Louvre no Neko
Cats of the Louvre

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If you enjoy Taiyo Matsumoto like I do, you should love Louvre no Neko. The drawing style hasn't changed too much from Sunny but the supernatural characteristic of the story lets Matsumoto be more varied with his techniques and styles. The characters are beautiful and express a million different shades of emotion through a look, a posture, their body language in general. The dialogues may seem innocuous taken out of context, but all the keys to the story and the emotional states of the characters are found in the art and the panelling. Which flows incredibly well. all panels have a purpose, no space is ... lost. That's the hallmark of a masterfull mangaka, something Matsumoto certainly is. What's more Matsumoto was given an incredible gift (that you could see glimpses of in Takemitsu Zamurai and Sunny) for drawing cats. Seeing all these cats running around, grooming, sharpening their claws, stretching, hissing, it's pure joy.

A Matsumoto manga is character driven, but has its lyrical moments. The manga relies on this very well thought out balance between the cats and the humans, as the storytelling shares its time between the two perspectives. The cats' side has life and death, there is resentment, fighting and forgiveness. Here we get some western like duels, a fight against a beast, moments when the supernatural lets Matsumoto go wild on his art with dreamlike landscapes and imagery. On the human side there is less urgency and the progress is soothing. A guide working at the museum investigates about a mysterious painting and makes encounters, cats and humans, along the way. What it lacks in lyricism, it makes up for it with very subtle and heartwarming interactions and character development. Ultimately the story is about the cats. But then again it's maybe up to each reader to decide that.

It's a read that is effortless, it really is nothing but enjoyment from the first to the last page. I smiled seeing the cover and that grin didn't leave my face until much later, it stayed with me even after I was done and the book was back on its shelf. In the moments when it made me shed some tears, I was also smiling or chuckling at how the emotions were so subtly conveyed, in such a respectful way (respect towards the characters). There is a great word we have in French that is "Pudeur", there is a lot of "pudeur" in the way he shows us those emotions. That is something recurring in Matsumoto's manga, shining some light on very subdued emotions. We are taken close enough to the characters to feel those emotions, and in that sense his stories feel very intimate. A beautiful manga, from certainly one of the very best active mangaka today.

Where do we draw the line between realities - our own, those around us and, eventually, the reality of the world as a whole? Can they ever be really separated or are they all connected by some intangible threads, each pulling the other one as it moves?

Story:

This is an extraordinarily deep story found in the most unlikely of places. Despite it's length, nothing is ever rushed or not explained enough. The narrative seems divided into stories, each relating to a certain character and/or event, through which we are given the backstories and flashbacks that gradually come together neatly. The progression is fluid enough, it peaks ... the interest of the reader so well, that you may find yourself drawn into this amazing world, trying to find some answers, hand in hand with the characters. It touches upon some topics generally ignored by the public, and presents them in such a way that it makes it hard not to give them a second thought. There is a nice closure, which does leave some room for thinking, as it makes us question ourselves to a certain degree. All in all, it leaves a good aftertaste and is one of those stories that will stick with you for a long time.

Art:

The art is pretty avant-garde, which allows for wide variety of emotions, ambience and the overall feel of the story. It goes really well with the story and it's setting, as well as characters' personalities and experiences. It creates this impression of the museum itself being alive and quite literally being intertwined with everything and everyone inside of it, making you think how everything in life is related as well. It is thanks to this art that we get to experience not only the emotions of one character, but of every single one inside the panel, as well as the overall emotion that the situation evokes in us, making some of the moments that more relatable.

Characters:

This is where the manga really shines. The characters are so well done and thought through that they make the brightest stars painted on this canvas. Whether it's the world of cats or the human world, personalities clash, and we act driven by our past experiences. Interactions between the characters give us the insight into some of the inner struggles and demons, harsh reality and cruelties some of them went through, but also remind us of kindness and sacrifice, and how someone can change for the sake of someone else. They are all relatable, all too relatable, and it is hard not to find a little bit of yourself in the characters.

Enjoyment:

Reading this manga superficially is such a shame, since its depth is something we rarely come upon these days. It has its fair share of harsh reality moments, but also the heartwarming ones and, despite it being surreal with it's multi-reality nature, it is very realistic, relatable and all too human. It reminds us of our nature, but also how we should all be more understanding and tolerant, because we do not know what kind of sorrows and burdens others may be carrying and how some things that we find easy might be hard and painful for others.

From the creator of Tekkonkrinkreet, this manga is filled with the author's unique character designs. Something I found interesting is that there is a clear improvement in art as the manga progresses. To be honest, I wasn't too big a fan of some of the faces and how inconsistent they could be in the beginning, but this isn't too big of an issue later on.

In my opinion, some of the artwork especially towards the middle and end is especially breathtaking and surreal. My two favorite (and in my opinion most interesting) designs are the cats Snowbebe and Sawtooth. Some of my favorite art in the ... manga and one of the saddest scenes in the manga involves these two. But in contrast, there's a few cats that got hit with the ugly BIG time. That's not to say that's a completely bad thing though as they start to receive their own charm as you get to know them. However, they are still awkward to look at.

As for the plot, it could be confusing at times, but overall was still enjoyable. Not to mention, but the story itself was a beautiful comentary on coping with loss. Now, was it perfect? No, and it could be somewhat boring at times. Some of the human characters were one-dimensional, but (for instance) there was an old man who claimed his sister disappeared into the paintings when they were children. I honestly enjoyed his character arc and how it tied to the overall plot and the main cat, Snowbebe.

Not every story needs to be filled with 3-dimensional characters, but for me, as well as trying to get used to the bizarre personalities of some of the cats, this manga didn't excite me like others in its genre. I might be biased towards the author's other work as well, but I enjoyed Tekkonkinkreet so much more for its complexity and characters that were a lot more memorable.

Still, it was a fun read, although I don't know if I'll ever read this twice. I'll definitely be flipping through some of the artwork though!

TLDR; decent manga with an okay story which does some parts incredibly well with an interesting premise and artwork that gets progressively better