BLog: The Treasure of the King and the Cat
BLog reviews recent boys love, yaoi and LGBTQ+ English translation manga.
The Treasure of the King and the Cat
Story and art: You Kajika
Translation: Christine Dashiell
Publisher: TOKYOPOP
Release Date: March 30, 2021
I only had to finish the first two chapters of this adorable boys’ love fantasy collection before I was able to describe it to a friend as: Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle but gay
The Treasure of the King and the Cat is two interconnected stories and a series of shorts set in the magical kingdom of Astelia. “Wizard of the Borderlands” follows the story of the half-elf wizard O’Feuille and his oblivious, enamored, freckled partner Volks, as well as the wizard’s albino raven familiar Alvas and the cait sith friend of Volks, Mia.
“The Treasure of the King and the Cat” moves the action from the borderlands to the royal city, where people have been going missing at an alarming rate. King Castio Luchlups (wild anime surname) sneaks out of the castle to investigate where he’s attacked, although he somehow doesn’t fall to the same fate as his subjects. He’s aided by his childhood friend and confidant, the handsome Lord Nios Eric. (Eric?! Of the noble House Eric?!)
The most glaring issue I had with an otherwise adorable collection is that, despite being classified as boys’ love and despite being rated “Teen age 13+”, The Treasure of the King and the Cat is a relatively chaste title. It’s perhaps boys’ love in a very literal sense; these are boys who love each other. Volks is entirely devoted to O’Feuille, very clearly in eternal, dumbass puppy dog love, ditto King Castio and his devoted protector Lord Nios. But aside from a few raunchy jokes (almost exclusively from resident himbo Volks), a couple of cheek kisses and a few instances of what I would classify as an “accidental” magical nudity fetish, the boys’ love element takes a backseat to the action.
Artist/author post-scripts are always incredibly revealing in manga. Mangaka You Kajika writes: “I was so fixated on figuring out what would happen to the characters in this world that the main love story was pushed to the side… and when I realized how bad that was, I worked it in here and there where I could, and this is the result.”
That’s not to say there isn’t plenty to enjoy. Even if the first story throws a lot at you from the word go (Who’s Volks? Who’s O’Feuille? Who’s Mia? The royal city? The borderlands? Wait… why is Yggdrasil there?!), and the plot of the main story is a little convoluted, the art (and boys) and the world are a delight. If you let the world wash over you without worrying too hard about the story its a wonderful little adventure.
The Ghibli comparison is both apt and a compliment, which is why the world-building works even if the storytelling isn’t finely tuned. In Astelia, magic is very much based on will and emotion, as opposed to some quantifiable pool of mana points. For example, in “Wizard of the Borderlands” Oliver, a young boy with wild magical power he doesn’t understand, seeks out O’Feuille’s help to save his mother. Before disappearing with his familiar, the wizard commands him attempt to make flower seeds of the magical Yekl flower grow and blossom without any tools or assistance. This gives the usual dumbass Volks the chance to tell the story of how he formed such a loving bond with the wizard in a heartfelt little flashback. The titular story ramps the Ghibli-ness up to the next level; a story of a cursed king, a strange artifact and a kingdom full of magical cats.
And, again, even if you’re disappointed at the relative lack of boys’ love in a BL manga, the boys more than make up for it. There’s a little bit of something for everyone, be that the long-haired fae beauty of O’Feuille, the freckled shounen dumbassery of Volks, the hunky Nios or fine-featured pretty boy King Castio–if anything lives up to the BL label, its the exploration of the curse on Castio and his lifelong relationship to Nios that will satisfy that fudanshi/fujoshi itch. There’s even a practical, probably secret perverted glasses character in the castle’s steward and castle physician Ulla, who is passionate about getting or describing the king naked–so the character that I identified with immediately. The characters and worldbuilding are what make The Treasure of the King and the Cat an adventure worth taking.
Level of Problematic: The treasure of the king and his naked, cursed booty; the worst this manga gets is inappropriate remarks from Volks at Oliver’s expense, as well as the “accidental” magical nudity thing, which, honestly, I’m into.
Level of Adorable: The treasure of the king and his kingdom of cats; this category is where The Treasure of the King and the Cat is a powerhouse title. Absolutely adorable on every page, gorgeous art. Plus more cats than I’ve ever seen in a single manga or anime since The Cat Returns. Plus “accidental” magical nudity. Plus catboy. Manga needs more catboys. If you’d like more BL catboys go read the other 2021 TOKYOPOP title The Cat Proposed.
Level of Spiciness: The treasure of the king and his incidental homosexuality; I would like a “M for Mature” version, please. He said about everything.
