I find myself utterly confused by Chainsmoker Cat. Here is an anime that begins with a series of fart and poop jokes, portraying the main character as disgustingly messy to the point where family refuses to visit. There is gross-out humor from start to finish, but it is almost a case of misdirection for the raw, painful impact that addiction can have on people’s lives.

Chainsmoker Cat is a difficult watch, but that is kind of the point. The opening moments inflict a surprising amount of poop and vomit on the screen for a show that is, obstinately, about a cute cat girl. It takes the horrors of addiction, even addiction to a legal substance like tobacco, and delivers it into a package that initially feels relatively harmless. That is the beauty of the anime and the part that makes me so damn intrigued by it.