When
Sanada needs a little time for herself, she heads to the batting cage. After hitting balls around the empty room for awhile, she treats herself to some candy from Granny, who sells the refreshments. But
today is different. As Reijo sits on a bench facing the chicken wire barrier, he
offers her a job. Even though she’s taking a break from her needles, Sanada can’t
say no. She and Reijo go back a long way, and the one thing that links them is
their desire for freedom. What will Reijo ask Sanada to do for him? And how
will it change their lives?
Here's all the info from Fantagraphics:
Wandering Cat’s Cage Preview
Writer & Artist: Akane Torikai
Translator: Jocelyne Allen
Publisher: Fantagraphics
Book Description: 344 Pages, Black-and-White
Hardcover Price: $34.99 US
ISBN-13: 9798875002397
Release Date: October 27, 2026
Fantagraphics and MSX Team Up to Publish
An Elegiac Manga
about Gender, Community, Family, Control, Class, Love,
and What Makes Life
Worth Living At The End Of The World.
This week, Takumigraphics – Fantagraphics’ imprint
specializing in the art and craft of East Asian comics – will publish Akane
Torikai’s highly anticipated dystopian manga Wandering Cat’s Cage. Published in
partnership between Takumigraphics and MSX: Mangasplaining Extra, this
beautifully drawn work of science fiction, told through a gender-bent looking
glass, is an unflinching examination of sexuality, gender dynamics, love,
trauma, freedom, and control.
Master manga-ka Akane Torikai’s Wandering Cat’s Cage takes
place in a near-future, where only a few women are still able to menstruate,
and even fewer men will be born to them.Reproduction is limited to medical
intervention controlled from on high, and the structures and lives of the past
are only hinted at through scraps of a world that no longer exists. Life can be
good, though, if you fall in line. The women of The City live bright, happy,
tightly controlled lives. But complete obedience isn’t for everyone. For the
women across the river, who live in a rundown shantytown, life is different. It
is humble, and often dangerous, but it is free.
Sanada, a young acupuncturist, lives across the river with
the mysterious Reiho, the only male she’s ever met who sells himself to the
rich women who sneak across the river for something they’ve never experienced.
The two form a small “family,” taking in other young women ousted from the
city. But when Reiho is kidnapped at gunpoint and taken to the breeding program
in The City, Sanada must join the other outcasts to rescue him and learn the
difficult truths of love, self-actualization, society, safety, and humanity’s
future.
“Akane Torikai's Wandering Cat's Cage is a perfect addition
to the Takumigraphics line,” explains Fantagraphics’ Vice President and
Associate Publisher Eric Reynolds. “Building on traditions of shojo manga and
dystopian fiction pioneered by artists like Moto Hagio and Katsuhiro Otomo,
Torikai advances both genres with her gorgeous artwork in the service of an
urgent and fierce voice for our current time.”
Launched in 2026 with the release of Yudori’s Lovers of the
Empire, Takumigraphics imprint encompasses comics from across East Asia,
including Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, and Taiwan. Takumi comes from the
Japanese kanji meaning “excellence,” skillfulness,” “ingeniousness,” as applied
to a craftsperson. This character exemplifies the aesthetic caliber of the
books that will comprise this imprint — works of mastery and vision. Our logo
is inspired by the seals used by Japanese and Chinese craftspeople to mark
their work.
Wandering Cat’s Cage is the latest manga to be published by
Fantagaphics in partnership with MSX: Mangasplaining Extra, a publishing
initiative run by Deb Aoki and Christopher and Andrew Woodrow-Butcher that
spins out of the popular podcast Mangasplaining, which recommends great manga
to folks who haven't read much manga before. Fantagraphics and MSX have
previously published Susumu Higa's widely acclaimed Okinawa, which was nominated for the 2024
Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in NonFiction by the American Library
Association, and Search & Destroy, Atsushi Kaneko’s 3-volume cyberpunk
reimagining of Osamu Tezuka’s Dororo.
“All of us at Mangasplaining are thrilled to help bring
Akane Torikai’s Wandering Cat’s Cage to English readers, both through digital
serialization via our Mangasplaining Extra newsletter and in a gorgeous 2-in-1
hardcover with our publishing partners at Fantagraphics.” says Deb Aoki.
“Originally published in Da Vinci, a Japanese literary magazine, Wandering
Cat’s Cage asks tough questions about how current events, cultural, economic,
and political decisions might lead us to the world of haves and have-nots, the
powerful and the powerless depicted in this story. Told from a feminine and
Asian perspective, Wandering Cat’s Cage is a thought-provoking read that feels
only a few steps away from the world we live in today. The contrast between
Torikai’s elegant linework and the intense drama that unfolds in this story is
just one reason why we think she’s an author who deserves to be seen and read
by all kinds of readers.”
Now, let's take a look inside:
The 334-page hardcover Wandering Cat’s Cage is due out on
October 27, 2026. The Takumigraphics imprint will continue to release
groundbreaking East Asian comics in the winter with Kago’s The Ultra Power
Mongol Invasion due out in November and more breathtaking comics on the way. For
updates, fans can follow Fantagraphics on X, Instagram, Facebook, Blue Sky, and YouTube.
Thanks to Fantagraphics and Superfan Promotions for sharing this preview with us.
