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| THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE. ---------------------------------------- Released on Netflix globally on June 18. Well, it's Mari Okada alright when it comes to scriptwriting. Her dynamic storytelling may be controversial, but it hits where the heart is. The best way I can sum this movie is: Hotarubi no Mobi e meets Koe no Katachi. Bland protagonist but with a cartharic backstory, and everyone else jumps onto that bandwagon of escapism when life hits hard and wanting to be something else to retreat and not face the music. Overall, good movie with great visuals, never get tired of Studio Colorido's works. Not the best of Mari Okada's efforts, but I can give it for what it is. |
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| This was one of those anime im so conflicted what score i gonna give but first let me just say this.. The Artwork and Animation were pretty unique. I think the characters were great because they admit and knew their flaws. For me its the strongest points of this anime. Also they just like one of us who let their emotions take over and made terrible decisions on it. Moreover, the story was simple and straightforward which i really liked. Lastly, of course the OST's were top notch! It have its own flaws but you can just ignore that and pretty much truly enjoy overall this anime! Personally gonna give this 9/10 but as a generous anime fan who appreciates this kind of animes and be bias about it gonna give it a 10/10. You guessing why i didnt talk about its flaws because i saw a lot of good things on this anime. I prefer to give a good feedbacks on anime but if really see a flaw that is so baaaad then im gonna mention it, on this anime i didnt saw one that was so bad so its okay. |
| B O C C H I S W E E P |
| The first half was really good. But, the later part was meh. It was like "oh okay", "that's it?". It was too fictional, like Ghibli, and it feels like it was lazily written. Oh man, Ms. Okada did it again. But, I'll give it 7/10 because it's not that bad. The animation, visual and especially OST was pretty good. Good job! |
RegulusXJun 18, 2020 8:54 AM
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| The movie was alright, it's cute but I wasn't a fan of the main character. She really was annoying for the first half, and I didn't admire anything about her. I think this could have ended better if Hinode just thought of her as a friend in the end. |
  »»Delievers Here«« ★・・・・・・★ "Today might be the chance to grasp the chance to let your talent bloom" -Tooru Oikawa -Signature from Annie_Law |
| It was a beatiful moovie. For me the second part was better. The only problem is the ost. 8/10 |
| I was expecting a bit more mystery and supernatural parts if I first saw the trailer of this. Cat's and transforming from girl to cat was there to begin with but didn't expect that kind of story to be focused mostly on the general day type kind of school romance part rather than the whole cat world and transformation part. The end was pretty decent but judt expected something different I guess. Still was a great watch I must say! |
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RealTheAbsurdist said: I liked this movie (for some reason), but...I think it was dumb: the romance feels completely unearned. The subtext makes it clear that the MC was in love with the guy because of raging hormones, and because she wanted someone to latch onto to escape from her parents' divorce situation. There was no reason for the guy to fall in love with her, when all she did was just keep bugging him. It feels like the movie was saying, "Hey kids, if you keep bugging your crush long enough, they will like you back!" No, that's not how it goes: sometimes in real life, you screw up any chances you have with your crush, and/or your crush doesn't like you back, so you move on. I am glad someone has finally said this. The main character was so clingy and annoying, she should have lost all chances to be with him. She pretty much was stalking him and she didn't learn any lesson about how that was wrong. Also, it felt so weird he liked her back. If I learned my cat was a person I would have been disturbed. This could have ended so much better is she moved on from him or stayed as friends. |
»»Delievers Here«« ★・・・・・・★ "Today might be the chance to grasp the chance to let your talent bloom" -Tooru Oikawa -Signature from Annie_Law |
| That's one of the best anime movies that I have seen in a while. Easily an instant classic. Also, Taro (Miyo) animation is the cutest cat animation I can remember. |
| My expectations were pretty high but it was still a pretty good movie. |
RealTheAbsurdist said: I liked this movie (for some reason), but...I think it was dumb: the romance feels completely unearned. The subtext makes it clear that the MC was in love with the guy because of raging hormones, and because she wanted someone to latch onto to escape from her parents' divorce situation. There was no reason for the guy to fall in love with her, when all she did was just keep bugging him. It feels like the movie was saying, "Hey kids, if you keep bugging your crush long enough, they will like you back!" No, that's not how it goes: sometimes in real life, you screw up any chances you have with your crush, and/or your crush doesn't like you back, so you move on. I loved the scenes where they were on Cat Island. I wanted that to be explored more. Although I did not find this movie melodramatic. Given how these are kids going through extremely stressful family situations, I feel like the screaming and crying were justified. You completely missed an entire plot point. The plot point that the guy never hated the attention in the first place. He actually liked it and wanted to respond to her but he chose to never open up to her because he didn't "want to be seen as boring". Those were his exact words. Basically he was running away from her because of the surrounding circumstances in his life - and he probably liked her all along. This is also evident by thee fact that he even admitted that everything she did made him smile and lightened up his world even if he didn't even show it. He liked her even when she was bugging him the entire time, he just couldn't accept or admit it. Given that context, the romance was perfectly fitting. I think if you can't see that, you should rewatch the movie because it was definitely evident. |
