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Cozy and comforting stories have been around for a minute, but they’re definitely having a moment now. With the state of…things…this is understandable. A couple summers ago, I actually developed a habit that involved walking (instead of driving like I usually did) to the closest public library on Saturday mornings, getting a stack of manga and graphic novels, and spending the day reading. There were always cozy stories mixed in with my selections.
One of those stories is what I want to put you onto today. It’s just the thing you need to remedy that doom scrolling.
Cat + Gamer, Vol. 1 by Wataru Nadatani, translated by Zack Davisson
The series starts off with Rika, a 29-year-old office employee in Japan who is all about her work. Or so it seems. To her coworkers, she’s a quiet and serious person they can’t quite figure out. She keeps her head down, does her work, and leaves early. Little do they know she’s a super efficient worker because she wants to be able to go home as early as possible and maximize her time to play video games. Riko is the biggest gamer, and maybe the poster child for working to live, not living to work. An icon, truly.
But her at-work persona changes a bit one day when the building’s security guard finds a stray kitten in the parking lot and asks if anyone would be willing to take them home. Surprising even herself, she volunteers. Now she’s got a (really cute) chaos demon in her apartment as someone who has never had a pet. But she’s a gamer through and through, and so she sets off to the pet store with a strategy. She gets help from one of the store clerks, loads up on kitten supplies, and settles into life with a black and white kitten she names Musubi. Or, I guess you can’t really say “settle,” since Musubi is a constantly changing force.
As she watches Musubi grow into his cat hood, she likens his progress to that of the video game characters she’s so familiar with. Let me just say that the stress that rolls off me with every chapter of Cat + Gamer is almost tangible. Once you’re done with the first volume, there are already four more that have been translated into English. You’ll want to get your hands on each one.
Read This Book
One book recommendation to help you cut through the noise