The Pervert Prince and the Stony Cat (the word 'Warawanai' literally translates as 'unlaughing' but the official translation is 'Stony') was a show that grabbed me in the first episode, I watched two episodes and I was stunned at how good the core concept was. A fairly standard 16 year old boy with only slightly less control over his libido than is healthy realizes that he's made a habit of lying, putting on a facade ("tatemae" is the Japanese word, a complex term that is usually read "face" but doesn't translate well). A friend of his informs him that there's a cat statue that, if you offer something you don't need, will grant you a wish. So the boy goes to ask the statue help him be more honest. When he gets there, he meets a young girl who has also come to make a wish, to help her act more grown-up. Wishes being what they are in every form of fiction ever, things don't quite go as planned: the boy loses his ability lie or even internal monologue, and the girl becomes unable to express emotions. To add further confusion: another girl gains the boy's facade, but becomes incapable of telling the truth, much like he had been.
This set up is a) very funny, and b) absolutely ripe for a fascinating discussion of the concept of deliberate deception for the sake of social graces, the idea of privacy, the benefits of being unable to lie and the difficulty of living when you are completely unable to show expressions with your face. The main character comments during the second episode, "We're all broken... none of us are really able to be ourselves." I thought that was a genius place to start a story, there was a lot of room to work there. The first two episodes really got my hopes up.
Tragically, the flaws don't remain throughout the series, some of them get fixed, and so the series goes on to have the cat statue (and the god that grants its power) basically rain havoc on the characters' lives whenever they so much as dare to make a wish. Later, we even bring in another character to make wishes to confuse the issue further. The execution and animation are functional but the real damning factor is the noncommittal writing.
Henneko is not bad. The first three episodes are pure genius and I will watch them several times, very likely, and the ending is actually heartful and sweet. The entire middle section, like 7 episodes, is a mess. If you want to see a half-hearted twist on the Emotionless Girl, or just want to watch a cute romantic comedy with a couple handfuls of substance, go ahead, Henneko is pretty fun. But it doesn't live up to the genius of its initial arc, nor does it really have much to offer the diligent viewer.
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