Title: Cat + Gamer Vol 1
Author: Wataru Nadatani
Series: Cat + Gamer #1
Page Count: 192
Publish Date: January 23, 2024
Publisher: Dark Horse Manga
Buy Cat + Gamer Vol 1 at Amazon
Synopsis:
Riko, a twenty-nine-year-old office worker with an obsession for video games, finds her quiet life upended when she takes in a stray cat in this adorable manga series!
Her coworkers can’t quite figure her out—she never talks about her personal life, she never works overtime, and she never joins them for happy hour. Is she antisocial? Nope, she’s rushing home to play video games! One day, a stray cat is found in the office parking lot, and before Riko knows it, the cat has moved in with her! Having no experience with pets, Riko uses lessons drawn from video games to guide her in cat care, while her cute companion tries to understand her behavior through a cat’s worldview.
Available for the first time in English! By Wataru Nadatani, this is the first volume in this cute, fun, and heart-warming story of a gamer learning to live with a cat!
Cat + Gamer Vol 1
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My Review:
I picked this book up on a whim because of its gamer aspect, though I was also curious how the cat would play a part in it. What I wasn’t expecting was how much I would adore this story.
Starting in the office setting, we get to see Riko and her work persona. She is known for never working overtime, always finishing her work, and avoiding any social events unless they are mandatory.
Watching her rush home to embrace a weekend devoted to as much gaming time as possible while enjoying some good food and comfortable clothing was a great way to show this other side of her. Plus, as a gamer, I totally related to wanting to be alone and play video games.
Her desire to complete every aspect of the game showed her dedication to doing it all – something that is a reflection of her work ethic.
Riko lives a relatively perfect life – in her eyes – having a steady job which she excels at and her secret gamer lifestyle. What else could she need?
Apparently, she needs a cat.
Watching that moment when she decided to take in a lost kitten was amusing. Everyone at work was taken aback by Riko’s decision to take the kitten home – though Riko herself was the most surprised.
Now Riko embarks on a new question, one that she is ill-prepared to conquer – pet parenthood!
Her adventure of cat ownership is fraught with unexpected events, a lack of cat knowledge, and plenty of adorable moments. But she’s still a gamer at heart and so she must play her games – but this is easier said than done with a cute and curious kitten running around.
However, once she begins to approach cat ownership like a video game, her quest to level up her kitten gives her the confidence she needs to become an amazing pet parent. Thankfully, she has a great resource to call upon at the local pet store, where the shopkeeper provides her with plenty of information and helps her pick out the right items to (hopefully) keep her kitten healthy and entertained.
Riko also realizes the importance of naming her Kitten and how she settles upon the name Musubi was quite entertaining. Now that he has a name, she can truly work on leveling up his character and making him an epic addition to her life.
While Musubi does interrupt Riko’s gaming quite a bit, it’s great that she has something else to focus her time and energy on.
Scattered throughout we get to see small snippets of the story through Musubi’s eyes, some of these showing his past before Riko took him in. These add a little bit of extra character development for Musubi.
There are a number of entertaining moments in this book. From the power button moment to the challenges of photographing a cat that won’t stand still to Riko learning about the cat rule of “if it fits, it sits”, there is plenty to enjoy.
The ending was hilarious and I cannot wait to see where that leads. I have already added the second volume to my TBR and will be reading it soon.
Overall, I loved this book. It sucked me in right away, the gamer aspects gave me a strong connection to the story and Riko, the pet parts were entertaining and adorable, and there were many hilarious moments scattered throughout.
I hope you enjoyed my review of Cat + Gamer Vol 1. Have you read this book?
Buy Cat + Gamer Vol 1 at Amazon
Cat + Games seems like a fantastic book. I have many friends who love and have cats. I think this book could be a great Christmas present.
It is a fun read with lots of cozy gaming vibes. It would certainly make a great gift idea for cat lovers – especially if they are also gamers.
I have to say, this is not a book I would normally pick up, but the cat part sounds entertaining. I’ll give it a shot!
It’s also not the type of book I’d normally read, but I’m glad I did because it led to me binge-reading the first 5 volumes of the series. I hope you enjoy it!
This sounds like such an adorable story and I can’t wait to check it out. I haven’t read any manga in forever! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Cat + Gamer.
I’m glad to hear you are going to pick it up. I loved it so much, I immediately read the next four volumes in the series.
As a gamer myself, I can very much relate to this book. Thanks for recommending this!
It’s a great book to check out for gamers as it’s easy to relate to so much of what the character does.
Not gonna lie, this caught my eye because of the cat + gamer name but definitely find it interesting now after reading your review. Would love to give this book a try for sure.
I’m glad this piqued your interest. It will definitely be worth checking out, it’s an entertaining read.