Review of A Whisker Away

TLDR: A fun movie with good worldbuilding, characters, and storyline. It has its flaws, but if all you want is a good, fun movie to watch and relax to, I definitely recommend watching this Ghibli-esque movie Having watched the trailer weeks before, along with Studio Colorido's other work Penguin Highway, which I also massively enjoyed, I was tremendously excited to see what this movie had to offer. Although I must be honest and was kind of worried that this movie wouldn't live up to the hype, I am proud to say that this film had met my very high expectations. And as MAL requires me to, Iwill write a review based on the five components of this movie.

Story (8/10):

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and premise of the film. Whenever I see movies, the first thing I look for is whether or not the setting of the story blends well with the conflict. I examine whether the fantasy makes sense within the context of the story and doesn't make me question "how can that happen if...." But I have to praise this film because the magic within the setting makes sense, and I didn't have a lot of questions about the "realism" of the fantasy. The only real problem I had was about the cat character designs and why Muge physically looked like a cat, even in the tree world, and the other cats looked like humanoid-cat beings. But besides that, the fantasy was well thought out, and I have to praise the story writers for making the magic "realistic."

As for the plot, the beginning of the movie was well-paced with how Muge and Kento's relationship blossomed between cat/girl and boy. The conflict was also enjoyable to the point where I was apprehensive that Muge and Kento would never be together as humans. The solution was also well-played out because the two characters struggled to get Muge (and eventually Kento) back into their human forms. The only problem I had was how everything was so convenient to the point that it felt unrealistic. Like how Kento was able to cross over the bridge even though he wasn't a cat? Kind of laughable.

As for the plot, the movie builds the romance between Muge and Kento's exceptionally well to them, eventually dating. Their shared moments on screen were excellent, and they had terrific chemistry with each other. Although I can see why Kento fell in love with Muge because of the progression of the story, I never really understood how Muge fell in love with Kento. All the movie shows us is that "he's cute" and "he has a sexy voice." But that's it. They probably couldn't explain this because of runtime, but I wished I could have seen why she was so head-over-heels over him.

I also had a problem with the parent dynamics for Muge and Kento. I was invested within the mom/stepmom dynamic with Muge, where the two motherly figures were fighting over custody. I was interested to see how that would play out, but the movie never seemed to resolve it in any way. The only purpose for having it in the film was to prove Muge was always smiling even though she was in pain. I wished the studio could have fleshed that out, but that is pretty unrealistic from a 104-minute film. As for Kento, we learn early on that his father died. But that fact has no real significance in the entire movie except to address the fact that he is dead. His dynamic with his sister also has no significance within the whole film, although his mother had some conflict with him because she thought he needs to study a lot to support the family. That was probably the only exciting thing about Kento's family, and it left a lot to be desired.

But overall, the setting was well-thought-out. The main story was realistic and resolved in a well-deserved manner, while I wished the side stories were more fleshed out.

Art (7/10)

As for the art, having already seen Studio Colorido's work on Penguin Highway, it left a lot to be desired. Penguin Highway's artwork with the town and the ocean beyond were phenomenal. The animation work in that movie was also as breathtaking as the art, especially when the woman (literally how she's referred to in the film) and Aoyama were on the flock of penguins zooming across town.

The artwork wasn't as spectacular as Penguin Highway, but I was impressed at how well-drawn the cat sanctuary was. But the tree place kind of reminded me of the Land of the Dead from "Coco," and after remembering that it made the cat sanctuary look like a discount Land of the Dead. The setting wasn't bad in any shape or form, but it was kind of disappointing.

As for the characters, I liked their non-vibrant, realistic designs. The people had realistic looks for Japanese people (except for Kento's blonde sister, of course), and that made this movie unique where the anime world is filled with extravagant human character designs. It was refreshing to see characters in a more toned-down, realistic form.

What impressed me were the cat designs. I liked all the cat designs, especially Muge and the Mask Dealer. Muge had to stand out as an adorable cat, which the studio did correctly, and the Mask Dealer had a "spirit" vibe to him that worked well with his Buddha-resembling art.

Overall, the artwork for this movie was good. The setting was not wrong in any means but was just kind of disappointing while the characters were well-drawn.

Sound (6/10)

The biggest problem I had with this movie was the sound. Although the two songs played as ending sequences were good (kudos to Yorushika) and fit well within the story, I didn't really like some of the inappropriately placed sound effects within the movie. For example, when the mother and stepmother were fighting about Muge, the light-hearted music in the background that indicated something funny was going on didn't sit well with me. It was a painful scene, for me honestly, and I wish the studio took the issue of that more seriously (more on that later within characters.)

There were some other instances where music was inappropriately used, but most times, sounds were used effectively throughout the movie.

Characters (7/10)

Let's start with Muge, the protagonist. She is definitely a good character and protagonist within the story, although she can basically be described as "a superficial happy girl who's hurt inside." Her personality is evident as a confident girl, and I enjoyed who she was as a person. Her role in Kento's character development is well-thought-out, which further proves why Kento would love her. Although, as I stated before, I can't understand why she was so in love with Kento, she is an excellent protagonist with good intentions and a cheerful personality.

Next, we have the male protagonist, Kento. I loved his character development as he learned to love Muge and embrace who he is because of Muge. Kento was the most compelling character within this movie as he starts as a timid person we see at the beginning of the film to the confident boy who learns to embrace himself at the end of it.

The Mask Dealer, as an antagonist, is an interesting character because he was a deity in this movie. He grants people and cats the power to transform between each other in exchange for some of their lifespans so he can live longer. His motives make sense, and he doesn't come across as necessarily evil throughout the story. The only part was at the end when he basically monologues to Kento and Muge about how he wanted their lifespans to live longer and acts in desperation to get their lifespans. The Mask Dealer seemed really cheesy in the end and his intentions stayed constant from start to finish. I wished he had some character development where he sees the love between Muge and Kento and voluntarily gives their lifespans back, but oh well.

The rest of the cast was pretty forgettable. The friends had no real purpose in the story and probably could have been removed with no real effect. But as I stated before, I wish the parents of Muge and Kento were fleshed out more to bring more conflict to the story. But since this is a movie about the romance between two people, I can't complain.

Enjoyment (8/10)

Even though I basically critiqued this movie's bad parts pretty harshly, I cannot say that this was a bad movie. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie, a wholesome and interesting romance story between a catgirl and a boy. Although I didn't enjoy it as much as I did Penguin Highway, I am satisfied with what Studio Colorido created as a stand-alone film. The story was fun; the setting makes sense, and what can I say? I enjoyed this film! It deserved the hype it did, and I can't wait to see how Studio Colorido puts out next!

OVERALL: 7/10