Wandering Cat's Cage Is a Dystopian Manga Worth Reading

Fantagraphics new East Asian-focused manga imprint Takumigraphics has been a gold mine for manga lovers, and that trend looks to continue with their latest release. Next up is Wandering Cat's Cage, a dystopian shojo manga from Akane Torikai (Sensei’s Pious Lie). With Wandering Cat's Cage in stores today, IGN can exclusively reveal a new preview of the manga. Check it out in the slideshow gallery below:Wandering Cat's Cage Preview GalleryWandering Cat's Cage is published in collaboration between Fantagraphics and MSX: Mangasplaining Extra. Here's the official summary of the new book:Master manga-ka Akane Torikai’s Wandering Cat’s Cage takes place in a near-future, where only a few women are still able to menstruate, and even fewer men will be born to them.Reproduction is limited to medical intervention controlled from on high, and the structures and lives of the past are only hinted at through scraps of a world that no longer exists. Life can be good, though, if you fall in line. The women of The City live bright, happy, tightly controlled lives. But complete obedience isn’t for everyone. For the women across the river, who live in a rundown shantytown, life is different. It is humble, and often dangerous, but it is free. Sanada, a young acupuncturist, lives across the river with the mysterious Reiho, the only male she’s ever met who sells himself to the rich women who sneak across the river for something they’ve never experienced. The two form a small “family,” taking in other young women ousted from the city. But when Reiho is kidnapped at gunpoint and taken to the breeding program in The City, Sanada must join the other outcasts to rescue him and learn the difficult truths of love, self-actualization, society, safety, and humanity’s future. “Akane Torikai's Wandering Cat's Cage is a perfect addition to the Takumigraphics line,” said Fantagraphics’ Vice President and Associate Publisher Eric Reynolds in a press release. “Building on traditions of shojo manga and dystopian fiction pioneered by artists like Moto Hagio and Katsuhiro Otomo, Torikai advances both genres with her gorgeous artwork in the service of an urgent and fierce voice for our current time.”Wandering Cat's Cage is available in bookstores now. You can order a copy on Amazon. The Takumigraphics imprint kicked off earlier this year with Lovers of the Empire.For more, check out IGN's guide to the best manga for beginners.Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.