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Cthulhu Cat

Name: Cthulhu Cat
Rating: 3.78 (82 reviews)
ISBN: 9781506744179

Pandania, Zack Davisson (translator), Steve Dutro (illustrator)

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An ordinary Japanese high school student takes home an abandoned supernatural cat left in a cardboard box.

Maybe he shouldn't have meddled with kitties beyond human comprehension—after all, it had tentacles where its whiskers should have been! But it’s too late!

With no Elder Sign on the cat door, soon the pick of the Mythos litter starts to invade his house, as furry and feline versions of Hastur, Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, and other adorable Lovecraftian horrors blast his mind, whisper impossible secrets, and generally get underfoot!

From the creator of Evil Secret Society of Cats and Yokai Cats, Cthulhu Cat is a one-shot, full-color gag manga collection that is a charming tribute both to Lovecraft's stories and Lovecraft the cat lover.

Translated by Zack Davisson ( The Supernatural Cats of Japan, H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, H.P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth)!

GenresMangaGraphic NovelsHorrorComicsFantasyCatsHumor

136 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2024

13 people are currently reading

177 people want to read

About the author

Pandania

23 books43 followers

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Community Reviews

5 stars

115 (26%)

4 stars

151 (34%)

3 stars

135 (30%)

2 stars

34 (7%)

1 star

3 (<1%)

Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews

Alexander Peterhans

Author 2 books298 followers

January 27, 2025

It's cats, it's Cthulhu, what more do you want? How about an oddly deep application of mythos? I thought this was going to be a collection of cute Cthulhu-flavoured cartoons, and it certainly is that, but there's also a LOT of mythos representation, and there are running stories underneath it all. It's impressive, and glops together into something like sinister cuteness?

(Thanks to Dark Horse Books for providing me with a review copy through Edelweiss)

adaptation arc-arc-arc cats-cats-its-cats

cyd⭐️

290 reviews25 followers

October 31, 2025

this was so weird, don’t get me wrong.. i love this art style but this story line? 😭 i’m genuinely so confused

(2/5)⭐️🐈‍⬛

im-so-confused mangas thank-you-local-library-for-this

Rick

1,082 reviews30 followers

November 14, 2024

(2.5 stars rounded down)

Cthulhu Cat is exactly what it sounds like, it takes the mythos of the great old ones and embodies them in cats. The story is told from the perspective of the cat owner, which works well for the concept. The art has a cutesy appearance to it and is done in full color. I think a lot of people will enjoy this book. I don't know what I was hoping to see, but this book did not deliver for me. I mostly avoid Lovecraft related content. I have never understood how such a racist bigot gets a pass from so many people, especially when most all of the writing and characters are deeply rooted in that racism and the fear of the other. It has been refreshing to see some recent works like Lovecraft Country and The Ballad of Black Tom deconstruct the original content and hold it up to a modern lens. This book doesn't do that. It simply takes Cthulhu and mashes it up with cats in an attempt to make it cute and funny, and that does not work for me.

Daijah

791 reviews276 followers

Read

August 5, 2025

actual rating: 3.5/5 stars

read for the tarot readathon 2025: the star (read a graphic novel or manga)

this manga was a really cute, fun read. i absolutely loved the art style it was seriously one of my favorite parts. the plot itself felt a little lackluster though mostly because it was pretty episodic. it reminded me of watching little episodes of phineas and ferb rather than a continuous story which isn’t usually my vibe for graphic novels or manga.

that said i still enjoyed it a lot mostly because i’m a sucker for anything cat related. the grumpy cats especially cracked me up and made the whole thing worth it. it’s definitely a fun, light read, but not quite one of my all-time favorite mangas.

Peacegal

11.7k reviews102 followers

January 9, 2025

I wasn't sure, at first, if this book would achieve the high bar set by the others in the Monster Cats series. But it ended up being so bizarre and quirky, with an absurdist sense of humor, that it won me over. The characters have some great one-liners, and the ever-expanding world of weird felines is a lot of fun.

Stay Fetters

2,508 reviews200 followers

February 22, 2025

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"

ebook sneaky-librarian

Astilbe The Hobbit

144 reviews11 followers

July 12, 2025

I found this very very cute and very fun. The art was colorful and cut through out and I felt the story flowed nice! 🥹 I’d probably font myself reading it again at some point for a pick me up. 🩶

A Little Mystery Book ᰔ

71 reviews5 followers

November 14, 2025

This was a funny short stories collection. I throughly enjoyed it. I had many laughing moments with this one.

Things I loved about Cat Cthulhu:
-Manga
-Cats
-Humor

Chanel Chapters

2,205 reviews249 followers

Read

February 12, 2025

Plot was confusing but it does have cute alien kitties so…

3⭐️

Chris Gernon

137 reviews

April 17, 2025

This is a cute, funny collection of 4-panel comics combining cats with the Cthulhu mythos, with a situation introduced and wrapped up with a punchline on each page.

