Nakitai Watashi wa Neko wo Kaburu

“You really seem to love me when I’m Taro.” - Miyo Sasaki

Nakitai Watashi wa Neko wo Kaburu, or A Whisker Away is a movie with the main theme of cats. Yes, many cats, a lot of cats. A light romance content with the supernatural matter involved, resulting in a perfect combination of the movie.

Story - 9/10
The story starts off pretty quickly, so watching a trailer at least once is recommended. The storytelling begins with Miyo’s family, Miyo’s relationship with her friends, and how she got a mask that allows her to transform into a cat. The overall concept can be understood within 10 minutes or ... less, giving you time to enjoy the whole movie instead of making you try to understand what’s going on. The whole concept is interesting and unique, making A Whisker Away became a must-watch. The movie also maintains the proportion of the supernatural element and the daily life element at the appropriate level, being not too heavy on one side. Lastly, I would say that the story contains both sad and happy moments, leading to a satisfying conclusion.

Animation - 10/10
Eye-friendly, tender, and cute, these 3 words describe the art perfectly. While not being as vibrant as Your Name or Tenki no Ko, instead, A Whisker Away shows its own charm of art in the usage of colors. The art matches and creates the tender mood and tone of the movie, and when combined with such high-quality scenery art, a score of 10 is obtained easily.

Sound - 8/10
The overall soundtracks are pretty standard. During my 104-minute watch, I noticed nothing outstanding, also nothing has bugged me. While A Whisker Away may not have the best soundtrack, it has the perfect ending songs, perfectly matched my music taste. Yes, 2 ending songs, both are sweet and lovely, and both performed by Yorushika. The 2nd song is kind of a surprise since the song hasn’t been released before.

Characters - 8/10
A 104-minute length might not be enough to introduce supporting characters fully, but it was able to introduce audiences the main characters to its fullest.

Miyo Sasaki and Kento Hinode, these 2 main characters are the star of the show. Miyo, or nicknamed as Muge, is introduced as an energetic girl, having a crush on Hinode, which is literally a normal guy. Miyo is being ignored and not being liked back by Hinode is not her only problem. While handling this matter, both Miyo and Hinode also have their own personal problems to deal with. Thus by not understanding each other may lead to hurting one another without knowing. This is how characters have completed the story and bringing the potential to the movie.

Enjoyment - 9/10
A Whisker Away is cute, being a unique watch, not many shows have animals as their main theme, and this movie is a success. What I enjoyed the most is the art and the theme song, which are totally charming and beautiful, matching the sweet and tender mood of the story. Overall, this movie left me an impression. My 104-minute watch is well spent.

Recommendations
If you are looking for a unique movie with a light supernatural element, romance, and eye-friendly art, then I recommend this anime, or even if you just love cats. Enjoy!

"Wow, a work from Junichi Satou (Aria, Tamayura) and Mari Okada (MSG:IBO, AnoHana, Lupin III: Mine Fujiko), must be great!" These were my initial thoughts about this movie before watching it until my hopes were shattered when I actually got to watch this movie.

Story 3/10
A super clingy, full of energy girl Miyo Sasaki, nicknamed "Muge" who's in love with her classmate Kento Hinode, her indefatigable tries to get the attention of her crush were in vain so she thought of becoming a cat to get close to her crush which later turned out to be a deadly mistake because she had to throw her humanity ... if she wanted to continue being a cat. The premise sounds normal but it's later butchered by it's own progress due to ambiguous and unexplained actions and sequences.

Art and Animation 6/10
The art was the best thing about this movie something that was granted to come in a work directed by Junichi Satou, the background art really reminded me of Tamayura. The animation was so-so, keeping in mind that it was done by the same studio that made Penguin Highway, a movie which excels in both art and animation. Sad too see that they downgraded the visuals rather than improving it.

Sound 5/10
Couple of OSTs here and there, nothing to great and worth memorable. It had no opening song and the ending song was mediocre as well.

