[DeepL Translation - needs review] Volume 1 Introduction: In the year 3332 of the Pas de Mariana calendar, people continue to fight rats. Rats attack villages and eat people. Among them is a "magic mouse" that turns animals into half-humanoid creatures called "mixes. When the magic rats take away his son Rio, the brave Pai Yang sets out on a search with his cat mix, Toraji, but...!
(Translator: DeepL)
Adorableness that might be harder to read than it looks.
This is the first manga I picked up to read in Japanese, although it’s a lot harder than my current level, when I saw the cover I knew I had to read it! which for me is more important than finding something "appropriate" to my level or comprehension. It is a really interesting and fun premise, but as suspected I wouldn't recommend it to any beginner readers that get frustrated and demotivated by not understanding most of the text. The first chapter was easy enough, not too much complicated dialog to go through, but from the second chapter onwards there is a lot more text and more advanced vocabulary. It did made me realize, however, how much vocabulary I know from consuming Japanese media the past decade despite being a beginner to learning the language itself.
Another thing worth pointing out is: there are a bunch of characters who speak with an animal-esque speech (for example a cat-human-mix character would often say にゃい instead of ない, etc.), which makes it hard to read and look up especially when it's in furigana and you might not know the kanji itself. I did get used to it after a while and it started to make a lot more sense as I kept reading, but it is something to be aware of.
From an entreatment point I'd definitely recommend this manga to any cats, fantasy and adventure lovers. Tamura Yumi's art has this very specific charm to it, and the characters are already quite complex. This first volume is setting the scene to a great journey of the two main characters, and I can't wait to see where it leads to!