An alien cat sent to seize Earth’s catnip supply gets sidetracked by a cozy couch and a steady diet of canned tuna in “Operation Maomao,” an animated sci-fi comedy series from Shaogao creator Jonathan Yu that is at the Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) in Taipei.
The planned 26-episode series, with seven-minute installments, follows Agent 19 of the Meowtocracy, shipped out from a home world running short on catnip. He comes armed with top-tier training, a body built for battle and a boss who checks on him each Tuesday. Then a human finds him on the street, names him Maomao and keeps him stocked with catnip and tuna.
Two years on, the invasion is just 5% complete and his boss is livid. Agent 19 now has to work out whether he is still the one doing the conquering.
The idea came from Yu’s wife’s cat, 19, whom he met when he met her.
“I had never lived with a cat before, and so much of what he did felt completely foreign to me (ten years later, I still don’t understand most of it): staring at the wall, knocking things off tables, sprinting around the house at 3 a.m.,” Yu says. “I started to wonder, what if there’s a reason for all of it? What if he’s planning something? What if he’s planning to take over the world? That’s how 19 became Agent 19.”
Yu was born in Taiwan and moved to Canada at age 10. Questions of identity and belonging shaped his childhood and were part of the reason he launched Shaogao, an animation brand, in 2017. Maomao is a character from the wider Shaogao Universe.
“On the surface, ‘Operation Maomao’ is a comedy about an alien cat sent to conquer Earth for catnip. Underneath, it’s an immigration story: Maomao arrives with one set of instructions from home, slowly falls in love with his new life, and has to figure out who he is when he belongs to both worlds,” Yu says.
The show is in development. Season 1 is outlined, the characters and setting have been designed and a trailer is finished. Shaogao’s 1.8 million followers and its existing merchandise give the characters a built-in fan base. Yu and his team are also developing “The Shaogao Show,” which shares the same fictional world, and he says close viewers of “Operation Maomao” may spot clues to a larger story.
Producer Terris Ko first came across Shaogao on YouTube and was struck by how sharp and widely relatable its humor was. Ko and Yu, along with third producing partner Mike Huang, began to see the potential for an animated universe that could connect with viewers worldwide.
“We see ‘Operation Maomao’ as the first introduction to a much bigger world of characters, stories, and adventures that we’re excited to bring to life,” Ko says.
At TCCF, the producers want to meet potential creative partners and co-producers, investors willing to fund the show from development through production, and companies that handle licensing and distribution. “Just as importantly, we want to build relationships with partners who share our vision for the property and can help us develop its potential into a truly global animated franchise,” Ko says.
The Taiwan Creative Content Fest, organized by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), runs Nov. 6–9 at the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center.