graphic novel (rated teen for 13 but kids could also read it). Neko starts out a little tame, but Taisho's character quickly grows on you. ( )

I remember watching the Neko Ramen anime back when Crunchyroll was still hosting fansub videos. It was hilarious and quirky and clearly a labor of love shared between various creators, thus giving each animated short a different style and atmosphere than the one before. I had extremely high expectations for the manga when I heard Tokyopop had licensed it for English language release and now that I've had a chance to properly digest the first volume, I can say with confidence that all my expectations were dashed to the floor.

Read the rest of my review at Nagareboshi Reviews! ( )

I can't say that I understand the appeal of this book that so many other readers have encountered. It has that awkward Japanese 4koma humor where something weird happens and the story's straight man reacts to that in a display of shocked facial expressions. This formula has found success in other forms of Japanese media (Watamote comes to mind, though I guess that it's more of the world reacting to Tomoko than a particular straightman), even within the realms of other 4komas. Except that the "weird happenings" here just boil down to Taisho putting something weird in the ramen, or making nonsensical business decisions. That's it. I can't even find enjoyment in the art, which is just so so. It looks as if a high schooler getting acquainted with the art of manga drew it, not an actual manga-ka. Then again, I don't really know much about this Sonishi fellow, so maybe he really is just getting on his feet. I don't know, and since I don't think I'll be searching for his other works, I never will.

I don't feel as if my time has been wasted, per say, but I don't feel like it's been put to good use either. ( )

A 4 panel manga about a cat named Taisho who runs a ramen shop in Tokyo.

Each 4 panel is short and can be read individually but if you read them from beginning to end, they do tell a story.

The funniest is when the one lone customer that comes to the ramen shop every day asks to use the restroom. It's a litter box with a shovel and a couple of turds. And Taisho doesn't know what's wrong. For some reason, this cracked me up more than any other joke in this entire book.

And there's plenty of cat stories - hair in the gyoza, hair in the sushi, hairballs, lots of cat part-timers at the store, and above all - the really bad ramen noodles the cat sells.

I told myself I'm not continuing this series. Now part of me wants to find out if things get better for Taisho, so maybe. I'm not sure.

And now, even though it's 1 AM, I plan to go cook me up some cup o noodles. ( )

Silly and adorable ( )