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Cyan is a contented, Abyssinian, house cat, the beloved pet
of the young boy Kokoro. His life could not be more contented,
that is, until one day Kokoro goes away and doesn't come back.
Heartbroken, Kokoro's mother can no longer look at Cyan, without
thinking of how things were, when her child was well. Unable
to deal with the situation Kokoro's mother abandons Cyan...
Free Collars Kingdom is a new manga series by Takuya Fujima
who had success with his previous strip, the futuristic Deus
Vitae. The story is your basic rights of passage stuff.
When we first meet Cyan he is a young pampered cat, it is
only after being abandoned that we see him having to confront
some of the realities of life. Unable to comprehend what has
happened to him he determines to stay in the basement of his
apartment block, hoping that his master will come to his rescue.
In order to enjoy this release, you have to suspend disbelief,
as the book has a glaring problem. Obviously a comic strip
about cats, that look like cats, has the potential to be extremely
dull, so at the first opportunity Fujima depicts the cats
in a more human form. The problem here is that the humans
don't seen to have a problem with this, in fact in one of
the stories Cyan even visits an establishment where humans
come in order to pet pedigree cats.
In the first story, Those Who Wear Free Collars, we
get our introduction to the young Cyan and his sad predicament.
Thankfully things do not remain so bleak when he discovers
that his basement is the base of a bunch of feral cats. To
denote their emancipation, from what they see as human bondage,
these cats control an area of land known as The Free Collars
Kingdom. If that wasn't enough for Cyan to take on board,
he discovers that there is a whole other cat culture. The
Free Cats are in conflict with Siam for control of the apartment
block, as legend has it that the block stands on the place
where the collar of power resides.
Tale two, Her and the Old Guy's Situation and tale
three, Nyan-Man Love, shows that this was never a book
designed for children. The story takes a protracted look at
Cyan trying to judge the various relationships in the Free
Collar Kingdom. Due to his inexperience he mistakes the leader's
(Amesho) interest in Scottie, an underage kitten, to be of
a sexual nature. He goes off the deep end and accuses him
of being a paedophile, only to learn the truth after being
told how Scottie and Amesho met.
Meow of the Heart and O Holy Night's Caterwaul
continue the story as Cyan is introduced to the wider world
of catching food and, what can only be described as, Human/Cat
Brothels.
The book appears to have had a lot of thought put into its
production. The UK publishers have taken into account that
this may be your first introduction to the world of manga,
and have included passages on Japanese honorifics; a little
note from the writer; eight pages giving the geographical
and cultural background to the story; and a six page preview
of volume two.
Overall, I thought the book cute - a book for cat fans written
by a cat fan. As such, along the way, Fujima provides information
on each type of cat that appears. This manga comes with a
16+ recommended reading age, mainly due to its sexual content.
Not that it is full of graphic sex, but there are enough references
to other things which might be cause for awkward conversations.
For anyone older there is enough in the book to keep you amused.
Fujima does a fair script and some nice character design.
Charles
Packer
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