I thought I took a cute picture...! A collection of cat photo fails that seem to scream "don't show anyone!"

It's a common cat owner habit to snap a burst of photos of your beloved cat with your smartphone camera, hoping to capture a cute moment. Sometimes, when looking back through the photo folder, you might stumble upon a cat picture that makes you burst out laughing alone, thinking, "Why that expression?!"

This time, I'm sharing some of the "NG photos" (unflattering photos) of my cats that I've accumulated. Dear cats, please forgive me for exposing you here.

Jiji, the calico cat with a hundred faces

The one who shows us the most outrageous expressions in our house is Jiji, the calico cat. Normally, she's rather cool, but when I point the camera at her, it's as if a switch flips, and she shows us so many expressions that make me want to retort, "Why that face?!"

For example, when she was grooming my finger, she inexplicably made an ecstatic face. I wonder if my finger secretes some kind of special essence.

If it were catnip essence, all the cats in the world would be madly in love with me... I can't help but wish for such a thing.

While she shows such enraptured expressions, Jiji's cuteness also lies in becoming a sharp-eyed "evil cat" at the most unexpected times.

When I point my phone camera at her, saying, "Let's take a picture together," the first shot always looks like this...

Is she trying to strike a cool pose? Or does she simply dislike taking pictures with me? Only Jiji-sama knows the truth.

Jiji's many faces always make me chuckle, but the expression that made me laugh the most was this one, like an old grandpa (even though she's female).

Jiji: "Fuuu-aah~ I slept well. My servant, isn't it time for food yet?"

Me: "Jiji-san, you just ate."

...Such an exchange plays out in my mind, and I can't help but smirk to myself.

Reon, the male cat with weird expressions and behavior

Reon, the tabby cat, shows as many comical expressions as Jiji. Reon likes to sit on the reclining chair and stare at my head. (What's so fun about that?)

I wonder what kind of expression he makes while looking at my head. Maybe he's so much in love with me that he gets lost in thought just by looking at my head...! How cute can he be?! ...Thinking this, I once asked my husband, "Hey! Take a picture of Reon's face right now!"

Then, a shocking truth emerged... Eh... he's really disgusted...

Reon stares at my head from above with a somewhat cold expression.

It looks as if he's asserting, "Remember this well. I'm superior to you," and it made me feel a little sad.

Also, perhaps because Reon likes to nibble on my hair, he sometimes gazes intently at the ends of my hair, lost in thought.

It's as if he's thinking, "How is hair made, and why does it have this shape and thickness...?" and I found myself answering, "I don't know either," even though he didn't ask. His expressions and gestures are so human-like that I can't help but dub over them.

Reon has the potential to become human. He can stand on two legs, and sometimes he even looks like he could run off right then and there.

And if something displeases him, he even takes a stance as if to say, "I'll hit you with a deadly cat punch!" and confronts it head-on.

In fact, he can even fly. This is top secret, though.

猫も空を飛ぶ時代。#これを見たやつは飛んでる画像を挙げろ pic.twitter.com/uhq9V1LSU2

— ゆあ ｜ ライター🖊 (@yunc24291) December 21, 2023

So, whenever a guest says, "This cat is so beautiful," I secretly chuckle to myself, thinking, "Hehehe, everyone would be surprised if they knew his true nature."

If Reon were human, he'd probably be the type of person people would say, "You're beautiful when you're still..."

Perhaps someday, in this essay, I might even write stories like "Reon finally became human!" or "My tabby cat went shopping by himself."

The amazing Kotaro, always handsome

Unlike the two who constantly produce NG photos and unique poses, Kotaro, the brown tabby, is handsome in every moment captured. (Although he does have a secret zipper on his belly.)

Kotaro is handsome in personality too. When Reon asks for a grooming with a "Lick me~," Kotaro puts his arm around him and licks. The first time I saw this, I was genuinely surprised, thinking, "Cats put their arms around each other too...!"

Since Kotaro has never had an unflattering photo taken casually, I once got motivated and thought, "I'm going to capture a funny face from him somehow!"

I aimed for the licking moment, when cats are most likely to make funny faces. I held up my smartphone and took a burst of photos, thinking I'd capture a comical, enraptured face like Jiji's when she licks my finger or hand. But Kotaro is amazing.

Every photo is cool, and he's handsome even from this angle.

At this point, I couldn't lose either (?), so I decided to try and catch Kotaro off guard while he was asleep, as that's when he'd surely let his guard down. But again, he's amazing. This guy's sleeping face is perfect too.

Look. This precious expression, a fusion of innocence and coolness. I guess he's the type of celebrity who looks perfect no matter what he does.

My three beloved cats each show different expressions and behaviors. I want to cherish the time we share, laughing together while adoring both the NG photos and the OK photos that are recorded daily in my data folder.