Yusaku Koga is the protagonist of the second chapter, a middle-aged section manager who feels obsolete at work and invisible at home. He is a round and dynamic character whose initial cynicism and alienation give way to a renewed sense of connection with his family and colleagues. At the story’s outset, Koga experiences insomnia, which he attributes to his new, effervescent supervisor, Hinako Nakajima, whose constant refrain of “I like it!” (103) grates on his nerves. Hinako represents a modern, emotionally expressive work culture that Koga, a man from a generation skeptical of psychiatry, resists and resents. His frustration with her is a symptom of a deeper malaise; he is an outcast in his own life, disconnected from his wife, Natsue, and his college-aged daughter, Emiri.

The prescription of Margot, a tortoiseshell cat, disrupts his stagnant existence. Koga’s initial reluctance to care for the animal is compounded by his wife’s supposed cat allergy. However, the cat quickly becomes a bridge for communication within the fractured family. Natsue and Emiri bond with Margot, and their shared joy draws Koga back into the family circle, creating new moments of shared joy after years of strained relations. This domestic harmony softens Koga’s perspective, allowing him to see Hinako not as an antagonist but as a person trying her best in a difficult environment. He moves from resentment to empathy, even adopting her habit of offering praise to connect with her. Koga’s transformation is one of perception; he learns that connection is an active choice and that his feelings of isolation were, in part, self-imposed. By the end, he has found his place again, not by resisting change but by embracing the new emotional language Margot introduces to his life.

Megumi Minamida, the protagonist of the third chapter, is a mother whose present-day anxieties are deeply rooted in unresolved childhood guilt. A dynamic and round character, she begins her narrative arc as a dismissive and impatient mother. She views her daughter Aoba’s schoolyard problems as trivial. Her primary motivation for visiting the Nakagyō Kokoro Clinic is not genuine concern for Aoba but social pressure from other mothers, fearing they will see her as incompetent. This dynamic is clear in her interactions with Aoba, whom she frequently silences, snapping, “Fine—go find this clinic yourself” (154), only to follow her with irritation. 

Megumi’s failure to listen to Aoba stems from a past trauma she has long suppressed. The encounter with the small white kitten Aoba later names Koyuki triggers a powerful memory from Megumi’s childhood. She recalls finding a similar kitten, Yuki, and being forced by her own mother to abandon it. This long-buried event is the source of her dismissiveness; she invalidates Aoba’s feelings because she has never processed her own childhood pain and guilt. The appearance of Koyuki forces Megumi into a direct confrontation with her past. In this moment, the narrative reveals that her mother, too, likely felt guilt for her actions, having secretly gone back to check on the abandoned kittens. When she remembers how her concern prompted her mother to dismiss her, the adult Megumi understands how she has adopted her mother’s behavior out of resentment for the way she was treated. This realization allows Megumi to break a generational cycle of dismissal. By choosing to take responsibility for Koyuki, an act she was denied as a child, Megumi begins to heal her own trauma. This decision also repairs her relationship with Aoba, as she learns to validate her daughter’s feelings and trust her capabilities. Her journey underscores The Healing Power of Interspecies Connection and Responsibility, showing that caring for another being can be an act of profound personal redemption.

As the protagonist of the fourth chapter, Tomoka Takamine is a successful handbag designer whose defining trait is a rigid perfectionism that affects her professional and personal relationships. She is a round, dynamic character who is forced to confront the limitations of her controlling nature. Tomoka believes in “doing things the right way” (191), a philosophy that leaves no room for error and alienates her employees, causing three to quit simultaneously at the start of the chapter. Tomoka’s frustration extends to her personal life, particularly her relationship with her unambitious partner, Daigo, whose lack of career stability she compensates for by maintaining an immaculate home and a tightly controlled life. When her business partner, Junko, recognizes that Tomoka’s perfectionism is becoming self-destructive, she directs Tomoka to the Nakagyō Kokoro Clinic.

The clinic’s prescription is twofold: first, the calm and elegant Ragdoll, Tangerine, who appeals to Tomoka’s aesthetic sensibilities, and second, the chaotic American shorthair, Tank, who systematically dismantles her orderly world. The cats function as foils to each other and to Tomoka herself. Tangerine’s gentle presence allows Tomoka to indulge in affection, inspiring her creatively. Tank, however, introduces mayhem with his “night zoomies” (219), destroying her pristine living room and forcing her to accept mess and unpredictability. This chaos mirrors the unresolved instability in Tomoka’s relationship with Daigo. When Daigo fails to show equal responsibility over the care of their household, Tomoka is compelled to finally confront Daigo about his lack of commitment, externalizing the internal pressure she has carried for years. After returning the cats to the clinic, Tomoka resolves to have a serious talk with Daigo. Through the cats, Tomoka learns that a fulfilling life cannot be perfectly curated and that emotional honesty is an essential ingredient in a functional relationship.

Abino, a geiko (regional term for geisha used in Kyoto) whose real name is Ami Takeda, is the protagonist of the final chapter. Her character arc serves as the emotional core of the novel’s conclusion. Her story is a profound exploration of grief, guilt, and the difficulty of moving forward. As a dynamic and round character, Abino is trapped in a cycle of mourning for her cat, Chitose, who disappeared a year prior. Her grief is complicated by guilt; she believes Chitose escaped through a window she failed to secure properly. She repeatedly returns to the building where Chitose was rescued, calling out, “Come back, my little Chitose” (266), a ritual that demonstrates her inability to let go. Her professional life as a geiko, which requires her to maintain a serene public façade, is in stark contrast to her private turmoil.