Character 2/10
The characters were written lively, they felt alive. But that solely couldn't make them good or likable. Really disliked the main girl "Muge", really energetic, someone who'd just go and want to become a cat forever because she got rejected once despite her awfully clingy behavior and without even thinking about the consequences that were to come with it (e.g. leaving behind her close friend, and her parents who try their best to take care of her). And then there's her close friend who really should be the MC of this movie but her name is forgettable that even I don't remember even tho I just finished watching this movie, same can be said for Hinode's friend. Hinode, the male MC gives of serious furry vibes and likes to be kissed by a cat, he's a typical edgy teenage boy who'd try to do anything for his love even brawl with a giant cat, maybe that's because he's a furry.

Enjoyment 3/10
You know what I enjoyed in this movie? The background scenery.

Overall it's nothing more than a 3, a big disappointment coming from names such as Mari Okada and Junichi Satou. Tho it made me realize how much I love Tamayura, maybe I might do a rewatch.

Whilst A Whisker Away had a strong premise it didn't really take me by surprise. In fact, I think that it was way lower than my expectations before I watched it.

A Whisker Away's story and concept felt like something Disney would make but instead of their generic cartoony art style per se it's anime art style instead. There's also something highly unappealing about a romance portrayed by cats. It feels too generic. It feels like I've seen this too many times before in the past, I just can't be bothered to see anymore.

Other than the story, the art is exceptionally beautiful and reminded ... me of a beautiful show called "Tsuki Ga Kirei". Which was peradventure one of the best romance I've ever seen. The background musics and voice acting are also satisfactory, thus I have no comment on that as well.

All in all, I think that I wasted about 2 hours of my life watching something I don't usually watch. I got so bored I had to reinstall clash royale on my phone and play it occasionally as the movie proceeds. A Whisker Away didn't really grasp my heart, and it's probably the first anime movie that I've watched that actually wasn't that enjoying.

A Whisker Away Summary : "Don't be deceived by a big fat bitch just because you're depressed."

I recommend this to.. I don't really know actually. Just watch it. You either like it or you hate it. That's how it goes anyways.

From first seeing the trailer I had very high expectations for this film and they were definitely met. This is my first review so I’m sorry in advance if it’s not too well wrote, it also may contain spoilers.
In the first twenty minutes of the film I felt almost disappointed with how it was going and how annoying the main characters was but as the story continued on her character development was just wonderful. She went from being an annoying stalker student to becoming a more relatable character.
I think the story is probably 9 almost an 8. If you’ve started to watch it and ... do feel bored please continue watching it because it’s extremely unique!

For sound I’d give it 9. The sound for the anime was also pretty great, the music was wonderful and went it came to some of the voice acting I wasn’t too sure. I found some of the actors to have extremely bland voices for their characters.

As for the characters for me it’s and easy 10. As I said before Miyo Sasaki is a really annoying character to beginning with. She’s a love struck girl who obsesses a lot over her crush who at first doesn’t really like her. As the story continues to go on her character becomes more calmer and more of a relatable character if she wasn’t before. At some parts I could even put myself into her shoes which I always find is a great feature of the anime.
At first Kento Hinode just seems like the average the anime boy crush but he’s so much more. Like Miyo, Kento has a lot of hardships at home which he never shows through his emotions when he’s around others, in a sense he’s a very strong character and if he did speak of how he felt he spoke his words to taro who he sincerely trusted. As the film goes on the two characters go on an emotional ride of emotions and Kento realises his feelings for Taro/Miyo.

My enjoyment for this film would be 9. As I’ve said before I didn’t enjoy the first part of the film but as I watched it more I enjoyed it so much more. If I was to sit and watch the film again I’d probably give it a 10.

Overall I give this film 10! For me at least I enjoy this film an awful lot, I even found parts of it much more enjoyable more than some of the other popular films like your name and weathering with you.
After waiting all this time because of the pandemic this film was definitely worth it and I would for sure recommend it to anyone, young or old!

