‘A Man and His Cat, Vol. 2’ by Umi Sakurai: Grief, Healing, and the Softening of Walls
This review is focused on volume 2 of the series
Back when I was still regularly tuning into the Books Unbound podcast, hosted by Ariel Bissett and Raeleen Lemay, the latter shared her affinity for collecting books that feature cats. This struck me as both quirky and heartfelt and this stayed with me. That detail, along with the work of Umi Sakurai, served as the catalyst that nudged me towards reading the series, and I am forever glad that I did.
One of the standouts of this series thankfully remains the art style. Sakurai’s choice to keep the animals soft and rounded is in direct contrast to the more angular feeling of the human characters. This feels deliberate and symbolic. The contrast highlights the purity and vulnerability of the animals against the guarded and often harsher nature of the people in the series. To my surprise, in Volume 2 something shifted. The humans, most of them, appeared a bit softer. Not just visually but also emotionally. Whether this change was intentional or something I projected, it altered the way I experienced the story. It felt like I was watching the walls the humans built slowly melt away as Fukumaru created that soft space for them.
The delicate line between adorable and heartbreaking remains a constant in this episode. The sweetness inherent to Fukumaru and his everyday moments is punctuated by the quiet grief and reflection we see in Kanda. Learning the deeper and more internal decisions that led to Kanda’s decision to adopt Fukumaru is nothing short of heart wrenching. But this only serves to deepen our understanding of not just Kanda, but Fukumaru’s journey. Kanda’s gentleness and capacity for tenderness is subtly revealed and that is what makes it powerful.
In this volume I found myself drawn to Kanda more than before. There is something so moving about the way he interacts with Fukumaru and his environment, not with fanfare and noise but with love and space. It is the kind of tenderness you do not often see portrayed with such sincerity, this successfully. And that is what kept me turning the pages.
The episodic structure of the series is what keeps the work engaging. Each short chapter offers glimpses into the characters' lives without overwhelming the reader with information and experience. We are given just enough to resonate. Each small moment builds quietly and carefully, like a conversation with a close friend, spaced out but memorable. It is a storytelling and rhythmic choice that really works beautifully here.
Volume 2 does not just continue the story, it enriches it. And now more than ever I find myself eager to follow these characters where they go next.
