Kaichou-san no Koneko
By Furumiya Kazuko
Kotoko: I propose for a cat cafe for the cultural festival~
Reiichirou: No way.
Kotoko: Huhu.
Reiichirou: That will be all. *goes home*
Reiichirou's mother: Hello son~ I'll be busy, so take care of this kitten in my place, okay?
Reiichirou: Wha-?
Reiichirou's mother: Thank you~ Buh-bye~
Reiichirou: But.... I don't know how to take care of pets.
RATING: C (AVERAGE! But C+ or B- for the pet stuff and C- for the romance~)
FAVORITISM: 3 Hearts ---> LIKE (but 3.5 Hearts for the bishies~)It's a heartwarming story of a kitten and its owner. It's good when it's focusing on the pet caring... but in went downhill when it started telling a love story.
The first chapter was very touching. It showed how a strict and uptight person found comfort and joy found comfort and joy from the innocent and sweet acts of his beloved kitten. Pets aren't just things seen as a burden... they can help in healing our hearts and filling up the emtiness in us. Like how the president saw himself on the kitten, pets are just like us. They eat and sleep, get hurt and give love. The relationship is mutual. I really love how the series presented the wonders of having a pet.
The extra chapter about the kitten that the leading girl frequently visits was very sad. Animal cruelty really breaks an animal lover's heart. The author sure knows pet drama.
It would really have been better if the story ended with the first chapter (and keeping that extra chapter) because the succeeding chapters had placed the kitten on the background all of a sudden and started to focus on the romance.
It was already doing good as a story about pets but out of the blue it suddenly shifted to some cliche love story. Was the author running out of story to tell? Is romance really that necessary to shoujo manga? And does it always have to be a love triangle? Do one of them always have to be naive about it? Does one need to get "drunk" to be able to make a move? So stupid.
I'm not really against the pairing but things happened too fast. There was no development at all... and it felt forced... like the author felt obligated to make the main characters end up falling in love with one another. I don't see what's so hard in keeping their relationship platonic. Meh.
Though I've gotta admit that the romance wasn't that bad. But still, it ruined the series. It's so much better without it. I wish it just focused on what it was good at. Very disappointing.
On the bright side, despite the flaws, it was still so much fun to read~ Two of my favorites even happened to be on those unnecessary chapters, hehe:
(Funny bishie with sis complex is love~ Hott bishie is love~ Kitty phobic bishie is love~)
The Student Council President's Kitten is a wonderful story about kittens but an average type of series for a romantic shoujo manga. Overall, it's a pleasant read. The first chapter is highly recommended to pet lovers (especially if you're into cats).
