The Fall 2024 Manga Guide

My Boyfriend is a Dog

What's It About? 

Kentarou is a gruff and stoic dogman who can't help but wag his tail whenever he sees his boyfriend, Inukai. Despite his stern exterior, he's an affectionate and doting boyfriend. So together with Inukai, their coworker Nekomiya, and his feline boyfriend Shimada, the days are filled with sappy partners and heaps of affection!

My Boyfriend is a Dog has a story and art by kadiro, with English translation by Philip Reuben. This volume was lettered by Elena Pizarro. Published by Seven Seas (October 15, 2024.)

Is It Worth Reading?

Here's a conundrum: from one angle, My Boyfriend is a Dog is a super-cute, pitch-perfect depiction of living with an animal. But from another, it looks a lot like a story based on the idea that it would be cool if you could date your pet romantically and sexually. Yes, it's a furry manga, but that alone doesn't mean it has to have this awkward undertone; look at Me and My Beast Boss. But this book is very invested in showing how doglike and catlike its beast people are, and that can make things uncomfortable if you're not into that. It's all fade-to-black on the sex front, though, which also may make it not what some readers are looking for differently.

The story follows two couples: Inukai and Kentarou (dog couple) and Nekomiya and Taiga (cat couple.) The former is our main pairing, and the way they met is probably my favorite part of the book. It's the classic man-meets-dog story, except it is human Inukai in a cardboard box and canine Kentarou brings him home. His first words to his future boyfriend are to ask if he's been abandoned too, and that's the sort of poignant turn of phrase that's guaranteed to touch the hearts of animal lovers everywhere. Inukai has not been abandoned (he's lost and sat in the box because he had no other options), but Kentarou has been recently dumped, and he's looking to fill the hole in his heart when he takes Inukai home and feeds him. From there the two dance around the idea of getting together before eventually becoming a couple, and there's something delightful about Inukai's exuberance and Kentarou desperately trying to hide his joy. They complement each other well, and no matter what they look like, it's easy to get behind them as a couple.

It's the pet angle that makes things so awkward. While Nekomiya's observation that a cat will always take up as much of the bed as they possibly can, regardless of bed or cat size, the addition of a sexual component makes it feel a little weird, at least if you have cats who routinely want to sleep as close as possible to you. Kentarou enjoying Inukai brushing his fur is cute, but again just a little weird, as is his recognizably canine fixation on what his human is doing at all times. If he wasn't a beast person, he'd look like a stalker, and that's not great. The animal behavior that translates best is when Kentarou gets upset at someone else's scent and fur on Inukai's jacket, but it still gets a little weird pretty quickly.

If you're reading this for the furry romance, I think it may work better, although the choppy way it unfolds is a hindrance. If you're in no way into furry romance, I don't suggest picking this up, because it leans into a few uncomfortable or weird angles. It is cute but it also has more trouble than I would like finding its niche.

I'm 99% sure the artist of My Boyfriend is a Dog has a secret erotic art account. Because while this manga is nothing but tooth-rotting sweetness and literal fluff, it boasts some undeniably horny art. This manga's human protagonist cuddles and snuggles with a huge bara fursona of a boyfriend. Told in short, simple gags and a cutesy illustration style, this slice of life romance envisions a version of modern Japan in which anthropomorphic animals walk among people, but retain the more adorable aspects of their animal selves. It's a sweet portrayal of daily life in a world where half the population is a little on the wild side.

Tired: your dog excitedly greeting you when you get home from the office. Inspired: your dog excitedly greeting you when HE gets home from the office. Such is the life of Inukai, who is an ordinary human except, of course, for his furry boyfriend Kentarou. An office worker with expressive ears and an oft-wagging tale, Kentarou adores Inukai with doglike loyalty, even wanting to bring one of Inukai's socks on his business trips. This cute comedy shares the highlights of their life together and more often than not centers around one of Kentarou's particularly doglike traits—for example, his penchant for playing fetch or getting his fur brushed. Since there's so little substance to be found here, the story soon progresses to the relationship between human Nekomiya and his tiger paramour, Shimada. If you guessed that Kentarou and Shimada fight like cats and dogs, you've got the idea.

I'd recommend this manga to furries in particular. The illustrations have a horny/cute blend that's so often interwoven in the genre. Though the majority of this book is lovey dovey sap, it raises the spice level to implied bedroom activities by the end. Even side characters have unique charm points (like the rabbit delivery boy and Kentarou's hyena executive assistant who has Haida from Aggretsuko vibes). If you've ever fantasized about coming home to a male partner who's very much in touch with his animal instincts, this cute, cuddly book might be for you.