Motofumi parodies an earlier work of his own, Apocalypse Meow, a three part series of manga, depicting the physiological feelings of American soldiers during the Vietnam War. In this parody, he juxtaposes real situations and people with surrealistic animals. This reoccurrence of alienation reinstates the creator’s ideologies about the physiological effects of war with this physically altered piece; CatShitOne challenges the limitations of perception in regards to identity of the self and the other in order to form a reattachment to society. Motofumi enables for a detachment from our environment, permitting for reattachment after an obstacle or alienation. Furthermore, he offers various methods of reattachment like teamwork or escape, which enables one to redefine their surroundings. This reattachment makes a stronger impact after a detachment is felt physically and metaphysical because the loss creates greater gain. Therefore, I want to forward his claim about challenging the human perception of identity and self-awareness through redefinition of identity, teamwork and satire between these two bunny soldiers. Additionally, I want to prove that this satiric medium, represented by exposed emotional feelings between the two, enables several methods to be openly reconsidered. Furthermore, this reattachment enables for a conscious connection to be made between the creator and the viewer likewise the characters to aid in reattaching after an obstacle or alienation.
When considering the identity of these characters, the audience needs to consider the structure of the narrative. This involves understanding the surroundings that Motofumi establishes thus providing the audience with the limitations of the characters. These limitations create a sense of identity because they are regarded
(Figure 1)
as functional products. These protagonists’ soldiers are engaging in war against camels from the Middle East. Within this world, animals are the primary form of animate[2] beings. This surrealistic approach allows for a better analysis of the detachment animate beings have in an isolated setting.
As these two characters enter combat, Botasky says to Packy, “If we don’t do it now, those two canaries are going
(Figure 2)
to die.” The use of the word ‘canary’ creates a double pun the meaning of an American hostage and a bird - which these are rabbits. Thus, ‘Canary’ identifies various stages of their own kind, which makes identification difficult for the viewer. Additionally, the animals reference themselves as “armed animals”. Therefore this language is breaking the personification that is originally perceived as humanistic animals. A world filled with various animal nations[3] creates a new attachment to these armed animals. This surrealistic relationship between animal nations redefines their detachment from the people they are fighting for; Both bunnies appear to be fighting alone, escalating self-pressure, furthermore detaching them from their purpose. This creates a new form of reattachment through identity by the function and the characteristic of the animals. This human-animal analogy traps the viewer to believe this is a world of self-aware beings, which become a challenge to define. Cat Shit One portrays a new form of identity, which is moving away from the individual and is moving towards a communal lifestyle.
Moving along, Motofumi creates this setting with the aim of showing various methods of reattaching after an obstacle or alienation. The first glimpse of this rebuilding is through teamwork, which enables for both
(Figure 3)
characters to gain self awareness within a bigger unit, their team. Botasky provides security and leadership while saying to Packy “You can hide if you want, but I’m in the middle of their territory.” This enlightens us to the diverse ways of coping in order to reattach ourselves to our environment and purpose; Botasky takes action, while Packy alienates himself during struggles. Concerning these obstacles, Motofumi creates a challenge with both positive and negative consequences. Later, their teamwork is strengthened by redefining themselves in order to cope with the adaptability of warfare. An example is when Packy, usually scared, aids Botasky while stating “we should go there, only 1km away. Two targets down!” As Packy overcomes his fear, it is necessary to
(Figure 4)
redefine of himself and his team. Motofumi encourages this redefinition of themselves and their team in order to adjust and adapt to their new ever-changing surroundings. I believe this is the first coping mechanism to aid in providing a reattachment after alienation through warfare, teamwork.
Another method Motofumi uses to encourage reattachment is through exposing their relationship and obstacles through a filter of parody. Throughout the film, parody evokes many patterns of reattachment for Packy and
(Figure 5)
Botasky by exposing their relationship for its surrealistic quality. Seen through the parody lens, Packy and Botasky create juxtaposing positions about the function of their weapons. Additionally, these character’s distinct points of view create a detachment from one another. While Packy loves his scope, Botasky inputs his opinion, “You get worn out because of how much you gun weighs.” However, Packy remains stubborn, “But it looks so cool like this.” Thus no change occurs until a re-identification with their weapons.[4] Another cycle of detachment occurs in order to realign and assimilate back into a proper representation. Moreover, the parodied relationship in regards to the gun exposes both points of view and enables for various paths available in order to understand what needs to be fixed for a functioning environment.
