Review of A Whisker Away

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING REVIEW IS SUBJECTIVE AND MAY OR MAY NOT OFFEND YOU. THIS SO CALLED "REVIEW" MAY HAVE A FEW SPOILERS SO BE WARNED. TO TOP IT ALL OFF, IF I FIND A FAULT WITH MY REVIEW I WILL EDIT & CHANGE IT. NOTE: YOU ARE FREE TO CRITICISE ME OR, SUGGEST HOW I SHOULD REVIEW IN THE FUTURE Introduction:- I have to put this out clearly before delving into the meat of this review, I’m not the biggest fan of slice of life or dramatised anime shows or movies but, I appreciate magical realism wherever portrayed - exception being Studio Ghibli (though I despise Whisper ofThe Heart). That being said, this show specifically made a solid attempt to compromise its slice of life element with that specific motif. It tries to lay a solid ground for the storyline with its central Coming of Age premise. Does it succeed at it ? Does it fail ? Is it worth watching?

Let’s dig in.

PLOT: Storyline & Premise:

The storyline begins off with a very vibrant tone, pulling you in with an everyday realistic protagonist. The context in this case being that the movie draws you in from a very shoujo lens, albeit with strong magical realism. The build up of the storyline is very generic but solidly done. It relies on a strong avant-garde type of slice of life performances but tries to subdue the audience by relying on an other-wordly Ghibli-esque vibe. The real question that begs though: was this form of realism necessary for the conclusion ?

There are 2 answers that can be thought for this.
One being that this is just a metaphorical or imagerical depiction of their mental states, states of these two young-uns who are both in the Coming of Age phase. They’re both struggling to understand and be understood by their environment. In order to escape this very burden, magical realism is brought to the forefront of their scope. The other answer is that this was a cheap usage of realism as it posits no interesting or different outcome for these young-uns. The story could have reached the same conclusion without relying on magical realism but still decides to implement it since it’s a strong exhibitor to attract the audience. To further explore this claim, the cat personifications were somewhat unnecessary to begin with. The conclusion was delivered from the strong foundation it had drawn from the slice of life premise and not the magical realistic one. In this notation, it mostly fails with the latter element and solidly excels in the former.
Maybe for ¼ of the movie’s duration it served some purpose but afore that, it appears to be only beautiful in presentation yet superfluous with the storyline. Overall, the build-up was fine but could have had some better ground. The Coming of Age Romance wasn’t perfect but it works anyway.

There is one similarity that was begging to be drawn from a Coming of Age standpoint, there is a parallel to be drawn from the main protagonist of this movie to the main protagonist of Koe No Katachi ( A Silent Voice). The film makes it apparent from the beginning that this show makes a wild effort to rectify her view of other people. She sees them as scarecrows while the protagonist of Koe No Katachi sees other people without eyes- crossed bandages on people’s eyes. The parallel is….one of them made a great use of that premise while the other completely forgot about it by the end.

Characterisation:

This is where the issues start to build up one by one. The protagonist’s point of view is fine and is done skewardly. Lot of the focus of the premise is centred around her and that is completely understandable. But the one mistake that the directors made was dodging the protagonist’s love interest about mid-way through. They were doing a fine job exploring both of these major characters until about 1 hours 10 minutes into the movie, where all his relevance just completely fades away and the narrative completely loses sight of how his relevance is tied with the main protagonist.

This isn’t suggesting that they didn’t present the bond in an ill manner, the suggestion that is being drawn here is a facet: there was another side of the protagonist which the film protrudes throughout half of the movie then completely forgets about it. It’s completely comprehensive that this is coming from a shoujo standpoint but the complaint isn’t solely about the love interest either. The protagonist’s mother is slightly hinted at as well but then left off for good - there is a good reason for her to be relevant to the premise and storyline by that point. Also, they do the same thing with the step-mother who too was explored very well for a certain period of time.

The point is don’t make 2nd dimensional characters seem 3rd dimensional, then fly em off to the 1st dimension and, don’t throw 3rd dimensional characters down the 2nd dimensional lens either.
The exploration for the main protagonist deals pretty well; however, like the issue with the premise it could have perhaps taken a more avant-garde lens rather than generic. Nevertheless, the characterisation was well presented.

Animation & Art Style:

The art style isn’t really impressive when it comes to the drawing of the human characters but it manages to do fine in other areas such as animals and background scenes. The characters look very simplistic, adding a very 2 dimensional feel to the scenes, not really blending well with the background. On the other hand, the animation is fantastic. It could use perhaps a bit of refinement but the film looks gorgeous overall. It drives magical realism to the screen and will surely make you utter the name of the theme itself. There are some moments in the film though, where the character designs tend to shine but there’s also this downgrade of excessive brightness in every other scene.

Soundtrack & OST:

There isn’t much to say about the soundtracks themselves. They’re very typical slice of life blending soundtracks, some of them are memorable to the core while others just drift past your ears. Maybe it swayed past mine a lot but props to then ending theme. There isn’t much to relay in this section since I’m still an amateur when it comes to analyzing film/anime sound design. The sound design in this case feels natural and attunes to the scenes and animation, nothing spectacular but it’s enough to keep the film running and make a beautiful set out of it.

Conclusion:

Quite a relaxing watch but not much of a game changer. If you’re into cats, this film does a mediocre job of implementing that through its premise; however, if you want to sit back and enjoy some everyday slice of life with some Ghibli-esque attempt at turning your eyes a bit towards the scenery, feel free to watch A Whisker Away. Very dodgy characterisation, familiar and okay plot, okay animation & okay soundtrack. It’s a film that deserves at least one watch.

VERDICT: 5.8/10

WATCH IT WHEN YOU’RE BORED !