From Hazbin Hotel to Ena and The Amazing Digital Circus, there are many absolutely beautifully made and captivating indie animations on YouTube. But sometimes it’s the less glossy alternatives that deserve attention for completely the opposite reasons. Such is the case with one hilariously terrible indie YouTube fanime that looks, on the surface, like an anime-loving child somehow got their hands on MS-Paint and Windows Movie Maker.
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You see, Nyan~ Neko Sugar Girls is a grade-A sh-tpost created by Yoli-chan, aka SoapOpera46, on YouTube 15 years ago. It looked like trash back then, so it’s not like anyone can really say it “aged well”. In fact, it has aged pretty terribly, but it’s hard to ignore the fact that Nyan~ Neko Sugar Girls is like a time capsule of an embarrassing time period no original anime fan wants to remember. While some lament how anime has become mundanely mainstream, let’s just be thankful that the anime community has (mostly) come a long way from this.
This Anime Is So Horrible, Fans Can’t Help Loving It
A description of the show is best left to commenter @pixelpudding3914, who wrote in the YouTube comments of Episode 10: “3 close friends, the level-headed calm Koneko, the sweet, childish Raku, and pretty, flirty Hitoshi, have to battle through hurdles of betrayal, death, and sorrow. As their relationship grows, so do threats to break it, when a handsome, mysterious man claims Hitoshi as his own, as Hitoshi struggles to resist his charms. Meanwhile, Raku must push her feelings for Hitoshi further and further down.
As Koneko watches helplessly as this love triangle destroys her friendship, she finds a new side to Raku, one Raku must be prepared to fight, or else it will consume her and make her life a waking nightmare. While Koneko finds help in an all-powerful shrine maiden living a secret double life as an earnest doctor, her spells and power will only get them so far, as Hitoshi desperately wishes things can go back to the way they used be.” Nothing, however, sells the thing better than watching it:
With lots of fanart, cosplay, and fanfictions over the years, this fanime has maintained a niche cult following that’s still somehow going strong. Currently, with Episode 1 at 3 million views, it’s the most popular fanime to date. Having run between April 9th, 2010 and December 25th, 2012, SoapOpera46 released a total of 11 episodes, including a Christmas Special and Episode 1.5. Along with the intentionally shoddy animation and hilariously terrible voice acting, the series plays up a lot of stereotypical anime tropes and fanaticisms like cat girls, exaggerated proportions, and random, overemphasized broken Japanese and catchphrases.
The opening theme “TRUE ♥ LOVE” by jun ft. Schanita is from Dance Dance Revolution and the ending theme is an untitled original song by Yoli-chan. In Episode 10, the opening theme is Whitesnake’s “Is This Love”, and the ending theme is a cover of Wham!’s “Last Christmas” sung by Koneko-chan. Although Yoli-chan is known as the series creator and animator and possibly some voice acting (most likely for at least Raku-chan), the actual cast of voice actors is unknown. While Yoli-chan demonstrates a purposefully terrible product, perhaps this creator has more animation and illustration talent hidden behind the scenes than they let on… Or not. We may never know.
On April 9th, 2023 via DeviantArt, Yoli-chan (Nyanyandesu) stated consent for fans to use the show in whatever way they’d like, no permissions needed. Thank you, Yoli-chan. Whether via pop-cultural slideshow presentations, going door-to-door, internet articles, or sharing with anime fan clubs, perhaps fans new and old can continue to support the SoapOpera46 channel and spread the good word of Nyan~ Neko Sugar Girls.
Are you a longtime stan of Nyan~ Neko Sugar Girls? Let us know in the comments and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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Image courtesy of 2th Century Studios
