The Manga Love of Cats

Check out the cats in Volume 2!

One of the funniest lines in Punch Up! by Shiuko Kano occurs after Kouta loses his memory (Volume 3). A 19-year-old, he reverts in his mind to 15-years-old. He no longer remembers his lover, Maki. He thinks he is still in school. He forgets his job as a construction worker. The only person he recognizes in the hospital room is his brother.

So whom should he go home with? His sibling who has unstable relationships with men? Or with Maki, his 31-year-old lover whom Kouta can't remember--and doesn't fully understand (Maki is one of the most endearingly Bingley-type characters on record, though he is far more raunchy than the original Bingley; as far as anyone knows anyway).

Kouta balks at the obvious choice: family. Psychologically, Kouta's indecision makes sense. His home-life at fifteen was less than stable. His parents were dead. His transgendered brother's lovers hit on him. Their household was financially insecure. As Maki rightly diagnoses, 15-year-old Kouta desperately desired stability and affection.

Naturally, the cats adore Kouta.

Maki, in an extraordinary feat of heroics (especially for someone like Maki), determines that he won't take advantage of Kouta's vulnerability (and he mostly succeeds!). In the meantime, however, he wants to keep Kouta in his life. So how does he get Kouta to come home with him?

"Of course, you'll be coming...with me," says Kouta's sibling and goes on to list all the wonderful things that Kouta will do once he comes "home"--find an easier job, go to night school...

Everyone looks at Maki.

"I've got cats," Maki says. "Two of them."

And there you go! Obvious choice.