A Whisker Away is one that I sort of watched on a whim today while I was browsing Netflix for something to pass time. I ended up finding this and remembering that I had put this on my planning list a while back so I decided to give it a go. I don't really know what I expected, but the summary on Netflix certainly set me up to believe that this was going to be a crazy watch. Somehow, it still failed to describe how insane this movie would get at times. Not only that, but the jarring pace of the story and rapid transitions were somewhat difficult to follow occasionally, but I'll cover that stuff more deeply in a bit. Suffice to say A Whisker Away absolutely smacked me around narratively. This review does hit some spoilers, so read at you own risk. Read the last paragraph if you want my thoughts in summary.

On a technical side, the sound design of A Whisker Away was very generic as far as anime movies go. Some of the tracks were nice, but at other times, I couldn't help but feel as if the song detracted from the scene. I think there's one later on in the movie when Muge is stuck as a cat and her stepmother's cat is using her body. The impostor cat is doing some out of character stuff for Muge with Hidone and the soundtrack is just absolutely wack. That's the only specific example that immediately comes to mind, but I'm sure if I watched it again, I could point out some more. The voice acting is absolutely a standout for this movie though, especially Muge, who is able to display the emotions she's feeling so aptly, and the other voice actors aren't slouches either. The ending song is quite nice though, which is always a huge positive for an anime movie.

The visuals are extremely nice, reminding me of Flavors of Youth to a great extent, with similar shading and use of lighting. The animation was extremely smooth, especially where the Taro was concerned. As a cat owner, I can say that this movie captured cats and their movements so perfectly, from their cuteness to their random ego attacks to their strutting around. Legitimately top tier feline animation. As far as character designs go, these are fairly generic anime characters. It serves the purpose well, but its not like they're extraordinarily distinct or phenomenally detailed or anything.

Favorite Character: Miyo "Muge" Sasaki

Between Muge's crazy and lovable personality and Yoriko's loyalty and sense, I was having such a hard time deciding who to put here. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that I absolutely adored Muge's personality, especially in the first half of the movie, and thus could not reasonably put Yoriko here without completely lying, although she definitely shines later on. I decided on at least compromising and putting both of them in the picture here, which I think perfectly shows off exactly just how cute the first half of this movie is.

This movie is something else. It starts as an adorable teenage romance; a girl who's head over heels for this boy who doesn't really realize that she exists outside of her reputation as a erratic girl. Oh yeah, and the girl is also the guy's stray cat in her off time and they have a cute connection while she's in that form. Honestly, the whole balancing dynamic in the first half is super fun and fairly lighthearted, which appealed greatly to my cold, dead heart. But after that first half, A Whisker Away takes an absolutely wack turn and gets really dramatic, fast paced, and kinda sad. Then, the cat world appears. Honestly, I think that was the weakest aspect of the entire movie. The cat world weakens the entire rest of the movie due to is outlandish nature and removal from the entire world and cast, which was the strength of the entire work up until that point. The resolution was pretty dry too, with, predictably, the boy coming to save the girl, the power of love, etc. I will say, the resolution being such a lighthearted and happy one helped recover some of the damage done by the random climax of the show, but only just a little.

I think if A Whisker Away was more grounded (as much as one about a girl turning into a cat can be anyway) and kept the otherworldly aspects out of it, it could have been a much tighter story. It definitely would have helped to have the actual cast in the climax, instead of some random cat goons who show up out of nowhere to save the day in the end. All in all, Muge's personality, the surprising character depth at times, and the cuteness of the movie are absolutely the reasons to give this a watch, but there are some extremely obvious flaws despite these positives. It's honestly a really enjoyable watch either way, but certainly one that you have to turn your brain off for, especially because you feel jerked back and forth because the plot says so. However, I certainly don't think one could go too wrong here.

This review will be spoiler free, most of the events I talk about have already been shown in the trailer in some way.

A Whisker Away is a movie that I have wanted to watch ever since Netflix released the trailer for it a few weeks ago (May 28th). From the trailer, the anime looked like an entertaining rom-com with thought-provoking themes relating to personal and social issues. However, I was also skeptical since the writer of A Whisker Away is also responsible for Anohana, which is a show that I was not a big fan of. After watching this movie, I must sadly say that it is everything I hoped it would not be; disappointing and ruined by a poorly paced storyline.

