What's Michael? (TV)

What’s Michael? is an obscure and elusive TV anime from 1988, a joint venture by Daume anime studio and the French-American DIC Entertainment, both of which are now defunct. Nowadays, the series is approaching lost media status, probably most commonly found as a bundle of boxed-up VHS tapes forgotten in the attics of elderly Japanese people or those involved with production. With this being the case, how can it possibly be worth seeking out episodes of an old 80s anime about the exploits of a cat named Michael who can’t even talk? Most will know if it’s worth the trouble after witnessing only a few short, unhinged skits, which this show is entirely composed of. With humor that ranges from slapstick to absurdist and from the arcane to the conventional, this anime is an all-inclusive mashup of various comedy forms, capable of appealing to almost anyone. There are parodies galore here: Tiger Mask, Godzilla, Sherlock Holmes, Dracula, classic Japanese folk tales, and, as sure as the sun will rise, The Fugitive. Yeah, that’s right: The Fugitive. The 1963 American TV drama, and the later film adaptation starring Harrison Ford as the eponymous fugitive, Richard Kimble. It may very well be that What’s Michael? harbors a “watch order” the likes of which makes the Fate series and Mobile Suit Gundam seem trivial. The structure, or maybe the lack of one, is a huge part of the fun of this show. Michael casually goes from a womanizer, to a sumo wrestler, to Richard Kimble’s nemesis, and then to whatever the next skit requires. Leveraging this rapid-fire skit format allows it to get away with basically anything; it changes genres with the same volatility typical of tweakers in gas station parking lots. For example, entire cat-based retellings of Cinderella, or intermittent skits of Michael assuming the visage of the King of Pop himself and dancing like a maniac. There’s even a random 80s dance number with real actors comically greenscreened in! Indeed, What’s Michael? is straight up fucking insane, a colorfully demented trance flitting from one absolutely feral skit to the next in what’s essentially anime Robot Chicken. What is there to really say about the characters? Other than Michael, the rest are pretty much throwaways, only there to answer the beck and call of the endless skit onslaught. Even his bumbling owners, a married couple, are both totally one-note despite constant screentime. Michael himself doesn’t have much of a character arc. It’s hardly even a flat arc, as he is literally just a cat. Some skits do depict him as having higher intelligence and even being able to speak, like when he’s Business Man Michael or Detective Michael, but these are uncommon and never of any permanent consequence. The true face of Michael is that of an avatar of chaos befitting his feline form, driven purely by momentary whims and bestial instinct. His purpose is to inadvertently inflict trauma on those unlucky enough to find themselves within his destructive domain. Silent though he may stand, his aura does all the talking for him. What’s Michael? casually depicts animal violence on a regular basis, and potential viewers should keep that in mind even if it’s always for comedic effect. Michael’s owners bitch slap him on the regular for any and all slights or when he destroys their household items, usually sending him flying across the room and scurrying away. The visuals aren’t spectacular, nor are they expected to be in a purely comedy-driven anime like this, but they’re also never really bad enough to warrant complaint. The show has mostly aged well, and some episodes even benefit from some extra juice to the animation budget. However, certain aspects definitely do stand out and are worth noting. What’s Michael? might be almost lost to time, but that certainly isn’t due to its animation quality. It is consistently colorful, and the way that Michael’s expressions and mannerisms are conveyed feel impressively genuine. He reacts to being scolded like real cats do, with his body language even communicating that specific awkward tension that cat owners will absolutely recognize. There’s very little in the way of an original soundtrack for this anime, but the few tracks that do appear are at least fairly memorable. Gentle and sentimental music for pastel sunset skies after a long day of shenanigans. Discordant cowbell percussion when Michael is up to no good, or a quick series of chromatic notes to signify urgency when he’s running for his ninth life. City pop during moments of triumph and badassery. The music also somehow enlists enough variety to keep up with the infinite motley of disparate skits, and many episodes end with intentionally goofy sounding tracks; it’s as if the music itself is communicating that no matter what kind of fear or violence Michael must endure, it is all in jest at the end of the day. In retrospect, What’s Michael? is a time capsule of experimental comedy with no boundaries, an unusual and inimitable anime beholden to no rules. A bizarre, but unbelievably charming east-meets-west 80s artifact that appropriately transcends all language barriers. It begs the question: What IS Michael? He is simply a blank canvas for the ideas of the creative staff, a limitless engine for comedic expression punctuated by absurdity and debauchery. It’s just a kids’ anime on the surface, but it's also easy to see that the staff had the time of their lives making it, getting to revisit their own youth in the process. It’s a wily, rambunctious joy of a time, and those who like slapstick and absurdist humor are likely to find the show more than worth their while. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but to Michael, it’s just business as usual.