Near the ending, Packy is in close combat with a camel and uses his “useless” scope to protect himself from being
(Figure 6)
seriously injured. I believe Motofumi uses this parody to expose this reshaping of attachment in order to teach that primal instincts are necessary to survive and to adapt during warfare. In other words, Botasky’s original opinion shifts in order for his teammate to remain alive; this is a clear relationship of the impact detachment and reattachment has on our physical bodies while we cope with alienation. Botasky’s final words about the scope to Packy are, “my God you are stubborn.” This reinstates the necessity for redefinition because these two juxtaposing ideas of the gun conclude with a positive action, which saves Packy’s life. Caused by the use of parody to distance the characters in the film, Motofumi uses surreal scenes of war with bunnies in order for the audience to detach themselves physically and the question the exposure and limitations of this relationship.
In the closing scene, the soldiers finally receive back-up from ‘Angel One’ in order to regain life for another day of fighting. The reattachment of the characters into a peaceful war is seen through the pastel colors and
(Figure 7)
relaxed posture of themselves and their environment. This reattachment by conscious connections enables Packy to cope with his alienation in order to move into the future. This capability of zoomorphic animate beings to reshape their definitions of their surroundings enables them to overcome their detachment and reattach with a more refined idea. It is impossible for a traumatic event to create a sense of alienation and dystopia for all its characters; therefore some characters can become alienate, yet they are capable of regaining their life. Furthermore, the dichotomy of this scene lies within its parody. The language used during the last scene reinstates this juxtaposing of a peacefully war because Botasky says, “Packy, I didn’t order you to come back. Now you need a punishment.”[5] Contrary to the displeasure of Packy disobeying, this scene also comments upon the rewards of the current war by Botasky being a compassionate creature.
Cat Shit One evokes the detachment and reattachment of our physical and
(Figure 8)
metaphysical bodies in order for time to move along, yet more important is the conscious connections made during times of hardship, which lift our spirits.
When exploring anthropomorphism, I found a connection between Metropolis, and Cat Shit One in regards to the concept of redefining your identity in order to adapt to a new structure. In a futuristic city-state of Metropolis, Tima[6] is pressured about her identity because she is part-human, part-robot. Thus the doctor’s punishment is for her to loose her face -identity. This shows a necessary detachment in order to understand what she was made of. Furthermore, this detachment enables for a new definition of her identity. For the case of perception, Tima is no longer just a
(Figure 9)
human, but also a machine. This new identification enables the community to alienate her from the rest, thus she was treated as the face of the problem. Furthermore, Tima is reattached to the environment of the electronic world thus she is no longer an able human, but a fixed piece of machinery. Additionally, this same process of reattachment is seen in Cat Shit One. The reattachment of a peaceful war evokes Packy to find his identity with his teammate. A note about this reattachment, it is necessary for more than one party to be involved to have this inter-dialogue seen in the effects of behavior and representation. These parallels seen in Metropolis and Cat Shit One allow for the audience to correlate the causes and effects of this alienation through redefining the identity of Tima and Packy. Both of these films elaborate upon the identity of the self as well as the community after a struggle of alienation and reinstate a new form of identification.
While Cat Shit One and Metropolis create a secure space to redefine their self identity within a community, these films go about this task in two distinct ways. Tima, from Metropolis, is cyborg resulting in an ideology to form that she is capable of achievements humans can’t. In result, she comments on the technological revolution and how it affects our human detachment from nature. Such an example is the strong face to face contact that gets her in to trouble to begin with. Contrary, Cat Shit One reattaches this process of identity towards the natural world. These armed animals are personified in order to resonate with our origins of nature. These primal instincts create our tendencies to correlate with animals. Furthermore, this relation permits the imagination to explore new methods of coping with various forms of alienation.
