Louvre no Neko
Cats of the Louvre

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If you enjoy Taiyo Matsumoto like I do, you should love Louvre no Neko. The drawing style hasn't changed too much from Sunny but the supernatural characteristic of the story lets Matsumoto be more varied with his techniques and styles. The characters are beautiful and express a million different shades of emotion through a look, a posture, their body language in general. The dialogues may seem innocuous taken out of context, but all the keys to the story and the emotional states of the characters are found in the art and the panelling. Which flows incredibly well. all panels have a purpose, no space is ... lost. That's the hallmark of a masterfull mangaka, something Matsumoto certainly is. What's more Matsumoto was given an incredible gift (that you could see glimpses of in Takemitsu Zamurai and Sunny) for drawing cats. Seeing all these cats running around, grooming, sharpening their claws, stretching, hissing, it's pure joy.

A Matsumoto manga is character driven, but has its lyrical moments. The manga relies on this very well thought out balance between the cats and the humans, as the storytelling shares its time between the two perspectives. The cats' side has life and death, there is resentment, fighting and forgiveness. Here we get some western like duels, a fight against a beast, moments when the supernatural lets Matsumoto go wild on his art with dreamlike landscapes and imagery. On the human side there is less urgency and the progress is soothing. A guide working at the museum investigates about a mysterious painting and makes encounters, cats and humans, along the way. What it lacks in lyricism, it makes up for it with very subtle and heartwarming interactions and character development. Ultimately the story is about the cats. But then again it's maybe up to each reader to decide that.

It's a read that is effortless, it really is nothing but enjoyment from the first to the last page. I smiled seeing the cover and that grin didn't leave my face until much later, it stayed with me even after I was done and the book was back on its shelf. In the moments when it made me shed some tears, I was also smiling or chuckling at how the emotions were so subtly conveyed, in such a respectful way (respect towards the characters). There is a great word we have in French that is "Pudeur", there is a lot of "pudeur" in the way he shows us those emotions. That is something recurring in Matsumoto's manga, shining some light on very subdued emotions. We are taken close enough to the characters to feel those emotions, and in that sense his stories feel very intimate. A beautiful manga, from certainly one of the very best active mangaka today.

Where do we draw the line between realities - our own, those around us and, eventually, the reality of the world as a whole? Can they ever be really separated or are they all connected by some intangible threads, each pulling the other one as it moves?

Story:

This is an extraordinarily deep story found in the most unlikely of places. Despite it's length, nothing is ever rushed or not explained enough. The narrative seems divided into stories, each relating to a certain character and/or event, through which we are given the backstories and flashbacks that gradually come together neatly. The progression is fluid enough, it peaks ... the interest of the reader so well, that you may find yourself drawn into this amazing world, trying to find some answers, hand in hand with the characters. It touches upon some topics generally ignored by the public, and presents them in such a way that it makes it hard not to give them a second thought. There is a nice closure, which does leave some room for thinking, as it makes us question ourselves to a certain degree. All in all, it leaves a good aftertaste and is one of those stories that will stick with you for a long time.

Art:

The art is pretty avant-garde, which allows for wide variety of emotions, ambience and the overall feel of the story. It goes really well with the story and it's setting, as well as characters' personalities and experiences. It creates this impression of the museum itself being alive and quite literally being intertwined with everything and everyone inside of it, making you think how everything in life is related as well. It is thanks to this art that we get to experience not only the emotions of one character, but of every single one inside the panel, as well as the overall emotion that the situation evokes in us, making some of the moments that more relatable.

Characters:

This is where the manga really shines. The characters are so well done and thought through that they make the brightest stars painted on this canvas. Whether it's the world of cats or the human world, personalities clash, and we act driven by our past experiences. Interactions between the characters give us the insight into some of the inner struggles and demons, harsh reality and cruelties some of them went through, but also remind us of kindness and sacrifice, and how someone can change for the sake of someone else. They are all relatable, all too relatable, and it is hard not to find a little bit of yourself in the characters.

Enjoyment:

Reading this manga superficially is such a shame, since its depth is something we rarely come upon these days. It has its fair share of harsh reality moments, but also the heartwarming ones and, despite it being surreal with it's multi-reality nature, it is very realistic, relatable and all too human. It reminds us of our nature, but also how we should all be more understanding and tolerant, because we do not know what kind of sorrows and burdens others may be carrying and how some things that we find easy might be hard and painful for others.

