His Soul is Marching On to Another World; or, the John Brown Isekai (Total Nekonomic Collapse)

"The catgirls have nothing to lose but their collars. They have a world to win.
WORKING CATS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!"

Japan is an island by the sea filled with volcanoes, humans, and bipedal, humanoid cats. Known as the “cat paradise”, the nation boasts an impressive population of around nine million domestic catfolk with even more unaccounted-for strays. The “nekonomy” of Japan is the largest in the world; many would assume that such a large economy would trickle down to bring prosperity to the catfolk.

Prosperity for the common cat is nothing but a dream in a catpitalist system rife with fat-cats and nekonomic exploitation.

Cats, those that are “domestic” at least, are second-class citizens who can only freely travel with government-issued certification in the form of a bell around their neck. Those who don’t have a family are less than second-class citizens; strays (which compromise a majority of the cat population) are forced into workhouses and exploited as cheap labor. Those who cannot work in a profitable manner are kicked out of the workhouses and left to die on the harsh streets.

Despite these abysmal conditions, most people pay no mind to the horrors of the nekonomy. Many go about their day, enjoying cheap products manufactured from the blood and sweat of the catfolk.

Who do mind are the exploited catfolk themselves; a specter is haunting Japan – the specter of total nekonomic collapse, aided by another specter from a century past.