Cat + Crazy vol. 2

High schooler Kensuke Fuji continues his tutelage in the ways of cats under mysterious cat whisperer Jin Nekoya, just in time to solve the mystery of the disappearance of every stray cat in town.  The answer will introduce him to Nekoya’s nemesis and to answer the question of whether it’s better for a cat to be a stray or in a home.  Then, when classmate Koharu Yamada brings her giant Saint Bernard over to Kensuke’s cat house, we get to see firsthand whether cats and dogs can actually be friends.  After that, it’s time for Kensuke to put all of his newfound cat knowledge to use working in a cat cafe and bring peace to the fifty-one cats living there!

That first volume wasn’t a fluke, mangaka Wataru Nadatani has leveled up his game from “Cat + Gamer.”  His new series is definitely a funnier, denser, and all together more weird take on the joys of cats than what he was delivering before.  While all of Kensuke’s struggles at least feel grounded in reality, and somewhat predictable as a result, it’s the bits involving Nekoya that are truly memorable here as we find out his role in a global organization dedicated to protecting cats and how he was cursed by the gods to be unable to see dogs for his single-mindedness.  Koharu is the weak link here, as she’s constantly stuck playing the straight woman to all of this craziness, but after reading this volume I’m at least a little hopeful that Nadatani can find a way to break her out of that role in the future.