Publisher Summary
In a world where these curious creatures evolved from ordinary cats, part-timer Yuya finds two abandoned nukos on the side of the road and brings them home out of the rain. Kei needs his ducks to be in a row, while Sasame charms everyone she meets. Yuya's got the cooking and sewing skills to take care of these adorable new housemates, but when he's the one falling asleep in any warm spot of sunlight, who's really taking care of who?! Kick back and let this human, his nukos, and their ameowsing life warm your heart!
Creator: Yugi Iro
Translator: Laura Egan
I received Nukozuke volume 1 as an Advanced Review Copy from One Peace Books in exchange for an honest review.
Background
Currently serialized in Hakusensha's Shoujo magazine Hana to Yume, Nukozuke started publication in 2011 in Hakusensha's online magazine Hana to Yume Online. Two years later, the series was moved to the print manga magazine Hana to Yume where it's currently published to this day.
The slow-life comedy series was announced to have been licensed by One Peace Books this past September.
I haven't heard any discussions tied to this series nor even heard of the series myself before reading. I was curious to see how they blend the slow, slice of life with comedy.
Review
The story opens with Yuya, a part-time worker, meeting two creatures, Kei and Sasame, who appear to have the size of a kitten but have human-like faces. Known as "Nuko", these two are cats who evolved to be more human-like. After a rant by Kei and the rain starting to come down, Yuya offers to take the two owner-less nukos in. What unfolds is a relaxing comedy of Yuya learning to become a pet owner.
The found family trope is strong with this series. You have Yuya who has opened his apartment up to Kei and Sasame since they have nowhere to live. He makes every attempt to accommodate them and build a bond with them. While Sasame immediately trusts him, Kei is the one who is apprehensive in building a bond with his new owner.
This is why Kei reminds me of the initial reluctant member of the found family. Having a traumatic background where he was mistreated and abandoned by his previous owner, he is less trusting of Yuya due to his past. Throughout the volume, you see Kei grow to accept Yuya as their owner and try to help Yuya out without being prompted by Sasame.
After the first, each chapter's narrative is similar to a 4-koma format. One or two pages will be about a moment with the 3 living together doing some standard life event (i.e., eating breakfast) and the following page will shift to something different. For example, there was a transition from the group eating breakfast to washing dishes to Yuya wanting to get something from the top of a cabinet. The transition from breakfast to washing dishes makes sense but the dish washing to the cabinet scene can seem jarring, especially since this is all in a single chapter.
As you continue to read the volume, the chapters start to focus on a single plotline and the pacing begins to improve. This is likely due to the publication history of the series where it was initially published on Hakusensha's online manga magazine, Hana to Yume Online, only to switch to a paper magazine.
This is a series that's meant to read to unwind from a stressful day. There isn't an overarching story that you need to focus on. No drama or anything. It's just the daily life of a average guy with two cats he adopts and takes care of.
If I had any complaint it would be that nothing really progresses in terms of the bonding for most of the volume. I would have liked to see a few more chapters or scenes discussing Kei's background more. This would allow for the reader to see how Kei is overcoming those experiences by living with Yuya. So far, it seems like being given a bath is the only bad experience he has.
Final Thoughts
If you're a cat fan, a fan of found-family stories, or a cozy book reader, then you will enjoy this volume. There are no stakes or tension and most of the volume doesn't have an overarching plot so you can take your time reading.
For me, I felt like there wasn't enough development for me to continue reading past this volume, but I can definitely see it garnering a good size fanbase.
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