Review of A Whisker Away

(FYI. I've used MAL for 10 years but this is the first time I've given a small review on anything I simply thought "Eh, why not?".) "A Whisker Away." The type of film I picked on a whim because I didn't know what to watch, and I don't often watch romance-centric anime. However, the film turned out to be a surprise for me and left me with a feel-good attitude by the time the epilogue came. While it's not a ground-breaking film, I felt it hit most of the right notes with the story it was portraying and how the characters are represented. My biggest takefrom this film was unexpected themes present in the storytelling. Learning Empathy. Rejection. Expression. Struggling to accept changes in life. All things the young eccentric main character has to face as she embarks on an unusual journey of acceptance (and giddy romance.) I don't believe most of the side plots involving side characters felt meaty enough, but I didn't expect this to happen for a rougly 100 min. film. However, I was surprised by the development of a couple characters such as the love interest, especially one prominent surprised later in the story, but I won't spoil who they are.

The art direction is vibrant and upbeat, and the animation style pumps just enough energy and life into its characters to make its world more engrossing. I would say the music is the weakest part, as it's mostly just servicable, but there was also a couple strange moments where I felt the music or sound effects didn't match the scene.

If you're looking for a quirky feel-good movie that delves into a reasonable amount of drama and romance, I'd say give "A Whisker Away" a try.