Thursday, July 4, 2024

REVIEW: Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu (manga) by Junji Ito, translated by Stephen Paul

Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu is Ito's account of his and his wife's (or fiancee's, at the start of the volume) experiences living with two cats. J-kun (Junji Ito) starts off as more of a dog person than a cat person, but A-ko (Ito's wife) loves cats and plans to bring Yon from her parents' home to her and J-kun's new house. While she's at it, she also decides to adopt Mu, a Norwegian forest cat kitten.

Initially, J-kun is terrified of Yon, who he views as having a cursed face. It doesn't help that Yon also has what appears to be a face-like pattern on his back. J-kun falls for Mu almost immediately, but Yon grows on him as he realizes that he's just a cat with a weird face.

There are the usual cat manga stories about playing with them, sleeping with them, and dealing with their quirks, but with Ito's creepy and intense art style (and his love of poop jokes). Ito often draws himself bug-eyed, overreacting to everything, and his wife is usually portrayed as a creepily smiling presence with blank white orbs for eyes. It's a weird mix of humor and horrifying moments.

I loved Ito's depictions of Yon and Mu. His over-the-top terror over Yon was amusing. Ito includes a couple color pages with photos of both Yon and Mu - I didn't find the real Yon to be all that terrifying, and yet I wouldn't call Ito's depiction inaccurate. It was impressive how he managed to make the tiniest details in Yon's appearance look so disturbing. Mu, meanwhile, was drawn more cutely, true to Ito's view of him as a little angel (even as Mu occasionally chomped on him for no reason).

If you'd like a cat manga that's a little different from the usual ones out there, this might fit the bill. It wouldn't be my top cat manga recommendation, but it was still enjoyable, and I teared up during the final bonus content.

Extras:

Two full-color pages with photos of Yon and Mu, a full-color illustration of them, Q&A pages with Ito, a 3-page bonus story (text-only) about a wood stove, a couple four-panel comics, a page of translation notes, and a short comic (by Junji Ito) and letter (by Ito's wife) about Yon's death.

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