From right to left: Ryuusei, Taiga, Raiga, Mugen, Hyouma, Mr. Moke, Madara, Hazuki
"Protecting your turf, keeping other guys from pawing at your girl, showing everyone who's boss...it's all in a day's work when you're a street thug—er, a street cat!"
— official description
Nyankees is a manga by Atsushi Okada, which was serialized in Shonen Ace from 2016 to 2019 and compiled into six volumes. The manga is licensed in English by Yen Press.
The series is about Japanese Delinquents... except these delinquents are actually street cats! The art alternates between showing them as cats and as humans.
This manga contains examples of:
- Animals Lack Attributes: Averted. All of the cats have buttholes and the males have visible balls.
- Asskicking Leads to Leadership: The Nekonaki clowder plays with, but ultimately averts this trope.
- Played straight with the Goblin Cat Tails, whose leader aims to kick the ass of every cat in the city to take control.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Almost every cat struggles with their impulsive, instinctive nature and ridiculously short attention span.
- Early on, a rescue mission that starts with about a dozen cats arrives with only two; the rest get distracted and wander off within minutes of their departure.
- Becomes a major problem for Ryuusei when he's up against a more focused foe.
- Cast of Snowflakes: Each cat has a unique face and fur pattern, and their human designs are even more distinctive.
- Chummy Commies: Aggressive and authoritarian as they may be, the Goblin Cat Tails have good intentions and genuinely want to help other cats.
- Dance Party Ending: All the cats get up and dance on their hind legs together at the end. There's even a credits roll.
- Defeat Means Friendship: After Ryuusei defeats Taiga, the two of them become friends and work together.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Gekka and Madara are often mistaken for females due to their coat colors (calico and tortoiseshell, respectively). Gekka intentionally invokes this trope, keeping his tail down so humans can't see his true sex.
- Furry Lens: Inverted. The characters are street cats, but are drawn as human delinquents about 50% of the time.
- Gender Reveal: Male and female cats look so similar that the reveal comes as a surprise.
- Headbutt of Love: Between Ryuusei and Taiga after their battle with the Goblin Cat Tails.
- High on Catnip: Catnip and kiwi buds abound in Nekonaki, to the delight of the town strays. Just like their real life counterparts, stoned cats lose all self-control and blissfully roll on the ground; it's treated as a harmless diversion, but the cats are defenseless while under the influence.
- Morphic Resonance: The cats' human designs have elaborate clothes and hairstyles that mimic their true forms.
- No-Sell: Mr. Moke can send any cat into a drug-induced haze... except for a cat who doesn't react to catnip.
- Pets Versus Strays: Handled in a surprisingly mature way. The cats discuss the real-life pros and cons of a wide range of lifestyles, ending with the message that all of their opinions are equally valid.
- Shown Their Work: The manga portrays cat behavior, social structure, personalities, and communication in a realistic way. Some panels come with author's notes to translate body language or explain some aspect of feline life.
- Stray Animal Story: The manga is about stray cats.
- Take Over the City: The Goblin Cat Tails' goal.
