5 out of 5

I think I will never not be surprised at how well A. author Hawkman has managed to extend a silly premise so effectively across multiple chapters, and B. how consistently author Mecha-Roots makes me go awww at their depictions of cats doing all sorts of cute chaos… which means I’d be just as susceptible to the cat plague at the center of this series.

That said, volume 4 still has remnants of what, I guess, makes me worry about A a bit – that the story thrives when Hawkman has a scene on which to focus, which he very much does for this tankobon’s first half, but then hits a hard stop before pivoting to a new focus. It’s not even a lack of transition, really, or a making-it-up-as-we-go-along, more just a storywriting hitch that makes it seems like they’re just barely staying ahead of schedule – like big story markers are decided upon, but each week or month of hearing their strip has survived means figuring out how much time to take to get us to that marker. This (in my mind) results in things like the isolated one-off tales that comprise the last two chapters here, as well as the last few pages of the preceding chapter 100% flip-flopping to another character without notice, and kind of leaving us dry for a bit before a line connects us back to familiarity. Neither of these things are bad story inclusion overall (the one-offs are really fun!), they’re just clunkily / unevenly included.

But I’ll circle back around to highlighting the slowly expanding lore, amazingly added to here with a new, curious Devon Rex cat, and an additional cat power that makes for one of the most laugh-out-loud and exciting moments herein. To the latter: man, it’s rare that I laugh and enjoy the story and characters as much as I do with this book – save for some chapters of Golden Kamuy? But Hawkman has kept that tone consistently.

Volume 4 starts off with the conclusion of Kunagi and crew saving the two brothers trapped in the mall. Fat cats in hats and skinny cats in oversized collars abound, and much cute is had. Mecha-Roots kills – action, comedy timing, dialogue; it all works. And I’m not even worried so much about point A above, except that it means Night of the Living Cat may not be sitting comfortably enough in the rankings to keep going – so with each new volume, I fear hearing it’s the last one.