Cat Street's story starts and centers around a 16 year old girl, Keito, who used to be a famous actress when she was young but had retired early due to a traumatic incident that happened while she was in the entertainment industry. As a result, she had completely isolated herself from people and the society (school included) for 7 years and now passes her days doing absolutely nothing- lost, lonely, and without a purpose. A stray cat, so to speak.
The story, however, truly begins when she comes upon a special school called El Liston, a free school for "strays" like herself, people who don't really
...
belong or fit in anywhere. There, she meets Rei, Momiji, and Kouichi... and through them and other people, she learns to live, finds courage and eventually, her own direction (and of course, love too.)
Note: There shouldn't be any spoilers. Apologies, however, for the lengthy review ahead (usually not the kind I write).
Story (9.7): I'll say now, though, that while the summary is accurate, it does the story no justice (as seems to be the case with many great manga). The premise is exactly that... just a premise. It's a simple story but yet it is so much more- one that can't be conveyed but rather, must be felt by reading it yourself.
There is depth and meaning in the story, the kind that is often lacking in typical shoujo teen manga. There's love, but it's not your typical HS girl meets boy and hopes he returns her feelings kinda thing either. Rather, the best way I can describe the romance in this story is something like a journey- both in discovering oneself, the other person, and love itself. There's drama, but it doesn't drag nor is it the meaningless melodramatic kind that happens for the sake of conflict and cliffhangers. There's balance as well. Cat Street isn't all about romance, all about friendship, or all about drama... it's everything blended in at just the right amount.
I said earlier that the romance in this story is like a journey, but to be more accurate, I should say the entire series is like a journey. The timeline spans several years, from mid-teens to early 20s and utilizes time-skips towards the latter part of the story to move things forward. The pacing is great and the plot is constantly moving forward. The ending is fulfilling as well. While I wish there were more of Cat Street for me to devour, I wasn't left with the feeling that the manga needed to be longer or shorter. It all wrapped up beautifully, with a meaningful conclusion and a certain symbolism that really just fits the story, the characters, and even the title of the manga.
Character (10): Loving all the characters in a manga isn't something that often happens to me, but Kamio-sensei manages it so easily with all the personalities she has created for Cat Street. Again, I must emphasize the depth here. The heroine has true strength... the kind that comes from deep within and not the so often misunderstood strength where a heroine is depicted as strong just because she can yell, get violent, and kick some ass.
There's a theme of trying your best and not giving up, but what's great about it is the fact that the characters treat this realistically and in a less shallow way (as opposed to countless "I don't think I can stop loving him after all so I'm going to keep pestering him until he falls in love with me" sort of thing). I guess what I'm trying to say is that the characters all feel genuine and human to me. The way they handle their problems, the way their personalities grow and develop throughout the series, and how each and every character has their own distinctive personality. I'm touched by all of them in one way or another- even the so-called villains. There are no villains for the sake of being villains type of characters here at all, and that to me is a mark of good characterization.
Art (9): I'm not one for saying much about the art unless it completely blows me away with its awesomeness or there's an aspect of it that I felt I needed or wanted to mention. So I'll just say that I personally adore it. The lines are clean and the scenes are nicely-done, with simple but good detail and without it being overcrowded. For those who have read HYD, Kamio-sensei's art is similar to how it was at the end of the series... likely even better actually.
My favorite aspect of the art is how all the characters (especially the main ones) each have their own distinctive looks and style. I recognize them all right off the bat, unlike some other shoujo manga where I sometimes have trouble being sure about who's who due to the almost identical appearances.
Overall (10): What else can I say? I've thoroughly enjoyed reading Cat Street... there was never a dull moment and each development was simply heartfelt. This is a case of where the story, the characters, and everything else just comes together perfectly- the kind that makes the leap from great to a masterpiece.
 Alternative TitlesSynonyms: Ribbon Road Japanese: キャットストリート InformationType: Manga
Volumes: 8
Chapters: 36
Status: Finished
Published: Jul 13, 2004 to Sep 13, 2007
Demographic:
Shoujo
Serialization:
Bessatsu Margaret Authors:
Kamio, Yoko (Story & Art) Statistics Ranked: #4042 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #540
Members: 34,495
Favorites: 1,026 Resources | Reviews
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Nov 5, 2008
Cat Street's story starts and centers around a 16 year old girl, Keito, who used to be a famous actress when she was young but had retired early due to a traumatic incident that happened while she was in the entertainment industry. As a result, she had completely isolated herself from people and the society (school included) for 7 years and now passes her days doing absolutely nothing- lost, lonely, and without a purpose. A stray cat, so to speak.
