This is a manga that relies almost solely on the absurdity of a typical zombie apocalypse where the zombie virus is replaced with a cat transformation virus, where people who are in close contact with the cats like petting them will get "infected" and rapidly turn into cats themselves and for some reason everyone in the world absolutely loves cats to the point of stupidity, especially the protagonist that loves cats just a bit too much.

The logic of the whole thing is incredibly questionable and I guess that's where the "comedy" is supposed to come from. In a real scenario, these cats would be gunned down and bombed to death quickly, but since everyone loves cats, the most they can do is use common cat-repelling tactics like spraying water, placing water bottles, spike strips, cat repellent ultrasound machines and so on. Basically, the only reason they're all running and getting screwed over is because no one in the world could bear the idea of picking up a gun or using any sort of harmful or lethal method. Since they're just normal cats in essence, just taking to the air or water would be more than enough.

While I don't want to bring up logic here since it's clearly something of a gag manga, the art style is so serious and gritty and the conversations/actions are dramatic and "real" so that it clashes with the gag feeling and I can't help but think of it. It's ends up not being funny, just weird, which is a crying shame because this setting had a lot of potential to be something hilarious.

What we're instead left with is actions, seriousness, art and drama that's very similar to what you'd see in a zombie apocalypse flick, but what they're saying and doing in the end and what they're fighting with is the pure opposite of it. Nothing violent is actually going on and he's using common everyday cat items to solve issues, like catnip to attract or incapacitate the cats, cat toys to distract them, water to repel and all this while being incredibly upset about the cats "hating him now" and having extreme internal clashes of conscience.

Due to the way it's written and displayed, I can't feel any care for the mc or his team, the most that can happen is that they turn into cats like everyone else, at this point it doesn't feel like a big deal especially since they all love cats so much, so why bother? In a zombie apocalypse setting, the things that makes you root for the protagonist is the threat of death and total extermination of the human race, but here it just doesn't matter. While ridiculous, it's not enough to be funny, especially not with how the settings clash.

I can't see this having the potential for more than 3 volumes really and I'm surprised that the author still manages to publish it. I'd call this a failed concept, or rather failed execution. Creative and funny idea, and while the actions taken are pretty much copy-pasted from a lot of apocalypse flicks only changed to be non-violent and use cat stuff, it falls flat pretty hard. If only the author made things even more ridiculous, added some people that were anti-cat and acted reasonably to make it a bit more complex, showed more emotions from characters, gave the cast a good reason not to just get infected and give up and changed the artstyle to be more gag-like/less detailed in favor of providing more emotion, such as weird facial expressions, overly surprised mugshots, the cats showing surprise at his actions with warped expressions like snot running out their noses, big eyes and open mouths, this would be a masterpiece. But right now, it's simply a clash of genres that tries too hard and fails at all of it. Like a crappy household appliance that can do several things but is subpar at best in all of them. 5/10 for the fun and creative idea, 5 stars lost because of the terrible execution.

... Last updated on August 8th, 2023, 7:46pm

If you enjoyed Junji Ito's Cat Diary this is probably right up your alley cat. An absolutely ridiculous ode to the zombie genre, cats and cat lovers alike. There are a lot of great visual gags. While I've only read the first volume I can't wait to get more in my paws.
Even if you aren't a huge fan of cats, if you like comedy I'd definitely suggest giving it a try.