Oh the indignity; not only is this character chained to a chair, she isn’t even granted the courtesy of a proper name. And her moniker gets merely equal billing with the furniture that she’s sitting on.
This curious figure comes from Embrace Japan, probably best known for their Demon Squeezer figures. It’s based off of a doujinshi series called Planet of the Cats by Mamecchi, whose circle goes by the name Koufuku Shoten. Unusually, he’s also credited with sculpting this figure. This catgirl is listed as a non-scale figure but she seems to be about 1/8 scale in size.
As one would expect, Cat and Chair comes with a chair rather than a traditional flat base. She can be shackled to it via three lengths of included chain, adding a kinky aspect to this figure that isn’t immediately obvious at first glance. Each end of the chain features a clasp that can be attached to Miss Cat’s cuffs and to metal rings strategically placed on the chair’s back.
Miss Cat can also be stripped, and I think she looks better this way; her dress features prominent seams on each side where it comes apart to remove it from her body, and her panties are rather thick-looking and do not fit very well on her hips.
The catgirl’s disassembly is mostly conventional, and an illustrated, Japanese-language instruction sheet is thoughtfully included to show how to take her apart. Once her dress is removed, a couple of additional cuffs can be attached to her upper arms.
The catgirl is mostly anatomically accurate, although she does not have a realistically-sculpted anus.
Her facial expression was difficult to discern in the promo photos due to her long bangs. It looked like her expression was relatively neutral but up close, it’s easy to see that she looks upset – indeed, she appears positively pissed off. It may be a bit hard to see but her right eye is slightly narrower than her left, as if twitching in fury. It’s not a very common sort of expression amongst anime figures and it’s pretty cool to see a figure that looks this angry.
Though this figure’s name is Cat and Chair, there are actually two cats – the all-but-nude catgirl and this sly-looking little dude here.
This figure also comes with an art print with a couple of illustrations of the Cat and Chair, one clothed and one nude. It’s a very nice inclusion, one that I wasn’t expecting.
And this figure also comes with one more bonus: some pubic hair decals for the catgirl. They obviously have not been applied to the figure presented here.
Embrace Japan is a relatively new maker and one that doesn’t have much of a track record. It would be too much to expect top-tier quality, but even relaxed expectations are an overestimation. The paintwork is noticeably rough, even without the benefit of a magnifying glass or a macro lens. My figure also had this dark mark on her wrist; rubbing alcohol was not able to remove it. Fortunately it’s on the part of her wrist turned towards her body so it’s not readily visible.
This is her ass and her tail; also, you can see that I wasn’t able to get one of the cuffs on her right arm secured. It uses a peg protruding from one edge of the cuff to close itself and these sorts of fasteners are always a big hassle to fit together. The cuff on the other arm just slips over her bicep after removing her left arm.
However, I’m never too bothered by manufacturing issues if the figure looks good, and I think the Cat and Chair looks quite good. I think the aspect I like the most about this figure – besides the kinky parts – is the contrast between her casual, relaxed pose and her angry look. It gives her a sense of personality that isn’t always common in figures, particularly figures of original characters.
I make no secret of my dislike of characters with animal ears but despite my prejudice, I have to say that this is a really cool figure. The bondage theme is quite welcome and ought to be featured with more figures, and I also like her body language and her facial expression. Miss Cat is quite a unique figure, one that I’m very pleased to have in my collection.
Also in my collection is her thong-clad counterpart, the White Cat. The review will be coming sometime in the future, later if the Celtics advance to the Finals and sooner if not.
I was tempted to get her, obviously because I love kemonomimi figures, however I really didn’t like the chains, and couldn’t find any information on whether they were removable or not. Also, her clothing really does look sub-par, and I’m not a fan of having my figures cast-off. I think she’d be nice clothed, sitting in her chair glaring at a Nendo or something at her feet, but the clothing is eh, and the chains are a huge turnoff for me, so I passed on it.
If the chains are indeed removable as seems to be the case here in your shoot, I may consider picking her up in the future (though not on the second hand market, since I’ve seen what some people do to cast-off figures…) and I’d just pose her to hide the terrible seams in her clothes, perhaps.
I do have the white cat, and the seams aren’t as bad as my other castoffable figure. So perhaps I do need to reconsider this one. Hm. It really was the chains that bothered me more than anything.
Also, your robo-dog is quite naughty.
I bought her, and the chains are optional parts, if you want to put them is your choice but there will always be a little ring part where to attach them even if you don’t, but really nothing to worry about, the seams on the outfit are really not that bad, with a little bit of stress put into it I manage to close as much as possible and the result was a much more unnoticeable seams, so at the end I’m really loving mi Neko-chan she is just lovely and I think that the expression on her face depends from the angle that your looking at it, from angry to bored, and whatnot really liking this figure ^_^
I agree, from a few feet away, she looks like she’s sultry and seductive, and it’s not until you look closely that you see how she really looks. I really like figures that are like that, where their expression seems to change depending on viewing angle and distance.
