is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by Umi Sakurai. Self-published as a

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

by Sakurai before being serialized by Square Enix Manga, the series follows an older widower who adopts an unwanted cat. A live-action television drama adaptation aired from January to March 2021. The cats are portrayed by puppets.

Synopsis

Fukumaru, a large and homely

Exotic Shorthair The Exotic Shorthair is a breed of cat developed as a short-haired version of the Persian. The Exotic is similar to the Persian in appearance with the exception of the short dense coat. History In the late 1950s, the Persian was used as an ...

at a pet store, is regularly passed over in favor of

kitten A kitten is a Juvenile (organism), juvenile cat. After being born, kittens display primary altriciality and are fully dependent on their mothers for #Establishing immunity, survival. They normally do not open their eyes for seven to ten days. A ...

s that are younger and cuter than he is. He is unexpectedly purchased by Kanda, an older man who is recently

widow A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has Death, died and has usually not remarried. The male form, "widower", is first attested in the 14th century, by the 19th century supplanting "widow" with reference to men. The adjecti ...

ed and who has a distant relationship with his adult children. The episodic,

slice of life Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to Naturalism (theatre), naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence ...

series follows Kanda and Fukumaru as they live and seek mutual companionship together.

Characters

; : ; :

Media

Manga

''A Man and His Cat'' was originally self-published by Sakurai, with new entries in the series posted weekly on her

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and

Pixiv Pixiv is a Japanese Virtual community, online community for artists. It was first launched as a beta test on 10 September 2007, by Takahiro Kamitani and Takanori Katagiri. Pixiv Inc. is headquartered in Sendagaya, Shibuya, Tokyo, Shibuya, Toky ...

accounts. The series is also published by

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...

in its manga magazines ''

Monthly Shōnen Gangan is a manga imprint owned by Square Enix Holdings. It originated as a manga imprint for Enix before the company merged with Square to form Square Enix. It publishes manga in several anthologies aimed at different reader demographic groups in t ...

'' and ''Gangan Pixiv'', and has been collected in fifteen ''

tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...

'' volumes. To date, the series has received over 560 million views. In May 2019,

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

announced that it would partner with Square Enix to launch Square Enix Manga as an imprint in North America, with ''A Man and His Cat'' as one of the imprint's anchor titles. The first volume of the series was released in English in February 2020.

Drama

A live-action television drama adaptation was announced in November 2020. It aired 12 episodes on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.

Video game

In the eighth volume of the manga, it was revealed that a video game adaptation was in development. The game, titled ''Ojisama to Neko Super Miracle Puzzle'', was a

puzzle game A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are different ...

and featured voice acting from

Jouji Nakata , sometimes anglicized to George Nakata, is a Japanese actor, voice actor, and narrator who is affiliated with the Office Osawa agency. His major voice roles include Alucard in ''Hellsing'', Hijikata Toshizo in ''Golden Kamuy'', Roy Revant in ' ...

and

Natsuki Hanae is a Japanese voice actor. He is affiliated with Across Entertainment. He voiced Tanjiro Kamado in '' Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba'', Ken Kaneki in ''Tokyo Ghoul'', Inaho Kaizuka in '' Aldnoah.Zero'', Takumi Aldini in '' Food Wars: Shokugek ...

as Fuyuki Kanda and Fukumaru respectively. It was released on Android and

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

devices from January 20, 2022 to January 31, 2023.

Other media

Short

motion comic A motion comic (or animated comic) is a form of animation combining elements of print comic books and animation. Individual panels are expanded into a full shot while sound effects, voice acting, music, and animation are added to the original artwo ...

videos have been produced to promote the release of the ''tankōbon'' editions of the series, and feature

as the voice of Kanda. A

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

adaptation was released on November 11, 2022. At Anime Expo 2023, Square Enix Manga & Books announced that they licensed the picture book for English publication.

Reception

''A Man and His Cat'' has received positive reviews from critics. ''Anime UK News'' gave the series 8 out of 10, praising the narrative for being heartwarming without being overly sentimental. ''Manga Bookshelf'' noted that the book "hits you in the feels" and praised the quality of its storytelling. ''A Man and His Cat'' was one of the top-selling physical manga series on Amazon Japan in 2018. The first Japanese ''tankōbon'' edition of the series debuted at 3rd in the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

sales rankings. In 2018, ''A Man and His Cat'' was one of the top recommended manga titles in a survey of Japanese bookstore employees. That same year, the series was a runner-up in for the Grand Prize at the magazine's

Next Manga Award The is an annual award for manga series presented by Kadokawa Corporation's '' Da Vinci'' magazine and Niconico streaming website. It is divided into two categories: one for print manga, and one for web manga. Overview The award was originally ...

s organized by the manga magazine ''Da Vinci''. ''Da Vinci'' also ranked ''A Man and His Cat'' in its annual Book of the Year rankings in 2018 and 2019. The series also placed fourth in the 2018

's Comic Ranking, and third in Pixiv's 2018 Web Manga General Election. The 2019 edition of ''

Kono Manga ga Sugoi! is an annual reference mook series published by Takarajimasha since 2005 featuring yearly rankings and reviews of manga. The rankings are compiled by surveying professionals in the manga and publishing industry. The first two years saw two s ...

'' ranked ''A Man and His Cat'' as the fifth best manga series for female readers.

References

External links

''A Man and His Cat''
at

Gangan Comics is a manga imprint owned by Square Enix Holdings. It originated as a manga imprint for Enix before the company merged with Square to form Square Enix. It publishes manga in several anthologies aimed at different reader demographic groups in ...

''A Man and His Cat''
at

''A Man and His Cat''
drama website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Man And His Cat 2017 manga 2017 webcomic debuts Comedy anime and manga Comics about cats Gangan Comics manga Japanese television shows featuring puppetry Japanese webcomics Manga adapted into television series Slice of life anime and manga TV Tokyo original programming Video games based on anime and manga Webcomics in print