Inu Catalog

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Inu Catalog is a modern classic masterpiece. Not ever have I've seen such a work that has such deep complex story that rivals that of Evangelion and Utena with its symbolic imagery, complex three-dimensional characters with so many layers to them that each reading can give the reader a different interpretation, and such intriguing themes of love and jealousy that would make Shakespeare shed a tear.

The plot is deeper than what MAL describes as every character gets their time to shine and are completely memorable like Teacher-uke-dude and Student-that-Models-seme. Throughout the six chapters we see their struggles, their happy moments, their most intimate moments as ... well as a side story couple that gets introduced last chapter and the extra chapter but gets developed so well it might as well have been its own story too with how rich the characters were (Somebody-seme and Someone-uke.) that they'll be remembered for generations down the line.

The art is rivaling that of the great DaVinci or to be more modern, Miyazaki with how so much attention to detail the author puts in the anatomy and facial expressions. Each characters looks vastly different from each other and they're drawn so well that you could cut out random pages and hang them from a museum ceiling and watch the onlookers stare in awe at its beauty.

All in all, Inu Catalog is a modern-day avant alternative masterpiece that should be read by everyone. Truly, it deserves it place in TVTropes 'So Bad, Its Horrible' Anime & Manga page 😏.

The story follows a school doctor, Ren, who is often called a "small pet" by his students. One day, when walking through the school's yard, not only is he shocked to find two students making out, but one of which is the charismatic model Midori, whom Ren has always been longing for. Right then, Midori hits on Ren, and soon after, they begin their relationship in secret.

Inu Catalog's concept and characters are petty much standard fare for this genre. It's not all that well written, and things just sort of happen without proper transition from scene to scene. Not that it really matters all too, ... since the audience for this type of stuff aren't going to care about the small details anyway.

But if there's nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to the plot or characters of this story, why would anyone talk about this specific Yaoi over any other? That reason would be the infamously poorly proportioned artwork.

Pretty much all of the characters are bizarrely proportioned at the best of times, and are wildly inconsistent from panel to panel, even changing several times on the same page and from the same shot of the characters. At times, when the characters are in full frame, their bodies can end up looking weirdly long, with their heads looking too small for their bodies. Everyone looks like they're wearing David Byrne's over sized suit from the band Talking Heads.

There are so many problems with the artwork that I could spend a few thousand words combing through the manga, pointing it all out, but I won't due to not wanting to bore anyone reading this, especially with how easy it is to find images. There is not a drawing in this manga that looks correct in any way shape or form. Everything look so off that I have no idea how this even made it to publication.

I genuinely feel bad for criticizing the artwork so heavily, because the author and artist for this are one in the same, and most, if not all, of their manga share a lot of the same problems when it comes to the art work. While it's technically nowhere near the worst art that I've seen in a manga, it's distracting to the point that I can't get over it.

If you're into this type of stuff, maybe you would get something out of it, but personally, I had a difficult time getting passed it's artwork.