There's absolutely no problem with the animation style, quality and music. However, the main character is not one of the worst, but the worst character I've ever seen in anime. She is selfish and have zero empathy towards anyone. ANYONE. You'd argue that she cares about the Hinode guy, but NO. She has no sense of respect for his personal space, nor any care of how he feels. Stalking, invading, and using her butt to bump into him... I honestly wouldn't blame that guy not liking her. This whole changing relationship between Hinode and her is extremely forced and unrealistic. Yes, I get it, these ... 2 are main characers and are supposed to be together, but man, it just makes me frustrated to watch such an unrealistic turnout. I am not done with this movie as I am writing this review, but I kind of wish this movie actually takes from a character's perspective truly. All the cliche lines such as "I want to tell him how I feel" just simply feel annoying. I think I'm just complaining here since I'm trying to make myself make it to the end and have to let it out. But this link captures how I feel about this film truly.

https://www.cbr.com/review-netflix-anime-a-whisker-away/

Story: 5/10

The story presents an intriguing premise. The concept of a girl who turns into cat admittedly piqued my curiosity when the trailer first came out. Unfortunately, this might have been the only complement I can think of about its story.

Since the beginning of this film, we were greeted with scenes of Hinode, the main female protagonist of the film, being affectionate towards Miyo—running into him at almost every encounter. My biggest gripe towards this is how the film fails to present any reason behind Hinode's love for Miyo. As a romance film, this was impossible to overlook.

Character: 5/10

Although some think that Hinode was ... just plain annoying, this wasn't my main issue about the characters. There wasn't a single action either of the two characters did that was founded on either logical reasoning or genuine motivation. Their relationship felt unauthentic.

Art: 8/10

Animation-wise, it was great. Animation was fluid in many scenes.

Sound: 7/10

Sound design was okay but nothing special.

Enjoyment: 7/10

Despite its flaws, it was generally enjoyable.

Overall: 6.4/10 (rounded down to 6/10)

For best enjoyment, just manage your expectations.

SHORT SPOILER FREE REVIEW:

Ever since I saw the first trailer a month and a half ago I've been eagerly waiting for this movies release and boy was it worth the wait! Whenever Netflix produces either anime series or movies, it's either an instant hit or miss and let me tell you that Nakitai Watashi wa Neko wo Kaburu definitly is a solid hit and probably even the best anime movie released so far this year (that is if we don't count the North American release of Tenki no Ko, which is arguably a worthy contender).

The movie follows the story of Miyo Sasaki and how she ... transformed into a cat in order to get closer to Kento Hinode, the guy for whom she has a crush on. I'm going to avoid mentioning any spoilers in this review, but let me say that that's just the surface of the movie. Nakitai Watashi wa Neko wo Kaburu deals with the emotional and romantic topics really well and this could easily be seen through this movies amazing storyline. I originally thought that the story would just be your average school romance, with a slight twist (since our protagonist can turn into a cat), but it's actually way deeper than just that.

The art style is also one of the best that I've seen in not only anime movies this year, but also anime in general anime series. If you've taken a look at the trailer for this movie, you can see that the limited animation is almost non-existant. The characters (especially the cats) are all drawn in a unique and really cute art style which makes it really easy for the viewer to distinguish the characters apart from one another. The art style for the setting and the background of the movie is also incredibly gorgeous and the soundtrack does a really good job in complementing this, making it a perfect duo between Art and Sound. I personally found the OST quite memorable and I'd even be willing to say that it's worthy of being the top 10 anime movies with one of the best OST's.

Overall, I'm giving Nakitai Watashi wa Neko wo Kaburu a solid 9/10 and I would definitly recommend checking it out! Definitly one of, if not the, best anime movie released so far this year! <3

My first ever anime review~

Story: 8
The story was beautiful yet predictable. Halfway through the story, I was able to predict what would happen next. Despite that, the story was moving and beautiful. The ideas and concepts in the movie were intuitive and easy to grasp. I didn't spend that much time wondering anything introduced.

Art: 9
The art and animation were very bright and lively. The characters' movements were very smooth.

