Meme’s Training
Creative Staff
Story: Miyuki Nakayama
Art: Miyuki Nakayama
Translation: Leighann Harvey
What they say
Life’s been rough for meme. She’s always getting picked on at school, and she still has doubts about her abilities as a priestess. Unable to sit back and watch, Mirai takes matters into his own hands, offering to personally train her. But everything changes when the boy who’s been picking on Meme ends up drawing the ire of a group of spirits! Will Meme choose to save him, or will this bully be left to reap what he’s sown?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This latest volume of Spirits and Cat Ears isn’t about Neneko. It’s all about Meme. There seems to be something wrong with the youngest priestess at the clinic. Her father is upset because she doesn’t live up to her sister’s vaunted reputation. This results in Neneko and Meme attempting to do the waterfall training method that’s been seen in anime and manga since time immemorial. Of course, all it does in this instance is leave Neneko and Meme freezing as their priestess robes get completely soaked. Despite how their training resulted in nothing really happening, Neneko tries her best to cheer Meme up by telling her they will become strong priestesses together.
I’ve always liked Neneko. She’s very cute and a hard worker. Meme is a character we haven’t seen much of. I’m guessing this volume is a lot like her character arc.
After the first chapter with the failed training method, Meme is being bullied by some students from her school. They ran into her and she fell into a puddle. Because of her meek personality, Meme can’t really say much, but fortunately Mirai sees what is happening and intervenes. He then decides to help Meme become a more courageous person, but before that can happen, they see the boy who bullied Meme arguing with his friends. More importantly, they see the spirits hanging around them.
While I wouldn’t say this chapter was boring since there was a lot of action after the boy was attacked by spirits, I will say that I don’t feel like the story progressed very far. This felt very much like filler. I understand the importance of character development, but I also believe it should be tied into the main story. This volume felt like it went off on a tangent to tell Meme’s story even though it doesn’t have much to do with the main storyline.
On the plus side, Meme does grow a little stronger and more assertive. During the confrontation with the spirits, Meme shows how strong her will is by not running away and protecting the person who bullied her. I believe this also proves that she is a very good person. Most people wouldn’t protect their bully. And of course, it seems the kid who bullied her picks up a slight crush by the end of it, which may or may not be a recurring theme. I think it depends on how much of a role Meme plays in the coming story.
In Summary
Overall, while this volume was nice and offered us a glimpse into a character we haven’t seen much of, I do feel like it was an unnecessary volume that didn’t add anything to the story. We get some cute moments, some development of a less shown character, and some fanservice of Neneko at the very end because Meme’s story didn’t require enough pages to meet their criteria I guess, but that was about it. I’m hoping the next volume will have a heavier focus on the main plot.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: OT
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: September 3, 2019
MSRP: $12.99
