It sneaks history into you while you're laughing at a cat. Three seasons deep, the joke has not curdled: Himiko, Oda Nobunaga and Sakamoto Ryoma still get rendered as round, deadpan cats, and the gag lands because the show plays the textbook facts absolutely straight while the animation refuses to. Thirty-two bite-sized episodes means you can inhale a century of Japan in the time it takes your ramen to cool, which is exactly the wrong and right way to study. There is no arc to agonize over, no emotional gut punch waiting in episode 20, just history reduced to its silliest possible shape and delivered with total confidence. Fans who stuck around from the first season know the rhythm by now: setup, historical detail, cat does something stupid, you accidentally remember the date forever.

Japanese history gets another dose of feline chaos in this third season. Once again, the show reimagines famous figures from Japan's past as cats, from rulers and warlords to samurai. Rather than serious biographical drama, expect comedy built on the absurdity of cat behavior colliding with history: these cats do as they please, lose interest quickly, love a good nap and a claw sharpening, and shy away from water and loud noises, yet burst with energy once something excites them. The juxtaposition between grave historical importance and petty cat logic creates the series' core appeal. The short episodes keep things quick and light, and the fun lands best for viewers who recognize the historical figures being parodied.