Sound: 9
The soundtrack fits in well with the mood of the film. It was never out of place. The voice actors were able to express their respective characters very well.
...
Character: 10
The characters were unique and distinguishable. Every character had an impact on the story. The cast compliments each other very well.

Enjoyment: 10
From start to finish, I enjoyed the movie. I wasn't able to notice any negatives (If there were any). Nothing in the movie bothered me.

Overall: 9
Overall, it was a beautiful film. I would recommend watching it. The film was able to make me laugh and feel sad. I believe it would surely be a great watching experience.

My name is Miyo Sasaki. I'm 12 years old. My mom doesn't exist, she walked out on me, and I'm married to Kento Hinode. I go to middle school, and I get home every day by 4 PM at the latest. I don't smoke, but I occasionally turn into a cat. I'm never in bed, and make sure to stalk my crush husband for 8 hours, no matter what. After having my brain wrinkles ironed out and doing about twenty minutes of Hinode sunrise attacks before going to bed, I usually have no problems sleeping until morning. Just like a baby, I have zero sense ... of others' feelings. I was told there were major issues at my last therapy session. I'm trying to explain that I'm a person who wishes to live a very quiet life. I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies, like empathy or reason, that would cause me to act rationally. That is how I deal with love, and I know that is what brings me happiness. Although, if I were to think, the movie would end.

"Nakitai Watashi wa Neko wo Kaburu" has got to be one of the most bizzare anime films I've ever seen. While some may speculate that this is due to the subject matter of a girl turning into a cat, it's not. It's more so the fact that said girl is unintentionally (I think) portrayed as a complete cringe worthy lunatic who's freakishly obsessed with a boy who barely even acknowledges her existence.


STORY - 6/10

The story, as stated by the summary, is about a girl who gains the ability to transform into a cat in order to get close to her crush. A potentially cute ... and wholesome story marred by freakish character motivations and generic plodding. The concept of the story could have been really interesting given the right direction. There are moments where the film explores the philosophical dilemma of whether or not giving up your humanity is worth a carefree and happy life, though unfortunately this concept is abandoned after about two minutes of attention, and again we're forced to focus on a girl's uninteresting journey towards one sided love.


Art - 8/10

Nothing to really complain about. It's good, it's pretty, it's safe. Environmental backgrounds are nice to look at.


Sound - 6/10

I give this a 6 because...well, there isn't really anything noticeable that sonically occurs besides one mediocre guitar pop song. It's completely forgettable.


Character - 5/10

Muge, the protagonist, has to be one of the most unintentionally disturbing and bizarre lead characters I've ever seen. This girl is OBSESSED with the male lead, Hinode, and the film never really bothers to tell us why. Not once are we given an explanation as to why Muge is so madly in love with Hinode, or even how they really know each other. This creates a dynamic between the two that is incredibly cringeworthy. For example, there are scenes in which Muge will frenetically declare her love towards Hinode to the whole school. Knowing that Hinode clearly does not feel the same way about her, along with the rest of her classmates looks of confusion and judgement, creates such a strong sense of secondhand embarrassment that it almost made me want to stop watching.

About halfway through I stopped seeing this film as a cute ghibli esque movie and instead saw it as a character piece about a girl who's seriously psychologically damaged and needs therapy. This perception made the film a bit more humorous and entertaining, but that's obviously not what the film was going for.


Enjoyment - 6/10

The cat's were fun when they appeared. That's about all I enjoyed really, were the cat scenes. All the human elements of the story were so strangely and predictably pieced together that it became annoying to sit through. Though, as stated previously, one could view the film differently than the filmmakers intended. Instead of a cute boring cat film, it could become a seriously messy and ironic psychological drama.


OVERALL - 6/10

This movie was fucking weird man. What could've been a cute and romantic yet intricate meditation on the costs of desiring to escape humanity instead becomes a creepy and cringe worthy film that follows a young girl stalking and making unwanted advances on her one sided crush, and how that's apparently a good thing according to the films ending.

I'm gonna make this short and simple.

