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So.. what did you guys think of this? I thought this was pretty good for like 5 minutes and it didn't bore me at all. I liked the narration and how Chobi's life was.
Even though this was perhaps the tenth time I've seen this beautiful piece of art, I still feel shut down... I felt like the Cat when he couldn't help her when she was so desperately in need for help.
How in the world do people think this is a 9 or 10/10? This is such an average short. It's a cat narrating and the art is really crude as if the producer took only a few minutes to animate all of it.
arimakenshin said: How in the world do people think this is a 9 or 10/10? This is such an average short. It's a cat narrating and the art is really crude as if the producer took only a few minutes to animate all of it.
5/10
It's also old (1999) and was animated by one man on his laptop. Go figure.
The art serves its purpose.
My thoughts:
This is simply the best animated short that I have ever seen, Japanese or otherwise.
I was moved nearly to tears, especially by the last 'section' (She and Her Cat).
I don't think the age has anything to do with the art in this. It's a very simple story so I think Shinkai just wanted simple art to match the feel. When I was watching this I couldn't help but recall a short avant-garde film from the 60s by Donald Richie which was called Boy with Cat. I'd be curious to know if it served as some sort of inspiration for Makoto Shinkai.
I have mixed feelings about this. The cat's constant fast talking (or thinking, whatever) is a bit annoying, but being a cat lover this still was a decent watching to me, plus it's black & white and it's only 5 minutes, so it's not a waste of time like 5 Yawns Per Second. Anyway, it seemed that the cat got abandoned at the end (she was crying after the telephone call and then she took the train), and I despise this.
RenaPsychoKiller said: Anyway, it seemed that the cat got abandoned at the end (she was crying after the telephone call and then she took the train), and I despise this.
Most epic objective review of an animation short that the majority claim to be the most sentimental thing they ever watched.
+1
5 cm/s can be forgiven for being "boring" because it's about a teenager who comes of age and does not act on his unrequited love.
RenaPsychoKiller said: I have mixed feelings about this. The cat's constant fast talking (or thinking, whatever) is a bit annoying, but being a cat lover this still was a decent watching to me, plus it's black & white and it's only 5 minutes, so it's not a waste of time like 5 Yawns Per Second. Anyway, it seemed that the cat got abandoned at the end (she was crying after the telephone call and then she took the train), and I despise this.
I'm going to be frank, but I think you're wrong. The telephone scene and the train scene at the end happen in entirely different seasons (the cat talks about the coming of winter). Can anyone point out any actual evidence, other than pure speculation and personal desire for a sad story, that the cat gets abandoned?
Well I'll compliment the author, not that I know his other works, but the flow of cat's thoughts were a bit annoying. The plot would've been better revealed if they'd show us more scenes where she takes care of the cat...he constantly mentions that she is a good person, but it's shown only in the beginning.
And they should really write something like - watch in a good mood....I thought immediately that the world sucks even more after this ova... But I guess for a 5 minute piece it deserves a compliment.....
I think that this deserves a 10 minute applause. When I first heard comments about it, I thought that it is a complete movie.
In my opinion if Shinkai would make it longer we would either roll over the phycologist room for a year full of emotions, or curse that he's a dweeb
As a cat owner I felt this anime so close to me and it touched my heart! Whenever I am sad I go to my cats and hug them, play with them, talk to them. Maybe the cat thought he couldn't do anything for her, but the truth is that the cats as pets can be so helpful for people, just by being there! All in all a veeeery amazing piece of work! Now I'll go hug my cats again! xD
“In a mad world, only the mad are sane.”Akira Kurosawa
I thought I'd write my translation of the shortfilm. It looks like Makoto Shinkai himself wasn't thinking any of this when he made this film, but he might be hiding his reasons just like I would, if I ever wrote or drew something that had something from my own experience.
"Kanojo" means "she" and "girlfriend". Somehow, "girlfriend and her cat" sounds like "my girlfriend and me, who she thinks is as cute as a cat but nothing else." Remember that he claims she is his girlfriend, but he is just a pet to her. Actually in his earlier film, too, one half of the dating couple doubts that the other isn't serious.
I decided to concentrate and rewatch this as many times as necessary when I noticed that the subtitle was "Their standing points." We can clearly hear and understand her cat's point of view, but what about hers? I dug in and might have overanalyzed the 5 minutes because I decided that the cat was a man, and here's what I saw. It's so long that I put it under spoiler tag and I'm sure everyone would like to have their own pov, too.
1. She was dating a man before she met the cat. There are two toothbrushes in the bathroom. (The different-sized sandals before the front door just look different because of the design. The "bigger ones" are wet after coming from the rain)
2. Everything is neat and tidy (compared to me) except the laundry, some of which are even on the floor. My theory is that something bad happened and her hair wasn't wet because of the rain - she had an umbrella when she met the cat - but because of a shower that she took 'cause she wanted to forget a bad experience that had just happened, and she's putting her clothes on when we see her. The clothes in the laundry basket only make up one costume. Yes, she might have gotten wet outside, but why would she throw them away and not sort out and dry? She is very precise and serious otherwise.
3. She was afraid of answering the phone and she even went out in the rain because she didn't want to hear the message. That's when she met the cat. "[Her] body kept losing heat" suggests that she was avoiding something she was afraid of and/or that she went out too quickly and forgot to wear something warmer on a rainy spring day, especially when she was still wet after the shower.
