Imagine reading an advertisement for a business called Blanket Cats—a pet store that also allows people to rent out special cats for two nights and three days. The same cat cannot be rented out more than once in a given month for the same customer, and to help provide some stability for the cats, the customers are provided a carrier, a special mix of cat food, and a comforting blanket that allows the cats to sleep soundly no matter what environment they are in.
Would you want to go rent a cat, even for a short period of time?
How these highly intelligent and perceptive cats were chosen and trained in Kiyoshi Shigematsu’s The Blanket Cats is a mystery, and anyone who hopes to unravel it by the end of this book—or get a deeper dive into the store’s origin—is in for a disappointment, because Shigematsu would much rather focus on gradually unraveling the specimen known as the Common Customer. His stories slowly peel away the layers of complexity that shroud this individual, eventually exposing a vulnerable and emotional core many readers are bound to relate to in some way or another.
Take Taeko, a woman on the verge of retiring, who rents the same cat every three months to be her travel companion. It becomes clear this is not just any ordinary excursion, as she calmly admits to the cat she is running from the law.
Or, take Koji, a boy who seems to be a shy introvert with a brash and protective father who constantly worries about Koji being bullied. Little does he know that Koji is the instigator of a serious incident in school involving one of his classmates.
The cats’ involvement in the stories vary. Some act like minor background characters, with the understanding that their very presence is what gives the reader permission to enter the protagonists’ lives. Other times, the cat interacts with the protagonist directly, giving the cat an aura of mysterious magic.
For instance, Tabby has been a blanket cat for six years, and though he has accepted his lot in life, a part of him believes his true purpose is not being fulfilled. Escaping a customer he knows will be trouble, he sets off to settle the deep stirring he feels in his psyche.
And yes, the protagonist there is a blanket cat.
As if to cover his bases, Shigematsu also uses first-person for one of his stories, never mentioning the name of his protagonist. All we know is that the protagonist is 25 and a “freeter,” someone who hops from one casual job to the next. He wants his girlfriend, Etsuko, to move in with him, but she has a kitten, which goes against his landlord’s strict no-pet policy. He dislikes his stoic and strict landlord, but it is through Mongrel, the cat he rents from Blanket Cats, that he learns things are not always what they seem. It is through Mongrel’s past that the protagonist realizes what is holding him back.
Shigematsu’s seven stories emphasize kindness and understanding, as well as the cruel world that can distort people’s mentality and cause them to get lost or go astray. With this approach, he seems to encourage readers to understand both sides of the story before making any judgments about a person or a situation, for things are often more than they appear to be.