RealTheAbsurdist said: ycleped said: You completely missed an entire plot point. The plot point that the guy never hated the attention in the first place. He actually liked it and wanted to respond to her but he chose to never open up to her because he didn't "want to be seen as boring". Those were his exact words. Basically he was running away from her because of the surrounding circumstances in his life - and he probably liked her all along. This is also evident by thee fact that he even admitted that everything she did made him smile and lightened up his world even if he didn't even show it. He liked her even when she was bugging him the entire time, he just couldn't accept or admit it. Given that context, the romance was perfectly fitting. I think if you can't see that, you should rewatch the movie because it was definitely evident. Oh yeah, that's right; I can't believe I didn't realize that. But still, the MC was acting so...wrong, towards the guy, in her pursuit to get his attention. Rather than try to get closer to him like a normal person by just talking to him normally about whatever middle schoolers talk about, she just kept pushing him. It was wrong, and I feel as though the movie glorifies that stalkerish behavior, even if the guy was okay with it. Like the movie was saying, "Hey girls, if you act insistent and stalker-ish enough to the guy you like, he'll fall for you!" No, 9 out of 10 times, the guy will just leave. In any other case he definitely would have just kept ignoring her, but this case was that 1 out of 10 times that he actually did like her so it worked out. I don't think it's necessarily glorifying stalking rather than telling a story about a girl who has this stalker-ish behavior. It never distinctly says that stalking is good and although it doesn't say it's bad either, I think it was more or less being used as a means of telling a coming of age story. A lot of us did super cringe stuff at that age, thinking that nobody ever understood us, and once we were able to confront ourselves and face our problems we grew out of stuff like that, and I think that's more along the lines of what the movie was trying to accomplish with its narrative. |
| That was ok. I was really looking forward to this one. It wasn't fantastic, but it's fine. I was expecting the girl to be really shy about the crush but her over-the-top commitment and openness was equal parts hilarious and embarrassing. Every time she didn't get the hint I wanted to sink into the floor. Every shred of embarrassment she should have felt instead went through the screen directly into my suffering brain. From the trailer, I thought the cat world would be like the spirit world from spirited away. It was kind of like that. A beautiful magical place with a dark side. I was hoping more of the movie would take place there. I wanted to get to know the place and its inhabitants more. I was surprised that all of the people who turned into cats regretted it. Certainly at least SOME of them are having a blast as a cat instead of a human? Miyo's bio-mom was really frustrating. There's clearly a huge age gap between her stepmom and bio-dad and that made me uncomfortable too. So much saltiness in that mess of a triangle of adult relationships. |
whitherJun 18, 2020 9:45 PM
| I think I actually liked Penguin Highway a little better than this movie, but I still really enjoyed this. I will say that it took 3 viewings of Penguin Highway for me to really see, understand, and appreciate its underlying themes, so maybe it'll be like that with this movie too. I like that about Studio Colorido :). Did anyone else feel like the animation quality dropped a little bit between the classroom fight and when they start looking for Miyo? It might have been just me. Otherwise, I loved the character designs. They reminded me a lot of Penguin Highway's, which might be because it's from the same studio. It's hard for me not to compare this film to Penguin Highway. I think the OST was okay. Like Penguin Highway, this had some good orchestral marches, but there are some tracks that were a bit underwhelming. I was very taken aback when Miyo's mom and stepmom started fighting. I just wish there wasn't a silly OST playing during that, because that's pretty serious, in my eyes. Speaking of which, I wish this film focused just a bit more on the familial reparations. We get most of this in the credits sequence, which is why it's my favorite part of the movie, but more highlight on this would have been great. It would have given more time to show how Miyo changed throughout the film as well. Yorushika was a big reason why I was looking forward to this film, and Usotsuki did not disappoint. I was listening to the preview trailer with the song over and over and over before watching this. However, I think Yakou (Night Journey) felt a little shoehorned in during the umbrella scene. Love the song, but hmmmmmmmmmm |
EpicCh33seJun 19, 2020 3:38 AM
