Cat on the Hero's Lap Vol. 3

勇者のひざには猫がいる [Yuusha no Hiza ni wa Neko ga Iru] #3

by Kousuke Iijima, Shiori (illustrator)

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comedy, Cats, Comics, Animals

144 pages, Paperback

Published August 20, 2024

Reviews

[kaylina · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 / 5: All this time, while I’ve been lost in a haze, the city has fallen to pieces. I’ve committed a grave sin against my people…I must do whatever it takes to revitalize this city, so that it can once again be a bastion of peace for humans and cats.

But I’ll be waiting for you…Mao.

please tell me mr. kitten will come back soon 😭😭 and mao; this story cannot finish in the next & final volume without their return.

such a lovely volume <3 i love how much focus it put on the amount of love and support cats do bring to their humans, even revilatizing their energy when they most need it!! it’s such a comfort to see these heroes go on such dangerous adventures but have the warmth & presence of these cats to keep them fighting; all for their safety and to make sure they have someone who can feed them and give them a home.

reading this manga took me a little longer than i was expecting, but i got all caught up working on halloween. thankfully, i had some time today to catch up, and it made me smile so much, which is no surprise. i’ll be eagerly waiting for the next volume in the new year 🧡

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ugh, this is still soooo good!!

I love how we're slowly getting more info about the Demon King and his forces- until Mr Cat and Mr Black Cat destroyed the robot bird following them haha! I adore seeing the kitties be kitties, and the introduction/ goodbye with Mr Kitten was super cute. Still not sure how I feel about the fan service of Red in chapter 22- cough, where's Grace's, cough. The world is expanding, the hero's are still adventuring to new places with new people, I find everyone's dynamics so funny, especially Red of course, but Ania's slow progress of liking the kitties stands out to me. The bonus Lap Academy chapters were so cute and funny too.

I desperately wish there was a hundred more volumes, so I'm sad to be almost done with the series (unless it's ongoing?).

[Katie❄️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just cuteness and silliness.

[GlutenFreePixels · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very fun and silly series! More people need to be reading this!

[Bibliothecat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review for complete series

This is the perfect series for lovers of cats and gamers if ever there was one. Set in a world based entirely on RPG tropes, the road to victory is long, for what's a hero to do when a cat decides to sit on his lap?

Our main character Red soon accepts that Mr Cat wants his lap and no other's - promptly turning him into a cat person - saving the RPG world be damned. His two companions, the magician Grace and martial arts fighter (and voice of reason) Aina have no choice but to acknowledge that Mr cat is here to stay. Funds are spent on special fish and cat tutorial books in place of weapons and magic tomes. Crucial skills are learned (Red learned Pick Up Cat!) and levels are, somewhat slowly, gained. Vet visits become a priority, villains aren't all that bad (who doesn't get on with a fellow cat lover?) and, should Mr Cat go missing, pots and barrels get smashed in true RPG fashion. Of course, we all know cats prefer the boxes - or treasure chests in the RPG world equivalent it seems.

Cat on the Hero's Lap is, naturally, a parody through and through. Some jokes may be lost on people who haven't played an RPG before but any cat lover will recognise the feline shenanigans. The chubby ginger Mr Cat is definitely the star, but Red and company come across plenty of other cats during their travels and this is really just cat antics galore. The art is great, both for the human characters as well as the cats. Mr Cat has mastered the soulful stare and I am not surprised he even got through to Aina who is far more focused on keeping the whole world saving business in mind.

There are a few sad backstories for some of the cats but it is otherwise a series that's truly just for laughs and awws. I feel like this series doesn't get enough recognition among the many cat manga and I'd warmly recommend it to any cat fan (especially game fans). It's a nice compact 4 volumes series and thus doesn't drag unnecessarily. A perfectly wholesome series that will make you smile and laugh. My personal highlight was my own cat sitting on my lap while reading this of course.

[寿理 宮本 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I missed a volume, but it's pretty easy to figure out what's going on:
- Hero and party are trying to Save the World
- ...BUT CAT

I mean, it's not as such OBVIOUS that the hero's big stumbling block is the cat(s), but a new reader will pick that up fairly quickly, even if it's not quite clear just HOW much of a stumbling block it is.

The main takeaway for me is the hero and party will just KEEP finding cats; book 2, by process of elimination, introduces Mr. Black Cat, illustrating the hero's absolutely terrible names when "Mr. Kitten" appears in this volume. At least Mr. Kitten gets a safe home at a fantasy cat (and other tame monster) café, so it isn't just the hero accumulating cats like a "crazy cat lady." This volume was pretty funny, though, if for no other reason than the cats thwarting the strangely sci-fi villain at the beginning of the book!

There's also a, um... curiously erotic shower scene of the hero, complete with nipples. Hmm. Mostly I note because I thought this was straight "high fantasy" before reading this volume, but the villain scientist and so on negate that. It might just be the Demon King in specific has access to more advanced technology? I don't know.

Okay read for newcomers, but I'd still recommend one of the earlier books first.

[Ellyn → Allonsythornraxx · Rating 4 out of 5]

12/02/2025
4 ⭐
This series is just so cozy and easy to read 😍

✨ 18/100 read for 100 Graphics in a Year Reading Challenge ✨ + also read for the graphicsathon 28 in 28 Feb 2025 challenge!

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[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the monster cafe and some of the critters there are so cute! Poor Red getting poisoned and then getting sicker every time he moves to help Mr Kitten. Mr Black Cat hunting the robot bird at the beginning was hilarious! Love this series.

[Babs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting so much better!!

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even more cute cats!

[LeeAnne Holloway · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every nerdy cat owner should read this! So silly and entertaining 😽

[Devonn Hardy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the world building in the last few chapters.

[Amara · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

[Libbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sufficiently dumb and cute, not much else to say really.

Need all the cat manga and shenanigans in my life