Cat + Gamer vol. 1

Riko Kozakura is currently living her best life.  Every day she goes straight home from work without putting in any overtime because she’s got plans.  Plans to get in as much gaming as she possibly can before she has to go to bed and repeat the cycle the next day.  It looked like this was how things were going to be for Riko, until one day when a stray kitten is found in the company parking lot.  Surprising even herself, Riko decides to adopt the kitten and begin a new phase of her life.  Though this woman has devoted herself only to work and gaming up to this point, she vows to use her skills at the latter to raise this kitten to the best of her abilities.

“Cat + Gamer” is pure fluff, and that’s not a bad thing if you’re in its target demographic.  That being cat people who are also gamers.  That fits me to a “T” and so I found Riko’s exploits more charming than not.  There’s her initial joy at seeing the cat race around her apartment.  Frustration at trying to coax the cat off of her console before it accidentally turns the thing off and causes her to lose all her progress.  Trying to find out what sex it is.  Taking it to the vet for the first time to deal with the crisis of FLEAS!

I wouldn’t say that there’s any exceptional storytelling on display here, but managaka Wataru Nadatani makes the cat and Riko plenty appealing just on their appearances alone.  The comedy itself is also hit-or-miss, with the stuff that does hit being more amusing than laugh-out-loud funny.  Like I said above, this series is meant to appeal to cat people who are gamers and I can appreciate this series for being just that.  It is, however, hard for me to imagine anyone who isn’t either of these things getting a whole lot of enjoyment out of this volume on their own terms.