▪	RELEASED BY:		TOKYOPOP
		▪	AUTHOR / ART:		BETTINA KURKOSKI
		▪	FORMAT:		ENGLISH / BW
		▪	PAGES:		192
		▪	RATING:		T
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		08/14/2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		09/13/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		SCOTT CAMPBELL

It was a warm and sunny day when Ameya, the series’ main character, makes his way to his favorite café and fate rears its strange and beautiful head. When a young woman named Luci literally stumbles into Ameya’s life, the encounter can only lead to more than a chance meeting. Luci is just like him – a struggling artist who has a strong relationship with her pet, and she’s more than a little clumsy to say the least. Unfortunately for Ameya, neither Loki nor Miss Chacha finds his growing interest in the newcomer to be even the least bit cute. It’s the strangest love triangle to hit manga in a while – all of which involves a cat!

One of the best things about My Cat Loki is the clean and clear artwork. The visuals are large, well spaced, and focus mainly on the characters. The characters are the story’s focus, so it makes could logical sense that they should be visually prevalent, rather than being lost in a complicated background. This sort of visual concept seems to work really well with a human drama piece, so My Cat Loki certainly wins the gold medal in that respect. It’s enjoyable to see the art well spaced also. Most pages feature only 3 or 4 separate image boxes, allowing the characters to be large so that you can see the expressions and goings on so much better than you would if the images were smaller. It’s an interesting change from many, if not most, of the manga that is being produced today. This interesting trend is likely due to the fact that the artist/author is a North American, and therefore may have a different idea about how to go about making a great manga/graphic novel.

The story itself is one of drama, relating to day to day life, relationships, success, and maybe even a focus on the love we receive from our pets. In relation to the pets, it’s a bit more complicated than that – but we won’t ruin the story for you. The story elements may appeal a bit more to a female audience, but at least the artist/author has a target audience in mind. The art is just as cutesy and whimsical as the story itself, so it’s a well planned out piece that knows exactly whom it is appealing to. In a sea of “I don’t know what kind of manga I am trying to be” reading material, it’s nice to know that someone is thinking about who they want to provide for. My Cat Loki is a fun little story without any unneeded weight. A good read for younger teens, especially the fan girls!

IN SUMMARY:
My Cat Loki is a fun, cute little story about life, learning, and being a struggling artist with a larger than life cat. Being North American produced, new fans of manga will likely enjoy being able to better relate to the subject matter portrayed in this book. A good starter manga!