I enjoyed the movie and characters, especially how outgoing the main girl is. It's sorta cliche tho, reserved dude meets 'eccentric and expressive' girl, *cough*
"YLIA" and "I want to eat your pancreas". I shouldn't be complaining though, I don't think i've ever seen any other movie like this. Although I would have liked a better backstory of the catland and stuff.

The magicalness and the cats give me modern Ghibli vibes.

What really captivated me what the art, it somehow reminded me of a korean anime called "A day before us" with the light and darkish color everything ... has.

Moral of the story is, don't ever think you're alone in any situation. There's always going to be someone that understands you. You just gotta give it time to know the person and eventually when they notice you, they'll reciprocate their feelings back.
Everyone has a part of them they keep tucked inside so that others won't see. Being in a dark place isn't fun at all, hiding your real feelings and thoughts eventually takes a toll on yourself which is why you shouldn't be afraid to talk to someone about it.
You never know who you'll least expect to truly understand you, that person could be right under your nose.

When I first saw the trailer for this anime, I was had very high expectations for this movie, which it managed to meet perfectly. It was such a touching story and heavily reminded me of Ghibli movies I used to watch when I was younger.

Story: 10/10
To me, this anime was highly original and very well done. The pacing was perfect, it wasn't too fast or too slow. The story itself was very emotional and beautiful, I managed to feel Muge's struggles strongly and it left a very impactful message on me about battling depression and how to be yourself.

Art: 8/10
I feel like the animation let ... the anime down a little, as it was quite choppy and not amazing at times, however the actual style and beautiful scenery made up for it. It's breath-taking at times.

Sound: 9/10
The music and the atmosphere really brings the movie together. I love how it portrayed. The songs were really beautiful and made me very emotional.

Character: 10/10
I feel like a lot of people will dislike the protagonist due to her personality, however to me she is extremely likable and like nothing I have ever seen from a protagonist before. She is very unique and I love her a lot; I really felt her pain. Hinode as well was an amazing character, they both felt very realistic and they could definitely fit into a real life scenario. All of the characters were portrayed really well, everyone was different from each other. I feel like the bullies could have been more fleshed out, as they appeared as quickly as they left, however apart from this everyone was perfectly made.

Enjoyment: 10/10
I thoroughly enjoyed the entire thing from start to finish, nothing was out of place and I would definitely suggest this to anyone who likes Ghibli movies especially. It made me extremely emotional and it really hit me hard, I am definitely going to rewatch it over and over!!

Overall: 10/10

A whisker's away's story is serviceable,but nothing more.The art is aesthetically pleasing to look at,the story and concept are decently executed on,(although the spiritual realm and cats elements really leave a lot to be desired in terms of originality)but you never feel like the movie is something that you would really remember once a good few months pass.

This movie has a clear beginning conflict,climax and resolution which isn´t anything bad necesarily,but it does make many of the story beats quite predictable,since the movie doesn´t really do much with them.I feel like Penguin highway was much more playful and unpredictable with its story beats in this ... regard.Let me once again emphasize that being safe isn´t a bad thing,but it doesn´t make something extraordinary either.

The progression of the relationship between the characters feel forced and unnatural,since when you take into account that the girl has been disguising herself as a cat this whole time,the fact that the boy accepted it so wholeheartedly without being absolutely weirded out really makes me question the whole nature of this relationship.It really does make the scenes of him touching the cat all over much more awkward,but that´s just me.

I feel like the beginning part of the movie did a really bad job of setting up Muge´s relationship with Hinode because of its one sided ness plus her obssessive actions towards coming off as extremely annoying.Dooesn´t matter that he fell in love with her later in the film because she´s been secretly supporting him from the background with the help of her disguise,it still doesn´t excuse the her constantly pushy behaviour.

There was potential for more interesting storylines to be explored,with other characters,such as the self doubt that Muge´s new stepmother has with herself,but that´s just me wanting the adult characters to be more fleshed put,which isn´t really the point of this movie,so I digress.

