Nekogurashi no Gamer-san
Cat + Gamer

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Do you like gag-driven slice of life? Do you like games? Do you like cats? Then you are at the right place!

- Characters: the gamer and the beast

The manga begins with Riko, a young office worker who is appreciated at work for her diligence. However, she never works overtime and never hangs out with her co-workers. Indeed, she hides a secret: she simply can't imagine spending her free time on anything else than games, especially games akin to Monster Hunter or Dragon Quest, as well as MMORPG and gacha mobile games. Her brain is 100% wired with games.

Then enters our second character, a young cat ... that Riko, despite herself, takes in and names Omusubi (from a Japanese dish). The woman then has to adapt her daily life, while maintaining her passion for games and her tendency to link everything to games, including her cat's behaviour. Quickly, she discovers the wonders only known to cat owners and gets addicted. So much so that, following the advice of the “sage”, a pet store employee she befriends, she adopts another cat, our third main character, named Soboro (still from a Japanese dish).

While being, in my opinion, a gag-driven manga, Riko is a character that evolves through the story. From someone who is obsessed with games, works only to finance her passion, and is completely clueless about cats, she becomes proficient in cat ownership skill, and lives as much for her games as for her cats.

- Narrative: a straightforward gag-driven manga

The structure of the manga is pretty basic. Each chapter is more or less independent and revolves around one gag in the daily life of Riko, Omusubi and Soboro. Most often, Riko will be confronted with some behaviour she can't explain at first, until she finds a solution from games, from cheat skills to hunt parties. Some other times, she discovers the “duties” of a cat owner, such as taking them to the veterinarian, the pet groomer or bathing them. At last, she finds herself expanding her social life discussing about cats, with the “sage” at first, but also with her co-workers and on social media. Many chapters end with the retelling of the events from the cats' point of view, offering some explanation to the mysteries of cat behaviour.

As stated in the beginning, this manga certainly won't be as compelling for people having no knowledge of how games work, or at least RPG, and people with no interest in cats. For the others, this might be a nice, funny and relaxing read in eight volumes.

Saw the manga in a physical store and was intrigued. I'd read a good cat/human relationship manga and seen an anime of another one and thought why not.

The manga is about a women (Riko) at a company, a cat that's a stray gets separated from it's cat family as it gets distracted. Someone picks up the cat in a box, asks staff who are willing to take care of it and well we have our main character Riko and her cat taking care of journey. With the cat called Musubi. That's like the first 1-3 chapters or so.

The chapters are short. The first volume is ... about 186 pages, (vol more 160 range), Riko moments take up the chapters and bonus ones of about 1-3 pages of the cat internal thoughts and responding to situations moments.

The cat moments are pretty good and give context from the cat's perspective. Which is a nice touch. Don't expect like full deep cat does stuff like Count Fujiwara's Suffering (which I preferred), a more cat thinks about different things besides the two sisters. This manga is more brief cat moments during the Riko ones and learning
about what to do with the cat (buy new things, see them do different things around the house, game a bit, office job moments a bit) that's all. Just small short segments. They are enjoyable.

I'm not a cat person but I get the appeal/what the cat is going for in the situations (besides how a pet owner would react or those new to having a pet in their company but over time will get used to them.

An animals mannerisms/personality, how to care for them and so on) even when Riko has no idea and asks a shop keeper it's enjoyable. Some are a bit silly.


You have the odd office moments in the first 8 chapters/volume 1 (more house in Volume 2) and I won't say more but things people question and go to such lengths of how do I solve this when it was a private thing. Which I mean anything on the internet is there public or private, or can be found. There is a clue enough there.

A lot of RPG/Mobile game lingo (almost the same as someone passionate or knowledgeable about makeup/fashion I feel is the fair comparison I can make or I guess any stereotypical fan/nerd of something) is thrown around and confuses the shop opener (the staff clearly doesn't read or watch any fantasy works so fair jokes I guess???) or is thrown around and it's easy for me to catch on, some parts of the official translation had explainations, can't say for the fan translation as not read it yet but will.

But if gamer lingo is confusing or gamer lingo thrown around annoyed you (non-gamer or gamer) then it may be an unenjoyable manga depending. You can get the general idea or just enjoy the cat parts I'd say but other Cat owner manga or anime would be more suitable as the gamer perspective spin on things is part of this manga.

(the dialogue is more than a actual gamer says and feels more like a stereotype it doesn't bother me [AS A GAMER OF MANY GENRES] that much but it's annoying enough at times as no one talks like that, people take breaks when talking about subject matters not gaming even if passionate about the hobby. XD You get used to it and it isn't that bad but at times it can be.

But she has gaming terms thrown around gamers do talk normally, even many people can talk normal offline.

I get why they present her this way and it is in her off time not her office job time, and I assume to give a bit to her personality, her learning for comparison maybe and with the cat she may balance things or it's funny to people or whatever or gamer relatable 'apparently' but yeah no.

