More than a month after Chainsmoker Cat ended its first season, Netflix and Bibury Animation Studios have not confirmed a second. That silence is not unusual for anime, but the show is now a useful test of how a title gets valued when the global chart never lights up.
Netflix only publishes weekly global hours for titles that enter its Top 10. Chainsmoker Cat did not, so there are no public streaming hours to measure. What exists instead is a set of country-level chart placements—and they tell a different story.
Regional charts, not global hours
The series reached the Netflix country Top 10 in 14 markets. Its strongest finishes were in Japan and Hong Kong at #3. Taiwan and Estonia both reached #5, Vietnam and Lithuania #6, South Korea #8, and Latvia #9. Indonesia, Bulgaria and Malaysia all peaked at #9 or #10, while the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand landed at #10.
For a niche anime, this is the difference between a global miss and a regional success. A title can be invisible on the worldwide list and still sit at #3 in a high-value market like Japan.
Japan’s viewing was split from the start
Domestic viewership was fragmented across a simultaneous TV rollout on Tokyo MX, BS11 (censored) and AT-X (uncensored). That means Netflix-only rankings understate the Japanese audience before anyone looks at regional charts. Media planners who treat a single platform’s chart as the full commercial footprint would miss that.
Manga demand is the harder signal
Kodansha said the adaptation sparked an “overwhelming response” and warned that stocks of the original Yani Neko manga are “running low.” That is a purchase signal, not just online chatter. Source-material sales are one of the clearest early indicators for anime renewals.
The anime has adapted roughly 146 of 419 published chapters, or 34.84%—about one-third of the source. The adaptation shuffles chapters rather than following a strict 1:1 order, so there is no shortage of material for a second season.
What happens next
The Blu-ray release is set for February 24, 2027. Disc sales now matter less in anime economics than they once did, but for a series without global hours, the Blu-ray window becomes another spending signal. A renewal decision could realistically slip to Spring 2027.
Read the data behind the chart
The takeaway for entertainment marketers is not whether this specific show should return. It is that a missing global Top 10 entry can hide real regional and merchandise demand. When streaming hours are absent, country charts, source-material sales and ancillary release dates are the data that remain.
Source: What’s on Netflix
