Maddies Manga

While at a temple, two high schoolers silently make a wish: she wants to be able to get over her cat allergies, and he wishes to be able to live carefree like a cat. Unbeknownst to them, the god of the shrine is listening and silently grants both wishes.

Author

This series is written by Hiro Fujiwara.

This is the author of Maid Sama!

Genre & Tropes

Fantasy, high school romance, cohabitation, “cat-like” tsundere male lead.

Info about this series (ongoing)

There is currently one volume released.

TL;DR rating

I enjoyed this sample enough that I will be continuing to read this one digitally. While I don’t love the male least currently, I’m hoping he’ll grow on my.

What’s this series about? (Spoilers for chapter 1)

Rin is a high school girl who is very good at taking care of those around her. Call her overbearing or just really caring, she doesn’t care. As long as she feels like she’s helping out, she’s happy. Her favourite thing to take care of is the neighbourhood cats, despite being incredibly allergic. She’s a little bit obsessed with them, so her being unable to so much as touch one is a very sore spot for her.

While caring for some wild cats by a forest shrine one day, she silently wishes that there would be even one cat that she could touch—just one. Like magic, the shrine cats soon lead her up to the top of the shrine where a sick cat is sleeping. When Rin goes to feel its head to check for a fever, her allergies don’t act up! She doesn’t have time to question it as there is a sick cat she has to worry about, so she picks it up and brings it home.

She puts it in her bed with a heating pad, and resolves to bring it to a vet first thing in the morning. When she wakes up and turns to give the can a pet on the head, she notices the cat had suddenly grown much, much larger. She opens her eyes and sees not the cat, but her stuck up classmate lying in bed with her. What happened, and why does he have cat ears!?

My thoughts on this volume (Spoilers!)

I found this to be a very cute read! I typically enjoy the sunshine X grumpy dynamic, and this series gives us just that with a magical twist. Tachibana, the cat-boy, has a very cat-like personality even before the transformation. While there was something holding me back from liking his character in this chapter, I liked his dynamic with Rin enough to want to root for them.

While he is very much a tsundere, “I can do everything on my own” type character, he does have a few sweet moments with Rin! I like him more when he gives into her caring nature, so I’m hoping that the more comfortable they get with each other, the more his personality will calm down.

Typically in the “human transforms into an animal” series I read, the ability to transform is kept secret. In series like Fruits Basket and That Wolf-Boy is Mine!, all of the animal characters have already mastered their transformations, and keep their abilities hidden. There are also heavy themes of “outsiders vs insiders”. In Neko ni Wagamama, Tachibana is caught off-guard by his transformation. He and Rin both learn that he can transform into a cat together, which gives them something to bond over. This big difference allows this series to stand out, in my opinion.

The scene of the two of them learning what the god did at the shrine was rather funny, and it really helped to establish the plot. Tachibana is now cursed/blessed by the fact that he turns into a cat every night, and Rin is able to approach Tachibana in cat-form with no difficulties. Will they work together to try to reverse the gods actions, or will they come to see a blessing in their new situation?

You can check out this series for yourself below! (JP)