A Man and His Cat is one of those series where you can judge how effective it is by how many times each volume puts you on the verge of tears. They aren't always sad tears, although this book definitely has a few of those moments; rather, they're sometimes tears shed at the fact that a person or an animal won't have to be alone and sad anymore. That's behind at least two of the many teary parts of this particular volume, with the most striking being at the end of the book, when Fukumaru as a kitten in the pet shop met a Maine Coon Cat who was (happily) adopted and then sees that same cat on the street outside Mr. Kanda's home, one ear gone and his fur ragged. It's a terrible and all too common story, even without knowing if the cat was abandoned or lost, and its juxtaposition with the scene of the cat being taken home earlier in the same chapter makes it especially heart-wrenching. If Mr. Kanda doesn't take him in or find him a home in volume five, there will be sobbing.

There may be tears anyway, because as I mentioned, this series often elicits happy crying. That emotion is very present in the continued storyline of Marin and Mr. Hibino, the pianist who sees himself as Kanda's chief rival. (Kanda, it should be noted, is completely unaware of this.) In the previous volume, Hibino's mother – who initially came of as “flakey” at best; later revelations in this book make it clear that “irresponsible” may be the better term – forces her exotic cat onto her son. She'd bought Marin, who is Fukumaru's littermate, as a cute kitten, and then decided that a full-grown cat was less “cute” and that she no longer wanted her. Remembering an incident from his childhood when his mother brought home a dog for a week before getting bored of her, Hibino can't bring himself to reject the cat, although he's got very mixed feelings about cleaning up his mother's mess. He can't quite separate his mother from the cat, and that's not lining up to make him a very caring pet parent.

That's where Mr. Kanda comes in. At the end of volume three, the two men met in the pet store buying cat supplies; Kanda, completely unaware of Hibino's feelings about him, jumps right in and wants to talk cat. When he realizes that Hibino doesn't know what he's doing, he invites himself right over to help out. This leads us to the major “aww” moment of the volume: Marin is hiding between the wall and a piece of furniture, scared out of her kitty mind. Kanda patiently explains that calling her name may make her realize no one wants to hurt her, and Hibino is forced to admit that he doesn't know it. Things seem headed for disaster until Hibino realizes that if he can't bring himself to call his mom and ask the cat's name, he may as well be doing the same thing as her – namely mistreating an animal because of his own selfishness. The realization that he doesn't want to be like her, that he wants to be a better person and be responsible for this cat, allows him to break through his anger to call her – and when Marin hears her name, she realizes that she's got a place to belong and comes right out.

While on the surface this appears to be all about Marin's comfort, in reality it's about Hibino's as well. When he fully accepts responsibility for Marin, he opens himself up to the cat in a way he hasn't done since the dog fiasco when he was little. It's also Hibino beginning to break away from his many prejudices and some of his anger – without Marin allowing him to confront his feelings about his mother or putting him in a position to actually get to know Mr. Kanda, he would have remained emotionally stagnant. Much as Fukumaru helped Kanda to truly love someone again, Marin is giving Hibino the opportunity to become a softer person, at least in his own home.

Arguably she is also behind the budding friendship between the two pianists. Mr. Kanda is very enthused about pursuing a relationship with Mr. Hibino, and although the younger man is markedly the opposite, he's willing to give it a try because Kanda helping him with Marin wasn't something his image of Kanda would ever have done. There's a lovely scene of Fukumaru and his sister reuniting (and yes, some cats really do love other cats and don't mind being introduced to new ones; my Carmine is like that), but in this case, the cats are more the catalysts for the human friendship. Had they not both met in that pet shop, Hibino wouldn't have given Kanda the chance to explain why he left Hibino's concert that one day; because they already have that link, Hibino actually listens and comes to realize that maybe he's been misjudging the older man all along.

That's part of the beauty of this series: it's not only about human/cat relationships, but also about how people relate to each other. Both Kanda and Hibino's relationships with their cats are informed by their feelings for humans in their lives, Kanda's late wife and Hibino's mother. Kanda meets people through work, but he begins to relate to them via cat, and Fukumaru also gives him permission to be human as he finds happiness and experiences emotions more fully than he had since his wife's death. It's a symbiotic relationship, because Fukumaru gets just as much out of it as Kanda does, and that's a lovely statement on how much a pet can both enrich your life and give you new perspective. With its warm heart and fun mix of “realistic” and more cartoony art, A Man and His Cat continues to be a rewarding read – and hopefully it will continue that way with the poor black Maine Coon Cat in volume five.