With patience, sometimes we get what we wish for. I first encountered Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou in a pirated, scanlated online version back in 2009. I’d only been reading manga for a handful of years at that point, diving in as an escape from superheroes and maudlin autobio — it was give up comics, or find a new enthusiasm. Manga meant more genres, and books featuring young women, and more approaches to storytelling, such as this one. The series, a pastoral […]

In Hitsuzi Yamada’s The Masterful Cat Is Depressed Again, Today volume 5, the cat Yukichi meets Saku’s parents! Which is kind of appropriate, as he’s the perfect boyfriend, except for the whole being-a-human-sized-cat thing. It’s New Year’s, and the parents have pulled out the guilt stops to get Saku to come visit, when all she wanted was a quiet holiday at home. That means plenty of favorite plot points, from a road trip to meeting former classmates to a shrine […]

It’s usually around the third volume that I start wondering if a series has legs. The idea behind Cat Massage Therapy by Haru Hisakawa is pretty simple, after all: having cats walk or sleep on you is relaxing. Could this concept support three books? Yes, it turns out. Cat Massage Therapy volume 3 was a pleasure to read, a relaxing escape. The second book introduced some new “cast members” (cats), so this one just lets them do their things. I […]