The Most Powerful Cat-God Maru

The internet is well known for taking ordinary animals and making them into celebrities. Almost everyone's seen the Sneezing Baby Panda or the Otters Holding Hands, and the earlier LOLCats are easily recognized on every major site. There are hundreds of YouTube spinoffs featuring Keyboard Cat and Dramatic Chipmunk (Who is, in fact, a prairie dog).

One of the more popular YouTube celebrites is Maru, a male Scottish Fold cat living in Japan. There's nothing extraordinary about Maru - he doesn't ride a skateboard or surf or play the piano. His owner tapes him simply being a cat, playing with cat toys and climbing on furniture and jumping into boxes (his signature move). His adorable-ness overpowers viewers however, and captures the hearts of every cat owner who ever had a cat (much like Simon's Cat).

I'd heard about Maru years ago, but didn't actually subscribe to his YouTube page until last summer. I'm sure not everyone will understand why Maru is so fun to watch but he is. Maru the Cat is adorable, and he acts like any other adorable, friendly cat you know. His owner never shows herself on camera, or even talks (I believe we see her hand occasionally), so the videos really focus on Maru and his normal, day-to-day life.

Maru's YouTube channel has over 109k subscribers, and is the 9th most subscribed-to channel in Japan. There's generally three updates a month, with more on his personal blog (which is mostly in Japanese - all the video descriptions and titles are in Japanese as well, with simple English added for international viewers). After the Japan Earthquakes, Maru's owner received thousands of messages and emails, asking to make sure she and Maru were safe. He's been talked about in famous newspapers around the globe, and Rather Good Stuff referred to Maru as the most powerful Cat-god in their highly scientific, informative video, 'The Internet is Made of Cats'.

Maru's adorable-ness can only be threatened by Nora, the piano-playing cat. Why cats are becoming so prominent on the internet baffles me. I'm a cat person, I own a cat, and I've always owned cats and imagine I always will, but I figured most people were dog people who weren't particularly fond of cats. What would inspire these people, who I imagine make up the majority of internet users, subscribe to cat videos and sent them around to their friends? Am I wrong, and cat people really are the 'silent majority'?

Either way, I hope Maru's owner continues to upload these videos for a long time. A little bit of happiness where everyone can see it goes a long way to making the world a better place.