I knew next to nothing about Taiy? Matsumoto or his work before reading Tekkonkikreet, and with the manga in question, I only knew of Treasure Town, coming across it when looking up cool anime cities. I’m glad I ended up going in blind to Tekkonkikreet — which isn’t to say that knowing anything about it lessens the experience, but rather, the manga captured me with the good old-fashioned appeal of wanting to learn more and see where things were going.

Matsumoto’s storytelling style is simultaneously simple and complex — Tekkonkikreet has a simple plot, but it’s told in a purposely scattered, indirect manner. Tekkonkikreet builds itself up by scattering elements across its playing field, slowly letting them come together to create tension. This ultimately grounds the series in a sense of realism and humanity, which builds a good vehicle to deliver its themes.

In my reading experience, this approach is better enjoyed without knowing anything. That is, if you haven’t read the manga, go ahead and pick up Tekkonkinkreet: Black & White 30th Anniversary Edition to get the whole shebang. After you’ve read it, take a look at my thoughts below.

Matsumoto’s biggest strength in Tekkonkikreet is the amount of legwork he does to establish the characters and the environment — two young orphans on the streets of Treasure Town known simply as Black, the older, tougher, more streetwise one, and White, the younger, innocent, childlike one with a very loose grasp on the reality around him. The first seven chapters of the manga are primarily just establishing this dynamic, framed by them surviving on the streets, living in an abandoned car, picking fights with thugs, and being described as “cats” by the authorities and various gangs of Treasure Town, likely for their ability to “fly,” through enhanced strength and parkour maneuvering of the city.

Black and White tend to cause mischief wherever they go, and the central plot of Tekkonkikreet kicks into gear when they piss off the wrong people. Specifically Snake, the head of a corporation called “Kiddy Kastle,” seeks to demolish Treasure Town and remake it as a giant theme park. Black and White soon become thorns in his side as they take out some of his men and become targets to be exterminated. After killing one of Snake’s elite hitmen, the hunt begins to get serious, and Black must give up White to police custody, the task of taking care of him while being hunted being too dangerous for both of them.

Without White in his life, Black becomes isolated and feral, losing touch with reality. His instinct to survive, without the warmth of taking care of White, forms within him a dark persona known as the minotaur. After defeating the assassins hunting him, he is reunited with White and must fight off his inner demon to be White’s caretaker once more.

Ultimately, the story is about family, companionship, and the people that complete us. Black has a corrupted soul — as people in his life will straight-up tell him, he has a few screws loose, but so does White, who intuitively understands that the parts he has makes up for the parts that Black is missing, and vice versa. This is the core of the story. These two stray cats might not have much; they might have to fight to survive, but they have each other; they are there for each other; Black protects White from the world, and White keeps Black’s soul intact.

As effective as Matsumoto is at using slower, everyday moments to establish dynamics, there can be parts of the early chapters, as well as some later chapters when White is in the care of Sawada, that feel a bit slower than necessary. This certainly helps the story feel more realistic and grounded — like the story is not a story, but just events happening amongst everything else in the city — but it can just result in a bit of dead air, so to speak. It’s not a dealbreaker for the series by any means; there is just some room for trimming and streamlining.

Matsumoto’s unique art style had to grow on me — I certainly loved his sense of design from the start, but it took me a few chapters to appreciate his character work. Treasure Town’s crowded, dense cityscape is so beautifully depicted in the chaotic style, and as I warmed up to the character art, I realized it fits the city perfectly. There’s a chaotic grit to how Black and White are drawn; they sometimes feel like the cats people refer to them as — animalistic but small, spry and jumpy, tough but sad. Matsumoto does well to reflect the characters’ position in life through their design (like with the more cleanly designed yakuza, cops, and businessmen), especially regarding their mental state, as seen with Black’s devolution in the absence of White.

Unfortunately, the panel arrangement and sequential storytelling work in Tekkonkikreet is not the most refined. I was never lost in the larger plot — a benefit of its simplicity — but I found it hard to keep track of the moment-to-moment, especially during fights or chases. Matsumoto jumps wildly through time with each panel, leaving the reader with whiplash and confusion, trying to figure out what occurred between them. It feels like we are watching what’s happening through a shaky camera — certainly not out of place regarding the boys’ city traversal style. It is more fitting to the film adaptation than the manga, where a bit more visual storytelling clarity could have done wonders.

None of this hinders the overall quality of the manga too severely; the story and themes are still solid. Ultimately, I would instead Tekkonkikreet be too chaotic than not chaotic enough because Treasure Town is a changing landscape, and the boys’ lives as street cats are chaotic. There is quiet and fun at times, but they live to survive and protect “their” city. The chaotic presentation of Tekkonkikreet, for better or worse, is ultimately what makes us love and care for Black and White, enough that their separation is tragic, their reunion is heartwarming, and their pursuits as pseudo-guardians of the city are captivating and powerful. These are two stray cats against the world, black and white taking on a gray world, only able to do so together.

Taiy? Matsumoto’s Tekkonkikreet is a powerful manga, one unique and beautiful in its off-beat presentation and heartbreaking/warming in its characters and themes.