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Scottie is
happy because her master buys her a lot of neat outfits. Even though she
still has a master, she spends a lot of time with the Free Collars cats.
Rako "Rat" has put together a little car made out of recycled parts. One
of Siam's minions catnaps Scottie and takes off in Rat's car. So, some
of the other cats hop into a real car, made for humans, and chase after
them. After rescuing Scottie, it appears that she may like Cyan. A manga
artist is coming to Ikebukuro and Siam really wants to meet her. she
disguises herself, but the Free Collar cats recognize her. Later, Cyan
and Scottie are picked up by a human boy, taken to his home, and named
Twitchy and Floppy. He wants to keep them as his pets and be their new
master. Luckily, they are soon rescued by Coon, Char, Rat, and Amesho.
After they return home, they are hungry and head to a sushi restaurant
that is close for the night. There, they run into Kline and Maurits, two
of Siam's bodyguards who claim the sushi shop for Siam. A large battle
entails for all of the free fish. Soon, they all end up at the beach
surfing and enjoying the sun when who else shows up, Siam. And trouble
is sure to follow.
Free
Collars Kingdom: Volume 2 is a
manga book written and drawn by Takuya Fujima. This book was translated and adapted by
William Flanagan and Lettered by North Market Street Graphics. This book contains
the following Cat Tales (chapters):
Cat Tale 6: Cat-Ear Report
Free Collars Side Story 1: Cat-Ear Jobs
Cat Tale 7: Ikebukuro Driven
Cat Tale 8: Siamese Cat Boogie
Cat Tale 9: Nice, Guy
Cat Tale 10: Round & Round, Fate Goes
Around
Free Collars Side Story 2: An Injection
for a Certain Special Someone
There is
also some special extras in the following sections: Author's Note, Honorifics
Explained, Cultural Notes, Bonus Manga: Free Collars Love Theater, Translation Notes, and a Preview of Volume
3, although the
preview is in Japanese. The book reads from right to left and back to
front, just like a book from Japan. This manga book is intended for
readers ages 16 and up.
I liked
how serious the first books was and found that Free
Collars Kingdom: Volume 2 seemed to be a lot of random stories all
thrown together that didn't follow a consistent storyline. I wanted to
know more about the battle between East and West Ikebukuro that started
building in the first book. This is only touched upon in the last
chapter. The entire first book lead up to the conflict, and I felt that
this book should have had more than one chapter about this subject. This
book was kind of a let-down for me. The artwork by Takuya Fujima is
excellent, but the translation and adaptation to English by William
Flanagan leaves you feeling frustrated. The dialog just doesn't flow
like it should. I know about this because I once had to adapt a Japanese
game called Shining Force II, for the SEGA Genesis, to English, and it
took a lot of work to make it sound American. So, maybe Mr. Flanagan
should take a little more time to get it right. The deviation away from
the main storyline and the adaptation of the dialog made this book not
turn out so well for me. Maybe things will turn around in
Free
Collars Kingdom: Volume 3. I can only hope so because the concept
of the series is really cool.
I rated this book a
6½ out of 10. |
