For those who may find this surprising, series creator Sayori has revealed that the world of Nekopara has always been set in a near-future science fiction universe, fundamentally a fully AI-controlled dystopia.
This disclosure arrives with the launch of Nekopara Sekai Connect (often abbreviated as NekoConne), a new mobile and PC game that extends the narrative beyond the original titles. While previous installments primarily centered on romantic, everyday-life interactions, NekoConne delves into the broader consequences of the series’ world-building, an aspect that longtime enthusiasts had only caught glimpses of in pieces.
“From the outset, the world of Nekopara was conceived as near-future sci-fi. However, since we believed that audiences would enjoy it more if we emphasized the romance with the girls, we didn’t delve deeply into the world-building,” Sayori clarified in an interview with DengekiOnline. She also plans to utilize this specific mobile game to address fan inquiries about the world, leveraging the “flexibility and long-term nature of the live-service format.”
Sayori also explained her reasoning behind choosing AI as a central theme. “I believe many are curious about the notion that ‘cats were created by AI,’ but from the very beginning, the original setting already portrayed them as beings artificially crafted by a major corporation. When we explored how they would realistically be created, we determined that employing AI made the story more cohesive.”
This choice directly connects to NekoConne’s wider setting, a society ruled by advanced AI systems. Sayori described it as a “perfectly calculated” world under a “singularity × dystopia” framework, where human autonomy is greatly reduced. “Most humans wouldn’t be able to oppose it,” she noted, explaining that in such a setting, “as long as you don’t overthink, it’s easy to live a happy life.” Nevertheless, throughout the story, the protagonists will need to challenge the AI-run world and uncover “what true happiness means for themselves”.
Regarding the remake project of the original Nekopara visual novel series, the Nekopara Love Project, the director stated that it will incorporate new episodes exploring the backgrounds of characters like Chocola and Vanilla, and that the original game was merely a “prologue” to the entire series, designed to build anticipation for NekoConne. All illustrations were also redone so the remake wouldn’t feel disconnected from NekoConne.
With over 100 characters planned and ongoing content updates, as well as allowing players to romance all the catgirls, NekoConne aims, in the creator’s words, to achieve world domination through cuteness, or Cute Domination!
Nekopara Sekai Connect (NekoConne) is now available for Android and iOS. It supports both Japanese and English languages. The game is also set to arrive on Steam this fall.
Mido