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Stray Cat
Kaoru is frustrated -- he's just been dumped by his boyfriend again! And it's all because he could never express his true feelings properly. What's wrong with him?! Feeling lonely and miserable, he takes a stroll through a gay park one day and meets a straight guy named Youhei. Although he seems to be an unassuming, gentle soul, something inside Youhei has caused Kaoru's heart to swell. Will Kaoru step out and express his feelings to Youhei?
208 pages, Paperback
First published December 24, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 3, 2022
I'm so surprised by how much I loved this one. It has two things going against it: it's a collection of short stories, which tends to be a harder sell, and it's largely cat-themed. I, like Halco's mother, am thoroughly a dog person.
But I liked this...so much...! I'm actually pretty distraught that it appears Halco only published one other manga (?), which never got an English license, and hasn't done anything since 2012. How! All three stories in this collection are so good. They could've easily been developed into longer books of their own, but fit really well into their shortened formats here. I would've loved to see more stories from Halco and more progression of her craft, and it makes me sad that her career doesn't seem to have gone much of anywhere.
But at least I have these ones, and they're definitely keepers.
Stray Cat
The title story comes in three parts and, rather than being about cats, comes with the theme of finding someone who will understand you and love you for exactly the person you are, rather than who they want you to be.
Kaoru is a 20-something gay man who just can't seem to find any guy who'll stick with him for the long haul. They all get tired of him eventually, calling him cold and aloof - not able to show affection and closeness in the way they want. Kaoru's frustrated because he doesn't know how to change himself and doesn't particularly want to; it's not that he doesn't care about people. He's just...prickly, like a cat, needing to do things at his own pace and on his own terms, and only showing true affection in brief spurts, probably interspersed with biting.
He wanders into a local gay cruising spot - a park - out of desperation after his latest breakup. It's not that he really wants anonymous sex - he wants a longterm relationship, and someone who loves him - but he'll take what he can get at this point. Instead, he runs into a handsome university student who's been coming there regularly to feed a stray cat, and somehow has not noticed that every other person in the park is gay and looking for a hookup.
When Yohei expresses surprise at the news, but also interest in Kaoru, they engage in a quick and dirty romp in the woods, which Kaoru immediately regrets. He didn't want to be some straight guy's experimental fling, and he has no intention of seeing the guy ever again.
Except he does see him again, going back to the park and being hit on by another guy who doesn't seem to be taking no as an answer, and when he rushes in to save Yohei, somehow he winds up at Yohei's house, then in Yohei's bed, then as Yohei's boyfriend and life partner.
The first bit is a little bit rushed, yeah; Yohei is WAY too quick to say he's in love, when they've barely even spoken. But he is interested, and the relationship develops really nicely from there. I'm a bit sad that Kaoru didn't actually go to Yohei's hometown to meet his family - I always love that element of stories - but all their interactions are really sweet (and periodically hot), and it was really nice to see Kaoru both being true to himself and stretching to meet Yohei's needs, too.
Lonely Man's Love
This one might've been my favorite. At a single chapter, I found it difficult to believe it'd feel like a complete, satisfying story, but it really did.
We start out with a sad, country-born salaryman on a train, musing about how much he hates living in the city - with its suffocatingly faceless crowds, and people who just don't care about each other. Plus, the girlfriend he'd thought he was probably going to marry had cheated on him, then broken up with him, so he's having a hard time trusting anyone.
Enter an extremely drunk man in a suit, who clings to him, calls him "Naohisa," and then throws up on his shoes. When Not-Naohisa finally manages to wrangle the guy to his apartment and into his bed, the man kisses him, then passes out, clinging to him and trapping him there.
In the morning, once he's sobered up, the guy turns out to be deeply apologetic and extremely nice. They spend most of the day together - starting off with some clothes-shopping to replace the puked-on pants - and Not-Naohisa starts to really respond to and care about this man who's held such an unwavering love for the man who'd left him without a word.
They part ways without exchanging names or any other information, and Not-Naohisa assumes he'll never see the stranger again...although he thinks about him often, and wonders if the lovers had ever been reunited.
Then, horribly, he happens to run into Actual-Naohisa, who turns out to have been a slimy, money-grubbing jerk who'd been playing with a rich gay man as his own personal money-making scheme.
