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Nekojiru

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This article is about the Japanese manga artist. For the film inspired by her work, see Cat Soup.
Chiyomi Hashiguchi
橋口 千代美
Nekojiru in 1992
Born
Chiyomi Nakayama (中山 千代美)

(1967-01-19)January 19, 1967
Kawaguchi, Saitama, Japan
DiedMay 10, 1998(1998-05-10) (aged 31)
Japan
NationalityJapanese
Other namesNekojiru (ねこぢる)
OccupationManga artist
Years active1990–1998
Notable work
  • Nekojiru Udon

Chiyomi Hashiguchi (橋口 千代美, Hashiguchi Chiyomi, née Nakayama (中山), January 19, 1967 – May 10, 1998), known by the pen name Nekojiru (ねこぢる, a portmanteau of Japanese neko ねこ "cat", and shiru しる "soup"), was a Japanese manga artist.

In 1990, she debuted in the June issue of the monthly manga anthology Garo with Nekojiru Udon, which is now considered her definitive work.

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 childlike 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. On his official site, one could read a free chapter of Nekojiru's manga. At the end of November 2020, however, it was announced the site would be closed for an extended length of time, and has remained down as of writing.

There have been two animated adaptations of Nekojiru's manga, both of them focusing on the family of Nyāko, Nyatta and their parents. The first of these was Nekojiru Gekijō (ねこぢる劇場, Nekojiru Theatre), a 27 × 2 minute series which aired on Japanese TV in 1999 as one segment of Asahi Television's Bakushō-Mondai no Boss-Kyara-Ō (爆笑問題のボスキャラ王), led by comedy duo Bakushō Mondai. The second, and more famous, at least among English speakers, is the 2001 OVA Nekojiru Sō (ねこぢる草, Nekojiru Grass), released in English as Cat Soup.

List of works

  • Nekojiru Udon (ねこぢるうどん)
  • Nekogamisama (ねこ神さま, Cat God)
  • Nekojiru Manjū (ねこぢるまんじゅう)
  • Nekojiru Dango (ねこぢるだんご)
  • Nekojiru Shokudo (ねこぢる食堂, Nekojiru Cafeteria)
  • Nekojiru Senbei (ねこぢるせんべい)
  • Jirujiru Ryokōki (ぢるぢる旅行記, Jirujiru Travel Journal)
  • Jirujiru Nikki (ぢるぢる日記, Jirujiru Diary)

Nekojiru also worked as an illustrator and character designer on other projects.

Death

Hashiguchi died by suicide on May 10, 1998.[1]

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.[2]

The Gothball episode "Japan" is an homage to Nekojiru's work. Pieces of paper (LSD) with Nekojiru cat faces are seen in the episode "Goth's Trip".

References

  1. ^ Patten, Fred (November 21, 2003). "New from Japan: Anime Film Reviews". Animation World Magazine. Retrieved 23 May 2009.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Yoshinaga, Yoshiaki. "Yoshiaki Yoshinaga on Nekojiru - pt. 2". Anipages. Benjamin Ettinger. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
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