Kuro is a wonderful little full colored (the extra chapters aren't full colored) horror manga by Soumatou about a girl living all alone in a mysterious and deserted mansion with her black cat named simply Kuro. I went into this knowing nothing more than it was under the horror genre, and that there was a strange looking cat.

I did not expect to get not only a great story about coping with one's grief by turning a blind eye to the circumstances of the world around you, but also a look into an interesting world that seems to be twisted and tormented by horrific monsters that seem to dwell and hunt within anywhere outside of the white boundaries created by the still living humans.

One of my favorite flavors of horror, or rather I suppose one of my favorite character types, is someone who has underwent such a traumatic experience that they block the horror that they've endured and is still going around them, outside of their minds. Hence, it's obvious to say that I loved the character of Coco and her relationships to the other characters who are fully aware of the situation of not only Coco herself, but the current world they live in.

Additionally, I tend to love the idea of pets in a horror situation. Kuro, despite being a cat, is of course the center character of this manga. Even while Coco is very much unaware of the glaring truth around Kuro's current existence, Kuro both not only protects Coco from the monsters outside, but one can only imagine what would have become of Coco if she didn't have Kuro following the traumatic event that caused her to shut away the outside world and the truth.

...Of course, there is also a huge amount of fun and adorable cat shenanigans. He may be a monster, and he can very deadly if he wants to be, but Kuro was adorable from beginning to end. Really, if you happen to be a cat person, you're probably going to automatically like this manga by default.

As a matter of fact, Kuro is probably actually my favorite cat in anime/manga overall. That might not be fair to say though. Considering in Kuro's case, this entire manga of course revolves around him whereas all the other cats I really, really like are just additional parts of the series they're from rather than the main spotlight (though at times, they borrow it.)

Before we conclude, I also need to note that I really, REALLY love that this manga

Spoiler, click to view

avoids the most obvious ending trap aka one in which Kuro dies and actually instead ends with a happy but SATISFYING ending. The key importance of having a happy ending is it being satisfying as well.

But yeah overall, I give this without even a moment's hesitation a 10 out of 10 and it has easily strong armed its way into a position on my list of overall favorites. I've of course seen the monster cat thing be done before, but never in an adorable and heartwarming way.

It's strange to say this about not only a horror manga, but a manga centered around trauma and death. But...

This manga actually made me feel happy! Also, I should at least note that I am VERY biased because yes, I am of course a cat person.