3 out of 5

I’m hooked, and still loving the way this series is interweaving legit worldbuilding and characters with its silliness – stack it next to Delicious in Dungeon as a winner in that regard, but maybe even moreso, as its ‘catpocalypse’ zombie-adjacent setup is super ridiculous, and should never support more than a chapter, and yet, here we are.

I’m hooked, but volume 3 is an unfortunate snapshot of story / focus transitions, to the extent where it doesn’t feel like much gets advanced at all. Is it still super entertaining, often hilarious, and then surreptitiously engaging as well? Heck yes. It’s just very little “actual” story.

The first chapter focuses on the escape of a new character as a way of backing into reintroducing Kunagi and crew, who rescue him. This then gives Hawkman reason to exposit all about the communal living quarters where humans have shacked up, giving the new character a tour. This is an interesting and logical lore addition! …But again, the way we get there feels like a pause button. Similarly, our main trio are then tasked with rescuing another field team, but before they depart… chapter 9 explains the reason for that team needing rescue, i.e. a whole separate character focus. Chapter 10 is then a kind of pointless flashback, showing how some characters met before the world exploded. It’s not inconsequential, but it doesn’t directly add anything beyond some minimal background.

Laslty, our backups are What Ifs (“cat ifs”) that are largely inside baseball gags for anime / manga fans, or for those more familiar with Japanese culture…

Art-wise, Mecha-Roots has a bit of trouble with some complex choreography in this volume, but the characterizations and comedy timing are still all spot on.

‘Night’ remains ceaselessly enjoyable, and I appreciate the casual style of storytelling Hawkman has employed, but it does lead to some longer stretches where it truly does feel like filler between plottier elements.