• Cartoon and Animation Studies
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• s.49
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• pp.563-588
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• 2017

Cats used to be long avoided in Korean culture due to prejudices on their negative implications, yet they are increasingly being favoured by domestic readers along with a growing number of cat lovers, picture books, essays and webtoons. In the case of Yoko Sano's work, half of her published books in Korea depicts cats. Among those is 'The Cat That Lived a Million Times' which is a worldwide million seller. The research analyses five picture books on cats published in Korea, focusing on finding out symbolic representation of cats other than merely being the protagonist of the book. Sano asserts that we respect our own free well and love ourselves just as cats do in her books. In conclusion, cats in Sano's work mostly represent the author herself, which are sometimes depicted as mother and son. The colours and thick outlines of her cats, unlike tender characteristics, describes self-righteous strong personality, while emphasising both static and dynamic movements.