Nekopara (Japanese: ネコぱら) is a series of adult visual novels developed by Neko Works and published by Sekai Project. The first game in the series, Nekopara Vol. 1, was released on December 30, 2014. The series is set in a world where humans live alongside catgirls, known as "Nekos".
An all-ages anime OVA adaptation was released on Steam in December 2017; it became one of the top earners in Steam in December 2017.
An anime television series adaptation by Felix Film premiered from January 9 to March 26, 2020. The anime is licensed in English-speaking regions by Funimation.
Nekopara is a visual novel series, so the majority of the gameplay consists of the player reading the game's story. Nekopara does not offer choices to the player throughout gameplay, and the player has no influence over the story. The games are fully voiced (except for the protagonist) and use a system called "E-mote" that allows the in-game characters to be animated, instead of stationary sprites.[4] Nekopara Vol. 0 added a new feature where the player can click on characters in-game, to "pet" them. The characters will react in different ways depending on where the player pets them.
OVA
In July 2016, Sekai Project announced that it would be running a Kickstarter campaign to fund an all-ages Nekopara original video animation adaptation. The campaign launched in December 2016, and reached its US$100,000 funding goal "mere hours" after launching. The campaign ended on Kickstarter on February 11, 2017, and raised US$963,376 from 9,322 backers, however, was extended in order to reach the final stretch goal. In March 2017, the campaign formally ended on Sekai Project's "slacker backer" service, and raised a total of US$1,049,552. On December 4, 2017, Sekai Project announced that the OVA would be released on December 26, 2017, however, was later moved to December 22, 2017 due to a shipping error by Tokyo Otaku Mode, the company responsible for physical goods.
Television anime
During the Comiket 95 event, it was announced that an anime television series adaptation was in production. The series is animated by Felix Film and directed by Yasutaka Yamamoto, with Gō Zappa handling series composition, Yuichi Hirano designing the characters, and Akiyuki Tateyama composing the music. The first episode of the television anime premiered at Anime Expo 2019 on July 6, 2019, and the first two episodes aired at a special event in Tokyo on December 24, 2019. The series premiered on January 9, 2020 through March 26, 2020 on AT-X, Tokyo MX, and BS11. The opening theme for the anime is "Shiny Happy Days" by Yuki Yagi, Iori Saeki, Shiori Izawa, Miku Itō, Yuri Noguchi, and Marin Mizutani, and the ending theme is "Yōdamari no Kaori" (陽だまりの香り) by Yagi and Saeki. The series has aired for 12 episodes. Funimation acquired the series for distribution in North America, the British Isles, and Australasia, streaming the series on FunimationNow, Wakanim and AnimeLab, and produced an English dub for the series. The series simulcasts in Southeast Asia on Aniplus Asia.
Manga
A manga adaptation illustrated by Tam-U is currently being published in Dengeki G's Comic magazine. The manga began serialisation in the July issue of Dengeki G's Comic on May 30, 2018. During Anime Expo 2018, Sekai Project announced that they would release the manga in English digitally, with the first chapter scheduled for release in August 2018.
Mobile games
In 2019, a mobile game adaptation of the series, Nekoparaiten!, was announced; its release is planned to take place in 2020. Its creators described Nekoparaiten! as a "romance simulation" game.
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