If you are a fan of anime, odds are you’ve seen very strange ones over the course of time. Even the more mainstream shows have elements about them that are different than anything you’ve ever seen before. Nyaight of the Living Cat pushes even those boundaries.

Nyaight of the Living Cat is an adaptation from manga. As per the Hawkman and Mecha-Roots original, it tells the story of a post-apocalyptic world where cats are on the verge of taking over the world. Now it’s not what you think either, the cats haven’t suddenly become more intelligent, or developed weapons of mass destruction. Instead it’s a mysterious virus that causes humans to turn into cats shortly after making physical contact with them. In this world 90% of all humans own cats, and find it almost impossible to stay away from their adorable cries and playful nature. Unfortunately for the humans in this world however, they either stay away, or become one with the enemy.

Nyaight of the Living Cat plays out like a typical survival horror, but instead of zombies or aliens chasing people, it’s cats. It sounds absurd, but it somehow works and makes for an interesting premise. While you may chuckle a few times at the beginning, the anime leans into the premise with such confidence that it creates a tense story that makes you want to look over your shoulder. It’s a satire on our obsession with cats in today’s world. And it shows how we might just let them take over if the situation shown in the anime were to occur. The main character, Kunagi (Masaaki Mizunaka), is such a cat lover that he has an incredibly hard time resisting the urge to pet the cats that could spell the end of his life as he knows it.

One of the more interesting bits of the show, is that it randomly provides cat facts throughout, such as how they can squeeze through the tiniest of spaces by rearranging their organs. Some of the facts sound odd, but looking them up afterwards proves them to be true.

The animation captures not only the spirit of the manga, but it is done in such a way that you feel you are in a horror movie. The artists could have played it up for laughs, but they stuck to the basic premise of frights instead. The cats look (and sound) extremely realistic, which makes it hard to be afraid of them, yet their suddenly appearances will cause even the most stoic of people to jump.

Nyaight of the Living Cat shouldn’t work, but it does. Cats are everywhere. They can get into places you thought were tightly locked up, and when they can’t, they will annoy you until you let them in. They are hunters, and even though they might be cute, they always will be hunters. Also, they get what they want, when they want it, and if they ever did decide to take over the world, we just might be in trouble.

Nyaight of the Living Cat is now streaming on Crunchyroll.