Review by Frank Plowright

For all her concerns about money earlier in the series, Riko now seems to have enough to indulge in luxuries like an automatic cat food dispenser with timer and a recording of the owner’s voice. As of Cat + Gamer 4 there are two cats in the household also. Perhaps Riko’s choosing to spend her disposable income on cat products rather than games, as most of the previous volume lacked gameplay, but the idea is restored for this selection.

On one occasion when Riko goes online to play there’s no-one else matching her game. The result of that is her improvising a game for the cats by filming Musubi and Soboro jumping up at feathers attached to a cord and filming them. That the resulting footage goes viral on social media is surely self-referential on author Watanu Nadatani’s part. She knows her audience for Cat + Gamer, in fact probably is her audience, and gives them what they want.

Cat lovers are going to be immediately captivated by another nine chapters of cat worship. It might be self-indulgent, but Nadatani’s art is again stunning. Her cats in motion are lively and playful, and there’s a delicacy to her linework. When games appear Nadatani can step away from her naturalism and proves a capable cartoonist.

Having two cats in the household introduces the idea of conversations between them, and the smart concept of their versions of games, such as rolling the toilet roll from the holder and shredding the paper. The best chapter concerns Riko celebrating the twentieth anniversary of a game release by getting in luxury goods for herself and the cats and preparing for a night with the newest release in the series. The pay-off is well conceived, and nuanced as readers can identify when Riko was given the original game.

As ever, cat lovers are going to get whole lot more from the series, but that art is really excellent. On to Cat + Gamer 6.