Throughout my research, I grew interested in zoomorphism and “The Animated Beast”[7] as well as the implications of this imagination and redefinition. Paul Wells’s analysis on the anthropomorphic value of animals is represented as human vehicles with a philosophical agenda. He states “I want to further suggest that the facility for animals to work as a form, which privileges imagination- not quite human, not quite animal- enables us to stake a claim in expression, illustration and performance of this philosophical agenda” (136). This clearly shows the inter-dialogue between the human interpretation and the imagination of these satiric animals. Additionally, he claims there are five types of animals; Cat Shit One contains “satiric beings”. These beings, “shed light on the critical and analytical address that characterizes satire and informs its targets and outlook” (160). Moreover, these vehicles play off our ignorance, simple-minded fantasies to exploit the limitations of humans understanding. Cat Shit One evokes its parody in order to expose these physical and metaphysical limitations set by the limitations of the human interpretation.
More over, this ability for animate beings to be able to redefine their identity and their community enables for a conscious connection to be made between the creator and the audience. Paralleling the relationship of Botasky and Packy, Motofumi interjects his ideologies about animals onto the characters in order for the audience to be validated by the reactions they receive. Anthropomorphism enables the viewer to create a connection in regards to the physiology of the alterations of these animals. This convention which alters humanistic traits provokes our personification of animals. This connection gives power to our self-awareness allowing for ourselves to make choices about what methods we use to overcome alienation.
Through the overcoming of this juxtaposition of identity, the structure creates a reattachment towards the audience as analogies of the bunnies, yet this detachment must occur first. Therefore, the reattachment will need to branch off the audiences original physiological feelings of what detached them, like unrealistic warfare or emotional concerns of bunnies and canaries. This unrealistic aspect of warfare aids in understanding the detachment and reattachment of the audience to various aspects of physical and metaphysical world. Additionally, the exposure of parody creates for an open connection to be seen without any limitations of perception, which is classical of the human perception. Motofumi portrays Botasky and Packy as surrealistic characters, which are taken to the extreme have no connection with their environment. I believe that because of this surrealism,[8] Motofumi challenges the awareness of our perception in order to facilitate other ideas for overcoming this juxtaposition. In other words, the social function of this film is to enable all people to feel a conscious connection that may have been distanced in the past. The parody emphasizes this distance, while the strong bond of teamwork brings together all nations of people in order to overcome common anxieties we face in our current world, such as warfare and alienation.
Motofumi parodies his original work, Apocalypse Meow, in order to provide a coping mechanism that can be used during a time of warfare. Cat Shit One portrays two armed animals in combat with armed camels in order to show the audience the detachment from warfare that is provided throughout this satire. Furthermore, he also evokes the premise of a reattachment by the strong use of parody to recreate silly, abstract concepts that can be overcome physically by redefining the current surroundings and beings within this environment. First, I question the identification of these armed animals in order to understand the structure of their surroundings. Next, I look through the alienation and find teamwork as juxtaposition. Furthermore, this conflict enables for the audience to understand in an anagogical terms what is occurring during this alienation and various ways of coping. Additionally, Motofumi provides the film with numerous ways, such as teamwork, re-defining, through the reattachment of our physical bodies into our new current surroundings. In conclusion, Motofumi created CatShitOne in order to provide his audience with a conscious connection between himself, the creator and the audience for overcoming obstacles like alienation and warfare in a more parody environment. This parody strengthens this detachment and reattachment through the strong feelings that parody exposes without giving any logical conclusion other than the audiences reconstruction.
NOTES
1. The depiction of Americans as rabbits is actually a pun on the Japanese word for rabbit. The Japanese word for rabbit is "うさぎ", which can be romanized as "usagi", or USA GI.
2. The manga depicts the characters as different animals according to their nationality as follows: American – Rabbit Vietnamese – Cat French – Pig Chinese – Panda Japanese – Monkey.
3. Interestingly, the language of the camels is never identified causing for their perception to be foreign. This forwards the camel’s identity as a terrorist because they appear as people of an uncivilized nation.
4. The distinction in Packy and Botasky’s points of view causes for a necessity of reshaping their team identity.
5. This punishment occurs because Packy decided to come back and aid his teammate out of war. The irony of the punishment forces Packy to be displeased, but able to reattach towards this new social experience.
6. A robot modeled and named after Duke Red's deceased daughter. She is unique in that she appears human, a trait that no other robot shares. However, after she is activated, she has no memory or knowledge about who or what she is.
7. Wells, Paul. “Anthropomorphism, Practice, Narrative.” The Animated Bestiary. Animals, Cartoons and Culture. British Library, y. 2009.
8. Anime Critic: “There is however no blood shown in this anime series which kind of tones it down.”
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