Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko

In just around four minutes, "Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko" manages to tell a harrowing tale between a woman and her cat - all from the cat's perspective. Chobi, in the short time that we see him, is such an inquisitive little guy. Interested in the affairs of his owner and the world around him. His interest in her is one of care, the care he gives to her and the care she gives to him.

I enjoy the minimal animation here. Given that this is one of Makoto Shinkai's earlier projects, it evokes a sense of greatness for what he would soon achieve. The soundtrack, ... although brief, effectively captures the film's atmosphere. Melancholy with a sense of hope.

I recommend this very much to anyone who wants something unique to their palette, or to those who are interested in Makoto Shinkai or the She and Her Cat projects

my rating: 4/10

The OVA was okay. If you're not into poetry, this isn't worth your time.

The story is told from a cat's perspective, who spends most of the film talking about his day-to-day activities. His words have a poetic tone filled with imagery. Some people might like that, but if you (like me) are not into poetry, I doubt you will enjoy this OVA. Some have described this show as "philosophical", which is true to an extent. But don't expect anything deep; it's just a cat pondering life for a few minutes as he watches his owner. Some other reviews have said that there's a ... "twist" midway, but it's not much more than a shift in tone.

As for the visuals, it's all in greyscale, and most of the shots are just random bits of scenery. Most of the OVA is spent panning over those drawings, with not much animation actually happening. They scenery is really well-drawn and quite detailed. The human also drawn fairly well, but nothing special. They style she's drawn in looks typical of the early 2000s.

But the one thing that threw me off was how they drew the cat. He looks very cartoonish, unlike everything else in the film. I actually laughed when I saw him. It's funny how derpy he looks compared to the serious tone of the visuals and narration. And I don't think humour was the intention.

Overall, I can't say that the film was particularly bad or anything, and I only rate it slightly below average because I don't find poetry very entertaining. But I also don't see any strong reason to recommend this to anyone. If you're into poetry, I'm sure there's better stuff out there. If you're into art house and/or philosophy, don't expect much depth from an OVA that's not even 5 minutes long. And if you're not into any of that, this will just feel boring. The only good use of this OVA I can think of is to show what "art house" or "kino" is like (to someone who doesnt know), without wasting too much of their time.

Another 'Shinkai awarding Shinkai's own nonstory book an anime adaptation' not because it deserves it but because nepotism of him being in charge of the animation studio.

Only ~30 min total yet it still manages to be a waste of time.

The cat itself looks cartoonishly out of place and barely does anything while being boringly portrayed as basically just a human mind in a cat's body.
Plenty of the author larping as a cat to self-narrate everything by essentially reading out the audiobook as mostly nothing happens.

What little does happen is just the most generic series of events almost any cat owner goes through overplayed through dumb ... melodrama between noncharacters.

The art/animation is boringly uninspired generic nonvisuals overdone with a high budget far more than this nonstory deserves.

At least Shinkai managed to hold himself back to only 1 or so foot fetish shots by opening with a nudity tease centered solely on the bare legs and feet of 2 women for a prolonged amount of time.

1/10 (where 5/10 is average)