, known by the pen name , was a Japanese manga artist

Mangaka

is the Japanese word for a comic artist or cartoonist. Outside of Japan, manga usually refers to a Japanese comic book and mangaka refers to the author of the manga, who is usually Japanese...

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In 1990, she debuted in the June issue of the monthly manga anthology Garo

Garo (magazine)

was a monthly manga anthology magazine in Japan, founded in 1964 by Katsuichi Nagai. It specialized in alternative and avant-garde manga.-History:...

 with Nekojiru Udon

Udon

is a type of thick wheat-flour noodle of Japanese cuisine.Udon is usually served hot as noodle soup in its simplest form as kake udon, in a mildly flavoured broth called kakejiru which is made of dashi, soy sauce , and mirin. It is usually topped with thinly chopped scallions...

, which is now considered her definitive work. She committed suicide on May 10, 1998. At the time, the media suggested that it was a reaction to the death on May 2, 1998 of the musician hide

Hide (musician)

, better known by his stage name hide , was a popular Japanese musician. He was primarily known for his work as lead guitarist of the heavy metal band X Japan from 1987 to 1997...

 – in response to that theory, Nekojiru's husband, Yamano Hajime, said that Nekojiru's musical taste was in a completely different genre to hide, and that her death was unrelated. He stated that "She probably hasn't listened to even one second of hide's music". Without a suicide note, her motivation for suicide remains unclear. Other suggestions include that it was caused by drug use or anxiety over Yamano's womanizing.

Shortly before her suicide, Nyāko and Nyatta, the two main characters of Nekojiru Udon, were selected to be used by Tokyo Electric in promotional campaigns. However, the death of their creator caused that to be cancelled.

Works

With the exception of Tsunami, all Nekojiru's work has main characters drawn as cats. Even in her manga essays, Jirujiru Travel Journal and Jirujiru Diary, she drew herself as a cat. But though the characters appear as animals, the artist chose as her setting not a forest, but rather the human world. Her manga detailing the daily life and adventures of the cats Nyāko and Nyatta are held in high esteem. The major themes of her work are a child-like zaniness, cruelty and nostalgia. And, as we know from Dream Memo, included in the posthumously released compilation Nekojiru Udon 3, many of her bizarre works of fantasy were based on her own dream experiences. Psychedelic mushrooms and LSD also often appear in her works.

Yamano Hajime, using the pen-name Nekojiru-y, took over Nekojiru's world, and continues to produce new works. Currently on his official site, one can read a free chapter of Nekojiru's manga.

There have been two animated adaptations

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 of Nekojiru's manga, both of them focusing on the family of Nyāko, Nyatta and their parents. The first of these was , a 27 × 2 minute series which aired on Japanese TV in 1999 as one segment of Asahi Television's . The second, and more famous, at least among English speakers, is the 2001 OVA

Original video animation

, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...

 , released in English as Cat Soup

Cat Soup

is a 2001 Japanese animated short film directed by Tatsuo Sato, inspired by the work of manga artist Nekojiru. The surreal black comedy follows Nyatta, an anthropomorphic kitten, on his travel to the land of the dead and back in an effort to save his sister's soul. Cat Soup was released...

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