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| I love this movie. The first time I heard about this movies was few months ago. A friend told me about an anime music video sne watched about this story, and I was waiting for the movie since that. I like all about this movie (character's design, story, music, etc). Something I will tell you is that —I am an emotional person— I felt Miyo's frustration when she wanted to be human again. I was feeling anxiety and frustration like if I were she, like if I were the one which her time is running out. |
| 「何色になきたい？」 ー椎名ましろ |
| That was a very cute and innocent movie. I love cats. This fit my taste really well. |
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| A very enjoyable movie, managed to make me shed a tear in the first half. The plot isn't mind boggling or unique or anything but, it is still very enjoyable plus the art, animation and music is top notch. Overall i'd give it an 8/10 (maybe 8.5 if MAL had one) and I would definitely recommend it. |
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| I like the concept but the main girl is seriously annoying and way too pushy which ruined the whole movie for me, Hinode was right to get mad at her in the beginning. Definitely not fond of the character designs, specially their uniforms and something just felt weird about the animation like backgrounds were completely different from the characters, they just didn't blend in. |
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| So, I'mma go ahead give my opinions about the movie. The movie is good in itself. Songs or OST are great. Animation quality is good too. Story wise I thought it was a bit lacking but it was a great overall experience. Definitely not gonna compare it to the giants of the anime movie industry. Like it was a super happy experience for me. The girl was so happy, cute and full of life which made me really happy. Her cat form was also really cute too. I'm gonna say that overall the movie was good. But I was expecting much out of it. But it's fine. . So for me, it's a 7/10. |
Pre_YumJun 19, 2020 7:44 AM
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| A good movie. As a fan of Mari Okada, I was very much looking forward to this movie. Had to watch it a day later because my internet decided to die on me on 18 June, but oh well. I still enjoyed it thoroughly! SPOILERS ahead, of course. The animation was really nice. I liked how a lot of scenes had this slick, smooth movement. The art was amazing too, especially the scenes just showing us random parts of the streets and cities. I thought they were really well done and amazing, almost to the point of a Shinkai drawing. As for the story, the first half was really good, I have to say. For me, it did go down somewhat in the second half. I felt as if it could've benefitted from a longer run-time, letting moments and scenes develop more. The emotional high point it seems was supposed to be in the second half, but I felt more from when Muge couldn't go back to being human and everyone was looking for her. It wasn't by all means bad, but I felt that the magical setting (however nice it looked) of the second half with that Cat Island wasn't as good as the rest of the movie. Perhaps it was because of how little time we spent with it and how different it was from the rest of the movie which took place in the real world. So it was good, not great, but good story-wise. Felt like a lot more could've been developed. I was also really looking forward to seeing Muge be honest with her parents and Kaoru, but instead we only got short clips of it at the end. Slightly disappointed by that. Kaoru seems really nice. Music was really good. I had already heard about Nakitai Watashi wa Neko wo Kaburu, but I really heard about it after I saw that Yorushika was doing some songs for it! I'm a big fan of Yorushika and so I was really looking forward to this movie that had two of my favourite creators on board! The music was, as I expected, awesome. Especially when Hana ni Bourei came on. The scene really fit it with the rain and all. Loved that one. I can't really say that the entire OST fit the tone of the movie. At times it felt a little out of place, but not enough to outright complain about it. But definitely my favourite parts were all the Yorushika songs! Was waiting so much for that ending song, Uso Tsuki! Overall, I liked it. I honestly wanted to love it, but some things prevented me from really loving it. Not the best of Mari Okada's work, but I personally liked it enough to consider it a favourite of mine, even if it is far from perfect. 8/10! |
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| I greatly enjoyed it. The romance/plot was simple but satisfying enough and characters were likable and relatable. The animation was great. 8.5/10 |
| "My name is John Locke, and I'm responsible for the well being of this Island" |
RealTheAbsurdist said: ycleped said: In any other case he definitely would have just kept ignoring her, but this case was that 1 out of 10 times that he actually did like her so it worked out. I don't think it's necessarily glorifying stalking rather than telling a story about a girl who has this stalker-ish behavior. It never distinctly says that stalking is good and although it doesn't say it's bad either, I think it was more or less being used as a means of telling a coming of age story. A lot of us did super cringe stuff at that age, thinking that nobody ever understood us, and once we were able to confront ourselves and face our problems we grew out of stuff like that, and I think that's more along the lines of what the movie was trying to accomplish with its narrative. There's no point in the movie where the girl comes to the realization that what she did was wrong. Therefore the movie supports her behavior. Her feelings towards the guy wasn't romantic at all; she "fell in love" with him, as an outlet for her stressful family situation. I mean think about it: she had no proper interactions with the guy, or knew much about him, prior to the events in the film. Her hollow crush is treated as genuinely romantic feelings, when it's really just raging hormones. By making that 1 out of 10 times happen, the movie is leaning more on supporting stalker-ish behavior. I just find the movie's message disturbing. I agree,there's a distinct lack of substance in the relationship between the girl and the guy which,being the main focus of this film,feels strange.It transitions the relationship from being completely one sided to mutual way too abruptly. |
