I wasn’t quite sure I’d continue with this series, but glad I did! It got better- might just be that I knew what to expect, but I do think the narrative ran smoother in this one. Not that there’s much plot to speak of- it’s day-to-day life of a cat (that used to be a human boy) with a little bit of his quest thrown in. Really, he seems to forget about it most of the time, and not make much progress at all when he does focus on how to get back into his human body. The re-hash of how it happened continues to show up at the front of every little chapter, which is tiresome, but it also got briefer, so I skipped over those bits.
Nyao continues to struggle adjusting to being a cat. He sometimes forgets and takes human poses, which shocks Chika, but then she just thinks he’s being cute and takes pics with her phone. He’s baffled by the behavior of some neighborhood cats he meets outside, and upset when he gets mistaken for one of them (both tabbies). He gets fleas, and has to deal with the treatment. Chika has to go away for a few days, so leaves him with a friend, who actually likes cats but creeps him out with constant, intense staring. Chika in turn cat-sits someone else’s kitten, and the little one beats up Nyao! (What’s with this?) Nyao is so relieved when the kitten goes home. Nyao misses human food, and relaxing baths- he tries to take a human-style shower as a cat, which don’t work out! He doesn’t know what to do with some cat toys, and is surprised at the trouble his tail can get into. Spends time searching for small cozy spots, high perches to observe from, and ways to help out Chika- repaying her kindness. But his efforts usually end in a mess (amusing). He sometimes attempts to communicate with Chika via gestures and things, but she just always thinks he’s being cute, which is exasperating in an endearing way. When Chika gets sick and has no medicine in the house, he makes another gallant effort to help her- this time with some results, though not the one he expected!
At the end I really though we were getting closer to finding out why Chika lives alone, as the cat wondered that himself, but then the last few pages turned out to be extra material (including drawings by younger fans of this manga, which was pretty cute). So I’ll keep reading.
Borrowed from the public library.
