In Akane Torikai’s Wandering Cat’s Cage, it is the near future. 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 hold no weight: they are only hinted at through the remaining scraps of a world that no longer exists. Life can be good, though, if you fall in line, and 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, viewing the opulence of the city from afar each night, life is different. It is humble, and often dangerous, but it is free. It is here that Sanada, a young acupuncturist, lives with the mysterious Reiho, the only male she’s ever met, and 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 a real, living, breathing male might be too precious to leave to the shabby streets. When Reiho is kidnapped at gunpoint and taken to the breeding program in the city, Sanada must join with the other outcasts to try and rescue him, and learn the difficult truths of love, self-actualization, society, community, safety, and the future itself.

Master manga-ka Akane Torikai (Sensei’s Pious Lie) has produced a stunning work of relational SF through a gender-bent looking glass. Torikai pulls no punches examining the deeply messy subjects of our day — sexuality, gender dynamics, romantic love, familial trauma, freedom, and control, through immaculately realized settings and character-rich, emotive body language. Produced in partnership with MSX: Mangasplaining Extra.

This was a really fascinating science fiction manga set in a relatively near(ish) future where reproduction is closely controlled; only a few women menstruate; and males are rarely born.

A ragtag group led by Sanada lives in a run-down area across from the river across from a place where women live in opulence. In this brave new world, there is no more war; but there is also no more love as we know it. There are women who are attracted to each other, as we see in the manga, but there’s also a hard push against romantic love, but especially love between a man and a woman, and it’s argued against as a great force of chaos.

Reiho is the anomaly among Sanada’s crew. He is not only a man, but a beautiful one, and he sells his body for pleasure to the rich women who sneak across the river to see him. He is close friends with Sanada and is also accepting of the people who flock around her.

One night Reiho is kidnapped to be taken to a facility where he’s expected to “give up his seed” to help create children; in this world men are physically fragile and people have died after doing this for too long. Sanada realizes the danger he is in, but also that Reiho has always wanted to live life on his own terms (just as Sanada does), so she is determined to break into the facility to get him back.

That’s all of the story I’m going to share with you. This is a very thought-provoking work that also has a compelling plot and interesting characters. The concept of a world with barely any men in it, women rule the world, and how humans are “bred” in programs, is really interesting. It’s not really painted that the women’s world is better than the patriarchal one we live in now; each has their own problems. Everything is depicted straightforwardly without a moral or specific message being beaten over your head, so you’re left to come to your own conclusions about it.

I don’t have any hard-set opinions on what I was supposed to “learn” from this manga, if anything at all–I just enjoyed the story, the idea behind the world, and how the characters express themselves and live through their oppression. It’s encouraged me to think about the world as I live in now versus the one depicted in the manga. It’s a thought-provoking piece that I’m glad I read.

4/5 stars.

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This manga was received as a digital ARC via NetGalley from the publisher. I am happy to leave a review of my own accord. Wandering Cat’s Cage is available now from Fantagraphics Books/Takumigraphics and wherever books are sold.