Reviews

I Am a Cat, the Manga Edition: A Cat Without a Name, But with Great Intelligence, Wit and Bite by Natsume Sōseki, Chiroru Kobato

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giu's review

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reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

kieram2017's review

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dark reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This manga is based on a classic from 1905, it's not a light and fluffy cat manga. I was a bit concerned this manga would lose alot from the original work as it has compressed the full novel (it's a big book) into one short manga. However I feel like the manga captures the balance of the more serious themes and thoughts with the humour of the original work well, whilst it could have featured more from the novel the overall concept was well executed. I definitely think to appreciate this manga fully it is important to be aware of the source material, if not read it before hand. The artwork of the manga is just stunning, I love the details and the cat is so beautifully portrayed. Having seen the other reviews alot of people are not happy with the ending or the heavy content, but it is true to the novel and to the themes the novel portrays. The thought stories that take part in the novel naturally lead to the end of this story, whilst some of these are in the manga unless you really consider them it can be missed and the ending can be a shock. Having read the novel I knew the ending and I think the artist did it justice and was respectful about it.

vinceyface's review

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emotional funny lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

crookedtreehouse's review

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3.0

I read this as a part of my Reading Manga About Cat project this month. For a nearly 120 year old satire of the idle rich in another country, this is still surprisingly relevant and a good read.

The art style is more serious than any of the other cat manga I've read, and I appreciated that was in-line with the protagonist cat's sense of self-importance.

I didn't really love the book, but I appreciated its story, and it interested me enough that I may try and find a solid prose translation of the original stories.

I can definitely see why the short story colleciton is taught in schools in Japan. And can't think of anything analogous in the American education system.

dawnoftheread's review

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3.0

I feel like this lost something in translation (language or manga? And the ending bummed me out. I prefer lighter hearted cat mangas.

boopointeshoes's review

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dark sad slow-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.0

Really didn’t enjoy this one. Got bored a few pages in and decided to skip to the end. Big mistake.

the ending was so sad!

lottie2407's review

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2.0

Took me forever to finish it and was so hard to follow. I really liked the art style and the cat was cute.
I really thought the cat would be the main focus of the story (this was the main reason I picked up the book) but it was mostly in the background although the blurb suggested it was the narrator of the story. The ending was quite shocking, wasn’t really happy about that tbh.
I feel like the original story would be better as it may be easier to follow but not sure if I will ever read it.