Taiyou Matsumoto's artistic craft crystallizes in high definition the expansive world of paintings mirroring a child's limitless imagination with consistency in quality, witnessed most evident during the stretch towards the end of the final volume. Cats of the Louvre's art style mixes the sharpness of felines with the texture and feel of the lines; the grip of a child's developing hands seen in the depiction of statures in every page and the wiggliness of the edges of the panel; all embraced by the care of visual arts. Although this is my first Matsumoto manga to date, I find his way with the pen quite charming ... already.

Cats of the Louvre travels the experiences around the path of escapism in a world where there are children sensitive enough to acquire sufficient awareness to feel the sense of the looming birdcage outcasting them from the rest of their fellowmen. Amidst the cold, smelly world, the endless array of picturesque universes meandering about inside the most prominent museum on Earth provides deep solace to these children. These youth, gifted with the ability to "hear the voice of the paintings", could literally go inside the pieces. With the presence of Arrieta and Snowbebe, the idea of art itself possessing life is established and eventually explored with utmost priority.

Snowbebe lives with the cats of the Louvre's attic. Despite already being 6-7 years old (which was implied to be rather old), Snowbebe still bears a child-like appearance. He is treated like an outcast by the rest of the creatures in the attic. However, Snowbebe finds a friend in the spider by the hole in the wall. With it Snowbebe receives a rather philosophical energy as the spider talks about the passing of life through the seasons and through death. Eventually it dies, and Snowbebe eats it.

Arrieta resembles Snowbebe (or the other way around). An outcast the same, a resident of the painting the same, a never-growing-older-still-staying-young creature the same. Her brother, an employee of the Louvre's night watch named Marcel, was practically her only confidant. When they were children, they travel around the museum every night, and through those evening adventures, Arrieta's desire to live with the paintings accumulated until she practically lived within one, in "The Funeral Procession of Love." We find out that she has stayed there for roughly 50 years already, and she never went back to the real world.

These key figures represent the desire to escape the world with the concept of art playing a pivotal role in watering such desire. So although art is not the reason per se, it is the switch which changes the direction of the railroad track which runs through a whole 'nother domain. It speaks to the cosmic impact art holds, as it secures the right to manipulate the concepts of time, behavior, relationship, and life itself, all floating above art's divine palm.

As Arrieta and Snowbebe shares a month inside the painting living a child's paradise of unlimited sweetness and fun (well everyone wants this too ig), soaring through the air on a flying chariot manned by what looks like the deity of the painting, eating scrumptious food, and reconnecting with the dead (Sawtooth and the spider). And time never ticked. It stood frozen, like the appearance of the children. The sky could change between day and night; night debuted upon Snowbebe's residence, which is an important note to remember. The funeral procession of love was just an endless role play where everyone is a paid actor. Nothing ends, nothing progresses.

And all stood still.

That stood true until Snowbebe's courageous decision to go back to the cold, smelly world which subjects all to infinite ups and downs in favor of staying in this eternity of peace and stagnancy. The first entrance of the night in the world of the painting signifies Snowbebe's connection with the "reality": he still yearns for it and decides to live in it in the end. The real world is night and day; the painting only being the latter speaks volumes on the mindset of Arrieta. The manifestations of Sawtooth and the spider meant that Snowbebe still thinks of beyond the painting, as opposed to Arrieta which based her whole life inside it, to which she never left. In here, the difference struck clear.

Snowbebe experienced more than life--he experienced the death of beloveds.

Sawtooth represented the grueling, living as a street cat before presiding within the comfort of the Louvre.

Spiders are arachnid architects capable of weaving intricate designs of webs. Life and death lie in bed side by side on spiderwebs as the natural relationship of predator and prey interweave. And Snowbebe witnessed it as his friend crunched on a captured butterfly. The fact that the spiderweb sticks between the inside of the attic and the outside environment where one can only get a glimpse of (where Snowbebe usually ponders with the spider) speaks of the boundary present in natural maturation which is fueled by experiences upon experiences within the world we all live in.

