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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.
Alone in the world, he hooks up with a band of stray cats
known as the Free Collars...
Volume
Two of Free Collar Kingdom by Takuya Fujima, by
its own admission, is the calm before the storm. Having introduced
the main characters in Volume
One, Fujima has taken time to flesh out their
relationships before starting into the turf war between the
Free Collar cats and the Siam Army for control of Nyan-man.
Now that Cyan has made the transition to Free Collar cat a
number of questions and attitudes are explored in this volume.
Once
again the stories are presented as a series of vignettes -
with the various anthropomorphised cats doing the kind of
things that cat's do. As a cat owner, myself, I can attest
to the fact that they are incredibly hedonistic creatures
- exceptionally sexual, if not fixed - as well as violent
territorial fighters, even if they have been fixed. These
aspects of sex and violence are reflected in Fujima's depiction
of the cat characters.
Cyan made no secret that he was quite happy as a pet cat and,
though the other cats are mostly strays, there are some that
have escaped from abusive or neglectful owners. Cyan's positive
attitude causes friction within the group, who view humans
very differently as they tell him stories of how cats had
been eaten in the war and are now captured and tortured, the
resulting image being posted on the Internet. This friction
grows even more after Scottie and Cyan meets Minky, whilst
Scottie is getting her jabs. Her introduction causes further
friction, as she is also a pet cat who is happy to remain
so. It falls to Cyan to try and bridge the gap between his
old life and his new allegiances.
Although this thread flows through the book there are many
amusing diversions along the way as the cats do very human
things like obsessing over manga, going on holidays and building
cars. The book is infused with a playful sexuality and enough
fights to keep the action going. Like Volume One, it
remains well drawn, with a nice selection of extra material,
including a sneak peek at Volume Three.
So a nice follow-on from Volume One even if it does
not progress the plot much, it still makes for a pleasant
diversion.
Charles
Packer
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