So this is a slice of life story about how a former pet cat ended up being a stray cat and learned how to live as a stray cat. It is a very slice of life, and it has a bunch of small side stories at the beginning, and it still tends to have side stories later on, but not that frequently (a side story every few chapters), as the first 3 chapters (which are 1 side story after each chapter). If you found it on the K Manga App (Kodansha's free e-book site) and it's listed as 18 chapters and a couple of sidestories, while the two other reviews before me (which were posted in 2024) show that one of them read 17 chapters (since MAL don't count decimal chapters and side stories), you might think it's a logistics problem since MAL list it as "ongoing". That's because the licence got transferred to Seven Seas instead of Kodansha after chapter 18, so that's why Kodansha stopped updating chapters. There are way more volumes and chapters of this story, though.

And it's a very catty slice of life. If you're like me, who has a pet dog (which basically means we pledged allegiance to the dog), you might feel like the story is kinda boring or not fit your palate. It doesn't mean "cats are bad" or "cats are evil"; it just means we're more loyal to canines instead of felines. If you both like cats and slice-of-life stories, this story is perfect for you. If you don't care for cats, slice-of-life, or both, you can safely skip this story.

The massive appeal of Cat Companions: MaRuRu and Hachi for its actual fanbase comes down to a few specific things that you won't care about if the genre doesn't click with you:

1. The Deceptive "Survival" Plot
While the first three chapters look like pure, fluffy slice-of-life, the actual hook of the series later on is that it is a surprisingly realistic, sometimes heartbreaking look at the harsh reality of stray cat survival. Maruru is a pampered house cat who gets lost, and Hachi has to teach him how to avoid freezing to death in the winter, how to find clean water, and how to deal with territory fights. For cat lovers, seeing that struggle wrapped in a cute art style hits very hard emotionally.

2. The Comfort Food Effect
For slice-of-life fans, the point isn't a fast plot or crazy action. The point is the "comfy atmosphere." People read it after a stressful day of school or work because nothing intense happens, the characters are round and cute, and it's easy to digest.

3. Misunderstanding the Humans
A lot of the humor later in the series comes from the cats' perspective of humans. They think the local animal shelter volunteer is a terrifying "catnapper" who is kidnapping them for evil experiments, when in reality, he is just trying to vet them and feed them.

But if you like the concept of the story, but prefer to see a stray dog story, then you should ditch this stray cat story and try to find a stray dog story. I can't give you any recommendations since I don't know any. But still, good luck with your search!

Overall, this story is ok, and whether or not you will like it really depends on whether you like slice of life stories or not, and whether you prefer cats or dogs.