A Thousand Miles

Hard Broiled Stories From The Cat Bar

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“Hard Boiled Stories from the Cat Bar” (Sake to Namida to Otoko to Nyanko), which I will refer to as Cat Bar from now on, is a Crime Fiction manga by Yourei Ono released on May 25th, 2021. It’s published by Yen publishing.

Cover Appeal

“Take it Outside” – Pictured here is our main character, Undertaker, holding the cat of the hour, Dandy. The two are outside and are framed by the title, stylized to look much like a lit store sign. The atmospheric title aside, the scene itself, while somewhat straightforward, is likely a call forward. You’ll come to realize early on that the two are outside because smoking isn’t allowed in the bar. He holds what’s likely a Glock pistol, because he’s an assassin and would need a reliable firearm at some point in his line of work – he’s not toting a Taurus, after all. But, most significantly, he’s doing these two while holding Dandy – the super heavy cat? Apparently, there’s a trick to holding him that keeps him from breaking your back (that or he wants to be held). Considering the two spend a lot of time at Kitty & Me, it makes sense that the two would get acquainted and we see Undertaker assume responsibility for the cat later on.

The Gist

Kitty & Me is a bar open to a special set of clientele. Men outside the law, and the cats they hold dear, treat it as a haven. An assassin by the name of Undertaker, is one such man. Considering he just recently lost his best feline friend, Cheriko, Undertaker isn’t having a very good time. But his present job isn’t going to wait, old sins and all….

The Cast

Undertaker – Miyake, our main character. Assassin by trade. Still grieving the lost of his cat, Cheriko

Dandy – Black and white cat that was left at Kitty & Me recently. Presently awaiting his master’s return. Deceptively heavy for a cat.

Mukouyama – Ex-Yakuza member presently working as a writer. Constantly gets ribbed by his editor, Kaizuka, for his numerous spelling errors. Together, they seek out scandalous crime stories to report on.

Kouji Onodera – Ex-police officer. Insists that his late partner was murdered, but is blamed for it instead by the top brass as the two were in a car accident.

Nampla Tsuchida – Former Pro-Wrestler, he’s the bartender of Kitty & Me and, presumably, it’s owner and boss. Permits drinking, but not smoking, loud noises (e.g. unsilenced gunfire) and other things that could harm the cats at the bar.

Sakota – Section Chief and associate of Onodera’s. He knows that the guy took losing his partner pretty hard and is worried he’s going to get himself into trouble.

The Rub

Alright, I’m just gonna get this out of the way. This was my reaction to Cat Bar.

Cat Bar isn’t bad, though I suspect my, admittedly murky, expectations got in the way. “Hard Boiled Tales from the Cat Bar” name drops a popular genre of crime fiction and conjures up images of another.

Now, it’s worth mentioning that “Noir” fiction and “Hard Boiled Detective” fiction are, while related, technically not the same thing. They are both sub-genres of “Crime Fiction” and the latter tends to be adapted using a film noir style, helping to bolster the common misunderstanding. They really seem to function like different perspectives of a similar kind of story and could easily fit within the same universe.

Cat Bar, runs with this, essentially using the people that make these settings so bleak to begin with to sift through a story of the people who are supposed to be bringing some kind of order to said bleak setting – and then gets goofy. I think this might be the crux of my luke-warm reception – I think I would’ve liked something more consistently serious throughout. Perhaps something more akin to Sin City or maybe Blacksad.

To illustrate my point, I’d direct you to some of the main cast, regulars at the Cat Bar, that have comically quirky behavior that centers around cats. The bartender sprawls out on the bar when he feels he’s wronged the cats and physically assaults “patrons” that endanger or inconvenience them in the slightest, Undertaker spends a noticeable amount of time bawling his eyes out in grief over the recent death of his cat (to the point of having not fulfilled his latest hit) – hell, even the cats get in on this with the main cat being comically heavy and making a bunch of funny faces.

That is to say, Cat Bar is more whimsical than I initially expected it to be. However, it still is what it implies it is as the “Hard Boiled Detective” aspect is embodied by the internal police corruption tale that gets everyone to the bar in the first place. Furthermore, that same whimsy that caught me off guard also allows the patrons to confound one of the characters and make them play unwilling straight man to their antics. It all culminates in a “criminals running the court” kind of affair and it’s kinda ingenious, really.

In Conclusion

I’m a simple man, I see an already cool premise paired with cats and I buy (Cat Paradise and Black Cat says Hi). So a story about assassins and the pet cats they have a soft spot for seems like a knock out combination – and it could be. Cat Bar delivers on its marque promise, having all of the pieces you’d expect of crime fiction. However, it’s more quirky aspects don’t blend quite as seamlessly into the mix as they could – even extending to the cats themselves.

I’m not sure if this a self contained story or one of an ongoing series as, much like Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, there isn’t any volume indicator, but the title certainly begs for a continuation. I’ve got no complaints about the artstyle since nearly everyone’s got this rugged, lanky look, but if we can get a tighter story next time that has a better payoff and incorporates the cats better, I would be all for another visit to Kitty & Me.

Continue?: Maybe?