BuzzFeed Animals is thrilled to bring you an exclusive interview with the greatest cat of all time. (No, not Garfield. For God's sake, what do you think this is, 1989?)
Like most geniuses, Maru the cat is both captivating and inscrutable. When I caught up with him through his longtime handler, Mugumogu, he was not exactly in an expansive mood—as Mugumogu points out in her Review Of My Cat for Maru, "Maru doesn't welcome the guests at all. He never tries to gain favor. He is a very cool cat, and he goes his own way"—but he was willing to give me a number of truly fascinating insights into his life, his loves (both for tasty meals and for cardboard boxes), and the sources from which he draws inspiration for the videos that have lit up the online Catosphere and captivated the world since 2008.
What follows is my interview with Maru, generously provided by Mugumogu herself and translated from the Japanese by Aya Hibino (thank you, Aya!). An all-too-brief encounter with one of the greatest cat-video artists since the invention of the form in the late 19th century.
BuzzFeed: What inspires you most?
Maru: I'm inspired by tasty meals! I love tuna and white chicken meat.
BuzzFeed: Interesting. I'm sure that many of your feline fans also enjoy cat food. Is there any other famous cat whose work you admire?
Maru: I admire The Garfield. Sometimes people tell me that I am like him. I have noticed that he always eats lasagna, which is yummy.