The story, however, truly begins when she comes upon a special school called El Liston, a free school for "strays" like herself, people who don't really ... 
Feb 22, 2009
Cat Street is a surprisingly deep story, easily one of the best I have ever come across. Cat Street has it's moments of humor, but what it realyl excels at is drama.
The story starts with Aoyama Keito, a lonely girl traumatized by her experience as a child actor. Years earlier she suffered from stage fright and managed to successfully ruin her career. Now she spends her days at home in a state of apathy. The manga essentially focuses on Keito's progress as she starts to interact with society again, starting with her enrollment at El Liston, a school full of students with similar backgrounds. Story ... 
Jan 25, 2011
“Out of five emotions, when I learned the meaning of anger, everything began to crumble.”
Most of us want them, some of us need them, eventually we all feel lonely without them, Friends. Not just any friend, true friends. That’s what Cat Street was for me, an extraordinary story of friendship. This manga is proof that even if you think you’re a misfit, wounded, or no one understands you, there are still people out there who will appreciate you for who you are, no matter who that is. In Cat Street we follow Keito, a successful young actress. All she wanted to do was ... 
Jan 2, 2009
The story tackles about your dreams, making your way, yourself, love & friendship etc... And I'll tell you honestly, this is the first time that the story of a manga sinks deep down in me. I was touched & moved that most of the time I need to pause my reading to wipe some tears that starting to show off.. I mean I can identify myself with the story & characters. The feeling of isolation, thinking what you really wanted in life & losing your dreams & finding it, & knowing that you are not alone.. This is one of the few plots where there
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Sep 13, 2015
When I read this manga for the first time, I did'nt know that it was the same author of Hana yori dango. But after a while when I read more chapters, I started to notice the similarites of the characters. I recognised the feelings of fustration I got from Hana Yori Dango, when those feelings were coming back after reading Cat Street. It got fustrating with the annoying love triangels and slow romance. It was very fustrating to read. Cat Street did the exact same thing that Hana Yori Dango did. Create a promising romantic relationship between the main characters and kill it slowly till
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Nov 9, 2009
Story: 10
One of the first things I am going to do when starting off with this review, is to explain some things that people might not know, that if one goes into the Manga, that knowing will help one enjoy the read a lot more. If one is familiar with the Japanese culture, then one will likely already be familair with the setting and senario, and have an understanding of why the things go on as they do. Here in America, and other European cultures, there is a high reguard towards the concept of individualism, so being really different and good at something is not a ... 
Jun 4, 2012
A story to love, and to be inspired by! While many shoujo manga have fallen into the stricken pattern of observing love and its many nuances, Cat Street takes a grand leap and bring the readers on an emotional journey through the path of Aoyama Keito - a former child actress living in recluse after a traumatic encounter in the theatres. In her encounter, she meets three reliable friends who are also on their own search for their purpose in life and as they converge paths at El Liston - their youth starts a new page and they progress hand in hand into an unknown
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Dec 24, 2009
Well, how could I possibly put all my thoughts into words? Ahaha... I read loads of MANGAs but Cat Street is the first one to have my review. It has been 4 years since I started reading manga and I read a lot of beautiful and unique stories. Cat Street is basically about a child star who quit showbiz because she was devastated by an incident on the theatre and as years passed by her life has been miserable. She met an old man and from that incident her life made a big improvement. She went to El Liston a free school and she met
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Jun 25, 2013
Story:10/10
When I read the summary of this manga I thought that there was no way I could possible relate to such a story. I'm not in the entertainment business kinds of story, I don't really read things dealing with fame problems and I don't even like the idea of stories about actors. But with Cat Street, I could actually relate to everything that went on. I know this isn't going to be the best review because I can't really find the words to describe how much I liked this story. All the problems that the main character faced where real life problems. The pain of loosing love ... 
Jan 11, 2024
This series started off strong, especially the first chapter which establishes Kieto’s career as a child star and the immense pressures put on her that led to her feelings of ostracization, isolation, and absence of normality. Seeing all that compound and then eventually break her after the betrayal of someone she thought was a fried made for a immediately engaging opening that had me curious as to where the series would go. And within the first half of the series, I genuinely enjoyed it. Even if it dipped into the melodramatic at times given how intense the characters treated innocuous developments, it was perfectly congruent
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Feb 23, 2011
I loooove this manga!!!
It's not really a 10 but I just want you to read it. >:) Highly recommended! Umm umm so its about, wait I'm not going to tell you what it's about I'll just tell you what I think of it! :D I love it so much because well there are cute guys and romance. It's sorta realistic, a teenage girl like moi can relate to this, and umm ummm umm. Sorry I'm so tired so why am I even writing a useless review? So just read it! ... 
