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A review by millennial_dandy
Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu by Junji Ito
4.0
Ok, but this was really cute, and I know it'll be hit or miss, but employing his horror style to put together a collection of little anecdotes about his cats really worked for me.
This is definitely not going to make sense to someone who isn't a cat person, because I think they'd read this and see his stories as all the reasons not to get a cat rather than ultimately endearing inconveniences (like when his cats' scrabbling around chasing each other results in fine scratches on his new hardwood floors, having to deal with a litter box, etc.).
Like, yeah, cats are little gremlin creatures that live in your house (mine are at least); they can be smelly, they bite, they throw up, they poop in a box you have to clean out -- but in exchange, you get these little lads that show you the world through the lens of their unique brand of curiosity. Every cat is the exception to every rule about cats; the very thing that defines 'cat-ness'. You hear that cats like the box more than the toy, blamo: you will get the cat that loves the toy and doesn't care about the box. Cats go nuts for catnip, boom: you will get a cat that goes nuts for carrots. And vice versa: your cat loves catnip and boxes, but only catnip if it's inside a sock and only boxes they don't fit inside.
He perfectly captures the appreciation for capriciousness and ever-shifting idiosyncrasies that separate the cat from the dog people. The very enigma of what it is that will make a cat love you is what drives our fascination. He was so cuddly on Monday, but not Tuesday. Was it my shirt? The rain? The fact that he got breakfast at 5:58am instead of 6:00am? And why will she sit for seventeen hours on my partner's lap regardless of how much he shifts around, but if I so much as breathe too deeply she's up and away and won't sit on my lap again for weeks?
Cats are exasperating, they're weird, they lick their own butts...but they have big round eyes, they make rumbly purrs that let you believe the world might be alright, actually. They have TOEBEANS! Their alien whims are too intriguing and bizarre to be ignored (why is he staring intently at that wall all the time? Does he see a ghost? Is my house haunted? Is he dissociating into the void?).
Ito captures as well how all of this works on cat owners too. Cats reveal the madness of men, but in the best possible way. Cats are so cute you want to GOBBLE THEM UP. They sigh and stretch in their sleep and look so cozy you just HAVE TO WAKE THEM UP. They look so cute you just HAVE TO SQUEEZE THEM even as they try frantically to escape your grasp.
None of this makes sense to someone who has never loved a cat, but it would, I reckon, to anyone who has. Our cats are freaks, but their our wee widdle guys, and we can't help but deluge anyone we can pin to the floor with silly little stories about them. We just aren't all mangaka with the artistic talent to put together a collection of comics. But Junji Ito is, and he did, and I get it, and it's a super cute ode to cats and cat parents everywhere.
Even the sadness of the epilogue, which again, not everyone will like, is a part of loving and being loved by a cat. Some things are even more precious because they don't last forever no matter how much we wish they did. I have two cats of my own, and they've already brought me such joy and are so much a part of me that I will be devastated when they're gone, however, the fact that I know how unbelievably sad their ascension will make me tells me how special they are. And I actually found it as touching as I did gut-wrenching that he and his wife let the readers in on this part of loving a cat (or two or three).
This is definitely not going to make sense to someone who isn't a cat person, because I think they'd read this and see his stories as all the reasons not to get a cat rather than ultimately endearing inconveniences (like when his cats' scrabbling around chasing each other results in fine scratches on his new hardwood floors, having to deal with a litter box, etc.).
Like, yeah, cats are little gremlin creatures that live in your house (mine are at least); they can be smelly, they bite, they throw up, they poop in a box you have to clean out -- but in exchange, you get these little lads that show you the world through the lens of their unique brand of curiosity. Every cat is the exception to every rule about cats; the very thing that defines 'cat-ness'. You hear that cats like the box more than the toy, blamo: you will get the cat that loves the toy and doesn't care about the box. Cats go nuts for catnip, boom: you will get a cat that goes nuts for carrots. And vice versa: your cat loves catnip and boxes, but only catnip if it's inside a sock and only boxes they don't fit inside.
He perfectly captures the appreciation for capriciousness and ever-shifting idiosyncrasies that separate the cat from the dog people. The very enigma of what it is that will make a cat love you is what drives our fascination. He was so cuddly on Monday, but not Tuesday. Was it my shirt? The rain? The fact that he got breakfast at 5:58am instead of 6:00am? And why will she sit for seventeen hours on my partner's lap regardless of how much he shifts around, but if I so much as breathe too deeply she's up and away and won't sit on my lap again for weeks?
Cats are exasperating, they're weird, they lick their own butts...but they have big round eyes, they make rumbly purrs that let you believe the world might be alright, actually. They have TOEBEANS! Their alien whims are too intriguing and bizarre to be ignored (why is he staring intently at that wall all the time? Does he see a ghost? Is my house haunted? Is he dissociating into the void?).
Ito captures as well how all of this works on cat owners too. Cats reveal the madness of men, but in the best possible way. Cats are so cute you want to GOBBLE THEM UP. They sigh and stretch in their sleep and look so cozy you just HAVE TO WAKE THEM UP. They look so cute you just HAVE TO SQUEEZE THEM even as they try frantically to escape your grasp.
None of this makes sense to someone who has never loved a cat, but it would, I reckon, to anyone who has. Our cats are freaks, but their our wee widdle guys, and we can't help but deluge anyone we can pin to the floor with silly little stories about them. We just aren't all mangaka with the artistic talent to put together a collection of comics. But Junji Ito is, and he did, and I get it, and it's a super cute ode to cats and cat parents everywhere.
Even the sadness of the epilogue, which again, not everyone will like, is a part of loving and being loved by a cat. Some things are even more precious because they don't last forever no matter how much we wish they did. I have two cats of my own, and they've already brought me such joy and are so much a part of me that I will be devastated when they're gone, however, the fact that I know how unbelievably sad their ascension will make me tells me how special they are. And I actually found it as touching as I did gut-wrenching that he and his wife let the readers in on this part of loving a cat (or two or three).