Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu ( Japanese: 伊藤潤二の猫日記 よん&むー, Hepburn: Itō Junji no Neko Nikki: Yon & Mū) is an autobiographical manga written and illustrated by Junji Ito. Appearing as a serial in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Magazine Z from November 2007 to December 2008, it follows the adventures of J-kun, a horror manga artist as he adjusts to life with cats: Yon, whom his fiancėe brings along to their new house, and Mu, a Norwegian Forest cat whom the couple adopts as a kitten. Junji Ito's Cat Diary draws on autobiographical elements of Ito's personal experience with cats. Publisher Kodansha compiled the ten installments of the manga into a bound volume and released it in March 2009.

My emotions throughout the manga varied a ton of times from being happy to being sad. I did cry like 2 times during it as well In addition to winning the Kazuo Umezu Prize for Tomie, Ito was nominated for an Eisner Award in both 2003 and 2009 for Uzumaki. He has since won three Eisner Awards: one for his manga adaptation of Frankenstein in 2019; one for Remina in 2021; and one for Venus in the Blind Spot, also in 2021. Ito, Junji (2015). "Question 4". Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu. Kodansha Comics USA. p.46. ISBN 978-1-63236-197-4. it is an autobiographical tale of what happens to a dog-person when his fiancée brings her two cats into their home In "Yon is a Weird Cat," J-kun, while finishing his manga on a tight deadline one night, imagines that Yon transforms into various beings, including a slug, the supernatural snake-like creature tsuchinoko, and an elderly man. To J-kun's surprise, this leads to an encounter that he hopes isn't a hallucination.What I'll say is that, personally, there was a LOT of interviews with Junji Ito rather than manga panels. I didn't understand why that was necessary. A few quotes here or there would have sufficed. His wife wants a cat. Junji panics over not wanting one, while simultaneously appeasing his wife and saying 'of course'. They get the cat. His wife says that the cat is lonely and surely needs another cat. Junji has another mental spiral. But when both cats arrive, he swiftly descends into a breakdown because the cats don't love him as much as he discovers he loves them. Thus ensues a long journey of a man trying desperately to make two moody cats adore him while also upholding the facade of not caring if they do or don't. Bittersweet Ending: A bonus comic included in the collected edition reveals that Yon-kun eventually died of heart failure, but J-kun treasures the time they had together, thanking Yon for being in his life. Ito's wife Ayako included a letter telling her side of the story, talking about Yon-kun's final days. Junji Ito later did a followup video with Crunchyroll, showing the two new cats that he adopted in Yon and Mu's memory. Ito, Junji (2015). "Question 5". Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu. Kodansha Comics USA. p.89. ISBN 978-1-63236-197-4. Yon and Mu are not only recognizable in the images of them, but also in the way Ito portrays their personalities. If you've ever had a cat who clearly felt that you co-habitated but did not own him, you will recognize Yon – the cranky, holier-than-thou attitude comes through in the stories as well as the body language. Chapter five, “ Yon is a Weird Cat,” is not only one of the funnier sections, but also captures the essence of living with a cat with a mind of his own as an over-tired and overworked Ito has a late night encounter with the feline and comes away utterly creeped out. It is made very clear over the course of the volume that there is no one “cat personality,” with Mu being far more easy going and the author's encounter with Goro, the shy formerly feral cat who lives with A-ko's parents.

For the characters, I'm gonna review the humans and then the cats. The humans, J-kun and A-ko, were fun to Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu" (in Italian). Panini Comics. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019 . Retrieved 29 July 2019. I'm consistently intrigued by Junji Ito as a human being. His work as a horror mangaka is outstanding to say the least. But this man's brain is some Stephen King level shit. My biggest takeaway from this book is that it is incredibly funny. There were more than a few points where I found myself laughing out loud, which doesn’t usually happen with Junji Ito comics. I mean, there are darkly-humorous parts in each of his works, but to call any of them a comedy would be a mighty big stretch. And that’s one more way that “Cat Diary” is different. At the end of things, this feels like a comics that’s supposed to be funny before anything else. Sleeping Single: Although not for censorship reasons; J-kun and A-ko just prefer different kinds of bed.

Today, we’re looking at his cat diary that he wrote when he and his wife first got married. In the manga, he dubbed over their names and called them like J-san, A-ko, Yon, Muu, etc. It actually hardly matters because the focus on the story on how he’s trying to cope living with cats, since he’s a dog person. His longest work, the three-volume Uzumaki, is about a town's obsession with spirals: people become variously fascinated with, terrified of, and consumed by the countless occurrences of the spiral in nature. Apart from the ghastly, convincingly-drawn deaths, the book projects an effective atmosphere of creeping fear as the town's inhabitants become less and less human, and more and more bizarre things begin to happen.

Ito’s work is popular across the globe, but especially in the United States, where his influence can be seen in many contemporary artists’ works. Ito is also often referenced in Western pop culture. For instance, his work was referenced in the TV show Steven Universe, when characters go into human-shaped holes.Style [ edit ] J-kun attempts to play with the cats, to no avail; his mouth becomes more horrific as he fails to capture their interest. [3] Born in Gifu Prefecture in 1963, he was inspired from a young age by his older sister's drawing and Kazuo Umezu's comics and thus took an interest in drawing horror comics himself. Nevertheless, upon graduation he trained as a dental technician, and until the early 1990s he juggled his dental career with his increasingly successful hobby — even after being selected as the winner of the prestigious Umezu prize for horror manga.

Junji Ito, easily the greatest horror mangaka ever, decided to write an autobiographical diary about taking care of his two cute cats with his wife. It was a radical departure, but Ito's talent shined through, creating a funny, entertaining work.

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In "The Events of One Late Night," J-kun tries to bribe the cats to sleep on his bed, rather than A-ko's, to no avail. Ito is a strong enough writer to make this sort of story stand on its own. His ability to manipulate reader’s emotions is by no means limited to inducing terror. He’s also able to play with feelings of love and affection, succinctly conveying the rapid change and growth in his feelings for the titular Yon and Mu. And as good as all of that is, it honestly isn’t where the magic in this story comes from.