Welcome to the latest edition of the Multiversity Manga Club! We at Multiversity Comics are huge fans of all kinds of comics, but our coverage admittedly skews toward American and European books. Nevertheless, manga, or Japanese comics, has a huge presence in the world of graphic story-telling, as anyone who has frequented a book store chain over the last decade can attest. I myself have only dabbled in the medium throughout the years, primarily through my love of “Dragon Ball Z.” With the hope of presenting a more concerted effort to highlight the fascinating world of manga, I’ll be selecting a specific work each month and inviting readers to join me in reading and examining the book.
This month I picked “Chi’s Sweet Home” by Konami Kanata as our Manga Club assignment. This was definitely a different type of story compared to our previous entries, but one that I think is perhaps more accessible. However, I’ll also admit I’m terribly biased here. This book’s humor is often lost on non-cat owners, and the overly cutesy dialogue could be a huge turn off for those without a literary sweet tooth. With all these things in mind, I chose to shake things up this week by interviewing my wife, a fairly ardent fan of “Chi’s Sweet Home.
Written and illustrated by Konami Kanata
Chi is a mischievous newborn kitten who, while on a leisurely stroll with her family, finds herself lost. Separated from the warmth and protection of her mother, feels distraught. Overcome with loneliness she breaks into tears in a large urban park meadow., when she is suddenly rescued by a young boy named Yohei and his mother. The kitty is then quickly and quietly whisked away into the warm and inviting Yamada family apartment…where pets are strictly not permitted.
As I mentioned in my intro post for this month’s Manga Club, it was my wife that first introduced me to “Chi’s Sweet Home.” She came across the first volume while I perused the comic section and instantly fell in love with the book. My wife’s background puts her in an interesting placed to talk about the medium of sequential art. In college she was an art major, and though she focuses on textiles she’s done illustration work in the past. She currently works at a bookstore, focusing on children’s literature. In spite of my best attempts, she’s not particularly a fan of comics. One of my intentions for this column is to reach out to fans of all degrees of interest and familiarity with graphic storytelling, and I think this interaction encapsulates that fairly well. So, without further ado, let’s jump into the conversation.
Zach: What do you think of when you hear the word manga?
Maddi: (Laughs out loud) I don’t know!
Z: Ok, let’s try again. Before you knew about “Chi’s Sweet Home,” what did you think about manga?
M: Manga? Dragon Ball Z. Spiky haired dudes, fighting, blowing stuff up, magic stuff. Or really girly girls in little outfits. It’s something that only a few people I know liked and they were pretty shy about it. Like one girl liked Naruto but no one else really even knew what that was. When I was younger I didn’t understand the appeal to non-Japanese readers.
Z: What about “Chi’s Sweet Home” first caught your attention.
M: It had a cat on the cover! I’ve always liked Hello Kitty. Which, now that I think about it, I don’t know why I ever thought it was ok to like Hello Kitty, but not like manga. Anyway, I picked it up and started reading it and thought it was hilarious. We had our cat for two years at that point, right? I just flipped through the book and instantly connected, because it was like I was reading my life.
Z: So you found it pretty relatable?
M: Yeah!
Z: So, I’m curious though, if you hadn’t picked up “Chi” out of a manga section, would you have thought of it as a manga?
M: No, because it reads from left to right rather than right to left.
Continued belowZ: So what do you like the most about “Chi?”
M: Well, I tend to like realistic stories. It’s like, “what does a cat think about when it’s just taken by these people to live in their home?” It’s just sweet and funny. Chi grows to love her new family and they love her. I’ve just really turned into a big cat person! I feel like the writer of the book really knows what cats are thinking, or at least my cat.
Z: So you mentioned earlier that you used to feel like manga was only really relatable to Japanese readers. But now it seems like you’ve found some kind of theme that crosses those cultural boundaries, even if it’s something as simple as how pets and their owners act toward each other. With that in mind, how has this book changed your perception of manga as a medium?
M: I don’t know, I guess like…so I work at Barnes and Noble. Now that I’ve read “Chi’s Sweet Home,” I’ll look at other manga that aren’t about magical girls or powerful guys, just slice of life stories. I look at them and think, “oh, I might really like this!” I’ve read a lot of classics over the last few years, because I didn’t read them in high school and I’ve just always felt behind in terms of literature. But now, I work in the kid’s department and I’m reading a lot of children’s books. And I love illustration! So I think all of that is just kind of coming together. I’m realizing you don’t have to be so snooty, so highbrow. It’s ok to enjoy a simple story of a cat finding a home.
Z: So, with all that in mind, do you think something like “Chi” is a good first step into manga? Would you read the book to the kids at Barnes and Noble?
M: Oh my gosh yes! I’ve already been thinking about just doing a chapter a day. That would be so fun! It’s funny, because I’ve seen that at the public library “Chi’s Sweet Home” is in the children’s book section, but at the store it’s in with all the other manga.
Z: Well from what I understand the book was serialized in a magazine gear to adults. But over here it’s way more geared towards children, as seen by the cutesy translation and the mirroring of the pages. So I really do think it’s more of an all ages thing.
M: Yeah, because I mean you have the mom and the dad doing their thing.
Z: It’s almost kind of a Pixar type situation
M: Yeah!
Z: You were an art major, so I’d be remiss if I failed to ask you your thoughts on the book’s artwork.
M: It’s really simple, but also very impressive. The watercolors are beautiful. And I’m always amazed at how she (Konami Kanata) manages to depict Chi’s emotions. The page composition is also really good. It flows really well, even though it’s been flipped. I’m not an avid comic reader, so I’m not always very comfortable following the panels in the correct order. I felt like this is very clear and concise.
Z: So, do you have any final thoughts on “Chi’s Sweet Home?”
M: It’s just great! I really recommend it, especially to kids who enjoy graphic novels. Or Pusheen (another adorable illustrated feline).
(At this point in the conversation our cat walked up and meowed at us. I like to think it’s because she had something constructive to say. It’s far more likely it was because it was nearing dinnertime, and her internal clock is second to none.)
In all the books I’ve covered so far, the idea of “relatability” isn’t something I’ve really touched on. Perhaps a lack of relatability in the case of “Death Note” (sorry to beat that dead horse). However, I think that “Chi’s Sweet Home” is a perfect example of a simple story that crosses all kinds of cultural lines. There’s a simple joy in being a pet owner and sharing your stories with others. It’s the precursor to the bizarre inclination we have to tell other people stories about all the funny, silly, and at times disgusting things our young children do. There’s a pride, I think, that comes from caring for something, but also a pride for the life of thing cared for. That’s an inherent human trait, the sort of foundation that sits at the heart of any great slice of life story. Though I never have and likely never will meet her, I felt a connection to the writer/illustrator of this book, like we had swapped stories or made an inside joke. “Your cat does this? Oh my gosh, BMO does that all the time!” I’ve been reading comics for nearly a decade and that kind of connection certainly doesn’t come easy.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this rather strange detour in the Multiversity Manga Club. I’ll admit, at it’s most basic it was an excuse for me to show off pictures of my cat. As always, be sure to leave us you thoughts or comments, and keep following us here at Multiversity Comics!