Things wrap up pretty quickly from there, but I loved how delicately everything was handled - simple, effective, concise storytelling with a big emotional punch. I definitely could've read a lot more, but it truly wasn't need; this was a beautiful story about kindness and trust and kindred souls.
You Should Love Too!
The final two-chapter story was the least finished, and Halco says it was her first work and one she wished she'd fleshed out a bit more. Still, there's a ton about it that's appealing. We have 19 year old Keita, who "ran away from home" and refuses to tell his friends or coworkers why. He's been crashing with them, but when one of them gets a girlfriend, he has to find a new place to stay...and winds up staying with that friend's former teacher, an extremely handsome 31-year-old named Takeshi who has a soft spot for troubled students.
The way these introductions were framed, I really thought Keita's secret reason for leaving his home was going to be that he was gay, because he immediately fell head over heels for Takeshi, and spent the next three months in absolute domestic bliss. They weren't dating or kissing or anything remotely romantic, on Takeshi's side, but Keita is so, so happy to be living with and cooking for and spending time with the man he loves.
Things are going great, until suddenly they aren't. Takeshi starts acting weird, then suddenly tells Keita that he's gotten a girlfriend and that Keita has to move out. While he didn't mean that night, Keita packs up his things immediately, puts on the world's most cheerful face, and breezes out the door, claiming he'll be fine, he knew he'd overstayed his welcome, he totally had plenty of other friends to stay with.
Except he didn't. And he's heartbroken.
This section was really rough, and handled super well.
Keita winds up going back home after all, because he doesn't see many other options, and he's too emotionally devastated to care anymore about where he is or what he's doing, so he might as well quit his job and stay with his family, where everything's free.
It turns out that he'd left just because he wasn't valued there...as the second son, he was mostly ignored, just expected to fall in line and do whatever his family wanted, but without ever being treated like an individual person.
I still think it would've been more effective if his sexuality had been a part of it, but I do think it's still easy to see it as part of the unmentioned blackmail that Keita's older brother held over Takeshi's head when meeting with him and convincing him to convince Keita to move back home - where he could fall back into line and stop embarrassing his family.
The conclusion was a little rushed, but still nicely handled. I could've used one more chapter to properly wrap things up, but I still really liked what we got.
Paw Pads and Me
The rest of the volume is just a bunch of four-panel humor comics about Halco and her cat, which, despite not particularly caring about cats, I did find fun and amusing. I think cat lovers would adore these.
So...yeah. Overall, just a great collection, and I really wish I could've followed Halco through more books and longer series, because the creativity and emotional depth here was so great. A definite keeper.
But I liked this...so much...! I'm actually pretty distraught that it appears Halco only published one other manga (?), which never got an English license, and hasn't done anything since 2012. How! All three stories in this collection are so good. They could've easily been developed into longer books of their own, but fit really well into their shortened formats here. I would've loved to see more stories from Halco and more progression of her craft, and it makes me sad that her career doesn't seem to have gone much of anywhere.
But at least I have these ones, and they're definitely keepers.
Stray Cat
The title story comes in three parts and, rather than being about cats, comes with the theme of finding someone who will understand you and love you for exactly the person you are, rather than who they want you to be.
Kaoru is a 20-something gay man who just can't seem to find any guy who'll stick with him for the long haul. They all get tired of him eventually, calling him cold and aloof - not able to show affection and closeness in the way they want. Kaoru's frustrated because he doesn't know how to change himself and doesn't particularly want to; it's not that he doesn't care about people. He's just...prickly, like a cat, needing to do things at his own pace and on his own terms, and only showing true affection in brief spurts, probably interspersed with biting.
He wanders into a local gay cruising spot - a park - out of desperation after his latest breakup. It's not that he really wants anonymous sex - he wants a longterm relationship, and someone who loves him - but he'll take what he can get at this point. Instead, he runs into a handsome university student who's been coming there regularly to feed a stray cat, and somehow has not noticed that every other person in the park is gay and looking for a hookup.
When Yohei expresses surprise at the news, but also interest in Kaoru, they engage in a quick and dirty romp in the woods, which Kaoru immediately regrets. He didn't want to be some straight guy's experimental fling, and he has no intention of seeing the guy ever again.
