What's Michael?

What's Michael?
	First tankōbon volume cover What's Michael Book 1 from Eclipse Comics with Studio Proteus (Limited Edition Cloth Version - 1990)
ホワッツマイケル?; (Howattsu Maikeru?)
Manga
Written by	Makoto Kobayashi
Published by	Kodansha
English publisher	US: Eclipse Comics (1990) then Dark Horse Comics (1997-Current);
Magazine	Weekly Morning
English magazine	US: Mangajin, Super Manga Blast;
Original run	1984 – 1989
Volumes	9
Original video animation
Studio	Kitty Films
Released	25 November 1985 – 25 July 1988
Runtime	55 - 60 minutes
Episodes	2
Anime television series
Written by	Satoru Akahori
Music by	Kōji Makaino; Michiaki Katō
Studio	DIC
Original network	TV Tokyo
Original run	15 April 1988 – 28 March 1989
Episodes	45

What's Michael? (ホワッツマイケル?, Howattsu Maikeru?) is a Japanese manga series created by Makoto Kobayashi. In 1984, it began its serialization in the Weekly Morning magazine. The manga shows Michael, an orange American Shorthair tabby cat, his feline friends, and other domesticated pets in a series of humorous episodes. Michael is not a specific cat, but rather a feline version of the everyman as he appeared in drastically different settings across chapters: he's a normal cat in some chapters (with different owners in different chapters), an anthropomorphic cat in others, and he even dies in some chapters.

Eclipse Comics with Studio Proteus originally released a two volume collection in 1990 in both softcover and hardcover versions for the American market.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] After Eclipse Comics filed for Bankruptcy, Studio Proteus transferred the publishing rights over to Dark Horse Comics, who released the series in America as eleven volumes between 1997 and 2006. Dark Horse Comics then released two omnibus volumes under the "Fatcat Collection" between 2020 and 2021. "Fatcat Collection" volume one covers the original volumes 1-6 while "Fatcat Collection" volume two covers the original volumes 7-11.^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]^[16]^[17]^[18]^[19] All the American releases of the manga by Eclipse Comics and Dark Horse Comics are presented in the standard left to right American reading format, with the artwork flipped to change the reading style.

In 1986, What's Michael? received the Kodansha Manga Award for general manga.^[20]

The manga was adapted into two anime OVA films in 1985 and 1988, and a 45-episode TV series in 1988–1989.

Story

Most episodes of the series fall into one of two kinds of stories. The first portrays the cats in a realistic way, living out normal lives with their owners. It finds humor in how humans observe their pets' naturally quirky behavior. The second type of story is complete fantasy in which all the animals are given anthropomorphic characteristics such as walking on two legs, wearing clothes, and being able to talk to each other; these episodes place the animals in a storyline that mixes up their human personae with normal animal behavior.

Notes

^ Later known as KK C&D Asia, animation outsourced to Studio Furumi, Anime Friend [ja], Studio Junio, Studio AnyOne, Random, AC Production, Daume and Shaft.

References

^ Lars Ingebrigtsen (15 August 2018). "Total Eclipse - An Ill-Advised Re-Reading of All Comics Published by Eclipse Comics - What's Michael?". Retrieved 4 March 2025.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (1990). What's Michael? Limited Edition Cloth. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Smith, Toren. Eclipse Comics. ISBN 1-56060-005-5.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (1990). What's Michael? Trade Paperback. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Smith, Toren. Eclipse Comics. ISBN 1-56060-006-3.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (1990). What's Michael? Book 2 Limited Edition Cloth. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Smith, Toren. Eclipse Comics. ISBN 1-56060-077-2.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (1990). What's Michael? Book 2 Trade Paperback. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Smith, Toren. Eclipse Comics. ISBN 1-56060-078-0.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (1997). What's Michael? - Michael's Album. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Smith, Toren. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-247-4.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (30 July 1997). What's Michael? - Living Together. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Smith, Toren. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-248-1.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (1997). What's Michael? - Off the Deep End. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Sather, Jeanne; Smith, Toren. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-249-8.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (1997). What's Michael? - Michael's Mambo. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Sather, Jeanne; Smith, Toren. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-250-4.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (2002). What's Michael? - Michael's Favorite Spot. Translated by Kotobuki, Hisashi; Gleason, Alan; Lewis, Dana; Winkler, Erin; Smith, Toren; Hernandez, Lea. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-557-4.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (17 July 2002). What's Michael? - A Hard Day's Life. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Hernandez, Lea. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-744-8.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (2003). What's Michael? - Fat Cat in the City. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Hernandez, Lea; Smith, Toren. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-914-5.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (2003). What's Michael? - Show Time. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Hernandez, Lea; Smith, Toren. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-56971-972-5.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (2004). What's Michael? - The Ideal Cat. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-59307-120-2.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (2005). What's Michael? - Sleepless Nights. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-59307-337-4.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (2006). What's Michael? - Planet of the Cats. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-59307-525-5.
^ Kobayashi, Makoto (2020). What's Michael?: Fatcat Collection Volume 1. Translated by Lewis, Dana; Smith, Toren. Dark Horse Comics. ISBN 978-1-5067-1414-1.
^ Dark Horse comics (12 February 2020). "What's Michael? Fatcat Collection Volume 1 TPB :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics". Retrieved 5 July 2020.
^ Dark Horse comics (18 August 2021). "What's Michael? Fatcat Collection Volume 2 TPB :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics". Retrieved 4 March 2025.
^ Joel Hahn. "Kodansha Manga Awards". Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved 21 August 2007.