Red Cat Ramen

Red Cat Ramen (ラーメン赤猫) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Angyaman. It began serialization as an independent comic published on Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+ app and website in March 2022. It later became a full-fledged series in October 2022. An anime television series adaptation produced by E&H Production premiered in July 2024.

Plot
Red Cat Ramen centers around the titular establishment, a ramen shop established and run by talking cats. Focusing on Tamako Yashiro, a human woman who is working as a part-timer behind the scenes, the series focuses on the day-to-day antics of her and her fellow feline employees: Bunzo, the head chef; Sasaki, the owner and finance/business expert; Sabu, the sous-chef; Hana, the customer service manager; and Krishna, a tiger in charge of making the base ramen noodles in-house. The restaurant decides to hire Tamako Yashiro, the sole human employee after she left her previous job.

Characters



 * Bunzo (文蔵)


 * Sasaki (佐々木)


 * Sabu (サブ)


 * Hana (ハナ)


 * Krishna (クリシュナ)


 * Tamako Yashiro (社珠子)

Manga
Written and illustrated by Angyaman, Red Cat Ramen was originally published on Shueisha's Jump Rookie website from November 26, 2021, to February 20, 2022. It later began serialization as an independent comic published on Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+ app and website on March 14, 2022. It later got promoted to a regular serialization on October 2, 2022. Its chapters have been collected in eight volumes as of July 2024.

The series is published digitally in English on Shueisha's Manga Plus platform. The series is also published in France by Kurokawa.

Anime
An anime adaptation was announced in November 2023. It was later confirmed at Jump Festa 2024 to be a television series produced by Good Smile Company & E&H Production and directed by Hisatoshi Shimizu, with Toru Kubo overseeing series scripts, Michinori Chiba designing the characters, and Hirotaka Matsuoka composing the music. The series premiered on July 4, 2024, on TBS and its affiliates. The opening theme song is "Akaneko" (赤猫) performed by Wednesday Campanella, while the ending theme song is "Honjitsu no Osusume" (本日のおすすめ) performed by Rikon Densetsu. Crunchyroll licensed the series. Medialink licensed the series for streaming in Southeast Asia and Oceania (except Australia, New Zealand and Vietnam) on its Ani-One Asia YouTube channel.

Game
On July 1, 2024, a licensed game, Ramen Akaneko ~ A Lovely Ramen Shop (ラーメン赤猫 ～ニャンて素敵なラーメン店～), was announced for Android and iOS phones. The game will have animated cutscenes for the game and new lines recorded by the cast.

Radio show
On June 7, 2024, a web radio show, Ramen Akaneko: A Lovely In-Store Announcement (ラーメン赤猫 ニャンて素敵な店内放送), began streaming online through Good Smile Company's YouTube channel. Kurumi Orihara, who plays Tamako Yashiro in the anime, serves as the host.

Reception
The series was nominated for the eighth Next Manga Awards in 2022 for the web manga category and was ranked fifth out of 50 nominees. The series was also ranked fifteenth in the Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2023. It ranked nineteenth on Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list of best manga of 2024 for male readers.