Cat+Gamer Volume 4

Just when I was getting a little bored with “everyday life with a cat” stories — which is why I reviewed volume 1 and volume 2 but not volume 3 — the author, Wataru Nadatani, shakes things up in Cat+Gamer volume 4 by introducing a second cat! This shouldn’t be a spoiler, since that’s the kitty on the cover.

Cat owner Riko has befriended the woman from the pet store, who mentions how lots of people have two cats, as shown below. I also wanted to include these panels because Musubi looks so cute, still kitten-like, held up that way.

Riko takes finding a compatible cat as “building their gaming party”, as she translates everything into gaming metaphors. She visits an adoption fair, where she finds a girl cat who’s part Munchkin, which is a very short-legged breed. After several pages of calling the cat “broken” — which sat a bit oddly with me — the adorable new family member comes home.

The process of introducing the two allows for a bunch more gaming talk as well as some active cartooning. The two size each other up and race around the home, demonstrating their different personalities and behaviors. My favorite moment was when they engage in a kind of slap fight, but the chapter where they fight over the bed and the food was really cute, too. There’s also a nicely done silent chapter that simply follows the cats through their day while Riko is at work.

I continue to enjoy the follow-up pages (called “Bonus Stage”) which shows the events of the previous chapter from the cat’s perspective. One or two pages are just the right length for that. (And I just noticed that the + in the title logo is a controller keypad! Neat!)

I’m looking forward to more adventures with Musubi and Soboro in future volumes.