“Hachi the cat finds most things monotonous, especially high school. But when Aoi the lizard–a quiet, high-achieving transfer student–arrives, Hachi catches a glimpse of a more colorful life. If Hachi can help Aoi open up, unlocking new feelings in the process, maybe life won’t be so dull after all.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got this as a birthday gift.

Thoughts: I am a huge fan of Nagabe’s “The Girl from the Other Side” manga series so I was excited to see this book come out. This was a heartwarming and cute read that I enjoyed.

This book follows the story of the friendship (or maybe something more) between Hachi and Aoi. Hachi is a cat that is completely bored with everything; school, people, life. However, when Aoi shows up he is just so different that Hachi can’t help but be drawn to him. As they spend more and more time together, they find out that they have a lot in common despite their vast differences.

This is beautifully drawn. It is an interesting world where beasts are basically humanoid, I think they are called beastfolk. The background of the world is gone into very briefly. This is mainly the story of a friendship/romance that develops between Hachi and Aoi. Nagabe does a beautiful job of engaging us with these delightfully complex characters and making us really care about them. I would recommend for teen and older because there is a fairly violent scene in the book.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I really enjoyed this, it made for a heartwarming and cute read. I reallenjoyed the characters here and also enjoyed the larger commentary around people being different and accepting each other. There are also themes of friendship, trust and healing throughout. I would recommend if you enjoy quirky manga romance with some fun animal aspects to it (cat and lizard weirdness).

Manga Review – Monotone Blue by Nagabe (4/5 stars)

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