Compare the hole on the wall to the roof of the Louvre. Snowbebe looks at the world through the former's lens, while the rest of the cats frequent the roof and even go outside the museum area in nights when the moon is full. This shows the differences between Snowbebe and the other cats: it is their mode of experiencing the worldwide scale of life. And it was only after the spider's death (a symbol of life and art, as predator and architect, as creator and destroyer of life) where Snowbebe is seen to be sitting on the roof.

The spider's last words reassure how happiness is always there and it is what makes the world turning, how even after death, everyone is with us in the form of the stars shining in the sky. Despite this, Snowbebe's racking mixture of guilt and loneliness tormented him so that he just wanted to die and be killed by Sawtooth on the roof. He surrendered to life and wished to be one with the stars. Arrieta, too, surrendered life and wished to be one with the paintings.

To escape the pain and embrace endless grace art holds in its womb. To remain a child and to never escape the mother's embrace and milk. This is what connects Snowbebe and Arrieta despite their dimensional distance. Yet, it was art which became a medium to link the two. And although they are two different creatures, in the hands of art, both are capable of communicating.

This is where I speak of the use of anthropomorphism. It is basically giving human characteristics to what is otherwise non-human. The fact that the cats were anthropomorphized in the second chapter shocked me in its suddenness and depiction. And yet, that they are given forms for us to clearly understand their intents and actions, and that they are still similar to us humans despite our lack of communication, is in correspondence to the transcendental reach of art. Matsumoto also makes use of color and precise layoutting to give the reader an idea of this perspective in the very first pages of chapter one, albeit this is between human Cecile and Snowbebe in cat form.

See how it was only the artistically inclined Arrieta who was able to properly converse with a cat? Gifted with the ability to hear the voice of the paintings, they are able to see the power art holds, which I elaborated on earlier. In the eyes of Cecile and the others, the cats are merely cats. Yet in the eyes of Arrieta, Snowbebe is one and the same with her. Art creates a sense of oneness. This adds to its captivating, almost seductive nature, which tickled the sense of escapism of these two children who just refuse to grow up.

But once again, after everything, Snowbebe left the painting and time started ticking again. He grew up, contemplated about life on the roof of the Louvre, and basked in this world's sunlight.

Is this to say, however, that art is bad? Truly, art is a means for escapism and melancholy for a lot of people. That is something we cannot deny. However, art is all the same a vehicle for positive change and a guiding hand for one's growth. Both held true to me, personally, yet it was also art which led me to choose escape from the escapism, to choose real over fantasy, yet still seeing fantasy as something special to me as it distracted my unprepared mind from the horrors of the real world. In the end, it is something we all need to confront. And art is always there to open our eyes to the necessary truths of the universe.

To me, personally, the story points out the urgency to act. Snowbebe was rather old, yet he still made the conscious decision to remain a child and to act like a child. In my perspective as a person in his early 20s, the world to me is not too forgiving so as to think that growing up is too late. And I point that dagger to myself: I need to change my ways more and more in a regulated, healthy manner. There will be a point to my sufferings, and a sprint to my lag.

Cats of the Louvre, in 18 meager chapters with average page lengths without a dense overflow of lines, expressed so much more thought through a creative play of imagery, concept, and theme. Candy for the eye, food for the thought.

Cats of the Louvre - Something Magical in the Louvre

Taiyou Matsumoto is known for his artistic creativity and his Magnum Opus, Sunny. While exploring other works by the author, I came across this masterpiece that references the Louvre Museum and its paintings.

In this story, Matsumoto transports us to a charming world where the cats that inhabit the museum come to life, revealing a plot filled with symbolism and mystery. The manga uniquely blends fantasy with realism, exploring the relationship between art, memory, and existence. Each page is a work of art in itself, with illustrations that capture the grandeur and mysticism of the Louvre.

The characters, ... both human and feline, are deeply complex, and Matsumoto uses their interactions to explore philosophical and emotional themes. The narrative is both melancholic and hopeful, creating a dreamlike atmosphere that captivates the reader from beginning to end.

Matsumoto masterfully creates a Disney-like animated aura for the cats, giving them a dual appearance—both in their animal form and in their "human" form. This personification of the felines is done in a believable and sustainable way throughout the story.

Cats of the Louvre is more than just a tribute to the famous museum; it is a meditation on the nature of art and time, on how we connect with the past, and on the search for meaning in an ever-changing world. It is an essential read for any manga fan and for those who appreciate the power of art in all its forms.