isekai juggernaut remains one of the genre’s undisputed champions, with Niconico viewers praising its “beautiful animation, emotional storytelling, and strong character development.”
But the real story here is what Chainsmoker Cat represents: the power of pure, unfiltered weirdness in an industry increasingly dominated by safe sequels and established IP. When a show about a chain-smoking catgirl with zero ambition can capture the cultural conversation more effectively than a multimillion-dollar Ghost in the Shell reboot, it says something about what audiences actually crave — novelty, chaos, and the kind of “what am I watching?” energy that can’t be manufactured by a marketing department.
Worth noting: Japan has significantly stricter drug laws and cultural taboos around substance use compared to many Western countries. Some of the gags — like Yani Neko and Yaku Neko casually smoking weed in public — hit Japanese audiences on a completely different level of shock than they might for international viewers on Netflix.
Also worth checking out: our deep dive into Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You — Summer 2026’s other unexpected hit, also with a title involving smoking that nobody could have predicted would dominate this season.
What Do You Think?
Have you braved an episode of Chainsmoker Cat yet? Is it genuinely subversive comedy, or just shock value wrapped in cat ears? And does it honestly deserve to stand above heavyweights like Mushoku Tensei Season 3 and Science SARU’s Ghost in the Shell on Niconico’s rankings?
Drop your take in the comments — we want to know if you’re Team Yani Neko or if you think Niconico viewers collectively lost their minds this summer. Either way, one thing’s certain: Summer 2026 just became the season where anything can happen — and a chain-smoking catgirl is leading the charge.