Yep, as said the chains are optional, and her upper arm cuffs are sorta optional (you can’t use them while she’s dressed and you have to use them while she’s undressed, since they cover up the detachment seams of her arms). Her wrist cuffs are fixed, though.
The robo doggy was a great acquisition XD I ought to use it more, I bet people don’t expect to see it.
She’s like 1000% better without the cloths, good shapes on top. And I like her facial expression a lot, even better in your photos than the promo ones. I’m going to check her price see if there’re still great deal out there.
Yeah, I think she looks quite a bit better castoff, too. I wish you good luck if you do look around for her, Embrace Japan figures seem to be a bit hard to find after their initial release.
I like the body on this figure (especially her legs), but don’t really like her hair and face. I also love the pose that she has with her legs spread over the chair. If this ever gets to the extreme bargain bin section I may think about it, but it will probably never get there. I think this figure is best shown nude as the clothes are way too bulky. I like how you made the carpet in this set. It matched really well with the chair.
On another note, who do you recommend for shop orders from Japan? I want to order this and don’t know if Shopping Mall Japan (the only deputy service I have used, and I have had awesome luck with them) is my best option based on price. I have only used SMJ for YJA so I don’t know if they are the best for shop orders.
http://www.red-store.jp/agarest_m/
Yeah, it looks like this figure is sold out across the big retailers; I saw a couple of YJA listings up at >10,000 yen, which I think is a bit much for this figure.
I ought to get a few more towels; they seem to work pretty well as set floors. I probably should’ve tried using them a long time ago, I’ve always struggled with realistic floors.
These days, I usually use Yokatta as a proxy buying service. I’ve used SMJ before too but they always seem to have odd fees, like wire fees and while they suggest their bulk-shipping system between their Japan and US warehouses saves money, I haven’t seen that in practice.
The Agarest War Mariage pillowcase! That is indeed a cool one. I wonder if Blade did the artwork for it? He’s the illustrator for the game but that doesn’t look like his art style …
I am going to look into Yokatta since I have heard you talk about it quite a few times.
Agarest Mariage does have Blade as the artist, whose art I enjoy, but the red entertainment twitter account stated that this was done by Hirano Katsuyuki. To me that seems odd since Hirano has to definitely be working on something for IF/CH to not have been available for Mariage. If there is something else in the works then why not have Blade do the dakimakura? The only thing that is going to bother me about the dakimakura is lack of a reverse image. I would have preferred either image to have been changed to a rear shot (either in her normal clothes as the rear view and the current ribbon-bound image or ribbon-bound rear view and current front image).
Ah, interesting; yeah, it’s curious that they didn’t have him do the art for Mariage. I chalked it up to them wanting a different look since the game’s on a portable platform, though Blade is a really unconventional choice. Maybe they’re working on a new Spectral series game?
Yeah, I like front and back view images as well. Though the heart hands look is really cute here. I wonder if they’ll make more pillowcases of the Neptune characters? I missed out on Black Heart a while back due to some peculiar circumstances, and with a new Neptune game due this summer, it seems like we ought to be seeing a new Neptune pillowcase soon.
I would kill for a Vert pillowcase, but the next case will probably be Pururut or Neptune.
I would expect it to drop like Mariage (near the launch of the game) and since it releases in late August, we may see preorders open this month.
I knew she was not a happy kitty even when I first saw preview shots of her, no close-ups of the face required. The sculptor did a great job hinting at her moodiness with the pose. While I would probably want to pet her to comfort her if she were a real cat, I really don’t want her to lend such negative air to my collection.
Haha, yeah, there aren’t too many figures with expressions like this. The next figure I plan to photograph has a big-ass smile so I guess it’s quite a bit more conventional.
I actually tend to ignore smiling figures. A while back, I realized almost none of my figures smiled (except Sniper Karin) and made a conscious choice to add more smiling figures (ordered Hibari, Alphamax-Meat, and some Nendos).
This figure, however, pisses me off the more I look at it. Again, kudos to the artist for conveying the, “Why do I have to be here? Why do I have to let a loser like you look at me?” feeling. It’s rather irritating.
The fact that she’s a cat girl is brilliant as well (if you’ve ever seen a cat acting surly).
The thing I noticed the most on this figure is how nice her tits came out, of all things. I’m so used to cast off anime figures having ridiculous balloon breasts. It’s nice to see one with slightly more realistic looking breasts.
I also really like the pouty face. It’s not often you see a figure with a disgruntled face, much less a flat out pissed one. She really doesn’t wanna be in that chair, apparently.
Not too into cat girls myself. I’ve always had a soft spot for fox girls. But for the most part I’m like you: not too big into animal ears.
