Nekojiru-sou

I'm writing this review after reading most of Nekojiru's work, however Cat Soup was my introduction to her. Knowing more about her story, her death, and her work, this short feels like a true love-letter to Nekojiru as a person, rather than just as a creator. It features the more introspective and absurdist chapters from Nekojiru Udon, and strings them together into a beautiful narrative about life and death, and everything between.

This is the kind of thing that requires some background to fully appreciate and understand, however it can still be enjoyed by a complete outsider to Nekojiru's work, although its meanings and message ... may seem a little vague. I'd highly recommend you watch this, loock at Nekojiru's work, specifically Nekojiru Udon Volume 1, and then go back to watch it a second time.

The art direction is on point, encapsulating Nekojiru's artstyle yet transporting it to another dimension, devoid of most of the blatant shock humor, yet it still makes subtle references to Nekojiru's iconic humor. Nyatto and Nyata's relationship feels very real and human, despite them being neither real nor human.

Cat Soup feels like a journey through Nekojiru's mind; it shows her fears, experiences, and life, through metaphors that play on ideas she initially made in much more light-hearted contexts. It slowly devolves into madness yet showcases the strength of hope and love, a theme that is only vaguely implied in her comics, through Nyatto and Nyata's relationship as siblings.

Overall, this is a perfect capsule of the soul of Nekojiru—all of her dreams, stories, and experiences— and it leaves you feeling melancholic yet appreciative of life and its beauties.

I finished it with zero understanding of what's going on...

If you're simple-minded like me, I suggest you go and watch other people's commentary on this instead.

The message behind Nekojiru is great, revealing cruelty and emotional abuse; there are many ways to interpret the story, this is just one angle to look at it. Because there are no words, it can be very hard to figure out the intention behind each scene if you miss out on the details. For example, the orange flower on the cover is what Nyatto need to get back the other half of his sister's soul. I was not aware of ... this at all until I watched a commentary.

Pay attention to the speech bubble if you're going to watch this.

Well, it was pretty evident from the character designs and the artwork who scripted this short film. None other than the “great” Masaaki Yuasa. I use great in parenthesis, because besides Ping Pong The Animation, I tend to believe his work is a bit overrated (still good, just not great). The Tatami Galaxy, for example, was far from a masterpiece, as it reused tired anime tropes, and revealed its central philosophical thrust — to grasp onto the opportunities that lie in front of you, and stop chasing the rose-colored, “perfect” life — in the very first episode, rendering much of what came ... afterwards as trivial fluff. It was a lean 11 episodes, but, honestly speaking, it could have been six, due to its repetitive nature.

Keeping this in mind, If Tatami galaxy suffers from excessive explaining and revealing its theme(s) too forwardly, then Nekojiru-sou (Cat Soup) collapses from an antithetical reason — not having a theme at all. This is not to say there aren’t interesting ideas presented to the viewer for deeper contemplation, such as: animal cruelty, the transience of life, and the interconnectedness of all species towards collective sustainability (e.g. the cat poops, and the fish eat the poop). That all being said, however, the anime film must be recognized for what it is, and far more importantly, for what it is not. And what it is not, is a competent work with an identifiable message that resonates with the audience long after the initial viewing experience.

To put it bluntly: obscurity + random ideas (that have no association with one another) = crap!