Animal Land

**Animal Land** is a 1977 one-shot by Fujio Akatsuka and Fujio Pro, serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump.

## Overview

After being berated and pushed around by his editor, the manga-ka Fujio Bakatsuka takes out his anger on a cat, mutilating it by cutting off its tail and ears. While chasing the cat out, he finds himself lost in a strange city that's ruled entirely by animals and finds out just what they happen to think of humans being in their midst.

This would be the fourth and final Shonen Jump feature where an Akatsuka pastiche winds up lost or learning of a strange and intimidating land, capping off the type of premise previously explored in Unkor Wat, Gakitopia, and Ujabaland.

It is not to be mistaken with the similarly titled but entirely different "Animal Land" mini-series from the 1990s.

## Characters

In addition to these cast members, the Star System characters of Nyarome, Beramatcha, Kemunpas, and the Kusotakeimushi are seen through the story.

### Fujio Bakatsuka

An Akatsuka-inspired manga-ka who becomes fed up with his harsh editor Ahoyama, to the point where seeing a cat will remind him of the man's animalistic face and his terrible treatment. This leads to him harming the cat and wanting to kill it, but soon finding himself at the mercy of the strange new city he's wound up in.

Bakatsuka also finds that his horrible treatment of the cat itself comes back to haunt him, as the cat and other animals decide to put him on trial and imprison him. However, after being bailed out by the kind cat-woman he met and seeing her brutally killed in retaliation, this inspires Bakatsuka to be kinder to animals and fill his entire work space with them (to the confusion of Ahoyama).

The frontispiece for the story, as well as an in-magazine ad, depict this character with the design of Ahoo Bakatsuka from *Gakitopia*. However, the actual character within the story has an entirely different look, slightly resembling the *Ujabaland* design of Ahoo Bakatsuka but with thick glasses instead. Another alternative, unused design of this very Bakatsuka appears on the bottom of the Weekly Shonen Jump cover, as well as on its spine.

### Ahoyama

Bakatsuka's overbearing editor, who has a cat-like nose and whiskers.

### Wife

Bakatsuka's wife is a tall, strong brute of a woman who can push him around with mere threatening words to keep him at home to finish his manga. She is seen briefly at the start of the story.

### Dog Cop

The first anthropomorphic animal that Bakatsuka encounters when he stumbles upon Animal Land. This dog cop is trigger-happy and dedicated to his job, but can also take on the pretense of being a regular dog in order to fool Bakatsuka and get him to drop his guard down. His nemesis winds up being a rogue cat-woman who aims to foil his plans in keeping Bakatsuka imprisoned and spring him free, with her poisoning this cop. However, when the poison doesn't kill him, he violently retaliates by shooting her through the heart.

### Chief

A lion in a business suit, who runs the Animal Land. Bakatsuka is brought to him by his subordinates and shown about the town, then ordered to stand trial for his cruelty towards one of their own.

### The Cat Lady

An anthopomorphic cat in a dress, resembling characters like Junko from Mad Dog Trotsky and Ranko from Bakumatsu Rare Dog Group, yet with a dark patch of hair on her head. She is the one animal to show Bakatsuka kindness and want to free him from the land, but pays for it with her own life in the end. Still, her sacrifice marks a turning point for Bakatsuka once he returns home.

## Serialization

* Weekly Shonen Jump: #14 (April 4th) for 1977

There have been no reprints of the title, necessitating any curious readers to have to pick up a copy of the original magazine.