In Cat-Life Balance, two coworkers who are completely different catch each other off work hours being real. Will they be able to let down their guards and get to know each other?
About Cat-Life Balance
Cat-Life Balance is a manga series by Akari Otokawa, published in English by Kodansha. In it, Mamoru is the prince of his office job. Everyone loves him and relies on him because he is so reliable. He’s always the one doing overtime to help others or rushing to clients to smooth things over. One day as he’s walking home from work, letting loose, he encounters a coworker, Kurone. Kurone is his complete opposite at work, quiet and withdrawn. Everyone is afraid of her and gossips about how unlikeable she is. Who Mamoru encounters is completely different than the office rumors portray. Kurone is at ease, playing with some stray kittens.
After both of them realize they’ve seen sides of the others no one sees at work, they slowly start opening up. They end up coming meeting in this park after work to feed the stray kittens. Kurone starts teaching Mamoru about the strays and their care. Little by little, the walls start coming down for both of them. They start thinking about how good it feels to be truly seen.
My Thoughts
On its surface, it’s easy to think this is a kiss kiss fall in love story between coworkers with “secret identities”. However, under the cute cats, the heart of the story is much deeper. What happens when people’s expectations or presumptions about you are the chains starting to weigh you down? What happens when the only place that feels like an escape from the pretending is invaded by someone who seems to “have it all” which is everything you don’t have?
For Kurone, everyone at the office has already written her off as cold and withdrawn. They think she’s mean because she’s direct and people are consistently thinking she’s rude, when in reality she is just absorbed in work. Volunteering with the stray cats is the thing in life that makes her feel at ease, without anyone’s perceptions of her. When Mamoru, this princely man everyone is obsessed with, happens upon her thing, she feels that her safe place is threatened.
Mamoru on the other hand is feeling the same way. He feels suffocated by the expectations that others are placing on him. When he encounters Kurone at ease in the park, he finally feels some kinship that someone else may feel the same way. Except for all his trying, he seems to create more distance between Kurone and himself without knowing. While Kurone and Mamoru start letting their guards down around each other, the true work is happening internally as they reflect on themselves and how they really want to live.
Overall
Cat-Life Balance does a beautiful job of portraying how much the perceptions others have of us can shape our own self worth, however, we don’t have to let that define us. It lets us know that we are the captains of our fate and that it’s never too late to make meaningful change. I love that I went into this story for the romance and cats (because of course, I LOVE cats) and stayed for the meaningful conversation about self. I’m so excited to see Mamoru and Kurone come together in the future and how they will transform.
Where to Buy Cat-Life Balance 1
Cat-Life Balance 1
Mangaka: Akari Otokawa
Translator: Sarah Alys Lindholm
Letterer: Phil Christie
Editor: Ben Applegate
Publisher: Kodansha
Cat-Life Balance 1 is available now.
Thank you to Kodansha and NetGalley for the ARC!