4. The next thing we see is sunlight, and after that comes the two of them and everything's alright. She can relax and keep her composure when her cat is around. Her words have a white background because of the light atmosphere and the cat's point of view. He's lonely when she leaves for work, and the smell of grass lures him outside.
5. Summer comes and the cat spends more time outside with another cat.
(Mimi asks him to marry her and things like closeups of fences, the heavy foundations of the railway bridge [= pressure], a board saying "please (don't)", a barricade, and complex electricity lines ["you're too young to understand"] appear when he tries to talk Mimi out of it. The blank background shows Mimi's surprise, optimism, youth and innocence. When summer passes, we se green grass OVER the fence. = He was troubled with Mimi's questions.)
When autumn comes closer, the theme changes to "Her loneliness" because she's (almost?) forgotten the cat who spends plenty of time outside, or she doesn't think of him as a possible partner and she thinks he already has someone because he goes out so often.
6. She was really shocked when she finally decided to call back to the one she didn't answer before. Probably it was her boyfriend who could finally break up with her. Now she really becomes lonely and doesn't even notice Chobi right next to her. Chobi claims that he was the only one who looked at her. = He missed the signs of a more mature boyfriend. (Chobi is a cat, too!) It becomes pitch black.
7. The lights go on, it says "She and her cat" and he says "we." It seems that Chobi managed to comfort her and they are together again. The places shown after the lights and before she reappears all have two of something: two pens, two cranes, two lit traffic lights, two vending machines (at first), two rows of mail boxes at the left and the numbers start with "2" and two buttons(?) in the side of the umm... fireplace?
8. She has got over her boyfriend and he now thinks that they might be just a little bit more suitable for each other now ("looks just like a bit like a big cat with her heavy coat"). She leaves for work once again, goes there by train. "Only the sound of her train reaches my stretched ears" = I care only for her.
9. "Her heart" or actually "the feelings she cannot express with words" (kokoro) are the phone that kept ringing for a long time. "His heart" or actually "feelings" (kimochi) are like the straight electricity lines or rails of train: visible at all times but easy to be unnoticed.
10. Beautiful snowy sceneries are seen and two hands join together and they say at the same time that they (probably) like this world. Thus, they understand or start to understand each other now. The screen becomes white - not black or grey. Happy end.
I visited the page for this shortfilm after analyzing it. Makoto Shinkai says that his first films were black-and-white because it reduced the work needed for them even a little bit. There are 3D, photos, animation, plot, script, voice acting, special effects, fading, sound effects... All done and collected by him, except the music and Her voice. The result looks good because he did it all seriously, really aiming for the adult audience. The thing he wanted to depict is loneliness in a relationship. Not your fantasy story, huh. :D
The outline of the plot, originally written in Japanese by Shinkai-sensei himself:
The main character is a working, 25-year-old woman who lives alone. She is beautiful, smart and very diligent(?) and she has a boyfriend. She doesn't truly love him, but she is always very serious about everything. They have communication problems and they avoid difficult subjects. She manages by herself but is a bit lonely.
She meets a male cat who likes her immediately, and she can relax when he's around. They get comfort from each other's body warmth.
The male cat finds a cat girlfriend very naturally and she very naturally lets him spoil her.
One night, she cries for a long time. Maybe she broke up with her boyfriend or had a big fight with him, something like that. Her cat doesn't think it's a big deal, but she is extremely sad about it. (Sorry for my limited vocabulary - "sad" is the only word I remember for... err... sad.) Even if she couldn't come to like him very much, she had still desperately, with prudence, taken care of that relationship, like she does for everything in her life. Even with that, she goes outside next morning and finds the sky and the river beautiful.
That's all. No punchline or final result.
// Oh, and I gave it a 4 but it could've been a 3 as well. It was nice, but maybe just a bit too true for me to love it. I used to have a "cat" around. ._.'
AstatSC said: The plot would've been better revealed if they'd show us more scenes where she takes care of the cat...he constantly mentions that she is a good person, but it's shown only in the beginning.
I don't think that there needed to be any more proof of her being a good person other than her giving him a home. You need to remember that this is from a cat's point of view. Animals are simple creatures with not many cares in the world other than shelter and food. Her having provided that for him already made him fond of her. Also the fact that she openly shared her emotions with him probably made him even more loyal and attached to her. He may not understand the reason for her emotions, but he acknowledges them.
Mayora-HimeSep 17, 2010 2:01 AM
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I try to understand, but I simply can't. It's special without a doubt, but I have a hard time trying to find any deeper meaning to this without overanalyzing it to death like Flarona did (you amazed me, I would've never thought of any of that. Maybe the toothbrushes, but that's all).
So in overall, I don't think it was very good. Worth it? Yes, because of the short lenght. Did I get it? No, not at all. Which makes me ashamed if there really is some kind of hidden meaning to it.
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Wow so bittersweet. I liked it but too bad it was so short.. Well it shouldn't have been 24 min but still.,. :( Really nice and I loved the voice of the cat <3
It was pretty good, but I'm not sure how people come to the conclusion that it's a masterpiece. It's definitely one of the better shorts I've seen, but 5 minutes isn't very long to mess anything up, is it?
That cat sure see's the world in a good view and talks a lot, but it was good..
Behold of my awesomeness~
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But my feels.
