Review by Frank Plowright

For a couple of volumes the gaming aspect of Cat + Gamer was diminished, but it’s been back for a while. Without intimate knowledge of the gaming world it’s difficult to know if the games Riko plays are Watanu Nadatani pastiching actual games or creating generic types to suit her stories. Discovery is perhaps an extra treat for cat lovers who also love their gaming.

After ten stories in Cat + Gamer 6, this volume features eleven, indicating Nadatani creating shorter tales for the original serialisation. You can look at this two ways. Either it’s just the same amount of cute cat pictures, but extra plots, or it’s just the same amount of cute cat pictures but the stories aren’t as involving. The plots have their purpose, but they’ve never been the priority, so it’s take your pick from the options.

The big change in Riko’s life is her company adopting a work from home policy for two days a week, which means Nadatani no longer has to set all her stories in the evenings or weekends. However, this isn’t just a single chapter indulgence, as Riko discovers the discipline required to work successfully from home, and that cats aren’t going to respect the idea of an online update meeting.

For all the amusement delivered by the cats, Riko is developed as a real woman, but readers must surely be concerned about her lack of contact with other people, much less a relationship. The hours spent gaming and caring for the cats occupy all her non work and sleep time, and working from home just reduces her human contact.

As ever, Nadatani’s art is excellent, and you’re going to love those cat drawings. The series comes to an end with Cat + Gamer 8.