A Man and His Cat is a Japanese manga series; the writer and artist is Umi Sakurai. This comic started out on Twitter, self-published on Twitter; then it was a webcomic before being published by Square Enix Manga. Since it is a manga, I had to get used to reading the story from back to front and from right to left on the page. I am still working on that. I have now read three volumes in the series.
In the first volume, a widower, Kanda, seeks a cat as a companion, and finds his perfect match at a pet store. The cat is a large exotic shorthair and has been waiting in the pet store for an owner for a year. The man falls in love with his new cat and names him Fukumaru.
The stories in the first volume are mostly about Kanda learning to live with and take care of a cat. The second volume continues along the same lines, but also provides some hints to his life with his wife and flashbacks to his childhood and continues to emphasize his love and enjoyment of his cat.
In the third volume, I had hoped for a bit more about the man's marriage and his children, and that is what I got, just a bit. There is more about his work life, his love of playing the piano, and the people he works with. Some earlier relationships in his life are explored.
Each volume is short with not a lot of text. The stories are very sweet, sometimes a little too sweet, even for me. Many of the short chapters are centered on the cat, and I think it helps a lot if you like cats. I do, so the books work well for me.
I look forward to the next volume. Per Goodreads, there are now 10 books in the series. I plan to read at least one volume a month.
I read these books for the Japanese Literature Challenge hosted at Dolce Bellezza. There are other reviews for Volume 1 at Dolce Bellezza and A Fondness for Reading.