Her healing begins when she is prescribed Mimita, an adorable Scottish fold. Initially, she resists forming a bond with him, feeling that any affection she shows the new cat is a betrayal of Chitose’s memory. She keeps her distance, even as others in her okiya (a lodging house for geiko), Shizue and Yuriha, embrace him. The climax of her journey occurs when Mimita also escapes. Faced with the possibility of losing another cat, Abino is forced to confront her deepest fears and finally allows herself to feel love for him, pleading for his return. This act of vulnerability breaks her stasis. Subsequently, she discovers the window latch was faulty, absolving her of her long-held guilt over Chitose’s disappearance. Her final visit to the clinic provides closure. There, the mysterious nurse, a doppelgänger of Abino who is implied to be Chitose’s spirit, gives her permission to move on. Abino learns that love is not a finite resource and that honoring a past love does not preclude embracing a new one.

Dr. Nikké and his nurse, Chitose, are the enigmatic, recurring figures at the heart of the novel. Functioning as a blend of mentors, tricksters, and supernatural guides, they operate outside the bounds of conventional reality. Their characterization is static and archetypal; they do not change, but instead act as catalysts for the transformation of the human protagonists. Their clinic, the Nakagyō Kokoro Clinic for the Soul, is a liminal space. Its paradoxical address can only be found by those who are psychologically ready to heal. Dr. Nikké is whimsical, eccentric, and speaks in playful paradoxes, while Chitose is brusque, pragmatic, and aloof. Despite their contrasting demeanors, they serve the same purpose: to disrupt the protagonists’ harmful patterns of thought.

They do not offer conventional therapy or medicine. Instead, their sole treatment is the Cat Prescription, which reframes healing as an active responsibility rather than a passive cure. By entrusting a living creature to their patients, they force an outward shift in focus from internal anxieties to external care. Their surreal existence challenges the characters’ perceptions, as seen when they get drunk on catnip tea or appear as the doppelgängers of Abino and Kajiwara. This intentional blurring of reality underscores the novel’s central argument that psychological healing requires a subjective shift in perspective, embodying the theme of The Need for New Perspectives While Healing. The final chapter reveals that Nikké and Chitose are also cats who were rescued from the very building where their clinic is located and have now adopted human form to intervene in their patients’ lives. This revelation solidifies their role as empathetic guides who have experienced suffering and now facilitate healing in others.

Jinnai and Satsuki serve as unconventional mentors and a found family for Shuta Kagawa. Initially, Jinnai appears as a menacing antagonist, dressed in a somber suit with a “thick gold chain” (53), but this persona is quickly revealed to be a façade. Both he and his wife, Satsuki, are deeply compassionate, particularly toward cats and struggling young people. They run their construction company like a community, taking in individuals like Kōsuke and Shuta who are at a low point. Though they are initially hesitant to care for Bee due to the pain of losing their previous cat, their love for animals overrides their grief. They provide Shuta not only with a job but with a stable, supportive environment that stands in stark contrast to his former toxic workplace. They are static and round characters who help Shuta redefine his sense of self-worth outside of a corporate context.

Emoto is the primary antagonist in Shuta Kagawa’s story and an archetype of the abusive, power-hungry manager. As a static and flat character, he embodies the toxic corporate culture that prioritizes profit over human dignity. He publicly shames underperforming employees, creating an atmosphere of fear and stripping them of their self-worth. His cruelty is a mask for his own corruption. When his embezzlement scheme is threatened, he reveals his cowardice, attempting to scapegoat his subordinates, Shuta and Kijima. His final, desperate confrontation with Shuta, where he threatens to report Bee to the apartment management, showcases his lack of moral character. Emoto represents the oppressive system Shuta must escape to achieve personal healing and growth.

Hinako Nakajima acts as a foil to Yusaku Koga, representing a more modern and emotionally intelligent approach to workplace management. Initially, Koga perceives her constant affirmations as grating and insincere. However, Hinako is a round, static character whose actions are consistently motivated by a genuine desire to create a positive and supportive environment in a high-stress call center. She uses praise to build morale and connect with her team, a strategy that the alienated Koga initially resists. As Koga’s perspective softens, he comes to see her not as an annoyance but as a dedicated leader who expends significant emotional energy to uplift others. She is a key figure in his development, prompting him to re-evaluate his own cynical and isolated approach to work and relationships.

Natsue and Emiri Koga are supporting characters who represent Yusaku Koga’s alienation from his family life. At the start of their story, they are distant from him; Natsue is often irritable, and college-aged Emiri has little to say to her father. They function as a unit reflecting Koga’s own emotional withdrawal. They are dynamic characters, however, as their shared affection for the prescribed cat, Margot, becomes the catalyst for reconnecting the family. The cat provides a new, neutral subject for positive interaction, replacing the strained silence with shared laughter and conversation. Through their enthusiastic care for Margot, they draw Koga back into the family circle, demonstrating how a shared responsibility can repair fractured domestic relationships.

Daigo is Tomoka Takamine’s partner and serves as a catalyst for her central conflict. A static but round character, he is good-natured, a talented cook, and adept at household chores, yet he lacks personal ambition and frequently quits his jobs. Whenever Tomoka asks him when he might be ready to meet her parents or settle down, Daigo pushes back, making Tomoka doubt how seriously committed he is to their relationship. 

Daigo’s easygoing, unambitious nature stands in direct opposition to Tomoka’s rigid perfectionism and need for control. While Tomoka strives to build a successful business and maintain a perfect life, Daigo represents an unpredictable, carefree existence that she finds both comforting and deeply unsettling. His unreliability forces Tomoka to confront her fear of instability and the immense pressure she puts on herself to hold their life together. His presence challenges her definition of a successful partnership and pushes her to articulate her own needs and frustrations at the end of her chapter.