Despite all the bad things I´ve said about this movie,i don´t actually hate it or anything.I think this would perfectly as a family friendly film that you could show to anyone.But let´s say that I´m not really that impressed by these kind of movies because they are a dime a dozen.

delete the movie, its hot garbage.
Is the story unique? Its Unqiuely ass
did you enjoy it anyway because you like this genre/set-up? hell no, gtfo
Do you think the art style is fitting for the story? its aight
Were the characters well-rounded? no, they are ass and creepy
Did they have flaws and strengths? nah bro, this shit straight up creepy, who even came up with this???
were they unusually strong/smart/stupid? Unsually creepy that is
id the characters react to situations and events in a realistic way? no, she should've died the moment she jumped into the tree by getting impaled bruh
Do you think others will enjoy/dislike this series, even if ... you didn't? Why? no one would enjoy this unless they got discord kittens, and their grass is basically plastic and their light doesnt come from the sun

Probably an unpopular opinion but I was really looking forward to this movie but was honestly underwhelmed. The mask seller started off as creepy and mysterious, but just turned out to be an idiot. He should have been a more ominous character although his reason for selling masks wasn't too bad but sort of cliche. Muge didn't really have anything to like about her. I would have liked her more as a character if they showed her Dad dying and her Mom leaving to see the pain. Also, the confrontation between Muge's old Mom and new stepmom was downplayed a lot. The music took away ... all the drama from the moment. Hinode was kind of just a bland character who didn't really struggle too much. We didn't really get to experience how important pottery was to him apart from the maybe 5 total minutes of screen time the pottery shop got. I think something that would really have elevated the level of the movie, was some flashbacks to back some of the pain that they went through. I found they focused too much on the love and romance part of the movie instead of any sort of character development which is what makes viewers attached to the story. The character/plot development was sooooo cliche. Boy doesn't like girl, girl loves boy, he thinks they have nothing in common and doesn't like her, comes to a realization immediately (instead of more gradually showing his feelings) that that girl is important, instantly falls in love. they had one scene in the entire movie apart from the last 20 mins that showed that he was starting to like her, which was when she jumped out of the tree. Regardless of the cat premise (which I found was interesting seeing the trailer and really thought there was so much potential), the studio just kinda used it as a side plot instead. There is a lot to like however. The soundtracks are great, and the animation is amazing. Apart from that, this movie is blehh.

We all have moments life where it's hard to face reality as it, whether its something that directly happening to you or it's happening to another person. Talent isn't always something that you can show someone, it can be the ability to forgive and overwrite hatred or sadness with something that is to be grown.

The reason that I gave this a 9 instead of 7 that I was originally planning on is because the realization that I have once thought, 'man, it would nice to be a cat.' It has someone who has lost the ability to trust anyone but this one boy who ... is slightly reserved and doesn't put his feeling on display, not that she does either. The story was a movie that I felt myself gravitating towards the relationships that could have been built upon more. My imagination was able to ponder and make up a storyline for the other characters and it was thrilling.

You may think that this is another high school movie about self-discovery. That is what it exactly is, finding yourself doesn't always need a dramatic tone of someone's death but, maybe a discovery in a cat body that you are wanted, and needed by the one's around you.

my favorite anime movie. I started watching anime with a whisker away and I was fascinated while watching the movie. The atmosphere of the anime is really nice. The characters of the anime are also very good. The main character of the anime, Miyo, who is hyperactive, stubborn, but thinks about people's well-being and increases people's energy, is an enjoyable character to watch. next to him, another character is a fun to watch is hinode. cats and the cat world are interesting and very beautiful places and the art is beautiful, in short if you are sad, happy, tired, looking for slices of life anime ... or you like romantic and fantasy anime, you should definitely watch a whisker away truly a masterpiece.
Rating 10/10

Sorry if the english in my review is bad, i don't know english very well but i felt that i should do a review for a whisker away so i wrote it somehow :D thank you if you read my review hope it worked for you

TLDR: A fun movie with good worldbuilding, characters, and storyline. It has its flaws, but if all you want is a good, fun movie to watch and relax to, I definitely recommend watching this Ghibli-esque movie

Having watched the trailer weeks before, along with Studio Colorido's other work Penguin Highway, which I also massively enjoyed, I was tremendously excited to see what this movie had to offer. Although I must be honest and was kind of worried that this movie wouldn't live up to the hype, I am proud to say that this film had met my very high expectations.