Yeah, I’m not sure if the dress was meant to be an afterthought, but it’s good to see that she has a sexy and appropriately-proportioned body under her clothes. Although I usually like to display my figures in castoff mode, some of my more recent figures (like Amane Shiratori and Queen’s Gate Senhime) are still clothed since I don’t think they look as good undressed.
I’m not really sure why I don’t dig animal ears; I guess it’s just one of those inexplicable things, like why I don’t like certain types of food or music. I kinda wish I liked them more; my distaste for them really hinders my enjoyment of shows like Strike Witches.
MEOW!!!!!!!!!!! <3
Oh this is a quite bold one, she actually turned out better as I expected, even though the underwear looks bulky, more like a creature from outer space than a thong ;D
The best part is probably her expressive face in combination with the pose. To me she is rather showing the expression that she’s bored and displeased because of the things that aren’t done to her instead of being uncomfortable about the things that will be done to her *lol* what am I saying? Well Im not sure about her being chained to a chair, is it a fetish of her or her “master”?
She somehow looks like a wild girl, so I think the pubic hair decal would suit the figure very well. I like the pictures 1,9 and 16 the most, the lighting looks pretty good.
Haha, yeah, her underpants looks kinda like a facehugger viewed from above or something. Yeah, I agree with that, the look on her face is one of the best parts of this figure; she has an enigmatic look that makes one wonder how she really feels and whether she’s actually in control of the situation.
I got her too and these three little hair-tattoos are a funny gimmick.Yesterday I made some photos of her and like you did, I tried to create a simple background for her. My figure got this marks too, quality should be better.
That’s a bit disappointing to hear, that your figure has the same smudge on her wrist. I wonder what causes that?
Simple backgrounds are good; I’m sorta known for unusual backgrounds but I really do think that simple works best most of the time. Overly cluttered backgrounds tend to be distracting, and when I shoot, I typically spend a ton of time figuring out ways to hide the background rather than to show it off.
Given that I call myself “TomTheCat”, I simply must comment here. She had caught my eye before, but after your review, I’ll definitely get her someday. I just hope I get around to it before she’s sold out everywhere or prices are skyrocketing.
Like Wieselhead said, I also like that her facial as well as her body expression leave room for interpretation, so everyone regarding her may imagine a different setting suited to their own preferances…
She’s got cat ears? I couldn’t tell from your photos, but that was probably your intention.
Btw, what’s that pattern on her panties? It almost looks like Japanese writing, lol (sorry for my ignorance)
I think it may be too late; at least, a couple places I checked listed her as sold out already. Kinda odd, since I didn’t think this was going to be an in-demand figure.
Yeah, she’s got cat ears. At least, I am pretty certain they are ears rather than a particularly imitative hairstyle, though they aren’t all that detailed. She definitely does have a tail, though, and the original artist is quite fond of catgirls (and mecha, it seems – a somewhat unusual combination).
I’m not sure it’s actually a pattern; it looks just sorta like random colorful lines. It could be a nature-themed pattern, maybe, like sumi-e bamboo leaves.
back then i was thinkign of gettign eh rbtu didnt, mainly because the clothes looke bad.. now iwhtout them, sh elooks a lot betteer than expected.. i expected her to have too bulky a build, btu i gues it were really just her thick clothes. well, too bad but its too late to change it now~ its nto a very prominent figure so i guess even if i liek to get her later on mandarake or so, she shoudltn be tooo pricy even though she was a limited.
Yeah, she looks better than I thought she’d look, though my expectations were very low at the start so I guess that’s not too surprising an outcome. I haven’t taken a look at her White Cat counterpart yet, but with the Celtics bowing out I guess I’ll be reviewing her soon.
She doesn’t look too bad to be honest. I’d be interested in purchasing her, more so if my usual complaint was addressed. However I think at the prices I’ve seen her she’s definitely not worth it. I’m starting to think I need to set aside a shelf in my cabinets for the nude figures to all reside together. A singular place where when visitors enter my room don’t immediately notice but when they do can’t take their eyes off.
That angry expression though, need more of that.
That sounds like a good plan; I’m trying to keep my Native figures together but right now, I’ve just got them crammed together in the same general area. Except for Chie, whose size and pose look sorta unusual compared to the other figures. Make sure you light up that area properly too, so your plastic bordello is the first thing your visitors notice.
This is one of my favorite figure so far. I like it a lot. The expression and the body language is great and the sculpting is fantastic. I also have some paint qualms, but overall I’m very happy with mine. I’m too lazy to put the chain on, so leave it off.
Your work is equally fantastic if not more, simply the best figure pictures I’ve seen. Unfortunately, I spent lots of money because of your work.
Thank you.
John.
Thanks very much for the kind words XD I really do like this figure a lot as well (even despite my usual apprehensions about the animal ears). The anime figure industry is thriving and hundreds of figures get released every year, but this one is still one of the most unique ones I’ve seen. (I still think she ought to have a name, though.)