What's Michael?

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What's Michael?
First tankōbon volume cover
Manga
Written byMakoto Kobayashi
Published byKodansha
English publisher
Imprint
  • Wide KC (1985–1989)
  • KC Deluxe (2003)
Magazine
English magazine
Original runFebruary 1984 – 22 April 2003
Volumes9
Series titles
  1. What's Michael? (1984–1989, 8 volumes)
  2. What's Michael? 9-Kanme (2001–2003, 1 volume)
Original video animation
StudioKitty Film Mitaka Studio
Released 25 November 1985 – 25 July 1988
Runtime50–60 minutes
Episodes2
Anime television series
Directed byMasakazu Higuchi
Produced by
Written bySatoru Akahori
Music by
Studio
Original networkTV Tokyo
Original run 15 April 1988 – 28 March 1989
Episodes45

What's Michael? is a Japanese manga series created by Makoto Kobayashi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Morning from February 1984 to September 1989, and in its sister magazine, Evening, from December 2001 to April 2003. The manga shows Michael, an orange American Shorthair tabby cat, his feline friends, and other domesticated pets in a series of humorous episodes. Michael is not a specific cat, but rather a feline version of the everyman as he appeared in drastically different settings across chapters: he's a normal cat in some chapters (with different owners in different chapters), an anthropomorphic cat in others, and he even dies in some chapters.

Plot

Most episodes of the series fall into one of two kinds of stories. The first portrays the cats in a realistic way, living out normal lives with their owners. It finds humor in how humans observe their pets' naturally quirky behavior. The second type of story is complete fantasy in which all the animals are given anthropomorphic characteristics such as walking on two legs, wearing clothes, and being able to talk to each other; these episodes place the animals in a storyline that mixes up their human personae with normal animal behavior.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Makoto Kobayashi, What's Michael? was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Morning starting in February 1984, in the magazine's fourth issue of that year.[1][a] It completed serialization in September 1989, in the magazine's 41st issue of that year.[3][b] Its chapters were compiled in eight tankōbon volumes, published between 14 January 1985, and 14 December 1989.[5][6] It was later republished in eight bunkobon volumes, released between 2 December 1994, and 3 April 1995.[1][3]

The series was revived in full color on Morning's sister magazine, Evening, under the title What's Michael? 9-Kanme (What's Michael? 9巻め; 'What's Michael? Volume 9'), where it was serialized from 19 December 2001,[7] to 22 April 2003.[8] One tankōbon volume was published on 21 May 2003.[9]

Eclipse Comics with Studio Proteus originally released a two-volume collection in 1990 in both softcover and hardcover versions for the American market.[10][11][12][13][14]

After Eclipse Comics filed for bankruptcy, Studio Proteus transferred the publishing rights over to Dark Horse Comics, who released the series in America as eleven volumes between 1997 and 2006. Dark Horse Comics then released two omnibus volumes under the "Fatcat Collection" between 2020 and 2021. "Fatcat Collection" volume one covers the original volumes 1–6 while "Fatcat Collection" volume two covers the original volumes 7–11.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]

All the American releases of the manga by Eclipse Comics and Dark Horse Comics are presented in the standard left to right American reading format, with the artwork flipped to change the reading style.

Anime adaptations

The manga was adapted into two anime OVA films in 1985 and 1988 by Kitty Films, and a 45-episode TV series produced in France by C&D, although the writing and animation are still done in Japan.

Video games

Two licensed video games based on the manga were released in Japan. Michael's Big English Adventure (マイケルEnglish大冒険), an English-language educational game for the Famicom Disk System, was published by Scorpion Soft in 1987.[29] The player collects letters falling from the sky to spell English words. The rival cat Nyajira and other characters from the manga appear in the game.[29] A graphic adventure game, What's Michael?, was developed and published by Microcabin for the PC-8801 and PC-9801 in January 1989 and for the MSX2 in June 1989.[30] It was one of several licensed manga and anime graphic adventures released by Microcabin in the late 1980s.[31]

Reception

In 1986, What's Michael? received the Kodansha Manga Award for general manga.[32]

