Nukozuke! Volume 1

Review Date: 2024 November 18 20:45

Reviewed by: Joe

Released by: One Peace Books

Publishing Country: USA

Author: Yugi Iro. Translation by Laura Egan

Age Rating: All Ages

Page Count: 168

ISBN-13: 9781642734072

ISBN-10: 1642734071

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Summary

A pocket-sized cat-human: have you met a Nuko? In a world where these curious creatures evolved from ordinary cats, part-timer Yuya finds two abandoned nukos on the side of the road and brings them home out of the rain. Kei needs his ducks to be in a row, while Sasame charms everyone she meets. Yuya's got the cooking and sewing skills to take care of these adorable new housemates, but when he's the one falling asleep in any warm spot of sunlight, who's really taking care of who?! Kick back and let this human, his nukos, and their ameowsing life warm your heart!

Review

Nukozuke! By Yugi Iro is the latest manga offering from One Peace Books. It's a slow slice of life manga about a guy who adopts a pair of Nukos. A Nuko is a pocket sized cat human. They're very chibi and round, with humanoid features and cat ears growing out of their heads. About half of their mass is their cute head. Nukos can also speak to humans fluently.

The manga is about Yuya who is a part time worker who switches between various jobs, which are used to explain the sheer amount of domestic skills he has accumulated. From cooking, to sewing and clothes making, to just being generally all round handy, he's the sort of guy you'd want around to fix stuff up or make you a good meal.
The story starts when Yuya finds and adopts a pair of abandoned Nukos called Kei and Sasame. He discovers that caring for them is halfway between pet ownership and being responsible for a small child. Although they do turn the tables now and again as sometimes Yuya himself also needs a helping hand from the Nukos as on odd days he just doesn't want to get out of bed!



The fine line art is fairly detailed with the Nukos showing extreme expressions that are exaggerated for comic effect. Extra effort has been spent on each characters hair; I really feel Yugi Iro is all about the hair. The characters eyes are big and dark, giving the manga a distinctive look. Screen tone is used in a fun way with fabrics and to exaggerate important moments.

The whole of volume 1 is a collection of chapter long stories chronicling their domestic life. There's plenty of softly sweet humour to go around each chapter too, the kind of slice of life moments captured if you own a cat or are around small children. It starts off mainly at home and slowly branches out to the wider area around Yuya's neighbourhood. This makes it one of those manga titles that is great to dip into. You can read a chapter or two every now and again, or if you're feeling indulgent for some slow paced slice of life you can read the whole thing in a single sitting. The future of the world isn't at stake, there isn't an evil boss or a hugely tragic back story (yet), it's just an easy going title to enjoy.



Our only real criticism of the title is it's rated suitable for all ages and does have the word asshole twice in this volume. It felt a bit out of place and it makes us
question the age rating. We're told the manga also gets notably heavier starting around volume 4, where a tragic back-story is introduced that may make the story not appropriate to children readers. We're fine with this, but it can be frustrating if a child reader starts enjoying something then it drifts into being less suitable, especially since volume 1 is marked as suitable for all ages.

I'd say Nukozuke! is one of those enjoyable guilty pleasure titles, it's a bit of fun slice of life with a twist and worth giving it ago if you want something a slice of life story with a fun little twist.

Rating: 6/10

Links

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