Chi's Sweet Home

moabgohan Apr 28, 2011

10

Published by Kodansha, a publisher that generally puts out mainly seinen manga, Chi's Sweet Home can be considered "Cuteness for grownups."  The main premise of this manga is simple:  A little boy finds a stray kitten in the park one day, and convinces his mom to take the kitten home.  The dramatic tension arises when we learn that the apartment building they live in does not allow pets.  Following that, the family comes up with creative ways to hide the fact they have a cat, and genuinely grow to love the kitten, which they name Chi.  The story is very simple and straightforward.  Therefore, it's pure fun to read. The characters in this manga are very endearing.  Each member of the family (the humans) are individuals.  The dad has a personality that is different than the mom or the son.  But on that note, the story isn't told from their point of view.  The story is told from Chi's point of view as she experiences new things . . . not all of them pleasant.  Like the family, we really start to grow attached to the kitten and this makes us enjoy the manga more. Additionally, this is the only manga (that I have found) that is in full color.  Full color is generally too expensive to produce, so Chi's Sweet Home costs a little bit more, but is well worth the extra few hundred yen.  The entire manga is in watercolor, which shows off the talent of the author/illustrator. In all, Chi's Sweet Home is an extremely cute manga that can appeal to pretty much everybody, not just one demographic.  The only issue is that (as far as I know) it has not been commercially translated.  But, if you are in the process of learning Japanese, you're in luck.  There are very few kanji in the manga.  Most of the speech (and Chi's thoughts) are in baby-talk Japanese, adding to the cuteness.  Chapters are short and involving.  When all is said, this is a manga that you will be smiling all the way through!