What We See so Far: "Nekomata"

Synopsis

Sasame is a reliable police officer that is considered as strange by many for seemingly talking to himself most of the time. The truth, however, is that Sasame is able to see beings known as ayakashi and without people knowing, these spirits help with all kinds of things, no matter how small.

The Good

It’s a series that features spirits that have cat-like features trying to help out people when only one person can see them. There’s a whole lot charm and a good amount of heart to be found with this series and that is what makes it worth a read. From the way Sasame finds a way to make the ayakashi happy given how they are unable to interact with objects to how his black ayakashi tries his best to help Sasame, you can’t help but smile for many chapters. There’s a simplicity to it that makes the explanation of ayakashi and how they live work and also helps in expanding Sasame as a character.

The Bad

While there are moments where we see more to Sasame’s character other than as the person who is able to see the ayakashi, it’s rather short and not all that much. He’s a good character, but not much is expanded on him with how the story is more focused on what the ayakashi do. It would be nice to see more explored on Sasame’s side of things. With its simplicity though, there isn’t much to be expected in terms of plot.

Conclusion

There is a charm to the series that makes it rather endearing. This is mainly due to the ayakashi, with how they look and act, it’s not hard to like them as characters. Sasame, however, is also a good and interesting character but a tad more could be explored on his perspective. As a series that holds the slice-of-life genre, it features it rather well in hand with explaining about the spirits and how they connect with the people. The slight pinch of bittersweetness that comes from not being seen nor able to interact with objects adds a nice touch to the series though and shows that it does give little surprises here and there.

Rating: 7/10