Review of A Whisker Away
Studio: Studio Colorido Plot: A *Miyo Sasaki, nicknamed "Muge", is a high school girl who lives with her dad and her stepmother. Her father seems to have little energy and doesn't put much effort into raising her whereas the stepmother's involvement while genuine, comes across as overbearing to Miyo who is struggling to cope with her biological mother running out on her. Due to her the unsteadiness at home, Miyo has an obsession with her crush Kento Hinode. Her obsession is so obnoxious that everyone at school knows about it and poor Hinode is so focused on his home life and his own issues to beable to look past her obsession to be able to be the friend that she needs at this time. So a magical cat appears and gives Muge a mask that allows her to transform into a cat herself. Muge accidentally discovers that Hinode loves cats as he begins to take care of her and telling the cat about all of his own troubles.
While the film could easily be explained as "anime girl stalks a boy that doesn't like her, so she turns into a cat to grow closer to said boy" the movie, really is much more than that. This movie uses the fantasy of turning into a cat as an allegory for a person choosing to give up on life. Despite Miyo being a loud and obnoxious stalker and brat, she is actually very depressed with her home life and this movie was a unique take on the sad topic of what broken homes do to children growing up.
Visuals: A *Really pretty to look at. The character designs are cute and the world is so colorful. Studio Colorido has a bright future ahead of them if they continue to make shows or movies with artwork as good as this.
Voice Acting: B *As usual, I stuck with the dub. The main characters I have no problem with. Muge's voice was super cute and Cherami Leigh did a good job of making her character be energetic and full of life when she's happy but have her voice still sound energetic and happy, but have a different sort of flow when she's sad. I thought it was funny when Muge said Hinode had a sexy voice, but he actually does pull the "dreamy guy" voice pretty well without sounding cringey. And the "Mask Seller" Cat Store Owner was a lot of fun as a classic maniacally evil Saturday morning cartoon villain. Where it was bad was the voice acting of the fellow bullying students. They sounded so goofy.
Film Score/Soundtrack: C *The music was ok in this.. Much like the tone of the plot, it was quirky and upbeat with the magical fantasy vibe it needed to make the film work.
Characters: B *Like most movies, it's hard to get a feel for all of the characters in the world without having an abnormally long runtime. But the movie does its job by giving Muge and Hinode the characterization that they deserve. Muge might start off as super annoying and creepy to Hinode, but her reasoning for finding an outlet outside of her household that can make her happy makes sense. It's just a shame that it comes at Hinode's expense since he has so much going on at his home with his family literally pinning their future on his back. Once Muge realizes this, she respects Hinode so much more, however, it has the opposite effect that she wants to have on Hinode and leads to him resenting her even more. It isn't until much later in the film that Hinode can consider himself friends with Muge again because he finally is able to understand why Muge behaves the way that she does and he can finally be that friend for her. If he chooses to be more than friends, that's on him and your own headcanon. But I like to believe that he will be there as the emotional support that she needs and Muge will continue to be there to make Hinode smile as he and his family continue to struggle.
Cringeworthy Anime Moments: Anime bullying almost always seems so excessive and fake. I know bullying happens in the real world and kids can be cruel to each other, but whether it's the bad voice acting, or the script that makes these interactions feel so out of place and unrealistic, I just feel like almost every instance of bullying I've seen in anime makes me roll my eyes and wonder what the hell happened to these weaboo manga writers in high school haha. Besides that, I don't really have any complaints.
Opening Titles: N/A
Closing Titles: *Really pretty and cute piano-led track that builds into an even cuter melody that seems really fitting for this quirky film.
Final Verdict: 7/10 Normally when my main complaint with a movie is that it is too short, that is a good thing. But for A Whisker Away, I genuinely think that this movie would have benefited from more scenes of Muge not being to cope at home and to have the cat that took over Muge's body have a much less drastic change of heart as she tries to live like Muge but eventually realizes she needs to go back home to help her owner and that Muge is loved by her parents and even by Hinode who just doesn't see it yet. Still, the movie has a lot of ideas pushed into the runtime and it does a good job of ensuring that the pacing works and it kept me entertained from beginning to end as I was charmed by the animation and the adorable story.