And as MAL requires me to, I ... will write a review based on the five components of this movie.

Story (8/10):

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and premise of the film. Whenever I see movies, the first thing I look for is whether or not the setting of the story blends well with the conflict. I examine whether the fantasy makes sense within the context of the story and doesn't make me question "how can that happen if...." But I have to praise this film because the magic within the setting makes sense, and I didn't have a lot of questions about the "realism" of the fantasy. The only real problem I had was about the cat character designs and why Muge physically looked like a cat, even in the tree world, and the other cats looked like humanoid-cat beings. But besides that, the fantasy was well thought out, and I have to praise the story writers for making the magic "realistic."

As for the plot, the beginning of the movie was well-paced with how Muge and Kento's relationship blossomed between cat/girl and boy. The conflict was also enjoyable to the point where I was apprehensive that Muge and Kento would never be together as humans. The solution was also well-played out because the two characters struggled to get Muge (and eventually Kento) back into their human forms. The only problem I had was how everything was so convenient to the point that it felt unrealistic. Like how Kento was able to cross over the bridge even though he wasn't a cat? Kind of laughable.

As for the plot, the movie builds the romance between Muge and Kento's exceptionally well to them, eventually dating. Their shared moments on screen were excellent, and they had terrific chemistry with each other. Although I can see why Kento fell in love with Muge because of the progression of the story, I never really understood how Muge fell in love with Kento. All the movie shows us is that "he's cute" and "he has a sexy voice." But that's it. They probably couldn't explain this because of runtime, but I wished I could have seen why she was so head-over-heels over him.

I also had a problem with the parent dynamics for Muge and Kento. I was invested within the mom/stepmom dynamic with Muge, where the two motherly figures were fighting over custody. I was interested to see how that would play out, but the movie never seemed to resolve it in any way. The only purpose for having it in the film was to prove Muge was always smiling even though she was in pain. I wished the studio could have fleshed that out, but that is pretty unrealistic from a 104-minute film. As for Kento, we learn early on that his father died. But that fact has no real significance in the entire movie except to address the fact that he is dead. His dynamic with his sister also has no significance within the whole film, although his mother had some conflict with him because she thought he needs to study a lot to support the family. That was probably the only exciting thing about Kento's family, and it left a lot to be desired.

But overall, the setting was well-thought-out. The main story was realistic and resolved in a well-deserved manner, while I wished the side stories were more fleshed out.

Art (7/10)

As for the art, having already seen Studio Colorido's work on Penguin Highway, it left a lot to be desired. Penguin Highway's artwork with the town and the ocean beyond were phenomenal. The animation work in that movie was also as breathtaking as the art, especially when the woman (literally how she's referred to in the film) and Aoyama were on the flock of penguins zooming across town.

The artwork wasn't as spectacular as Penguin Highway, but I was impressed at how well-drawn the cat sanctuary was. But the tree place kind of reminded me of the Land of the Dead from "Coco," and after remembering that it made the cat sanctuary look like a discount Land of the Dead. The setting wasn't bad in any shape or form, but it was kind of disappointing.

As for the characters, I liked their non-vibrant, realistic designs. The people had realistic looks for Japanese people (except for Kento's blonde sister, of course), and that made this movie unique where the anime world is filled with extravagant human character designs. It was refreshing to see characters in a more toned-down, realistic form.

What impressed me were the cat designs. I liked all the cat designs, especially Muge and the Mask Dealer. Muge had to stand out as an adorable cat, which the studio did correctly, and the Mask Dealer had a "spirit" vibe to him that worked well with his Buddha-resembling art.

Overall, the artwork for this movie was good. The setting was not wrong in any means but was just kind of disappointing while the characters were well-drawn.

