Nagabe is a mangaka known for his elegant and haunting fantasy manga series The Girl from the Other Side and its many spinoffs. In Monotone Blue, Nagabe tries his hand at a different setting and world to explore a romance developing between an anthropomorphic cat and his new lizard classmate.
Monotone Blue
Nagabe (art and writing), Adrienne Beck (translation), C.A. Hawksmoor (adaptation), Vanessa Satone (lettering)
Seven Seas
September 20, 2022
In a world where “beasts” evolved to walk on two feet and talk and have opposable thumbs, Hachi is a slacker cat attending an all-boys high school full of dogs, foxes, and other furry creatures. As a cat, he can’t see in full color, only in blue and yellow. Life for him is dull and boring until star student Aoi, the only lizard in school, suddenly transfers into his class. The two boys, despite being virtually polar opposites, strike up a friendship based on Hachi’s fascination with Aoi’s bright blue tail, which he keeps covered up during school.
The premise at its most basic — anthropomorphic high-school-age animals whose animal attributes are more than cosmetic — is immediately reminiscent of Paru Itagaki’s BEASTARS, but the two stories couldn’t be more different. Where BEASTARS is energetic, Monotone Blue is quiet, serene in its depiction of the idleness of summer. The question of what happens to prey animals in this world is avoided entirely to focus on telling a much smaller-scale story that takes place entirely within the bounds of a classroom and a stairwell. School-age anthro BL is also a subject Nagabe tackled in his earlier anthology The Wize Wize Beasts of the Wizarding Wizdoms, but that takes place in a more explicitly fantastical setting than the grounded environment Monotone Blue is set in.
Nagabe uses anthropomorphic animals to tell a story about a familiar theme: being “weird” isn’t inherently bad, and differences between people should be celebrated instead of shamed. The fact that this love blossoms between two animal boys, both outcasts in different ways, helps make this theme clear. Aoi is insecure about his tail due to events in his past, but Hachi finds its vivid blueness mesmerizing, and can’t stop staring at it after he accidentally glimpses it. Nagabe’s art style, mostly stark black and white with sparse backgrounds and simple gray screentones, manages to make the tail seem bright and vivid despite the grayscale format.
The recurring image of Aoi and Hachi’s different ways of wearing school shoes — Hachi stepping on the heel instead of wearing them properly the way Aoi does — helps reinforce how different the two of them are. Aoi is not only a shy model student, but also a cold-blooded reptile species. Hachi is a delinquent who sleeps through his classes and a warm fluffy cat. As Hachi and Aoi discover, Aoi’s cool scales help Hachi cool off in the summer heat, and Hachi’s warmth helps Aoi regulate his temperature. Their differences are what make them work together.
But what really makes Monotone Blue stand out as a romance manga, and as a manga about anthropomorphic animals in school, is the way Nagabe cultivates atmosphere in the world of the story. The wide, empty panels and closeups on hands and tails instead of faces create a sense of isolation and intimacy simultaneously. Aoi and Hachi are both uncomfortable in the school environment, but together they manage to create a space where they can feel safe.
Monotone Blue is a simple story, well told. The unusual imagery and metaphors chosen to tell it make it unique in a landscape of otherwise similar stories.
