Umi Sakurai

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Lenni Reviews: “A Man and His Cat” Vol. 15, by Umi Sakurai

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Fukumaru tries to get Kanda to understand that the reason why he desperately needs to go outside is that he’d spotted his long-lost brother.

A good chunk of this is Kobayashi getting his grumpy father-in-law to warm up to him by just refusing to be anything other than cheerful and friendly. What’s great about this series is it stays upbeat and cozy, even when it broaches darker subjects; meaning that it’s inevitable that the father-in-law will face the immutable fact of this universe: a cat will find you and it will make you love it. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “A Man and His Cat” Vol. 14, by Umi Sakurai

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Kanda is still pushing himself to be more comfortable playing in front of a crowd when his old teacher appears, the legendary Margarethe Dressel. Meanwhile, Fukumaru’s older brother appears as a stray and little Fuku vows to find him.

Margarethe is awesome and her interactions with Kanda are fun and inspiring in her own unique way. I think she’s the first figure from his past that didn’t trigger some sort of anxiety as while she was odd, she was supportive and taught him a lot. Getting things from Fukumaru’s perspective is so adorable and innocent. It really tugs at your heartstrings when he tries to understand crossing the rainbow bridge. And his little plans to find his brother? So cute! While this is very quick since the stories more so fast, it’s just a pure, lovely time. 4.5 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “A Man and His Cat” Vol. 13, by Umi Sakurai

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Marin comes to visit and she’s put on weight from too many treats. Moriyama is on the hunt for new bandmates.

Spoiler, but it was a SHOCK to have the word “scumbag” come out of Kanda’s mouth. He’s such a precious bean that it felt wrong. He’s been stern but still has this positive energy that even a relatively mild insult like scumbag is jarring. Might as well be Mr. Rogers cursing someone out. Other than that, we’re still in the full-on funny slice of life mode with the slow build of Kanda getting up his motivation and strength to perform again. I wonder if his mother will come back into play since he has so much trauma about performing because of her. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “A Man and His Cat” Vol. 12, by Umi Sakurai

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Kanda takes his father-in-law’s advice to make sure to take good care of himself and be proud of the progress he’s made. Fukumaru has also made progress, so Kanda looks into a cat tree as a present.

There’s also a lost dog and Makoto, who’s stopped going to school due to bullying, but is put in charge of a kitten with health issues. This volume goes back to the episodic format and is even out of chronological order. The last volume was one complete storyline line but this is more bit of slice of life and adds a couple of new characters. Everything is as sweet as always and despite how cruel the bullying was to Makoto, it leaves you with a positive feeling. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “A Man and His Cat” Vol. 11, by Umi Sakurai

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Mr. Kanda pays a visit to his father-in-law and also sees his mother while Hoshinari deals with Teruki and his deception.

The flashback to where we meet Kanda’s wife, Suzune and the whole volume (except for the evil mom) is so damn emotional and adorable! Given how horrid his mother was, it’s so gratifying to see how much light was and is in Kanda’s life. When this series does get dark, it instantly balances it with so much love. Even the cats are learning lessons. I will admit, I teared up a bit. It’s a shame we don’t get more about Kanda’s mother other than she’s one of those Tiger Moms who puts too much pressure on her child. I wonder if the series will take time to redeem her or let a character stay shitty for once. 4.9 out of 5.Th

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Lenni Reviews: “A Man and His Cat” Vol. 10, by Umi Sakurai

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Teruaki and Fuyuki go to rescue a cat from the abandoned apartment of a hoarder. While they end up holding on to the cat and try their best to get it not to fight with Fukumaru, Teruaki tries to connect with what made him love playing piano.

The little crying cats shouldn’t tug at my heart so much but damn if my eyes weren’t watering at their little faces. The impact of the hoarding on the cat trapped in it broke my heart and while not as dawwww worthy, the human drama is entertaining as well. All these guys are so passionate about music but the source of all their pain around it seems to come from making it a job and being in fierce competition. It looks like them being around all the adorable cats with simple desires reminds these guys to be more chill about it. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “A Man & His Cat” Vol. 9, by Umi Sakurai

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While Hoshinari – Kanda’s son – decides quite dramatically to join Moriyama’s band, Fukumaru is jealous of all the attention the new kittens are getting.

I love this volume. It has everything I love about this series; people loving their pets and becoming better. I was surprised to see Teruaki come back, the kid who tricked Hashinari in the past. But I think the series is working to get all the characters in a good place and using the bonds with animals to do it. There are moments where people are unrealistically forgiving and nice but I’ll take it. The world sucks enough as it is. 4.7 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “A Man and His Cat” Vol. 8, by Umi Sakurai

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Kanda’s son and daughter; Hoshinari and Sorako respectively, come to pay their father a visit only Hoshinari hates cats.

If this series has any lesson to take away from it besides the fruitless hope that the world’s problems can be solved by a cute cat, it that being into playing music puts you in the orbit of a lot of assholes. Kanda, Moriyama and now Hoshinari had to deal with some absolute dickheads leading to a bunch of trauma to be unpacked. All the pressure and backstabbing… But I believe in this series’ ability to engage the power of adorable cats to help the humans move on. Although (spoiler) the fake out with the accident was so unnecessary. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “A Man and His Cat” Vol. 7, by Umi Sakurai

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Another brilliant pianist, Geoffroy, comes to Japan to challenge Kanda and overtake him as the best. On the way to Kanda’s house, Geoffroy finds a box of cold, lonely, abandoned kittens.

Ah, if only all the world’s problems could be solved by a box of adorable kittens…

The characters are becoming better people because the action of bonding with the cats lets down the barriers they’ve built up and it’s really touching and sweet. This volume didn’t hit me in the feels as hard as the others but it’s still good and still worth reading if you want something cute and fun that will make you smile. 4 out of 5.

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Lenni Reviews: “A Man and His Cat” Vol. 6, by Umi Sakurai

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Kanda is going out more and it invited by Moriyama only to find Moriyama has ditched him. Kanda has to overcome his panic attacks and fear in order to cope.

In this volume, we get to know more about Moriyama a lot more and it’s more of a music manga than a cat one. I’m completely fine with that since Kanda is healing from his past traumas and him adopting a cat was the catalyst for everything going on in is life now. It’s still very cute and Fukumaru has plenty of time to shine so you get your fix of adorable felines. 4 out of 5.

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