Oda Took One Look at Tetsu Inada and Saw a Cat
Tetsu Inada told the story on X on September 28, 2026. He had just run into Eiichiro Oda, whom he calls by the nickname "Odacchi," for the first time in a while, and Oda skipped the pleasantries entirely. By Inada's account, Oda looked at him and announced, "It's Yani Neko!"
Inada rolled with it. Had he known, he wrote, he would have shaved his head and beard and shown up in costume. He added that the two of them had plenty to catch up on but ended up talking about nothing but Chainsmoker Cat. He was genuinely glad, he wrote, that Oda was enjoying the show.
The joke works because of what Inada plays. He voices the Landlord, Ōya Ōtani, the shaved-head, bearded beastman who presides over the apartment building where the series' chain-smoking cats live. Inada (Endeavor in My Hero Academia, Sajin Komamura in Bleach) has built a career on looming, growling authority figures. Oda now apparently looks at Inada and sees the character.
The Creators Found Out the Same Way Fans Did
Inada's post drew reactions from the people who make the show, according to Japanese anime news site Anime Anime's report on the exchange.
Mikirō, a member of NyanNyanFactory, the collective credited with the manga, replied that they "freaked out" when they read the author comment in Jump. Oda had referenced Chainsmoker Cat in Weekly Shonen Jump's table-of-contents comment column, the one-line note each serialized artist files alongside their weekly chapter. One fan wrote that seeing this week's Oda comment made the whole thing click.
Tensho, the founder and representative of Bibury Animation Studios, which animated the series, quote-posted Inada's story with a single word: "Amazing!"
The rest of the replies ran from disbelief to delight. "Eiichiro Oda is watching Yani Neko?!" "Oda isn't just watching it, he's hooked on it." "Figures that it lands with creative people." Several readers landed on the same joke Inada did, that Oda now sees the Landlord when he looks at Inada. One reply said the phrase "Oda-approved Chainsmoker Cat" reads almost too good to be fair.
What Oda Has Been Watching
NyanNyanFactory's manga is set in a world where humans and beastfolk coexist, and it follows the beastfolk who smoke and loaf their way through the day. No money, no life skills, no redeeming qualities. The series' own pitch has them throwing their manners and morals out along with their cigarette butts. At the center is Yani Neko, real name Yaniko Sato, whose days are reasonably full even if they reek of nicotine. The stories around her and the rest of the hard-to-hate deadbeat cats are fairly filthy and faintly encouraging at the same time.
Kodansha runs the manga in Weekly Young Magazine. The series reached 13 volumes in Japan in August 2026. The anime ran 12 episodes from July to September 2026 on TOKYO MX, BS11 and AT-X. Bibury Animation Studios (Azur Lane, Grisaia: Phantom Trigger) handled the animation, with Taku Kimura directing, Takashi Aoshima on series composition, Riki Matsuura on character design and Keiichi Suzuki on music. Yūko Natsuyoshi voices Yaniko, Rina Honnizumi plays Imoko, and Inada's Landlord rounds out the apartment block.
Looking Ahead
Netflix carried Chainsmoker Cat worldwide from July 2, 2026, including an uncut edit released under the name "Evil Dragon Liberation Version." An English dub arrived on July 16, 2026, with Michael Sorich as the Landlord and Rebecca Wang as Yaniko. Seven Seas Entertainment publishes the manga in English, with the first volume out in December 2025.
The anime wrapped its run on September 25, 2026, and no second season has been announced. Anime Anime's report doesn't say how far Oda's Jump comment went beyond a passing mention. That column is still the only place he has addressed the series in print. What is on the record is that the creator of the best-selling manga series of all time used a long-overdue reunion to talk about a show starring a cat who cannot quit smoking.