Manga Review: Cat Street

"If you're not happy, then other people can't be happy."

Synopsis: Keito Aoyama started her acting career at a young age. After a certain incident, Keito stopped acting, and shunned herself from the outside world for seven years. One day, Keito meets with a stranger that urges Keito to go to his free school. Keito, only having the education of an elementary student, goes to the free school and finds out that everyone there has their own “special” problem. She befriends Rei Saeki, a former middle school soccer player, Kouichi Mine, a computer genius, and Momiji Noda, a clothing designer. The four students consider themselves “stray” cats and become good friends.

Story-10/10

The story of Cat Street follows Keito and how she changes from being a lonely outcast to a person with caring friends. The timeline of the story spans several years, from teens to their early twenties. The pacing of the story is great and the plot is always moving. Cat Street has a balance between romance and friendship. Keito does not immediately fall in love; she stumbles along the way throughout the story. The ending was satisfying, and I enjoyed the fact that the manga was short, only under 40 chapters.

Characters-10/10

From the four main characters, I liked every single one of them. The way they each solved their problems made the characters seem more realistic. We get to see them grow up and confront their past. None of the characters seemed generic. I was surprised how Cat Street was able to develop such characters in less than 40 chapters.

Artwork-9/10
The artwork from Cat Street differed from other types of Shoujo mangas. Again, the characters looked more realistic with this type of artwork, than the typical “anime” style looks. There was nothing to be surprise about from the artwork, but it felt clean and simple.

Final Score-10/10

Final Thoughts- Even though Cat Street was such a short manga, I thought that the manga was able to cover as much as it was able to. Nothing seemed forced out, nor the pacing of the manga changed due to its shortness. The characters are likable and realistic, which is a major plus for the manga. The concept of a person that is trying to live their life has been done a lot of times, but Cat Street makes the journey seem more realistic than other Shoujo mangas. I recommend this manga because it’s so short, but it’s really great. Recommended for anyone looking for a little bit more from a high school romance.