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| Cat Returns meets Spirited Away. Overall it was good. Didn't like the part with that cat island though. I would find it more interesting if it didn't have that much fantasy and focused more on families and relationships. |
| So I just finished watching this movie and I would first like to start out and say: I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. It wasn't a 10/10 masterpiece in my books persay, but I really did enjoy it overall and with the plot still fresh in my mind I thought I'd just share some of my random ramblings and thoughts. I do think that I may have interpreted this movie differently than some people, so if you do care to read my thoughts, I do appreciate you taking the time to read. What I really enjoyed about the movie, I think, is the interesting concept of having this blur between reality and the 'supernatural' in this cute story. Creating a story where someone transforms into "someone else" or be able to "step out" of their existing circumstances, and then being given the option of abandoning their life to live another, which in this case, transforming to a cat. I do think that this entire concept was very intentionally set up to convey how in adolescent years, there is this desire to escape from your current situation and even wanting this power to pave your of path of life and live in a way you want to. I do think the movie captured this very well. This movie was able to take struggles of these young kids, real struggles some people do face, weaving an interesting fantasy element into it in a way that is able to send a positive message and shed light on serious issues. And there's a lot of beauty in that. I personally also think the fantasy element was actually even just alluding to real issues and decisions that some young people end up making about their lives. More on this below. Now this is mostly my opinion, and I am interpreting a lot of what happens in the movie, from my perspective, but I do think that this whole concept of "abandoning your own life to transform into a cat" is a supernatural theme can be representative of a another topic. I felt oddly disturbed throughout the movie for some reason and got this feeling that while it was light-hearted, a serious issue was being brought to light. I do want to be considerate and warn people who are reading as this next part may be a little bit triggering for some people- please read with caution if you want to avoid reading about dark themes. I know this may be seen as reaching to some people but I'd like to hear people's thoughts about it if you disagree or agree. I really do think the very fact that Mugi's life span would disappear and she'd be stuck in the cat island literally is a sugar coated disney version of basically saying she will die. In otherwords...she chooses death. And even to her this may not have been obvious until it finally started to hit her what losing her life would mean. A scene that really stuck into my mind was the ending scene when they are returning from the cat world back to the human world...the ferry. It reminded me of a scene from another series I've seen before where someone is ferrying people into the afterlife on a river. It seems like the river scene could be a reference to the Sanzu River, which is a mythological river in Japanese Buddhist tradition where souls that are deceased must cross to go to the afterlife. I really began to find it interesting how this whole ferry thing was going on and also notice that in order to cross over to the other world there would need to be a bridge, just like the myth. I started to wonder if the cat island shown at the end was actually 'the after life' or representative of people who have died already. It is a little bit of a far out connection to make but another moment that really stood out to me was after they returned and when Mugi said "I hope everyone on the other side can be happy too". If this is the case, then the fact that Mugi left her normal life and talked about her realization that there were many people around her that cared for her...the fact that transforming into a cat did not turn out to be the life she wanted...I don't know. I personally really do believe these messages were definitely meant to instill hope and a positive message to people who similarly have thoughts about disappearing. And while I do think the ending was a little bit ridiculous with the mask seller literally having what he wanted most slip out of his hands, I personally think it could have even symbolized that she herself holds the power what to do with her life. And in the end she decides she wants to continue to live her own life. Hinode was a reminder throughout her struggles that she has hope for happiness and he is that light and happiness for her. Even if my interpretation is wrong, I do still like the positive message and characters and interesting little rollercoaster this movie took me on. |
EarlCielJun 19, 2020 11:54 PM
