When all is said and done about The Watch Cats of Ginza, it’s going to be one of the more poorly localized works out there that I will truly miss. As explained in volumes 1 & 2, this ladies being bartenders manga is fantastic, but the many editing, lettering, and likely translation errors are a problem. It managed to be even more of a problem in volume 2. So as much as I liked this series, I feared ever coming back to it. Now whether it should’ve taken me over a year to do so is a good question, but I really was soured on it. But I have now finally finished this series.
And volume 3 was so good the localization improved. Somewhat.
The Watch Cats of Ginza volume 3 has Mikke on the clock, as she has to decide what cocktail to make for the competition. She struggles to find the combination she likes, but only a last-minute realization from an old face makes her realize what she wants to create. This did allow her to enter the Top 20 of the competition, but the day before the competition, let’s just say some lousy drunk decided to selfishly swipe the bottle that Mikke used as the base. Now Mikke’s got to come up with some way to create her cocktail, or withdraw immediately.
And somehow amidst all this…oh hey, Takuya’s finally back!
Well, to be fair, Takuya had to show up eventually, but after explaining why he had to leave, he wants the bar back. Now we’re back to square one, where it was either going to be Mikke or Shoko pairing up with Takuya in Ginza. What exactly will the two decide to do? And what will happen to Towser now?
In general, a LOT happened in this volume. This manga went straight from Mikke’s trouble creating a unique cocktail to the competition to Takuya’s return in a breakneck pace. And it’s hard to talk about all of it without spoiling most of it. So I’ll at least spoil a few things, but not enough to spoil what was ultimately a satisfying manga starring two ladies who wanted to make drinks with a man who instead forged a new path thanks to the journeys they went through.
…I guess that’s a bit spoilery…?
Anyways, Midori Takanashi did something that made me realize how great this manga has been. In calling back the customers Mikke and Shoko have been involved with in key moments, it established how great those two have been as characters. Both had their own desires and dreams that didn’t involve each other and that led to them clashing over their skills and wants, but from working together to meeting and serving different types of customers, they’ve changed a ton. So when Mikke was about to make her cocktail for the judges and some of her customers were there, or what happens in the last chapter, those customers they’ve built relationships with made this entire volume hard to put down.
The competition was also a major standout, not just because of the customer support as explained, but because it was a true competition — well, ok, maybe a competition in name. We knew the main stars of it — Mikke, Onda, and Inaba — would dominate. But throwing a wrench into it, having Mikke explain why she’s worthy of being in this competition after Inaba thought she didn’t understand how tough it was to be a bartender, and the backstage politics during the competition that are a major reminder that luck (and jerks) can play a role in getting where you want — that made the competition amazing. I guess I’ll have to take the loss on this, because I previously thought this was an unnecessary addition to the manga. But maybe the localization was more of a problem (and I’ll get to that later) that hurt that aspect in volume 2, and I didn’t realize that.
So between the competition and Takuya’s return, the only thing left was the ending. On the surface, I dislike the ending to The Watch Cats of Ginza. It just leaves a lot of stuff open-ended. But low-key, it just leaves things to the imagination, and with the hints laid out thanks to the customers and Mikke and Shoko’s friendship, it does at least make a powerful last impression. As in, yep I’m going to miss these characters, the drinks they discussed, and how they each worked to become better than how they started. Selfishly I would’ve loved to see more pages added at the end. But maybe it was just how it had to end.
The Watch Cats of Ginza would be up there as one of my favorite reads of all-time and highly recommended if the localization wasn’t such a problem. I will at least give it this — the localization was simply fine for the major moments in this volume. But you would have something like this or this that made me go, “How? And why?” Simply put, I can only recommend you read this for a few reasons:
- You’re in need of a drinking manga.
- You’re in need of a manga with ladies in it (and this type of storyline).
- The art doesn’t turn you off (I can see that though).
- You can deal with three volumes of shoddy localization issues.
All three volumes are fairly cheap is also another thing to consider, but ultimately, I can’t recommended this manga straight up — you’ll have to live with it unless there’s major re-editing to this series. But if you do take the plunge, then there’s a good chance you’ll really be glad this series entered the English market because The Watch Cats of Ginza is a terrific read.