Perspective or not I didn't find it funny. I keep reading because I still find the situations enjoyable but characterisation wise I would find it annoying. I recommend reading chapters or volumes infrequently or just reading it and just taking them as normal and moving on. I already get many cat things without the gamer context even if more a gamer than an animal person but I guess for many people it doesn't matter. Shrugs.

If into pets they may know all this already but I'd new to pets it explains those parts well and the gamer context may help or just be enjoyable I guess. For anime/manga character reaction standards sure though.

But I mean even in her work she can talk normally and of course tried to hide it. Understandable why they do that not just because of being focused on the job but the well hobby focused individuals or being and acting normal.

At home sure term throwing around is fine but at the pet shop???? It didn't really make it funny to me just a situation. Not sure what the disconnect is there of situations she is willing to be presented with a 'I don't understand how to deal with cats but so focused on gaming or getting back to a game and solving the cat issue she has' but it happens. Of course the point is to see her work out things with the cat that's the fun of the situations but sometimes it can be a bit overboard/overeaction).

The Riko bits are her at work or at home working out cat situations. The cat plays with a box, she goes 'uh the important thing is out of the box'. Just as a random situation. I get the point even as someone that has never owned a cat they want to play, seek the curiosity/reaction of the box is appealing. What is a box. It flaps and other particular investigations up close, maybe it's warm and a good place to nap, stuff like that.

Riko will be confused and learn over time how to deal with a cat but for the first volume aka 8 chapters she learns a handful of things at home or from the shop employee about cat toys, feeding them and observing the cat's moving and napping around the house on its own and the cat playing for something to do it is only the two characters after all in the house. No the cat being lonely yet though seeking another cat, or destroying anything other than the cat toy because Riko doesn't think about the situation properly and thinks the best thing has more value when something simple or dangling can get cats interested and them jumping helps with their exercise I think so that's makes sense to solve the problem then an elaborate toy. Just simple ones to play with, scratch and so on can work.

If you like cats you'll love this manga.

If you enjoy slice of life manga, some character that reacts to situations and learns alone the way you'll enjoy this manga.

If you enjoy gamer terms/MMORPGd and Gaxha games as the focus besides the cat moments you'll probably get into it.

If your like me (fine with Alice of life, some gaming, some other aspects and seeking out manga along certain lines you'd usually never read but seeing some cat anime/manga your intrigued and gave it a go) and hate gamer stereotypes and better balance of gaming terms in say a streaming (Count Fujiwara or another one I forget with a house of people and one is a streamer or they all are I forget), a gamer learning strategies (Gal Gamer Ni Homeraretai) gamers talking about their hobby in suitable locations and contexts and in office or school settings (Wotaki, Game Yaris Kara, Kimi no Pico Pico) that make sense and normal moments that make actual sense you have some manga to give an idea of what I mean.

Maybe Riko tones it down over time but it is a stereotype/trope not a fan of. I got used to it in this ma ga and well others that do the stereotype as well but it is distracting as a gamer able to break between contexts and also finds the 1 dimensional strt something worth questioning how much Eiko will grow because of the cat or other characters over time that see the cat or whatever events happen. Who knows I have to read more to find out.

So read it on and off not too quickly unless it doesn't bother you. It didn't bother me I'm just observing the manga scenes and am reading chapters slowly because I bought it physical but digital reading I'll speed through a few chapters and see/read the words, pick up on what there is and move on like I do other manga with their settings and core story being romance or Alice of life moments.

I also don't care about relating at all but I can't relate to mobile gaming. It's a thing in Japan for sure, the gacha games and such. Or just anime fans. Expect to see that or an MMO RPG. Doesn't bother me I am familiar with it or care I get some aspects but ignore it and move on. I enjoyed the fighting game related show High Score Girl or Accel World as VR fighting game elements.

And no interest in the fighting game genre but understood things.

It's a fair manga but a 5 so far (I rate from 1-8 anyway) for 1 volume I think is something I don't hate it. I will continue reading it I am interested to see what else there is as it goes on. Just things to consider that could be annoying, totally relate to (gaming or cat) or cat moment appealing. Or don't care and just want a slice of life manga to read and fine with the human/pet relationship dynamic/whatever happens at her company and the other employees dialogue.

It's not the best thing ever read but I think cats, gamer stereotypes and learning along the way is a fair manga to read.

Toning down I expect but will see as they showcase more and her character changes based on events or stays the same and for comedy who knows. The other review can say more and I will update this review later. Not much to say without saying more than 3 chapters or deeper on the 8 chapters I read and of course possibilities/volume cliffhangers are there.

As of Volume 2 (17 chapters) I'd say I just normalised it and kept reading for any details. It has been a gap of many months and it felt new but I had a different perspective reading it months later then when I started this review.