Sound (6/10)

The biggest problem I had with this movie was the sound. Although the two songs played as ending sequences were good (kudos to Yorushika) and fit well within the story, I didn't really like some of the inappropriately placed sound effects within the movie. For example, when the mother and stepmother were fighting about Muge, the light-hearted music in the background that indicated something funny was going on didn't sit well with me. It was a painful scene, for me honestly, and I wish the studio took the issue of that more seriously (more on that later within characters.)

There were some other instances where music was inappropriately used, but most times, sounds were used effectively throughout the movie.

Characters (7/10)

Let's start with Muge, the protagonist. She is definitely a good character and protagonist within the story, although she can basically be described as "a superficial happy girl who's hurt inside." Her personality is evident as a confident girl, and I enjoyed who she was as a person. Her role in Kento's character development is well-thought-out, which further proves why Kento would love her. Although, as I stated before, I can't understand why she was so in love with Kento, she is an excellent protagonist with good intentions and a cheerful personality.

Next, we have the male protagonist, Kento. I loved his character development as he learned to love Muge and embrace who he is because of Muge. Kento was the most compelling character within this movie as he starts as a timid person we see at the beginning of the film to the confident boy who learns to embrace himself at the end of it.

The Mask Dealer, as an antagonist, is an interesting character because he was a deity in this movie. He grants people and cats the power to transform between each other in exchange for some of their lifespans so he can live longer. His motives make sense, and he doesn't come across as necessarily evil throughout the story. The only part was at the end when he basically monologues to Kento and Muge about how he wanted their lifespans to live longer and acts in desperation to get their lifespans. The Mask Dealer seemed really cheesy in the end and his intentions stayed constant from start to finish. I wished he had some character development where he sees the love between Muge and Kento and voluntarily gives their lifespans back, but oh well.

The rest of the cast was pretty forgettable. The friends had no real purpose in the story and probably could have been removed with no real effect. But as I stated before, I wish the parents of Muge and Kento were fleshed out more to bring more conflict to the story. But since this is a movie about the romance between two people, I can't complain.

Enjoyment (8/10)

Even though I basically critiqued this movie's bad parts pretty harshly, I cannot say that this was a bad movie. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie, a wholesome and interesting romance story between a catgirl and a boy. Although I didn't enjoy it as much as I did Penguin Highway, I am satisfied with what Studio Colorido created as a stand-alone film. The story was fun; the setting makes sense, and what can I say? I enjoyed this film! It deserved the hype it did, and I can't wait to see how Studio Colorido puts out next!

OVERALL: 7/10

I didn't find an outstanding story, but rather a movie that made me have a very nice time. It remembered me on some way to how enjoyable are Ghibli films, it is imaginative and doesn't have any kind of ecchi or sexual appeal. I personally was able to find some aspects of myself in how the protagonist acts and made it way more inmersive. It also has a very powerful animations that makes everything look very beatiful making me feel that it was a Makoto Shinkai's movie in some scenes.

If you just want to have a good time and don't need to pressure your brain ... thinking on very complex stories I would personally recommend it.

A Whisker Away/Nakitai Watashi wa Neko wo Kaburu review, originally written for my Letterboxd account.

There's a lot to like about A Whisker Away.

The animation is pretty good throughout, it has many sweet moments and explores important themes like hiding, and eventually accepting, who you really are in ways that work very well, despite being not very subtle.

However, I feel like a lot could have been cut out of the story. The side characters are not interesting at all, and most of the drama between them feels unnecessary. Our main couple is basically a pair of walking clichés. We have the overly optimistic lovesick protagonist, ... and the quiet love interested who seems cool on the surface but is actually just hiding his emotions and problems underneath. Both of them are fine, but they're just not particularly interesting to follow.

The fantasy elements are also fine, but they're basically just copied from The Cat Returns, which may not be my favorite Ghibli film, but which admittedly uses those elements a lot more effectively.

All in all, it's nothing new or groundbreaking, but it's nevertheless a perfectly fine little romance story. The ending left me satisfied, despite the shortcomings of the rest of the film.