Nekojiru Udon
Cat Soup

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There is no moral to this story, and no sympathy in it. The theme is empty, and the content is immoral but unambiguous, keeping it neutral. The stories are direct, in disregarding beliefs. They represent the world of nature, being narrated through the eyes of two main characters. There is no savior, no beauty, and no hope, and no negativity about the absence of these.

Moralistic conclusions are nonexistent in this work, which makes it dispassionate. It's indifferent, and trying to tell a story about it.

Story 10/10
About beings of nature, however the methods are disconnected.

Art ... 10/10
Showing how they're enjoying themselves.

Character 10/10
Two children who cause and witness horrors which they tend to be entertained by.

Overall 10/10
It's a collection of stories about morals, death and existence.

FYI, the first volume is super easy to find online. The rest, not so much. I managed to find most of the second volume translated, in "The Complete Works of Nekojiru", but I don't think the third volume has been translated.

Firstly, it should be said that Nekojiru Udon has a lot of shock humor: in its violence, language, and imagery. You might feel a little uncomfortable at points.

This is honestly one of the coolest things I've seen. Its super disconnected, and mainly about the silly antics of (pretty evil) cats. The humor and dialogue is on point. I'm a huge fan of the art, ... and the cute, round and simple cat designs, which really contrast the edgier humor. Meanwhile there are some random dark, vaguely depressing, and gruesome chapters interspersed in all of it. For as absurd as Nekojiru Udon is as a whole, it sometimes feels like you're looking into Nekojiru's (the author's) mind, seeing pieces of her childhood memories, her darkest fears, and her most mind-boggling dreams (most of which were probably fueled by LSD). There's an uncomfortable and unsettling feeling around everything, and it feels very fever-dreamy, sometimes even more than the short and animations made about it. Knowing Nekojiru's real story makes this an even more enjoyable and immersive experience to read, so I recommend looking into her life.

Volume 2 gets a bit weirder, and a lot more uncomfortable. The world of these cats has some, at times, pretty clear references to real life racism (humans, cats, pigs/livestock). The problem is that it's hard to understand if it's satire and a criticism of racism, or a reflection of the author's actual prejudices. Mainly in the latter half of volume 2, there's a 3 chapter-long story about a mountain god and a jeweler, with heavy antisemitic rhetoric (so much so, that the translator had to dial it down a lot), and it's pretty disgusting to see. There's a little racism in the chapter about India, but in those few racist lines it's very blatant, without any vagueness. I want to say that like the rest of the chapters, this is just more shock humor and a satire on true unapologetic racists, and judging by the clear allegories to how horrible and blatant racism is in their universe, it likely is. Unfortunately, we'll never really know for sure.

Overall, I might recommend just reading volume one: it gives you a perfect sense of Nekojiru's art, mind, and personality, and doesn't have any of the problematic stuff the second volume had. If you're like me, you might get a bit obsessed and want to read literally everything she's ever made, and I don't blame you, it's all super well made. I decided to rate this a 10 anyways, as even with its few weak points, the rest of it makes up for it. If you read with the assumption that the antisemitism and racism is satire, this would actually be perfect.

Cool until you get to the antisemitism and xenophobia...

The story behind the author and her struggles with mental health and social isolation leading to her eventual suicide is very sad. Some of those feelings can be interpreted through the abstract violent insanity that is Nekojiru Udon. An overall very dark and nihilistic "comedy" that grips you with its amateurish art style contrasted against very mature themes and ideas. A lot of what was put on the page here is very much the author's personal life and feelings manifested into most of the time short little stories revolving around a family of cats. Many of the ... scenarios are based on a dream journal Chiyomi Hashiguchi kept. Now all of this sounds cool right a surreal and experimental piece of art that allows the author to fully embrace her ideas and concepts into a piece of media. However, maybe some opinions are best not left on the page. In multiple stories of Nekojiruo, there is an obvious disdain for foreigners, especially those of the Jewish faith. In a three-part strip entitled The Mountain God the main villain is a big-nosed greedy man... yeah. To make it even worse a God brutally kills the man's entire family and leaves him with only a jewel. There are many other instances of violence towards foreigners or just outright racist depictions of different cultures. I don't know if there truly is ill intent behind these strips or if it's meant to be just for laughs. Whatever it was it left me with a bad taste in my mouth which is unfortunate because I do enjoy this series and the creativity behind it.

All in all, I find it hard to recommend this to anyone but if you want to get into it I would say read chapter 9 entitled The Great Wizard it's fairly short and shows some of the best aspects of the manga in my opinion.

(little side note only volumes 1 and 2 were translated into English volume 3 has never been translated)