Nekokappa is a collection of short stories involving the titular character Nekokappa, a creature between a cat and a kappa, and the very strange world he lives in.
There isn’t much of a story in Nekokappa, instead it takes the reader on a trip to explore a dreamlike and strange environment where we witness odd events unfold. There is no point trying to makes sense of every absurd or weird element of the book, but it is an intriguing read nonetheless.
Most of the stories are tied together by the presence of a cat-kappa hybrid, but it is unclear if it’s actually the same character each time or just different individuals who are part of the same species, as we can sometimes see several identical nekokappas throughout the book. To add to the weirdness, in one of the stories, they use the pronoun “I” when referring to other nekokappas, as if they were all part one single entity.
(”Ah. He swallowed me.”)
Sakabashira relies mostly on visuals to tell his stories, with only few dialogues. His art is very interesting and it is easily one of the main appeal of his work so it works well.
The backgrounds are very detailed, which makes the much simpler looking Nekokappa stand out. It is fun to take the time to observe every panel, to notice all the weird creatures and details.
With his simple design, short-height and sad-looking face, nekokappa appears cute and somewhat childish. Faithful to the folkore he originates from, he causes his fair share of troubles, but it seems mostly involuntary on his part.
While Nekokappa’s world seems rather dangerous and dark (people get attacked and eaten by monsters, and monsters themselves get eaten -nekokappa’s city seems to have a lot of butchers and meat selling place), the characters seems apathetic about it, and monster attacks and accidents don’t actually have much of a consequence.
The french edition, which was recently reprinted, features a few great color illustrations. As far as I know, Nekokappa has never been translated to English, but some other works of the author have been licensed (The boxman, Conch of the sky).
The scenery is japanese, but it is a japan of the past. Indeed, while the book was published in the early 2000′s, Sakabashira’s art seems closer to a depiction of the 60′s.
The houses, streets, factories, street markets, cars and the ubiquity of billboards are not only reminiscent of the 60′s-70′s but also of Gekiga from that period. Sakabashira wears his Yoshiharu Tsuge influence on his sleeve.
(Left : Sakabashira, Right : Tsuge )
His work had been published in alternative manga magazines like Garo (where Gekiga was born in the first place) and Ax, which allows him a lot of freedom to experiment and he doesn’t have to adhere strictly to usual manga codes and rules. In the beginning of the book, he doesn’t use speech bubbles to contain the dialogues.
Besides his work as a mangaka, Sakabashira is also a painter, a musician, and a designer. Personally, I find that at times Nekokappa suffers from a common flaw in manga drawn by people who are professional artists but not strictly manga authors: the flow of events is not that easy to read. That, combined with the lack of text, makes it easy to get a bit lost in what’s happening.
( ↑ cool looking page, but it’s not very easy to follow what’s going on, at first glance)
Another obvious influence and passion of the author is tokusatsu (live-action shows with a heavy use of special effects), and more specifically kaijû shows: movies and series with huge monsters, like Godzilla or Mothra...
He doesn’t just draw yokai-inspired creatures, but also many monsters that look like they come straight out of a kaijû movie. Sakabashira has even designed a few kaijû sofubi toys !
I found it to be an interesting and enjoyable read, with a strong and unique imagery.
If I had to compare Nekokappa to another manga, I would say it is very similar to Panpanya’s work: a simple looking character, contrasting with the detailed backgrounds, strolls around in strange environements where they encounter odd machines and creatures (giant aquatic ones in particular). Panpanya’s and Sakabashira’s manga have a similar feeling to them, though the latter’s are perhaps a bit darker.
