This one gets you with the punchline before the plot: the last heir of a demon-slayer bloodline is allergic to cats, and the bakeneko sworn to protect him won't stop draping herself over him. Himari drawing Yasutsuna in full kimono, cat ears out, is the shot the whole show is built around, and it earns it more often than the genre deserves. The early episodes track the manga closely enough that the Ayakashi hunting Amakawa blood actually feels like a threat before the harem paperwork arrives: Rinko fuming as the childhood friend who was there first, Kuesu strolling in with a marriage contract, Shizuku the water deity, Lizlet the teacup made flesh. Nobody's pretending the stakes hold up. The fanservice is the engine and the plot is a passenger. But if you liked Kanokon or Nyan Koi and wanted the sword fights to actually land, Himari's steel is sharper than her rivals'.

Yuuto Amakawa has lived an ordinary life since his parents died, with his childhood friend and neighbor Rinko looking after him. On his sixteenth birthday, the good luck charm his grandparents gave him can no longer shield him from evil spirits, and an Ayakashi attacks him. Himari, a sword-wielding cat spirit, rescues him and swears to protect him. She's beautiful and absolutely will not leave his side, which is awkward, since Yuuto is badly allergic to cats. The real problem is that Yuuto comes from a family of demon slayers, so Ayakashi want revenge on him for his ancestors' deeds. Water deities and more demons soon turn up, along with a growing number of women at his door, in an ecchi fantasy that mixes action, comedy and romance.