Would see anything animated and also anything where music is heavily prominent. Being a huge lifelong fan of animation and growing up in a musical family where music was a big influence in my life, both getting me (past and especially present at the moment) through difficult times. There was a touch of apprehension too as there are so many music themed cartoons out there, so fatigue was a worry, and whether 'Katnip Kollege' would be too saccharine.
'Katnip Kollege' may not be my definition of a great cartoon, but it succeeded at being well made and entertaining and, while having learnt some time ago to not take ratings here to heart for maturity sake, it does deserve a higher rating here and to be better known. There are much better music-heavy relatively plotless cartoons out there (this is more like a music revue), but didn't watch 'Katnip College' to make any comparisons to anything similar and dismiss it as that is not being fair to it. On its own terms it achieves its aims and that's what one can ask for.
Sure, 'Katnip Kollege' is predictable and doesn't break new ground, though the energy it has stopped it from getting fatigued. Story-wise, not unexpectedly, it is very weak being paper thin to the point of being plotless.
Occasionally it is a little too cute, particularly at the end, but really other than the story there is not an awful lot that is wrong with 'Katnip College'.
The animation is great, it is simple, especially in the character designs which just about avoid being too simplistic, but very colourful with a lot of nice meticulous detail in the backgrounds. Although the story is pretty much non-existent, what is not non-existent is 'Katnip Kollege's' energy, it is never a dull cartoon, mostly avoids sappiness and never really gets too corny.
If there is anything also that 'Katnip Kollege' also excels at brilliantly is how good it makes you feel, if you watched it after a hard day it's guaranteed you'll have a smile on your face after. It certainly did with me, and boy was it needed. While there are never any hilarious moments, there are humorous ones and ones that are well timed and raise a smile at least. The characters are engaging at least, Johnny and his situation are very relatable to anyone who's been there and Miss Kitty Bright has allure and charm. Their chemistry is very sweet.
Voice acting and the singing are also very strong. Especially from Johnnie Davis, it's refreshing to not have Mel Blanc doing the voices as a one-man show (coming from somebody who just adores Blanc, but it's nice to have something different from this time once in a while). The best component though is the music which is outstanding in every sense, anything who likes swing music will have a ball. Seeing as that was pretty much the most crucial element to work, that it did and so well is enough to award the cartoon at least 3 or so points regardless of how the other components fared.
A good thing that most of the other components also fare just as well, the only really weak element is the story, which makes 'Katnip Kollege' a more than worthwhile cartoon providing you like the swing style of music and this type of cartoon. 8/10
