Miranda is a reclusive apprentice witch who runs a shop selling magical potions and enchanted trinkets in a quiet corner of the capital city. One day, she receives an invitation to a tea party at none other than the royal palace itself. There, she meets the third prince, only he's been cursed and turned into a cat! Ordered to serve as Prince Heinrich's “keeper,” Miranda suddenly finds herself the caretaker of a royal feline! What happens when a handsome prince becomes a witch's pet?

The Prince’s Keeper has a story by Oto Nagatsuki and art by Himako Neko. English translation is done by Meredith Singer and lettering by Dietrich Premier. Published by Square Enix (April 14, 2026). Rated T.

Rebecca Silverman
Rating:

I have, I must admit, been followed home by many stray cats. None of them have ever turned out to be human princes suffering from a curse, up to and including my most recent addition. Possibly that's because, unlike Miranda in this series, I'm not a witch with the power to use transformation magic to turn my kitten familiar into a boy for a few hours. The cats who decide that I'm their person just want basic things like food, love, and shelter. But Prince Heinrich of Aurelia desperately wants someone to break the spell, especially since he feels himself getting more feline by the day.

As opening gambits go, it's a good one. While the story feels a bit thin in terms of world building and plot, it's hard to argue with a self-conscious witch discovering that she has a prince to save. Poor Miranda definitely doesn't feel up to the task, and that forms the backbone of her part of the story. Not too long ago, her mentor up and left the magic shop she runs, leaving Miranda in charge. Rather than assuming that this means that she's now a full-fledged witch, Miranda assumes that she's still an apprentice whose master has just gone off for a bit. Reading between the lines, we can guess that this was her teacher's attempt to build Miranda's confidence and show her that she is, in fact, ready to conduct business on her own, but Miranda's so anxious and self-doubting that she truly can't fathom that that might be true.

The advent of the prince doesn't change everything, at least not in this volume. He does very much want Miranda to help him, but he seems to understand that not only is the spell he's under remarkably complex, but that she also doesn't feel like she's the right person to break it. While I wouldn't say he wears her down into agreeing to help, he does convince her that she has to try, if only because he's a prince. He tries very hard not to make her uncomfortable with mixed results, and there's a charming relationship building between them, aided by her actual feline familiar, who exhibits some very real cat behavior.

The original author of this book mentions that what actually jumpstarted the story was the idea of a handsome young man wearing fundoshi, traditional Japanese underwear. That's definitely in the book, but honestly, it's not quite as funny as I think it's intended to be, and it frankly feels a bit out of place in what the series has become. But between the cute cats, the relatably anxious heroine, and an artist who understands that you wear your chemise under your corset, I'm willing to give this time to develop.