The Cat Proposed

Oh my God??? I honestly expected not to like this all that much, but it’s one of the best I’ve read. The art style is beautiful, the plot is perfect for spooky season, the characters are complex and well-rounded, and their romance is really really sweet. There’s humor and fluff and scenes that made me cry. So glad I gave this a chance, don’t let the title fool you.

4/5 ko-fi • Instagram • TikTok What an absolutely adorable read. I needed the fluff after the angst and overwhelming-ness of We Free the Stars. The Cat Proposed is a fluffy Boy Love manga that captures the hearts of it readers through story-telling and captivating characters. Souta is definitely a character that pulls at the heartstrings. Jumping right out of highschool he lands a job that over times sucks the life out of him. As time goes on his will to live and just be alive starts to dwindle and he begins to lose hope. Until he stumbles into a Japanese play house and see's Kihachi performing a play on the Bakeneko's. The beginning of this manga was very difficult for me, and not in a bad way. It just brought back a lot of my own memories on thoughts of suicide and this idea that we are not good enough for this world. The mangaka does an amazing job at using story-telling as a way for people to see different sides of stories and even find hope in the smallest thing. I just wish that the publishing company would have added a "self-harm" awareness to their "ToykoPop age rating" thing on the back of the book. As mentioned, the mangaka truly brings art to story-telling as he weaves this tale of love, friendship, and learning to live. I loved that the art was so whimsical and flowed with the text. It was just beautifully done. It was a stunning urban fantasy, which I am not used to in manga. I also loved that I learned the difference between Kodan vs. Rakugo. I didn't know there were different types of story telling and that each have their own immersive experience. I also loved how it played a huge role in the background of Kihachi's life, which we actually get a backstory on! I highly recommend this manga if you are into cute, fluffy romances with a hint of urban fantasy!