Review of A Whisker Away

Idk i don't even watch much anime and still id say this wasn't ...fun to watch. spoilers ahead though The main character was too difficult to just watch, doesn't really have much going on besides her tragic backstory. She's extremely self-centered and creepy, and ofc the self-centeredness and escapism makes sense and all given that her life was difficult and it was hard for her to open up to people and everything. Just, it would have been nice to see some character development from her. To like see her open up her heart to people and own up to her mistakes like stalking her crush, insteadof that two line message at the end about how she should've opened up to people.

But the resolution or whatever makes shit sense. It didn't really feel like anyone truly cared about her. With her refusal to really open up to anyone and how she got made fun of at school, it genuinely did feel like she was actually very lonely and had no one on her side.

For example. even her best friend seems to only really hang out with her out of some kind of obligation or pity because she was bullied. We don't actually feel any closeness between them. Her parents don't even really know anything about her.

And her crush looking for her when she ran away? Yeah, that was probably because he felt guilty for calling her a creep, even though he did nothing wrong.

But apparently, when he finds out her tragic backstory, he very randomly, for reasons that are honestly hard to understand and seem like they were made up, just likes her. When he finds out she turned into a cat to intrude on his privacy and stalk him since he wouldn't let her stalk him as a human, he says something like "you were always there for me" instead of "wow i didn't know you were that creepy".

And yet the resolution of the movie is, "oh I didn't realize how much everyone cared about me. Since like two people looked for me, my bff and my crush. And my parents felt bad I think." which....doesn't make sense, but oh well.

It's also really wild, because her stalking this random boy at school is really just a form of escapism. She has nothing in her life, doesn't feel close to her parents or people at school maybe not even her bff i guess, so she crushes on and stalks this guy because she thinks he will make her happy. And instead of addressing this problem and showing how mental illness may make you push others away and just try to escape somehow, that facing your problems step by step is better, which seems like the actual hidden theme of the movie they should've focused on more, the Kinako or whatever cat just calls up Mio's crush and tells him to "make her happy". Which kinda defeats the point imo.

The hidden theme that I see in this movie, is like escapism and how you can't really run away from life. Some humans that had chosen to stay as cats forever get like 2 minutes of time in the movie where they talk about how they were overwhelmed by human life and chose to become cats. But they couldn't really run away from their human problems, and regret what they've done. Those 2 minutes was the only part I genuinely liked. And that's the point I wish the movie had made to Mio. I wish she had learned,

hey just because I hate my life, I can't like pick a random person to "save" me and make me happy. I can't stalk them whenever my life gets tiring. I'm justrunning away from my family problems and my loneliness. Instead, I should learn to open up to people and work on my relationship with my parents. I don't need to obsess over a random boy that I don't even know that well because I've mentally forced him into a savior role.

If we could actually see her try and open up to people like her mom and bff and crush and like be emotionally vulnerable, that would've been a better resolution. Instead of "people did care about you all this time" which actually seems hard to believe, given that no one really knew much about her besides her forced personality and tragic backstory.

Let me just say, the crush wasn't super interesting either. Other than the fact that he has a hard time asserting himself and ....seems to hate Mio for being assertive and not for stalking him which doesnt really make seeense?? But then learns that she actually has a hard time opening up about things like him so he like feels bad for her and suddenly likes her or something idk. Yeah that's it. There's not much to say about him besides, "i guess he's the love interest?" He's like a shell of a person or something, & we don't really get to explore his personality or feelings much besides "he wants to do pottery" and "he likes mio now".

The parts of this movie that were actually interesting though!! Are Kinako and Mio's stepmom and their wholesome relationship. They should've made the whole movie about them now that!! Would have been amazing!! Or even this creepy brown tabby cat that like acts like a creepy underground seller of human souls and those poor cats that have already lost their human souls.

Honestly though wish the movie hadn't spent so much time on this awkward, forced romance plot full of cringy, strange, senseless scenes and instead focused on the shit I mentioned.

Look I don't know about the art and animation and OSTs, I'm just going to say the plot was....beyond distasteful. But yeah Idk if I missed any but there was like one song and I wish they included more or something to like compensate for the senseless story and bland, undeveloped characters.

That was a serious waste of my time and I really regret that. Like
I had so much to do today. I wish I hadn't wasted my time and energy watching this or writing this review because idk if it is really worth a review.