Story - 5/10
The story follows the character, Miyo Sasaki (her classmates refer to her as Muge), who obtains the ability to transform into a cat by wearing a special mask. Muge fell in love with a boy in her school, Kento Hinode, who does not reciprocate her feelings. However, Muge uses her powers to transform into a cat, which Hinode named Taro, to get closer to and learn more about him. Due to certain reasons (spoilers), Muge visits a land of cats and meets with many more people like her who can transform into cats.
The movie tells a compelling story during its first hour, especially as it spends time exploring many different personal and social issues that humans face on a daily basis. Themes such as unrequited love, bullying and friendship are all displayed relatively well through the students around Muge. Other themes such as running away from problems and issues relating to families are also explored through the two main characters, Muge and Hinode.
Despite the well conveyed themes, the problem with the story (or even the movie as a whole) is that it is confused with what it’s trying to be, which caused the last story arc to feel rushed and completely unnecessary. The final major plotline that happens in the movie is when Muge visits the land of the cats, but the issue is that this happens after over one hour into the movie which is way too late to introduce any new storylines in a film that is only 1 hour and 35 minutes long (not including credits). The land with the cats feels like an idea that the creators originally had, but even though the movie changed into something completely different throughout the development cycle, they still decided to use the concept by rushing something random into the last 30 minutes of the runtime. As a result, the island is painfully underdeveloped and the drastic difference in tone creates too big of a discrepancy between the last half hour and the rest of the movie for them to properly fit together. This problem can only be solved if the island is given more development or if it is removed because unfortunately for the movie, a concept that takes up thirty minutes of screen time is too long to be ignored yet too short to benefit the overarching story.

Art - 9/10
The art is absolutely gorgeous, especially the animation and the environmental designs. The animation is full of life and the exaggerated but not totally over-the-top style makes it distinct and memorable. The environments are very well drawn and even though the island of the cats is problematic for the story, its design is nothing but incredible. The only complaint I have is that the animation quality can be inconsistent in some parts.

Sound - 7.5/10
The sound design is pretty good but nothing special. There are a few times when the music did not fully match the tone of the scenes which took me out of the movie for a moment. However, the soundtrack and the voice acting are all solid overall.

Character - 7/10
The characters are all fairly well written and likable, however some minor characters had unfinished character arcs which made the ending of the movie especially unsatisfying.
The two main characters both had a good amount of development and backstory for them to feel like realistic enough characters. Although they are not especially noteworthy characters, they are relatively good and compliments the story effectively. I found that a big problem a lot of people had with Muge’s character is that she is not very relatable since her actions are too creepy, but from what I can tell, she really doesn’t do anything too different from many other portrayals of fictional characters who spy and get close to their crush/people of the opposite gender while in a different physical form in both Western and Eastern entertainment.
The most disappointing character in the movie is without a doubt the antagonist. Throughout the majority of the runtime, he has always been a devil-like character with an ominous presence every time he appears, however, by the end of the movie, he becomes a goofy villain who can be easily beaten by every random person.

Enjoyment - 6.5/10
The first one hour of the movie is very enjoyable and it is also when the characters get the most development. This part of the movie is intriguing from the very beginning and the realistic themes being portrayed through all of the characters allow the story to be quite entertaining. However, the last 30 minutes of the movie completely changes the tone, abandons a lot of these themes and leaves many story arcs unfinished which pretty much took away most of my reasons for enjoying the anime.

Summary
A Whisker Away is a movie that had me hooked at the start, but left me feeling only disappointment when it ended. It attempted to be a realistic depiction of personal and social issues in human lives as well as a cheesy/generic fantasy anime at the same time, but instead it only ended up being a mess of a movie that failed to make two different ideas compatible with each other. I would still recommend watching this movie if you are browsing Netflix with nothing else to watch since it is overall a pleasant enough experience without having to make a big commitment like you would with a show/series.

“Hinode...Sunrise...ATTACK!” - Miyo Sasaki

Art and Animation: 8.8/10

Storyline and Character Progression: 7.3/10

Soundtrack and Audio: 9.3/10

Concluding Thoughts: