Cute Family Time… and Then Non-Cute Chaos Ensues
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Warning:
This review will contain spoilers for the manga and anime series My Mate is a Feline Gentleman: Yokohama Arc. While the manga may vary slightly from all other forms of media, it may have similar story elements and could be considered spoilers.
Content Warning: There may be references to male pregnancy, sexism (specifically based on secondary sex), mentions of child neglect, self-deprecation, PTSD, depictions of past sex work (including forced), bullying, racism, mentions of slavery, kidnapping, military, violence, overwork, imprisonment, and human trafficking, as they appear in the manga.
Synopsis:
Note: It is recommended to read My Mate is a Feline Gentleman and My Mate is a Feline Gentleman: UK Arc (Over and Under) before this one. This is a series made up of four (soon-to-be five) volumes. Most places list all of them under the single title My Mate is a Feline Gentleman, but each has a different subtitle and is a self-contained narrative that builds on the previous one like a sequel series/spin-off rather than continuing an ongoing plotline like a second or third volume. As such, each title will be reviewed separately.
Alex and Toushirou have made it. They’re back home, together, and Toushirou has even given birth to twin beastfolk children. This is a dream that Toushirou never could’ve imagined for himself, much less actually lived in reality. And as if he hasn’t already been given more than he ever could hope for himself, he has also been offered a chance to translate works for a publisher. He’s married, has children, and now he has the chance to work for himself? It truly is a dream come true, but even all these things that Toushirou wanted for himself come with troubles.
Beastfolk children are much more advanced, and Toushirou has two of them to look after. Alex has to work during the day, leaving Toushirou to watch them alone. Sure, he can put them in daycare so he can work, too, but then he feels guilty being away from his children. They’re good problems to have, but they are problems nonetheless. Thankfully, Toushirou has Alex to help him out and navigate this new life together.
But while everything seems peaceful at home for Toushirou, the world outside still carries all manner of prejudice against both omegas and beastfolk, and with children in the mix, things are even more dangerous.
Review:
This is the best this series has looked. I don’t know if this creator has exclusively been focusing on this series or if they have been putting out other work in the interim between volumes, but I have to give credit where credit is due; there is some good art in here. The beastfolk, in particular, look much more beastly. I’m not a fan of beastmen when they are especially beastly, but they have gone from weird human mutant-looking cat people to looking much more cat-like to me, and I think it is much more visually pleasing. Overall, this does fall in line with your standard pretty manga style, which I like. It isn’t the most consistent, but I think the style is really nice in this one.
Now, while the art has developed for the better, the narrative has become even worse. Admittedly, this one tricked me initially. It starts by focusing on the babies and the life-changing aspects of that, as both of our main characters learn to pursue their passions while also caring for their babies. I loved this aspect of it. It felt very grounded, with good pacing, and it calls back to what the first volume did well: exploring our characters’ internal struggles, this time focusing on their insecurities about being parents. But then there is a shift. We go from a slice-of-life narrative to one where there is a kidnapping attempt on both Toushirou and the kids. I don’t think this is necessarily a large leap for this universe, since it’s been established that there are trafficking rings for omegas and beastfolk, but the tonal shift from the very down-to-earth, new-family struggles to kidnapping attempts is wild.
And as if that wasn’t bad enough, there are two of the dumbest and jarring things shoved into this volume that I never would’ve been able to foresee coming. So, we have the family drama. Cute, loved it. Then we have the kidnapping attempt, which introduces a soldier character who never plays an important role in the main narrative again. Weird, but fine, whatever. Well, then we have a random old man pass by Toushirou and Alex’s house, the first weird thing. The old man is revealed to be Jack from the previous entry. Random and a little stupid, but whatever. Well, then the second thing: Jack travels somewhere, sees that soldier character out in a field, realizes he is an omega, and then fucks him in the field. This all happens within a few pages, and it is the most random, jarring, nonsensical thing I’ve ever read in a manga, especially one that sets you up to be just a fun, lighthearted family story. The author’s note mentions that the creator wanted to expand on Jack from the previous entry, which is fair, but this was the weirdest way to do it, and it was a huge waste of space. I would’ve much preferred more panels with the teenage kids, which we get very little of.
I just don’t understand why that had to be added to this volume. Since I started reviewing this series, I have been lurking on the publisher (Yen Press) series page for reference and to link to it at the end of my reviews. As of writing this, they have added a fifth volume that is coming out. Of course, if this was never intended to explore anyone beyond our main couple, then I could see why they might be compelled to shove in as much as they can from side couples wherever they could. However, the next volume focuses on a brand-new character and the young master from Asai. Forcing Jack and the soldier in this volume was not only a disservice to the main story itself, but also to this pairing whose story probably would’ve been much more enjoyable with its own dedicated volume. Don’t get me wrong, I understand they may not have known they would get additional chances to put out new volumes, so they felt they had to do what they could to tell this story while they had the chance, but it wasn’t well done, and made the entire volume weaker as a whole. I just don’t think it was worth it.
Results:
This had a ton of potential. I really loved the growth of the art style, and I even liked how much more feline the beastfolk started to look, which says a lot since I typically am not a fan of the more beastly designs in my BL. With the better art and the return to a more introspective narrative, I was actually really looking forward to this volume. But then all that fluffy family drama is cast aside for more external drama. But that maybe would’ve been alright. What isn’t alright is the Jack character returning in a weird, goofy old man disguise and then fucking a random soldier character who appeared only once, out in a field. It was like they were trying to shove in a whole other volume’s worth of a story into a short chapter, and it failed miserably. This is the worst volume by far, but there is already another volume under this umbrella being translated by Yen Press, and I will certainly be watching out for it, good or bad.
Have you read My Mate is a Feline Gentleman: Yokohama Arc? If so, what do you think? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you not? Let me know, and comment below!