Apr 3, 2021 I was super surprised to find that the author who wrote Cat Street was the same one who wrote Boys over Flower, and oh my god, Boys over Flower was so bad (I remember watching the anime adaptation of BoF and there was a sexual assault scene that plays off as romance. It was horrible) But I'm glad that I went into Cat Street not knowing this fact because Cat Street was completely different from BoF. There is no stereotypical douchebag guy / nice girl melodrama, female rivalry, crazy love-triange, family-intervention, and all that weird stuff in BoF. Instead, what we have is an extremely ... 
Aug 28, 2017
Cat Street makes for a great introduction into modern shojo, in my honest opinion. It might not have the best artwork and falls back onto some tropes, but it makes up for it with an engaging story and easy-to-love characters.
[Story - 8] This manga follows Keito Aoyama's return to society after a self-imposed exile caused by a rather embarrassing incident that prematurely ended her acting career as a child. Her return is not an easy one, as she has to learn how to properly socialize with others, navigate the world both on her own and with friends, and ultimately find a solid purpose in life. It's ... 
Mar 4, 2018
I've lost count of how many times I've read this manga. Every time I feel lost, sad or empty Cat Street's story fills me with hope, self forgiveness and patience to deal with my problems. It's Kamio Yoko's masterpiece, and I'm grateful that she wrote it.
Cat Street is a story much deeper than it seems. When I first read it (6 or 7 years ago) I couldn't fully understand what was about, but as the years passed by and I had to grow up and experience what is like to be an adult, Cat Street became more and more relatable. For me it became ... 
Aug 16, 2009
Story - 10
I loved this manga so much. The summary really doesn't do much in making the story sound very interesting, but it's an amazing story. You'll really enjoy it, you just need to give it a chance. Art - 9 I'll have to admit, the art didn't attract me too much at first. That's how I felt about HYD as well. (I read HYD before Cat Street.) I just need time to get used to it is all. I think I'm just too used to the other typical styles of art in most shoujo mangas. But, after I get used to it, it's really well done. ... 
Dec 13, 2015
Cat Street started out really good. The story appealed to me a lot, since I could relate to Keito and her friends, feeling like "stray cats". I liked the idea of a free school, and the characters were unique and realistic.
Unfortunately, somewhere around chapter 15, is when it started going downhill. The pacing suddenly grew REALLY fast. The plot lines and romance were extremely rushed, and the mangaka even threw in time skips, all within like 15 chapters. Its like the mangaka suddenly found out that she had to condense her story into 35 chapters when really, it could have been at least 50 chapters. The ... 
Jan 7, 2018
I loved it.
The story is about a mentally damaged young girl, and how she slowly comes out of her shell, and blossoms into a successful young woman, with help from her friends and the person she eventually falls in love with. I found the premise strange at first. OK, so she failed as a child actor. Big deal. Is that really something to mope about for years? But I just kept reading and soon realized that it's really just a plot device for the mangaka to address her message. The story carries a strong hopeful message for all the teenagers out there making their way into ... 
Aug 1, 2019
I decided to read Cat Street because I had watched the drama as a teenager, and it had been like a comforting hug at a time I was really struggling. I was in a situation not dissimilar to the kids in Cat Street (although not with such a dramatic backstory, unfortunately), having dropped out of school because I just couldn't cope.
Had I read the manga at the same time, I think I would have loved it thoroughly. Now, with a few more years under my belt, and a level of detachment from that mindset of teenage alienation and struggle, my opinion is perhaps a little ... 
Jul 25, 2013
Cat Street had to be the most interesting and thought-provoking manga I've ever read out of all the manga I've ever read.
I believe the reason the story was so interesting to me was the fact that I could relate to it. The story focuses on 16-year-old Keito, a child actress who became a recluse after an incident. She ends up at the "free school," El Liston, and from here her journey begins, along with her new friends, Rei, Momiji, and Kouichi, who also have been living as outcasts from society. Together, they gradually find their place in the world. This is an inspiring story about ... 
Jun 7, 2020
Cat street is one of the old manga that catch my attention. Im not gonna say that its super duper great, but i think cat street deserve some attention.
The story is outstanding for me and it gives me chilld everytime i read it. And its really shocking because the male lead is not expected at first ( i thought it gonna be taiyou or rei ). Well the art is not the best but it still acceptable. And for me all the character is great, we can see the development of each character especially the MC. Overall i really enjoy reading this manga, and when ... |
