I took advantage of the fact that this library in another county, adjacent to mine, has a sister relationship with our library, and allows me to get a library card, even though I don’t live there. So I’ve been looking up books that my home library didn’t have. I found more of this Japanese cat comic. This one is volume five. The storylines are simple, amusing, and sometimes quirky or odd.
Michael is a large orange tabby cat. In one story, he’s in a wrestling match (like humans) against another cat, but keeps missing his mark because he can’t body-slam his opponent, always twisting to land on his feet by instinct. There’s one about an old man trying to show a younger man how to “train” a cat, but his tactics don’t work any better. Then a couple sitting on a park bench, the guy obviously wants to make a flirtatious move (probably kiss her) but she keeps getting distracted by a cat that wanders by, petting and admiring it until the guy goes crazy. There’s one about a purse-snatcher and a cat that stole fresh fish from a market, fleeing together. The human thief gets caught, but the cat is able to slip through a fence and escape. An odd story about a veterinarian who is a fugitive from the law? running around trying to avoid notice, except when he sees a cat in some kind of plight, he can’t resist trying to help out.
Then there’s quite a few bits about home life with a cat- Michael likes to sit on top of the television but his tail hanging down obstructs the view, and he doesn’t understand why the family gets upset with him. Michael joins his owner in his “audio room” which has a extensive setup for listening to records- but he always messes with things, his fur gets on stuff, he plays with the cords, until he gets thrown out. Michael oversleeps in the morning and misses breakfast, the other cats in the house eat it all, and he goes hungry. Begging from the humans doesn’t work. So come dinnertime he’s starving, bolts his food too fast and then gets sick. And the family’s remedy for his apparent stomach bug, is to not feed him for two more days. Frustrating the cat to no end. Then an amusing little bit about guests to the house who are very awkward at making conversation, until the cat wanders into the room and they suddenly talk about him. They end up following the cat around the house because it’s the only way they can seem to keep the words flowing easily.
Another fantasy type story where some cats are playing mah jong with dogs. One dog is trying to keep a poker face, but his wagging tail gives away his eagerness. So Michael gets the better of him. Then deliberately wags his tail to deceive the dogs, who don’t understand that a cat uses a different tail gesture to show excitement or happiness. In a smiliar vein, there’s also a story about a dog that’s kept tied outside all the time. His family never takes him in the house, and feeds him leftover table scraps. He notices that a cat gets better treatment, fawned over by some schoolgirls. So he tries to mimick cat behavior hoping this will appease his owners, but it backfires. Amusing and ironic.
Borrowed from the public library.