Except he does see him again, going back to the park and being hit on by another guy who doesn't seem to be taking no as an answer, and when he rushes in to save Yohei, somehow he winds up at Yohei's house, then in Yohei's bed, then as Yohei's boyfriend and life partner.
The first bit is a little bit rushed, yeah; Yohei is WAY too quick to say he's in love, when they've barely even spoken. But he is interested, and the relationship develops really nicely from there. I'm a bit sad that Kaoru didn't actually go to Yohei's hometown to meet his family - I always love that element of stories - but all their interactions are really sweet (and periodically hot), and it was really nice to see Kaoru both being true to himself and stretching to meet Yohei's needs, too.
Lonely Man's Love
This one might've been my favorite. At a single chapter, I found it difficult to believe it'd feel like a complete, satisfying story, but it really did.
We start out with a sad, country-born salaryman on a train, musing about how much he hates living in the city - with its suffocatingly faceless crowds, and people who just don't care about each other. Plus, the girlfriend he'd thought he was probably going to marry had cheated on him, then broken up with him, so he's having a hard time trusting anyone.
Enter an extremely drunk man in a suit, who clings to him, calls him "Naohisa," and then throws up on his shoes. When Not-Naohisa finally manages to wrangle the guy to his apartment and into his bed, the man kisses him, then passes out, clinging to him and trapping him there.
In the morning, once he's sobered up, the guy turns out to be deeply apologetic and extremely nice. They spend most of the day together - starting off with some clothes-shopping to replace the puked-on pants - and Not-Naohisa starts to really respond to and care about this man who's held such an unwavering love for the man who'd left him without a word.
They part ways without exchanging names or any other information, and Not-Naohisa assumes he'll never see the stranger again...although he thinks about him often, and wonders if the lovers had ever been reunited.
Then, horribly, he happens to run into Actual-Naohisa, who turns out to have been a slimy, money-grubbing jerk who'd been playing with a rich gay man as his own personal money-making scheme.
Things wrap up pretty quickly from there, but I loved how delicately everything was handled - simple, effective, concise storytelling with a big emotional punch. I definitely could've read a lot more, but it truly wasn't need; this was a beautiful story about kindness and trust and kindred souls.
You Should Love Too!
The final two-chapter story was the least finished, and Halco says it was her first work and one she wished she'd fleshed out a bit more. Still, there's a ton about it that's appealing. We have 19 year old Keita, who "ran away from home" and refuses to tell his friends or coworkers why. He's been crashing with them, but when one of them gets a girlfriend, he has to find a new place to stay...and winds up staying with that friend's former teacher, an extremely handsome 31-year-old named Takeshi who has a soft spot for troubled students.
The way these introductions were framed, I really thought Keita's secret reason for leaving his home was going to be that he was gay, because he immediately fell head over heels for Takeshi, and spent the next three months in absolute domestic bliss. They weren't dating or kissing or anything remotely romantic, on Takeshi's side, but Keita is so, so happy to be living with and cooking for and spending time with the man he loves.
Things are going great, until suddenly they aren't. Takeshi starts acting weird, then suddenly tells Keita that he's gotten a girlfriend and that Keita has to move out. While he didn't mean that night, Keita packs up his things immediately, puts on the world's most cheerful face, and breezes out the door, claiming he'll be fine, he knew he'd overstayed his welcome, he totally had plenty of other friends to stay with.
Except he didn't. And he's heartbroken.
This section was really rough, and handled super well.
Keita winds up going back home after all, because he doesn't see many other options, and he's too emotionally devastated to care anymore about where he is or what he's doing, so he might as well quit his job and stay with his family, where everything's free.
It turns out that he'd left just because he wasn't valued there...as the second son, he was mostly ignored, just expected to fall in line and do whatever his family wanted, but without ever being treated like an individual person.
I still think it would've been more effective if his sexuality had been a part of it, but I do think it's still easy to see it as part of the unmentioned blackmail that Keita's older brother held over Takeshi's head when meeting with him and convincing him to convince Keita to move back home - where he could fall back into line and stop embarrassing his family.
