if the cat faces west
- Image from 猫が西向きゃ chapter 8, by Urushibara Yuki.
I just finished reading this manga series, 猫が西向きゃ (Neko ga Nishi Mukya/If the Cat Faces West) which is a new work by Urushibara Yuki. Urushibara-sensei created 蟲師 (Mushishi) which is one of my favourite manga of all time. This new series has the same vibe as Mushishi, not just in the sense that the protagonist look similar - like Mushishi, it fills you with wonder and uncertainty about how beautiful and bizarre the natural world is… but it’s also more lighthearted in a way.
Neko ga Nishi Mukya is set in a contemporary Japan, where everything seems similar to our world, except they have these strange phenomena called Flow. A Flow is caused by certain imbalances in nature, and could be natural or man-(and occasionally cat!)made. Hirota Hajime is a Flow Worker, who deals with “Flow disposal”, with the help of part-timer Chima-chan and cat Shachou. In the first chapter, Hirota is called to look at and disperse of a Flow that caused a 3-way forked road turn into a 7-way forked road.
Reading that first chapter, my first thought was, how was his first instinct - and that of those around him - not to walk down the extra roads to discover what lay ahead? With instincts like mine, I may not have what it takes to be a Flow worker (a Flow can disappear with you in it, causing you to be gone just like that) but if I lived in this world I could easily see myself being a Flow otaku, chasing after Flows to see where they would lead me.
Of course, later on there would be a chapter with a Flow that made an alleyway appear where there previously was none, and the people that walked through it find themselves in different locations - a beach, their parents’ house, a strange empty shopping street that goes around in circles. I wonder where that Flow would’ve ended for me? Normally the answer would probably be Asakusa, but today it might be somewhere else, so that I could hug someone that had cared for me more than my parents ever did in my late teens and college years, who had just lost her daughter to Covid.
I love the idea of cats being particularly sensitive to Flow, and of chasing after cats to see where they’re heading - this always seems like the best way to find strange doors and pathways to another world, doesn’t it?
Anyway, one of the Flows in Neko ga Nishi Mukya is one where a young girl’s mirror disappears, leaving a doorway to a mirror world on the other side. This is another idea that I used to play with, with my cat Saru. The way the mirror in my room was set, if I was standing at the doorway of my bathroom I wouldn’t be able to see my bed unless it was through the reflection in the mirror. Saru used to sleep in my bed all the time, and when I “disappeared” from sight, she comforted herself with the sight of the “me” in the mirror. After a while it became a game - I talked to the Saru in the mirror, and she responded to the me in the mirror. When she died, a part of me thought that I would still see the Saru in the mirror - I even thought of stepping into that mirror world and stealing her back into mine, but I mainly refrained from trying because I would feel bad for the other Mari. Then again, if we are in mirrored world, her Saru probably died, too.
Some of the Flows in the series are breathtaking, and I probably wouldn’t have minded disappearing into them. But, you know what - I haven’t really left my house since that day I got vaccinated (not counting going down to pick up parcels), and I haven’t talked to a person who is in the same space as me for that long. I guess I am in a sort of Flow right now, in a world where I’m the only person who exists outside of Ollie and Enjin. I mean, who is to say if the voices over a phone are even real? Or if they are, they might as well be from a completely different world.
I wonder how long I’m allowed to stay in this Flow.
Oh, and I’ve been watching ホリミヤ (HoriMiya) which is an anime adaptation of a manga which itself is an adaptation of a web-comic called 堀さんと宮村くん (Hori-san to Miyamura-kun). HoriMiya is a pretty popular title at Kino, as far as shojo manga can be popular anyway. People tend to think of me more as a shonen manga fan, because I’m so obsessed with stuff like Haikyuu!! and Princes of Tennis and Slam Dunk and Yowamushi Pedal and Hikaru no Go and… well, you get the picture. But really outside of sports manga, I would say my top two manga categories are seinen and shojo.
I just haven’t read or watched many recent shojo manga/anime, because they’re increasingly disappointing, somehow. I’ve tried so many, and no matter how interesting the premise was, I kind of fall off these series and never complete a single one. I don’t get as obsessed with them the way I was with Fruits Basket, Honey & Clover, HanaKimi, Hana yori Dango, and Ouran High School Host Club. I never even completed Nodame Cantabile, although I’m determined to!
I started watching HoriMiya just because it was there on Netflix and I needed something to watch while I had lunch (beef teriyaki teishoku, I’m still dreaming of you now.) But then I clicked next, and next, and next… and suddenly a whole year had passed (in the series) and the characters were graduating and the series had ended. I really loved this series, and it made me think more about random moments that changes everything. How in just a few seconds something could happen that would make the rest of your life go down a very different path. How if things were just slightly different, the people closest to you now could be complete strangers.
That’s another kind of Flow, isn’t it?
&etc
- Since it looks like I’ll be home for a little while yet, I’m restarting Niji Reads and will be taking pre-orders for books currently in print. I’ll continue to sell used books and giving away older ARCs on my Carousell as usual, too.
- I’m a teensy bit worried because I seem to have a normal amount of spoons the last couple of days. I guess it’s supposed to be a good thing, but a part of me is worrying if it’s taking away spoons from other days, and I’m going to have another bad day coming.
- I got my appointment date for my 2nd vaccination! It’s on July 31st.
- As always, STAY SAFE <3