Notes

  1. Cover date 16 February 1984.[2]
  2. Cover date 21 September 1989.[4]

References

  1. Ｗｈａｔ’ｓ　Ｍｉｃｈａｅｌ？（１） (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on 16 June 2026. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  2. コミックモーニング 1984.0 4. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on 19 June 2026. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  3. Ｗｈａｔ’ｓ　Ｍｉｃｈａｅｌ？（８）〈完〉 (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on 16 June 2026. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  4. コミックモーニング 1989.0 41. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Archived from the original on 19 June 2026. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  5. Ｗｈａｔ’ｓ　Ｍｉｃｈａｅｌ？（１） (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on 16 June 2026. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  6. Ｗｈａｔ’ｓ　Ｍｉｃｈａｅｌ？（８） (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on 16 June 2026. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  7. イブニング2002年1(A)号詳細情報. Manganetto (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 17 June 2026. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  8. イブニング2003年5号詳細情報. Manganetto (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 17 June 2026. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  9. Ｗｈａｔ’ｓ　Ｍｉｃｈａｅｌ？９巻め (in Japanese). Kodansha. Archived from the original on 16 June 2026. Retrieved 16 June 2026.
  10. Ingebrigtsen, Lars (15 August 2018). "Total Eclipse - An Ill-Advised Re-Reading of All Comics Published by Eclipse Comics - What's Michael?". Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  11. Kobayashi, Makoto (1990). What's Michael? Limited Edition Cloth. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Smith, Toren. Eclipse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56060-005-3.
  12. Kobayashi, Makoto (1990). What's Michael? Trade Paperback. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Smith, Toren. Eclipse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56060-006-0.
  13. Kobayashi, Makoto (1990). What's Michael? Book 2 Limited Edition Cloth. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Smith, Toren. Eclipse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56060-077-0.
  14. Kobayashi, Makoto (1990). What's Michael? Book 2 Trade Paperback. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Smith, Toren. Eclipse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56060-078-7.
  15. Kobayashi, Makoto (1997). What's Michael? - Michael's Album. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Smith, Toren. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-247-4.
  16. Kobayashi, Makoto (30 July 1997). What's Michael? - Living Together. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Smith, Toren. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-248-1.
  17. Kobayashi, Makoto (1997). What's Michael? - Off the Deep End. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Sather, Jeanne; Smith, Toren. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-249-8.
  18. Kobayashi, Makoto (1997). What's Michael? - Michael's Mambo. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Sather, Jeanne; Smith, Toren. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-250-4.
  19. Kobayashi, Makoto (2002). What's Michael? - Michael's Favorite Spot. Translated by Kotobuki, Hisashi; Gleason, Alan; Lewis, Dana; Winkler, Erin; Smith, Toren; Hernandez, Lea. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-557-4.
  20. Kobayashi, Makoto (17 July 2002). What's Michael? - A Hard Day's Life. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Hernandez, Lea. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-744-8.
  21. Kobayashi, Makoto (2003). What's Michael? - Fat Cat in the City. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Hernandez, Lea; Smith, Toren. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-914-5.
  22. Kobayashi, Makoto (2003). What's Michael? - Show Time. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Hernandez, Lea; Smith, Toren. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-972-5.
  23. Kobayashi, Makoto (2004). What's Michael? - The Ideal Cat. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-59307-120-2.
  24. Kobayashi, Makoto (2005). What's Michael? - Sleepless Nights. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-59307-337-4.
  25. Kobayashi, Makoto (2006). What's Michael? - Planet of the Cats. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-59307-525-5.
  26. Kobayashi, Makoto (2020). What's Michael?: Fatcat Collection Volume 1. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Smith, Toren. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-5067-1414-1.
  27. Dark Horse comics (12 February 2020). "What's Michael? Fatcat Collection Volume 1 TPB :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics". Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  28. Dark Horse comics (18 August 2021). "What's Michael? Fatcat Collection Volume 2 TPB :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics". Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  29. "マイケルEnglish大冒険(ディスクシステム専用)" [Michael English Daibōken (Disk System exclusive)] (in Japanese). ピコピコ大百科.
  30. "ゲームソフト 過去の開発実績" [Game software: Past development experience] (in Japanese). Microcabin.
  31. 佐々木, 潤 (22 September 2022). "80年代後期のパソコン事情Part1〜永久保存版 レジェンドパソコンゲーム80年代記〜" [Late 1980s personal computer scene, Part 1: Legend Personal Computer Game 80s Chronicle] (in Japanese). AKIBA PC Hotline! (Impress).
  32. Hahn, Joel. "Kodansha Manga Awards". Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved 21 August 2007.