EarlCiel said: I really do think the very fact that Mugi's life span would disappear and she'd be stuck in the cat island literally is a fairy coated disney version of basically saying she will die. And even to her this may not have been obvious until it finally started to hit her what losing her life would mean. A scene that really stuck into my mind was the ending scene when they are returning from the cat world back to the human world...the ferry. It reminded me of a scene from another series I've seen before where they featured the Sanzu River, which is a mythological river in Japanese Buddhist tradition where souls that are deceased must cross to go to the afterlife. I really began to find it interesting how this whole ferry thing was going on and also notice that in order to cross over to the other world there would need to be a bridge, just like the myth. I started to wonder if the cat island shown at the end was actually 'the after life' or representative of people who have died already. It is a little bit of a far out connection to make but another moment that really stood out to me was after they returned and when Mugi said "I hope everyone on the other side can be happy too". I... think you're onto something. That line about "the other side" was really strange to me too. I went back and listened to that scene again. The noun they used in Japanese is 向こう (mukou). I know this means "other side," but I'm unsure if this has the same connotation of "afterlife" like it does in English. Yorushika, the band who did the vocal songs for this movie, has a song called Yakou that was featured in this film. At the end of the song is a line that uses 向こう, implying that the person in question had died and was crossing "to the other side." Considering the music video even shares background shots with the film, I wouldn't be surprised if this was connected. I'd be really grateful if someone who is better in Japanese could give some clarification on this. |
EpicCh33seJun 19, 2020 10:57 PM
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| Enjoyable at most. I just wished i didn't see Hinode doing a sunrise attack. It was, rather, unsightly. |
xkazutox said: cats are great 🐱 makes me remember some controversial cats movie a while ago.That was a very cute and innocent movie. I love cats. This fit my taste really well. Btw, your signature photo, would you mind telling what anime/manga are they? Thanks. |
| Great 😁 Thank you 👍 |
| Definitely enjoyed this movie a ton. I was very conflicted between giving it a 7 or an 8 earlier this morning (2 AM) so I decided to give it a re-watch and I'm going to settle with a 7.5/10 (=> 8/10 on MAL) after all. Of course that's not to say that I totally glossed over the issues of the movie though. Some more character exploration and the Romance, in particular, certainly felt it needed some more work but the movie really hit when it mattered. That's Mari Okada for you, I suppose. I've to agree that the stalking habit of Muge not being evaluated more is another drawback too. During my first watch, it did stand out to me as a matter of fact. But, despite all that, I'd still have to say that I didn't dislike Muge. Keeping up her brave front in the first half like that is very admirable and I'm glad that she's opened up more now too. So Koe no Katachi-like in that aspect, I loved it! As for the Romance, I find it sweet how both come to love each other as a consequence to their family circumstance, one could say. But, again, it needed more. Hinode suddenly changing gears was an uncalled turn of events, that's for certain. Another aspect I really appreciated was the imaginative cat world. I was expecting something of the sort prior to watching but I reckon it's safe to say that I was pleasantly surprised even then. It's a pity we didn't get to see more of those cat-humans though, I was looking forward to more of them personally. Insert and ED songs were just right up my alley too, I've lost count on how many times I've heard them since the morning so far. Studio Colorido was always going to deliver with the visuals, and that they did splendidly! |
#Anime4Life be my Life Motto! #PrayForKyoAni  |
| Enjoyable, but not great. So a 6/10 for me. It just feels very unnatural how Hinode suddenly is this much interested in the main protagonist. For me it would have been more logical for the movie to end on a high note with him giving her a shot at least, but now suddenly it seems like they are "together". Like the movie is saying: hey if you want this guy that clearly is annoyed by you to notice you.. just stalk him for a while, turn into a cat and make him save you. Then he will be interested! He will even say 'I love you!'. Also that "end part" with Hinode getting dragged into it overall didn't do well for me. It was both rushed and feels unnatural storytelling compared to the beginning part of the movie. This made me feel somewhat dissapointed with the later progression of the story. This, ofcourse, is how I feel about it. Subjective. Small detail: storytelling that last part into the end credits like that is a big NO for me. Always. But I guess there was no more screentime. Or something. What I do like, just so I will not just jam this movie into a corner: I do like the overall idea of the story. The mask-thing and how that works, worked really well for me. The main protagonist and Hinode both have convincing conflictions built up throughout the movie. I quite liked the main protagonist because her character reminds me of a goofy sidecharacter, but now is the main character of the movie. The little details were really enjoyable too: the way they tried worldbuilding the Cat world and how humans have to walk on transparant space to get there. But even so, I might have liked it more if they stayed in the human world and directly targeted multiple conflicts there. |
 check out my twitch: https://twitch.tv/slowy |
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