The conclusion was a little rushed, but still nicely handled. I could've used one more chapter to properly wrap things up, but I still really liked what we got.
Paw Pads and Me
The rest of the volume is just a bunch of four-panel humor comics about Halco and her cat, which, despite not particularly caring about cats, I did find fun and amusing. I think cat lovers would adore these.
So...yeah. Overall, just a great collection, and I really wish I could've followed Halco through more books and longer series, because the creativity and emotional depth here was so great. A definite keeper.
May 26, 2023
I have had this manga in my stack for a year and I was finally in the mood to read it. This is an anthology of three different couples and a last section of the author’s experiences being a cat owner. Usually I do not care for anthologies and would not have purchased this one if I understood there were multiple stories. But I was surprised. I really enjoyed the theme of a stray cat. The art is very good. All six main characters looked unique! The stories are very interesting and poignant. If you have a heart for human “stray cats” you will appreciate this work.
November 20, 2017
I don't like cruising AT ALL, but thank god nothing happens when the guy goes to this park to get laid. Besides meeting a cute guy who is looking for a cat. Too bad that, consequently, they do it in the park. Oh well...
Second story is fine, about an another chance to be in love.
Second story is fine, about an another chance to be in love.
February 15, 2021
I loved all of the stories in this volume. I think each of the couples has good chemistry and they're all easy to root for. The author also won me over with her hilarious and accurate (to any cat owner) 4 panel comics at the end.
October 25, 2017
A cute collection of short stories. Some are stronger than others, but as a devoted cat mom I predictably like the cat-themed ones best.
June 3, 2018
3.5* Nice slow burn cute story!!
August 4, 2019
I love it
August 15, 2021
Wholesome. Anything with a cat will get my attention, and these stories were actually quite sweet. I really enjoyed the panels at the end where the author drew her own experiences with her pets!
July 31, 2023
It’s got cats!! And I love story collections. The stories were short and sweet.
March 15, 2017
Cute BL stories! I think the artwork it really well done - very pleasing to the eye. The stories are cute, but there are definitely some manga cliches here and there. Overall, I liked it!
December 11, 2011
So I found myself re-reading this title today. Shockingly I enjoyed it slightly more the second time around. It still has the same issues I mentioned in my first review however, what I noticed this time was that the "main" short story had an interesting dynamic and a play on the 'dog ppl vs cat ppl' theme. For that alone, I enjoyed it a bit more on the second read. However, the rest of the short stories were still not entertaining for me.
Previous review:
2 stars - 7/5/11
Despite what it seems this is a oneshot collection of which I'm not a fan. The story that the cover comes from follows a jaded gay young man who finally finds someone he falls for. There's nothing original in any of the stories and the artwork is simply so-so. It also contains one of my pet peeves: showing missing body parts during intimate scenes.
Previous review:
2 stars - 7/5/11
Despite what it seems this is a oneshot collection of which I'm not a fan. The story that the cover comes from follows a jaded gay young man who finally finds someone he falls for. There's nothing original in any of the stories and the artwork is simply so-so. It also contains one of my pet peeves: showing missing body parts during intimate scenes.
June 18, 2013
So cute! I really enjoyed all of the stories in this volume. Usually I don't like it when there are two stories with the cover characters and the rest are shorts, but this volume was definitely worth it. The first story was adorable, and the last stories tugged at my heart and made me tear up. I really enjoyed them! For some reason the one with Keita and Takeshi really made me cry. I felt bad for Keita, always being shifted around between friends when they found someone to move in, thus kicking him out. Great stories, though!
My favorite part was the bit at the end with the author and her cat stories. They're all true! Everything she said is what my cat does as well. I'm amused to find out that others experience it from around the world.
My favorite part was the bit at the end with the author and her cat stories. They're all true! Everything she said is what my cat does as well. I'm amused to find out that others experience it from around the world.
February 10, 2016
Ok the middle story was the cutest. Salaryman from the countryside moved in the city three years ago is sick of the city and thinks about leaving but then bumps into drunk rich dude on the train who mistakens him for his missing lover and it's the most adorable.
Everything else was pretty forgettable tho.
Everything else was pretty forgettable tho.
May 10, 2012
1st. read: 11/2/10
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