Kaiohsia, $11.49
Fantasy, 2022

Majo to Neko, or Witch & Cat in the English markets, is a one-off so I don’t have to buy and read several volumes to get the full story. So, that is a good thing.

However, I will need to first explain the way things are in this alternate Earth. It’s a fantastical place, as we have witches that can… do something, I suppose, although I don’t get to see any spectacular woo-woo here. They can form what is called a “contract” (at least, that’s what the English translator puts it) with a mortal, so that this mortal familiar will inherit animal-like traits associated with the witch in order to… do stuff, I imagine. The witch and the familiar must do bonding stuff like sex every day in order for the familiar to stay alive.

Hmm, this sounds like an adult version of that Pokémon thing. I would have laughed, but I’m pretty sure the same setup had been done many times before by authors of urban fantasy romance that probably should know better, so that will me a hypocrite to point and sneer at this one.

Oh, and a witch may have more than one familiar, but that will be very draining to the witch’s life force, which is used to sustain the lives of the familiars. Hence, a witch usually has one familiar.

So, this story. Sudou Masaki, a loner, knows that he’s all about the brawn and muscle power. He is intrigued when Uno Juuichi moves in next door. He recognizes a fellow loner, and wonders why Juuichi is so determined to avoid even responding to his friendly hellos.

Well, you know what they say about curiosity killing the cat. That’s right, Juuichi is a rare male witch, and he’s a cat witch at that. Sudou finds him being attacked by a mysterious blond man (they’re always blond, aren’t they?), and in the process, gets killed. Juuichi revives him by making him the male witch’s familiar, and now Sudou finds himself with cat-like abilities such as nine lives (okay, maybe no longer nine), the ability to mask the sounds of his footsteps, and night vision. Oh, and he has to have sex with Juuichi every day, which isn’t a hardship as they are predictably enough hot for one another.

However, the mysterious blond guy isn’t going to give up so easily. What does he want with Juuichi?

This one boasts a very familiar yaoi couple dynamic—the protective top and the more sensitive bottom that also functions as the damsel in distress—but I have to admit, they are pretty adorable together.

On his own, Juuichi can be very aggravating and even obnoxious, as he’s one of those unrealistic pacifist that can forgive everyone for even the most heinous crimes done on him, and it’s annoying how he is determined to be this goody-goody type even when he should have done something to fight back. Fortunately, Sudou is someone with a dark and violent past, and he’s more than enough to kick rear ends for the both of them. Juuichi does come through in a penultimate moment, which is nice, but he reverts back to his Feline Gandhi mode soon after, which gets on my nerves again. Oh well.

The whole sex to live thing makes my eyes roll, but fortunately, for the most part this is not central to the story aside from giving naughty scenes for readers to enjoy.

What really catches me by surprise are the action scenes. These are solid, well choreographed and drawn with a strong sense of movement and impact. The violence is full of deadly grace, just the way I like it.

However, the story is a rushed mess. It is set up to be something more, as it touches on some nefarious corporation seeking to exploit the witch-familiar bond and even murder these witches and their familiars for power and money, as well as some brewing civil war within the corporation. Then, everything is thrown away just like that for those last pages, shudder. I’m not sure what happened, but things fall apart pretty spectacularly toward the end, and the final pages see a rushed and abrupt conclusion, followed by corny and sickening sentimental scenes of Juuichi and Sudou acting all lovey-dovey and having sex.

Why? Why would the author do this? Is there a bus to catch, or did a rampage of horny girls threaten to sit on the author’s cat unless the story has more sex scenes?

I find this hot mess a tragic turn of event, because I am far more intrigued by the villains in this story, and they are knees deep in the whole corporation drama that is eventually ditched aside for witch-familiar sexy times. The villains are what the two lead characters should have been if you ask me: hot, amoral yet doggedly loyal to one another no matter what, and deliciously evil.

Oh well. Let me know should a spin-off with that hot evil duo comes up. As cute as Juuichi and Sudou can be, they deserve a better story, and Majo to Neko is a good story only for readers that care more about the sex than the story.

Seriously, what a waste of world building and characters.