It’s also - I’m not sure how this happened - one of the most detailed, accurate, and faithful adaptations of this literary universe I’ve ever seen. I was expecting a bunch of silly throwaway gags, but this somehow manages to achieve a perfect balance between light humor and looming dread throughout. Genuinely surprising and impressive.

Sarah T.

628 reviews23 followers

December 1, 2024

This was pretty incredible!

comics_manga

Vanna Book-Mage

832 reviews3 followers

February 5, 2025

That was ridiculous and hilarious and kinda creepy.

2025-reads manga-webcomics

Sarah

221 reviews3 followers

October 8, 2025

This was really silly and really cute and I want another book looking at some of the other monster cats that were shown at the end.

Marion

35 reviews1 follower

October 25, 2025

The translation seemed a little wonky at times, but still a cute comic that did make me genuinely laugh at points

Sopuber Fungirl

151 reviews1 follower

February 27, 2025

This maybe should have been a five (on my own personal and very specific rating system) but i just hate Lovecraft so much

Lorryn

867 reviews16 followers

April 26, 2025

already got it approved by the hubs, we are allowed to get a Cthulhu cat.

2025-read 5-stars beat-the-backlist-2025

Courtney

783 reviews156 followers

May 8, 2025

It was okay. I wasn’t expecting it to be a manga since the art style is so different. Hoopla’s edition was published (e-book) to be read left to right… except the pages are still right to left, which was confusing at first.

I think the main issue was my not being the intended audience. I’m aware of the Lovecraft universe, enough to recognize some of the names & references we see in the manga, like Cthulhu and the fish people. But I’ve never read the original stories, played the games, etc. And this is very much a book intended for fans of the source material - there’s a strong kind of ‘inside joke’ feeling to it, minus the humour. Without the nostalgic aspect, I don’t know if the storytelling is enough to stand up by itself.

aliens-and-ufos animal-main-characters asia

Nhà Cái ZBET

1 review

October 9, 2024

Becky B

9,330 reviews184 followers

October 9, 2025

A boy has taken in a cat that is part cat, part mythical creature (and eventually finds out is the current form of an old god). It attracts both fans (both cats and humans), worshippers, a priest who moves in with the boy’s family, enemies in other mythical cats, and several other cat creatures that are old gods as well.

The way Pandania presents these creatures make it seem like a modern fantasy mythology new forms for old mythical gods who have mostly died out of human memory. There are some occult symbols used in drawings and a priest moves in, but it seems more mythology like other Greek gods, Norse gods fantasy adventure rewrites that are currently popular and not super dark or sinister or anything. Some will just find this cute and funny, but others may find this a little more disturbing if the symbols and such in the background actually mean something to them.

Notes on content:
Language: None
Sexual content: A cult of worshippers gather outside of the boy’s home, and most of them are naked people who are so decorated in symbols they don’t actually look naked. (They are always strategically posed too.)
Violence: Cat fights and nothing more.
Ethnic diversity: The people appear to be Japanese.
LGBTQ+ content: None specified.
Other: The priest doesn’t do much except interpret why certain cats get along and others don’t; he also shape-shifts. The worshippers just dance in the yard and offer fish.

animal-stories asian-lit-setting-characters cat-stories

Travis

1,628 reviews4 followers

September 7, 2025

I was working my way through more Yokai Cats from my library and saw this one. It is both very much of a kind with that series, but also quite different since it has a single continuous plot with the same characters (though Pandania manages to include a lot of catified mythos creatures, both as main actors and just in the background). It was a fun light read, and I enjoyed the author's afterward describing their first time playing Call of Cthulhu the RPG: "The village was destroyed. Two of us died. I'd love to play again" which is a perfect summation of the game (sans characters going insane).

Things I didn't like so much: the main character just looks weird, sort of like Charlie Brown with his odd head squiggle things. Also, he just doesn't read as a child; early on when it showed him going to school, I kind of assumed college. But I think he's intended to be younger, maybe even elementary age given the lack of uniforms when he's shown in school. Also, the book references a lot of the extended mythos lore from writers other than Lovecraft, which I don't really care for since they try to impose order on something that is supposed to be incomprehensible and alien.

contemporary graphic-novels horror

Claire

3,435 reviews43 followers

February 20, 2025

Oh! This is an absolute delight. This is more story driven than Yokai Cats, Vol. 1 or Monster Cats Vol. 1 or even The Evil Secret Society of Cats, Vol. 1 and it is a wonderful story! Not only is Cthulhu cat adorable but so are his friends, Ur (white cat) and enemies, Hastur (wears a mask and has tentacles). And it's a funny story The church of starry wisdom? Sounds like a cult. I'm not going. and his school friends disappearing and suspecting it's his fault, a couple of running jokes there worked really well. Loved it!

cats favourites manga

Kelli

2,130 reviews25 followers

November 16, 2024

This is just a reimagining of Cthulhu and related Lovecraft lore as cats in Pandania’s distinctive, cutesy style.

