Ici Radio-Canada, the French CBC, is no stranger to anime, having aired the likes of Captain Harlock as recently as 2008, but that was a play on 80s Québécois nostalgia that resulted in little else. The channel has picked up its first new anime series in years and it’s Madhouse’s 2008 anime adaptation of Kanata Konami’s Chi’s Sweet Home manga series. The series premiered on Monday and runs weekdays at 8:50AM following Zigby.

The original series ran for 104 three minute shorts before being followed up with an additional 104 episodes in Chi’s Sweet Home: New Address in 2009. France’s Toon Factory dubbed the series under the name Chi, une vie de chat (Chi, the life of a cat), for a broadcast on Piwi+ that started in September 2014. This is the version of the show airing on Radio-Canada.

Discotek, who published sub-only DVDs of the entire series last year, sums it up as:

Lost and lonely, separated from her mother and siblings, a newborn kitten named Chi cries in a park. What she thinks must be the end, however, turns out to be a brand new adventure, as the Yamada family rescues Chi and gives her a new home. Or that’s what would happen, if the Yamada’s landlady let them keep pets! As the Yamadas look for a new owner for Chi, they have to keep her hidden from view. No small task when the mischievous young kitten doesn’t intend to sit still! Every day is something new for Chi, and while getting forced into baths and visits to the vet never sit well with her, she has lots to look forward to, with new things to explore, and new friends to meet!

There’s one notable distinction between Radio-Canada and Piwi+’s run: Radio-Canada is presenting Chi’s Sweet Home in its original 3 minute format, where as the broadcast in France coupled a few episodes together to run for 10-12 minutes.

If you’ve missed the episodes aired so far, you can watch them on CBC’s website or their streaming portal.

Update: Turns out Radio-Canada announced the show in their children’s programming fall preview. In addition to the weekday showing, you can catch Chi’s Sweet Home on Sundays at 6:12 and 7:12AM.

Thanks go to Ryan V. and Greg for pointing this out!

Speaking of Harlock, did you know there was a Canada-specific home video release of Shinji Aramaki’s 2013 CG animated film? Neither did I. Unidisc, the company that purchased the assets of defunct sometimes anime distributor Imavision (who had previously released French language DVDs of the Harlock anime for Quebec), put out the movie in February 2015.

While it’s cool that Canada got its own release of the film, it’s a barebones product containing only the French and English dub. If you want the Japanese audio track or any bonus features, you’re better off buying the slightly more expensive US release that launched earlier this year. Well, unless you want the French dub too, because then you’d have to buy both. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Or you could watch it on Netflix and come to the same conclusion I did: this movie isn’t worth owning.

If you happen to be a long time anime fan that remembers watching French dubs of shows on Quebec TV in the 80s (maybe even earlier) reach out to the Zannen podcast for a future episode themed around anime in French Canada.