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Jul 16, 2023
If you like Nekojiru's work, you'll really like this. Imagine Nyatto and Nyata if they had unlimited power and actually good intentions. The stories are short and follow a similar structure: someone wants something, and the cat gods give it to them. The twist comes from the thing the cat gods give, as it's usually detrimental, often as a result of the cat gods having no commonsense and misunderstanding everything. Theres some connected stories, like with the dog gods and Naoko and Keiichi, as well as many stories involving the mountain god from Nekojiru Udon Volume 2. Despite similarities, I believe these stories are not
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in the Nekojiru Udon universe (there are no talking animals apart from the gods), and is supposed to take place in our world.
The humor is classic Nekojiru, focusing more on body humor and less on violence, with a decent amount of shock humor. Although the main characters aren't unapologetically evil, as they are genuinely trying to grant people's wishes, they often leave a wake of destruction wherever they go.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 15, 2023
I'm writing this review after reading most of Nekojiru's work, however Cat Soup was my introduction to her. Knowing more about her story, her death, and her work, this short feels like a true love-letter to Nekojiru as a person, rather than just as a creator. It features the more introspective and absurdist chapters from Nekojiru Udon, and strings them together into a beautiful narrative about life and death, and everything between.
This is the kind of thing that requires some background to fully appreciate and understand, however it can still be enjoyed by a complete outsider to Nekojiru's work, although its meanings and message
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may seem a little vague. I'd highly recommend you watch this, loock at Nekojiru's work, specifically Nekojiru Udon Volume 1, and then go back to watch it a second time.
The art direction is on point, encapsulating Nekojiru's artstyle yet transporting it to another dimension, devoid of most of the blatant shock humor, yet it still makes subtle references to Nekojiru's iconic humor. Nyatto and Nyata's relationship feels very real and human, despite them being neither real nor human.
Cat Soup feels like a journey through Nekojiru's mind; it shows her fears, experiences, and life, through metaphors that play on ideas she initially made in much more light-hearted contexts. It slowly devolves into madness yet showcases the strength of hope and love, a theme that is only vaguely implied in her comics, through Nyatto and Nyata's relationship as siblings.
Overall, this is a perfect capsule of the soul of Nekojiru—all of her dreams, stories, and experiences— and it leaves you feeling melancholic yet appreciative of life and its beauties.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jul 15, 2023
Not that this really matters, but yes, the dad finally speaks in this!
Classic Nekojiru stories with her original, more unpolished and wiggly yet very charming art style. The stories are closer in length to Nekojiru Dango's, with the same humor (mainly shock humor, violence, and absurdity). Overall great if you enjoy Nekojiru's work, however you won't find any mind-bending personal stories like in Nekojiru Udon.
1. This was a decent story, but also very random and stupid. I believe it's supposed to reflect some events of WWII in Japan, specifically focusing on how the Nazi's were careless and needlessly violent, provoking the world into war, but
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that may just be me looking to deep into it.
2. Chicken: This is similar to a story in Nekojiru Dango and the Anime (the one with tonkatsu cannibalism), and it somewhat touches on the racism in their universe towards livestock. It almost leads to a happy ending for everyone, where Nyatta and Nyako actually learn their lesson and gain respect, but of course, livestock can never get a happy ending.
3. Kitten: This was a somewhat touching story, about childlike innocence and privilege, and how someone may not realize how good their life truly is.
4. Fairy Tale: A funny take on the classic story of Hansel and Gretel, with characters similar to Nyatto and Nyaka in both looks and personality. Short and Sweet (in mutliple ways).
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 15, 2023
Compared to Nekojiru Udon, this collection has longer and more involved stories, however lacks the introspective and darker-style chapters (apart from Tsunami/Chapter 9), focusing more on the fictional adventures of Nyatto and Nyata. It has a lot more shock humor than Nekojiru Udon, with every chapter having some sort of violence and cartoon gore. If you've seen the Anime, you've seen most of the stories in this collection, and the themes about racism and stereotyping are abundant and clear in Nekojiru Dango, as it focuses on Nyatto and Nyata's universe and its workings in more depth than Nekojiru has ever went. This feels less personal
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than Nekojiru Udon, but arguably has even more charm than the the more light-hearted chapters from Udon. I'd highly recommend reading this after reading Udon, as it feels like an extension of those stories.
Tsunami is an outlier in this collection. As far as I know, its the only time that Nekojiru has ever depicted herself as human, rather than feline. To explain its story without spoilers, I believe it's about her having to look past her violent and crazed father's death to appreciate life and its beauties. If anything, read this for that chapter alone.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 15, 2023
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,
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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.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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