Inu Neko Jump!

Inu Neko Jump! (イヌっネコっジャンプ!), catch line "Boy meets girl in the sky", is a Japanese manga by Mitsuru Hattori, published by Kodansha, that was serialized between 2000 and 2001. It is a romantic comedy about a group of high school students involved in track and field sports, specifically the long jump. The manga consists of 40 chapters (five volumes).

Story

Teenage long jump prodigy Ozu Takahiro finds himself being stalked by a strange girl from his past who he cannot remember, Yuki Horiguchi, who somehow knows about his secret childhood dream of jumping so far that he goes into orbit. Yuki, who is also a brilliant jumper, is a tsundere (aggressive yet taciturn) character who permanently wears a personal stereo with large headphones to blot out a world she is otherwise unable to cope with. From her arrival Yuki constantly interferes with Ozu's life, showing enormous jealousy towards all his female friends. Ultimately though Ozu and Yuki share a bond: they both secretly dream of jumping into orbit; and Yuki, whose late father turns out to have been an astrophysicist who made a space telescope currently in orbit, is determined to make this impossible dream come true for both of them.

Inu Neko Jump! contains many plot elements which are a staple of manga stories: a childhood promise or incident; a central male figure who is surrounded by a "harem" of interested females; an aggressive yet vulnerable female lead. However it develops these elements in its own way to create narrative tension: for instance the principal female, Yuki, is a constantly demanding person, yet fails to make clear what her demands are, and the childhood incident between herself and Ozu is not explained until the final chapters. Instead, and despite many boisterous acts and frequent flashes of the cheesy grin frequently sported by Mitsuru Hattori's characters, she remains ultimately an enigmatic and withdrawn figure, head permanently encased in headphones which serve as both an actual and symbolic refuge from the world. With the underlying theme in hiatus, the story dwells instead on rivalries between the various females, on the sporting ambitions of the various characters, and on developing various risqué sub-plots, all of which are ultimately discarded when the story finally returns to its roots.

Characters

• Ozu Takahiro

The main protagonist of the story, he was a former long jump specialist but he gave up his track shoes after failing to get the first place in his high school competition. He is currently in college. His meeting with Yuki re-sparked his long jumping skills and under her constant pestering and challenges (and sometimes threats) he eventually regains his former glory. Ozu is a bit of a pervert and constantly fantasies about the girls around him. Yuki, Nao, Wasuki and even Hoguichi (the younger version) have all been subjects of his fantasies before. He also likes to sleep with Yuki's gym clothes and swimsuit.

• Yuki Horiguchi

A girl from Ozu's past who accidentally hit him in the nose with her shovel when he tried to practice long jumping in the sandbox which she was playing in when they were both still in kindergarten. The hit gave Ozu a nosebleed and it stained her panties when he fell unconscious with his face between her legs thereby prompting her mother's date(not sure if boyfriend or not him being the father was a mistake because her father died)to tease her that Ozu had taken her virginity and that she could no longer be a bride. Her father's words subsequently led to her being the way she was now and treating Ozu as her personal property for having 'deflowered' her. She easily gets jealous whenever she sees Ozu 'plays' with other people besides her and always do everything she can to draw him back. She always wears headphones which blares music into her ears to black out the sounds of the surrounding world thereby giving her a safe refuge in her own world. She is completely helpless without the headphones as is shown when it was broken and she freaked out to the extent of hiding in a side alley until she spotted Ozu. She has long painted fingernails which uses to "cat scratch" anyone who annoys her. She has low alcohol tolerance and a small drink would get her drunk, a state in which she does all sorts of crazy things. She also frequently pouts and assaults Ozu.

• Wasuki Noriko

Wasuki is a large breasted girl in the same college as Ozu. She is also a member of the track team. She and Ozu first met when she went to his high school for a function and he ran past her while practicing his long jump. Ever since that incident she was smitten by the "long-jumping Ozu" and always hope to see Ozu return to his former glory self. She is unaware that Ozu likes her until the night when he spends the night at her house and embraces her, however, they were interrupted by Kareishi. She seems to have feelings for Ozu because she gets worked up and uneasy when seeing Ozu with Yuki. She has a best friend whom she constantly calls 'boyfriend' because her name, Kareishi really sounds similar to the word 'boyfriend' in Japanese.

• Nao

A long jump prodigy who proclaims herself Japan's next greatest women's long jump champion. She is extremely arrogant and considers track meets, like the one Wasuki and the others were competing in as small fries, unworthy of her time. She is extremely competitive and wants to be nothing but the best. She does however has a cuter side to her which is shown whenever she thinks she is alone with a mirror where she will have a "Cute Nao-chan show" which involves her striking all types of cute poses in front of the mirror. Nao is a quick thinker and is also a manipulative person. When Ozu accidentally caught her in the midst of her "Nao-chan show" she beats him up and when questioned by a passing security guard as to what was she doing sitting aside Ozu as she was beating him up, she immediately pulled her blouse open and set it up to look as if Ozu had tried to rape her and she was just defending herself. She views Yuki as her rival after failing to jump over a pool of water while chasing her after framing Ozu for attempting to rape her. She is also extremely liberal and open about her body. This is shown when she does not hesitate to pull Ozu's dick out and suck his penis to make it stiff in order to frame him and she even feels his penis again when he was having dinner at her house and even commenting on how big he was although he was a 'pervert'. Other incidences include her openly feeling up her younger brother's penis while he feels her boobs in front of Ozu. Her most notably liberal act was in an attempt to lure Yuki out of her house so that she could compete against her in a long-jump rematch, she presses her half naked body up to Ozu and gropes him once more, even going so far as to perform fellatio in front of everyone else until Yuki finally came out.

Publications

1. ISBN 978-4-06-346074-2, published on 2000-09-08
2. ISBN 978-4-06-346091-9, published on 2000-12-26
3. ISBN 978-4-06-346105-3, published on 2001-05-09
4. ISBN 978-4-06-346122-0, published on 2001-10-09

References

External links

• Inu Neko Jump! Official site (Japanese)