Free Collars Kingdom

Publisher
Tanohsimi
Writer
Fujima Takuya
Artist
Fujima Takuya
Country of origin
Japan
Length
3 volumes
Year
2003

Free Collars Kingdom vol 1-3

By John Huxley
30th Mar 08

OK, so we’ve got covered dogs already. Satomi Ikezawa’s excellent comedy/romance Guru Guru Pon Chan did canines proud, so I figure their feline cousins have got quite a bit of catching up to do in cat vs. dog manga stakes. And so the latest contender on the feline side comes from Tanoshimi; Free Collars Kingdom. Set in a downtown district of Tokyo, Free Collars Kingdom introduces us to Cyan, contented pet cat of his beloved master Kokoro. But when Kokoro falls ill, his mother abandons the cat in the basement of the aptly named Nyan-Man (nyan apparently translating to the sound ‘meow’ in English). Here he meets the self proclaimed Free Collars - a group of stray cats who have eschewed their former masters and forcibly removed the collars from around their necks, leaving the scars left behind as a mark of their freedom. Which is funny, because my cat removes her collar all the time. You think maybe she’s trying to tell me something?

Anyway, Cyan soon finds himself caught up in the world of the Free Collars and their battle to protect the sacred ground of Nyan-Man, from the evil Siam and her minions. Nyan-Man is so sought after because it was once home to the legendary feline warrior the ‘Wild Cat’, a story that inspires Cyan to fight alongside the Free Collars and free his ‘wild spirit’.

All this might make Free Collars Kingdom sound like a fantasy adventure of some sort, but in actuality, for the duration of the first two volumes at least, it’s more geared towards comedy than anything else. Ikebukuro, the area in which Nyan-Man is apparently based, is something of a Mecca for otaku, and author Fujima Takuya takes full advantage of this with several otaku felines including Siam, the would-be villain of the piece. They spend a lot of their time in comic stores, going to fan conventions and the like, and one of the central characters, Scotty, even has a famous manga artist for a master (incidently, Scotty is also the name of the author’s cat). As a result jokes range from extremely broad slapstick to relatively obscure references that have to be explained through Tanoshimi’s handy translation notes. Yet it never really succeeds as an out-and-out comedy and Guru Guru Pon Chan is the clear winner in this respect.

It does have a few more strings to its bow, however, and there’s a fair bit of action to be had in most of the chapters as the Free Collars battle it out with the oddly amiable badguy of the piece, Siam. Unfortunately those of you hoping for a feline victory here will be disappointed also; while the artwork shows of plenty of imaginative character designs and interesting layouts, the end result is often too confusing to hold up as a decent action scene. There’s little or no vibrancy to these sequences and more often than not they’re over all to quickly thanks to the Free collar’s ‘Ultimate Cat Attack’ special techniques that end the fight in one blow. Repetitive and tedious.

Still, there is a little hope for Free Collars Kingdom in the character’s various background stories and their burgeoning relationships which comprises much of the manga’s focus during the series short (yet compact) three volume run. Although some of them are a little cliched (rock chick Char being a prime culprit), they were at least solid enough to retain my interest through the ill judged action sequences. But solid is a far cry from the genuine quality of Guru Guru Pon Chan, and for now at least it looks like felines will have to wait their turn until something better comes along to do their species justice.

Speaking of which, the cats in Free Collars Kingdom aren’t really cats. Well, they are technically supposed to be cats, but they sure don’t look like them. Takuya took the bizarre decision to draw his feline characters in human form, albeit with pointy ears and a tail to distinguish them from the few human characters that make an appearance. And when the story occasionally necessitates human characters they revert back to their more familiar cat-like form, yet still dressed in the clothes they wear as human hybrids. Scotty’s master (the only member of the Free Collars to still have a master) even makes clothes for her. Is dressing cats up in silly clothes a regular occurrence in Japan? It all seems very odd to me! Whatever the case, the self-contained world that Free Collars presents might appeal to some, but to me it all just seemed far too bizarre a concept for its own good. There’s suspension of disbelief, and then there’s Free Collars Kingdom.

By all means check this out if you really, REALLY need a manga that features some cat girls for whatever reason. I’m not going to ask questions. For everyone else, you’re probably better off getting your anthropomorphic kicks from Guru Guru Pon Chan...for the time being at least.

-- John Huxley 30th Mar 08