Jiro Haruta has an unfortunate penchant for attracting trouble, so when he stumbles upon an odd-looking cat on his way to class, he does his best to avoid it. However, the cat not only steals Haruta's lunch, but it follows him home! And if that's not strange enough, the cat transforms into an extremely handsome man named Kanawa, who declares in front of everyone that he wants to be kept by Haruta! Can Haruta escape this cat-astrophe, or is he stuck being the proud owner of a handsome catboy?!

The Handsome Catboy Wants to be His Pet has story and art by Naruko. English translation is done by Angela Liu, with lettering by Annaliese "Ace" Christman. Published by Seven Seas (September 16, 2025).

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

I'm surprised I didn't like this more. It, by all accounts, ought to be right up my alley: a cute queer romance involving cat adoption. But maybe the problem is that the adopted cat in question is also the romantic interest? Although not an automatic dealbreaker given my generally omnivorous reading habits, there is something a little off-putting about Jiro consistently saying he's “raising” Kuromame and everyone else's vicarious enjoyment of what is meant to be a romantic relationship. Or maybe the issue is that it's clearly not romantic, or at least not mutually so. Kuromame adores Jiro in what could be construed as a human way while Jiro clearly sees the catboy as more of a pet.

In writing out these musings, it becomes clear to me that the major issue here is that creator Naruko may be trying to have their cake and eat it too. The Handsome Catboy Wants to be His Pet is a book that doesn't entirely know what it wants to be. Is it a silly BL romance? A silly story about coexisting with a cat? An attempt to bring these two genres together? I lean towards that last, but if that's the case, it doesn't entirely work. There's no clear sense of what the characters are meant to be doing together, although this does, in all fairness, even out at the end when Jiro realizes that he likes having Kuromame around.

I think part of the problem is that by giving Kuromame the ability to shift his form from chibi to full-size the story sacrifices some continuity, or at least blurs the lines of what Kuromame is. He's said to be a “purebred” because of this power, which begs the question of whether or not humans and catpeople have been interbreeding. Naruko's not interested in exploring the world they've created, which is fine, except that it undermines the humor and plot. I will say that that tiny Kuromame is adorable and the art is fun throughout, and the translation is also very good, particularly in terms of making this an easy read.

I'm probably overthinking this to a disastrous degree. If you just want a no-think story involving a handsome catman/adorable catboy, this is fine.

Jean-Karlo Lemus
Rating:

While the title might give the impression of a scandalous boy's love manga, The Handsome Catboy Wants to be His Pet is instead a goofy sitcom about Jiro, a set-upon college student, and the cat-boy that asserts himself into his life. The twist is that the catboy, Kuromame, can swap between a tiny blobby form and a tall, pretty-boy form, usually when it's funniest for the situation. So there are lots of boy's love-esque jokes, but no actual boy's love romance. (Not that this stops outside observers from eating the eye candy in-universe.)

The character personalities are fairly one-note, but the cast is wide and colorful, from the dandy older professor who has a weakness for cute things to the ongoing story of the college catboy club. It's effective, if not a bit shallow. The artwork is similarly effective, but a lot of panels simply take place in a big white void—much of the humor consists of Jiro's wild takes.

There's nothing offensively terrible about Handsome Catboy, but not much that's terribly memorable either. It's a decent-enough stocking-stuffer if you can nab it during a sale, but that's about as far as I'd go. Mildly recommended.