"Is this a cat manga . . . or a music manga?" one of the characters asks in the author's afterword. And I gotta say, I'm here for the lives of the musicians: their struggles, successes, and rivalries. The cats could all be sent off to live on a farm in the country next volume, and I'd happily bid them farewell. Go on, and take "mew-r" dumb puns with "mew." (And yes, that's the exact level of humor we're being offered. See the chapter titles below for more. Ugh.)

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Chapter 57. Let There Be Mewsic -- Chapter 58. Fukumaru & His Merry Pals -- Chapter 59. Dad's Voice -- Chapter 60. Not Enough Daddy -- Chapter 61. A Warm Flavor -- Meowy Bedfellows -- Chapter 62. Sibling Harmeowny -- Death by Flattery -- Chapter 63. Daddy of the Big Four -- Chapter 64. Go Fur It, Mori-Mori -- Chapter 65. Mew're a Daddy's Boy -- Afterword -- Bonus Strip ( )

I loved that this volume focused more on the music side of the characters and introduced new characters from Mr. Kanda’s famous pianist days, including the unsettling Gustave Lambert, who gave me Monsieur D’Arque from Beauty and the Beast vibes. Adding more of the characters’ various musical achievements really opens up their world. And it gives us delightful moments such as Kobayashi proposing an afterparty for their concert, being declined because everyone wants to hang out with the cats, then pumping it up as an afterparty at Kanda’s. Kobayashi can be a bit over-the-top sometimes, but this was funny. I’m really looking forward to the next volume! ( )

The series continues to amuse me and I absolutely love it! Kanda is now cat-sitting Hibino's cat and Fukumaru could not be happier. This volume was about Kanda and his music more than about the cats, which is okay with me as long as I see Fukumaru in any way shape or form, I am content. ( )

The sixth volume of A Man & His Cat finds Mr. Kanda cat sitting Fukumaru’s littermate while her owner, Hibino, is on a concert tour. Hibino is, of course, Kanda’s old competitor, but their cats have brought them together. There are many vignettes of Fukumaru and Marin, playing and eating together, with Fukumara dealing with some jealousy when Marin gets too close to Kanda. There is also sibling rivalry on the human front, between two young musicians. Meanwhile, on the human front, a young instructor at the music school where Kanda also teaches, has his rock band get a gig- and all his bandmates don’t show up. Hardly a moment passes before the older musicians, including Kanda, get up from the audience and join him on stage, managing (to great acclaim) to play rock even though it’s not their normal genre. This is a breakthrough for Kanda’s PTSD induced stage fright. There is a lot more human stories in this volume than in the previous ones, but it’s still interesting. ( )

This is a disappointing entry in what has previously been an enchanting series.

Kanda’s beautiful relationship with his cat Fukumaru is the real strength of this manga series. Unfortunately, we get very little of that in vol. 6.

This volume focuses on the hostile relationship between Kanda’s co-worker and the co-worker’s brother; I found the introduction of that storyline tiresome earlier in the series, and it becomes even moreso now that it is turning into a focal point of the narrative.

In this installment, we also get introduced to yet another jealous rival of Kanda’s (how many do we need?), and this one is an oddly-drawn German with colossal Daddy issues…please just make him go away!

The best part of this book is the cat-sitting duties Kanda undertakes for Fukumaru’s sister, Marin. That threesome is just too adorable for words! I almost couldn’t stand the cuteness overload when Fukumaru realized his sister wasn’t trying to usurp Kanda’s affections, but rather was eager to be closer to her much-loved brother…awww, too sweet! It’s simply too bad that storyline comprised only a small portion of the book…it needed more of that, not less.

The author implies at the end that the remainder of the series is going to be following the format of this story—less cat and more human conflict. What a way to kill what has been an otherwise delightful series!

I will probably give the author the benefit of the doubt and read the upcoming installment, but—if it really is like this one—I won’t be reading anymore. ( )