Review by Frank Plowright
Cat + Gamer 1 introduced Riko Kozakura, who couldn’t leave her office quickly enough each night to log on to her gaming activities. Altogether randomly, though, she adopted a stray kitten, and is gradually learning to adapt to Musubi’s needs, much of which she sees in gaming terms.
In her brief afterword Wataru Nadatani notes every page is filled with love for her cat, and as pictured that cat resembles the way she draws Musubi. It’s a true enough statement, and any cat lover who was charmed by Musubi over the first volume won’t need much encouragement to pick up more of the same over these ten chapters. The covers tell the story, and will do enough to dissuade potential readers not besotted by cats. Those people are thoroughly excluded from a world where people think it’s sweet to create social media posts as if delivering messages from their pets.
It’s that indulgence prompting the cliffhanger ending last time of Riko in danger of being discovered as Musubi’s owner when a co-worker notices a company envelope in the background of one picture. The opening chapter here notes only two departments use that colour of envelope, so the blog’s author has to be someone in accounting or distribution. Seeing as half the office witnessed Riko adopting Musubi in the first place, her co-worker’s deductive skills aren’t as bright as they first seem.
The worlds of gaming and cat loving merge at their fullest in the chapter where Riko downloads a program that sends a cartoon mouse running across her computer screen. It enables her and Musubi to play at seeing who’s the first to touch the screen and stop it.
Most of Cat + Gamer is delivered by Nadatani as neat cartoon realism, but the sample art shows her approach can morph when a different style is more appropriate. She also draws more comedic cartoon variations for the single page bonus strips after each chapter, but in any form this is an excellently drawn series. Being able to convey a playful cat in several moods and without any concerns about poise and dignity is tricky, but to do it in a realistic style is very difficult, and Nadatani pulls this off on page after page.
There’s definite targetting toward an audience, and the feeling is that audience not being greatly demanding, charm and beauty being enough, but Nadatani does occasionally move beyond. One example concerns Riko’s sister Mai coming to visit. The difference between Mai’s online portrayal and reality is highlighted, and the stresses of maintaining an online personality are mentioned in passing.
The conceit of Cat + Gamer is the connections Riko makes between games and Musubi’s progress, and these are best explored when she realises Musubi has grown, and what were once safe areas beyond his reach are now in play. Via Riko’s frequent visits to the pet store, Nadatani also supplies advice about owning a cat as dispensed by owner Obayashi. It’s all new to Riko, but may be worthwhile to readers also.
You’ll know if you’re among the target audience for Cat + Gamer, and if so you’ll again have full value here, with a cuteness overload occupying the final chapter. Want more of the same? Pick up Cat + Gamer 3.