It’s essentially a bunch of loosely connected shorts featuring characters and creatures from Lovecraft’s stories. There’s really no plot or anything else substantive. But, this is also a story for children. So.

I mean, it is a little weird to have Lovecraft lore reimagined in this way for a young audience—largely because I think it’s irresponsible to separate Lovecraft’s writing from the man himself and all his very problematic personal views. His stories are very racist and very xenophobic. It’s weird to see them stripped of all context here.

Anyway.

This is for children. Things are going to be adapted or omitted of made very silly. If that’s not your thing, probably skip this one~

2024-manga-reads 2024-reads cat-manga

Elissa Park

14 reviews

April 24, 2025

Pandania's bread and butter is creating cute monstrous cat 4komas and exploring how the funny unique quirks of folklore creatures might map onto our cat friends.
As a cat and folklore enjoyer, I would consider myself a fan!

Unfortunately for me... I have never read anything by Lovecraft ever in my life. Which made this comic harder for me to understand.

Still, I love how Pandania draws cats, and there's still a lot of cute cat content for non-Lovecraft fans to enjoy! But this one might better enjoyed by true Cthulu Fans.

Jessica Burchett

Author 3 books18 followers

December 4, 2024

4 out of 5 stars

Silly. Cute, yes. Adorable, yes. But definitely silly. An abandoned cat is taken home by a high school student, and turns out to be an eldritch monster, but adorable. Fun-sized?

Proceed to have cult-ish weirdos showing up to worship the cthulu cat. But oh! It can get you ultra rares on games - rares that were not written into the game. You have to share with your friends.

Such fun! Or was it all a dream? Within a dream...within a dream...

Sesana

6,276 reviews329 followers

January 7, 2025

Lovecraft, but make it cats. And kind of silly. This sort of follows the same formula as Pandania's other cat books: take a well known monster or creature or, in this case, eldritch abomination, and superimpose it on a cat. Hijinks ensue. A fun bit of fluff, which means it doesn't have the teeth one would usually expect in Lovecraftian stories. There is a sort of through plot, which is unusual in Pandania's work.

comics horror

Mars Dorian

Author 9 books29 followers

April 3, 2025

Saw this at a German manga shop and had to snatch it up.

It's over a hundred pages of webcartoon style one-pagers about a young fellow adopting a cthulu cat.
The chaos and cosmic horror soon arrives, bringing our protagonist's life into disarray.

The cute, colorful manga look works well with the increasing horror and absurdity. I never laughed, but often smirked. This is a fun book I'm going to read again soon.

Recommended if you're into webcartoons with cthulu flavor :)

Niche

1,037 reviews

October 12, 2025

"Cathulhu" It was right there! *throws up hands*

The elder gods have incarnated as cats (not the kind that travel to the moon) and have started to congregate around a boy that took in a stray Cthulhu. It's a mix of "cat owner humor" coupled with tons of references to the Cthulhu mythos. I'd say it's best appreciated by people with some familiarity with the mythos, otherwise things will seem particularly random.

0-oxy tag-comedy-style-cute tag-comedy-style-silly

Mehsi

15.1k reviews454 followers

March 11, 2025

This started off quite fun/weird/absurd but just got too weird/random for me in the end. Haha. I had just expected more cat shenanigans with cthulu cats, the start was good in that regard, I had a laugh at various things there, like seeing two old ones fight and being tamed by kitty snacks, or what his paws smelled like and what that did to humans.

2-twinkling-stars manga-manwha-manhua-light-novel read-in-2025

Emmy

2,503 reviews58 followers

March 13, 2025

I picked this up because I like the author, but if I'm being honest, I really don't like Lovecraft. So, it was sort of hit-or-miss. The book felt really weird, and honestly, it was pretty unsettling. Making the "elder gods" into cats can only make a distasteful topic a tiny bit more palatable. In the end, it was not for me.

gothic-tradition manga spooky

Jessada Karnjana

590 reviews9 followers

May 18, 2025

What if the gang of the Old Ones—Nyarlathotep, Yog-Sothoth, Cthulhu, Hastur, Shub-Niggurath, and the like—were transformed into cats for a cutest competition? Hilarious concept. Honestly, I’m more of a Stephen King fan than a Lovecraft one. But this comic? Dumb, brain-off, and brilliant in its own way.

Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews

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