Sea Cat

While Sea Cat was a good little short movie to watch with decent animation, lovely character design, fine music, and seiyuu work, the story of the anime is basically lackluster. Even at what it aims for: the shock value at the end and delivering a message. The punch was somewhat like a toddler hitting you for a chocolate bar. The Kishiwada City Teachers' Union wanted anti-war and anti-nuclear warfare, but in a misguided way.

At first, we see three kittens put on a basket lid and released into the flow of a river while their mother is watching. A little girl sees them and tries to ... help them out before they reach the mouth of the river and thus the sea. She fails, and three kittens get out of the open water. A huge storm breaks out, and only one survives, but barely. A dolphin helps the only kitten left and tries to find her home. Mother Otter takes her in, and the kitten slowly but surely learns how to swim better and better... Until once she ventures out with the dolphin and witnesses a submarine hunt and its escalation.

I tried not to tell the whole story and spoiler HOW the ending plays out (which won't be a huge surprise given by it's background), but this description is basically two-thirds of the runtime. After this, the conclusion comes abruptly and suddenly, and the shock value only hits at the very end without giving any time to process whatever happened on the screen. Take Tobiou no Bouya wa Byouki Desu as an example where the gut punch comes right in the middle of the short movie, and then it lets you process it while witnessing the same dangers that Sea Cat wants you to be aware of.

So far, it could be just a recommandable lackluster, amirite? Well, not really. My mixed feelings come from this and the short's circumstances. The 1980s were a turbulent decade during the Cold War, and Ronald Reagan's presidency in the U.S. did not help the situation. His approach and escalation of the Cold War are just as criticisable as his domestic policies: the revival of missile programs and deployments, the introduction of SDI, and his outrage after the downed Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983 were just the tip of the iceberg of what many feared could happen. Especially in Japan, where the wound of the two atomic bombs just got torn up pretty much (Hadashi no Gen as a manga peaked, got 3 live action movies by 1980, and in 1983 debuted as anime), thus it's not a surprise that the Kishiwada City Teachers' Union was also concerned and got late with the execution. Thus, it left Sea Cat as anti-war propaganda, with the only punch and message given to us: "This is why we can't have nice things." Which is bollocks at best and defeats its whole purpose.

Otherwise, the short movie would be a solid 7 due to the technical execution, but it falls flat on every single other aspect.