I received this book from Edelweiss/the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

I already had my eyes on this manga for a while so when I saw it pop up on Edelweiss (along with many other manga) I just had to get it! And boy, this was just as fun as I had hoped!

In this adorable and fun slice of life manga we meet cats Maruru and Hachi, two stray cats who are best friends and take care of each other. Or well, by a point in the manga they do haha, in the beginning they weren’t that friendly. Maruru is a cat who has lived almost all of his life in a pet store (in a very sad small container) and then found a family only to lose it when he was distracted and got out, so he is all fresh in the stray life and has no clue how territories work or how to get food. That is how he meets Hachi, a stray who has some fights under his belt, knows all the best places, the good food stops, and more. But yeah, when Maruru enters his territory you can imagine he is not happy. I knew that these two would come together points to cover so I wanted to know how. Well, cats doing dumb things that is how they became friends. Hachi does something dumb and Maruru is clever and thinks of a plan to save him. And that is how these two become friends and how Maruru becomes more and more handy with being outside. Though you do notice that even after months he is still not handy with many things, but he does give it his all!

I loved seeing the two grow together more and more and see them help the other out, but also help out others. Like a small kitten they adopt and which brings havoc in their life. Or seeing them figure out a way to get through winter, not just on their own, but also with others. Or how Hachi helps out Maruru in finding his home. These two are so fun and adorable together and I loved it. I loved seeing them explore the city.

But there are of course sad moments. Like people laying around traps (which I guess they do to stop overpopulation, but given some things I am still iffy on how legal/good that stuff, and so I was wary of Yasuo just like the cats). Or the fact that Maruru (and his friend) were stuck for so long in just a tiny box in a pet store which just broke my heart. There are territory fights. Or how when winter came around Hachi said that they may just not see all their friends again in spring. Or the old lady who has dementia and who is feeding the cats and we see how she further and further loses her memories and then there is the ending which just made me cry. Now with my dad, seeing characters with dementia/Alzheimer makes me cry even more.

The art was fabulous and I love the style. I love that there were kittens of all sizes and coats.

All in all, I need NEED more volumes of this one. Now I need to think about either getting these in English, or waiting for the German release. Mm! Either way, I would Highly recommend this volume.