Chi's Sweet Home 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 twelve volumes, with the most recent being published in America in November 2015. An anime adaptation lasting two seasons began airing on March 31, 2008 and concluded on September 25, 2009. A 3DCG anime television adaptation began airing on October 2, 2016.
Story
A grey 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" and this becomes her name. Chi then lives with her new family, learning about different things and meeting new people and animals.
Characters
Yamada family
; Chi 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 audible to the viewers, the Yamadas cannot hear her talk. It is revealed her mother called her "Sarah". ; Yohei Yamada Yohei is a little boy who finds Chi when she gets lost. He is cheerful, kind, obedient, and fond of toy trains. ; Mom/Miwa Yamada Mom is a housewife. She stays home with Yohei and Chi. ; Dad/Kento Yamada 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.
Manga
The manga series is written and illustrated by Kanata Konami. The first chapter was released in issue 6/2004 of the Weekly Morning manga magazine. 12 tankōbon were released. In contrast to the serialized version, which is black and white, the tankōbon version is in full color. The manga ended on June 2015. 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. It has also been translated into French as Chi - Une vie de chat by Glenat.
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!" by Satomi Kōrogi. The second season of Chi's Sweet Home, called Chi's Sweet Home: New Address, began airing 30 March 2009. The show was dubbed into French and began airing in France on Piwi+in September 2014. On September 5, 2016, the series began airing on Radio-Canada. In the Weekly Morning magazine's 22nd and 23rd issues of 2016, it was announced that the manga would receive a 3DCG anime television adaptation that began airing on October 2, 2016 called Chi's Sweet Adventure. An English-dubbed version of the first season streamed on Amazon Prime Video on April 21, 2018.
