A Whisker Away Movie Review

A Whisker Away is a 2020 anime fantasy romance film directed by Junichi Sato. It’s such a sweet, wonderful movie.

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“He likes me so much when I’m Taro“

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A girl falls in love with a boy from her school, and transforms into a cat to get close to him. In the first half of the movie, I saw touches of both ‘The Cat Returns’ and ‘Spirited Away’. I thought I was in for a derivative picture, but thankfully the second half changed that. The film eventually became its own beast, and an endearing one at that.

Combining the love for cats with teenage romance, the movie has an appeal for both animal lovers and romance enthusiasts. It showcases just how different people, especially teens, can be while in school than how they behave at home. The highlights of the film were getting to know its characters as they are naturally developed and interesting.

Miyo Sasaki is such a wonderful protagonist. She’s so well developed and so likable that you care for her and you want her to succeed in her romantic quest. As Taro, she was adorable as they chose one of the cutest cats in color and look. Hinode is also very well developed, believable and the scenes with them bonding while she’s in cat form are some of the most emotional ones in the movie, but of course their eventual embrace is emotionally rewarding.

I did like the other characters, but they were much less memorable than the main duo. The main cat villain is a lot of goofy fun, but perhaps the final act was a bit too chaotic and hectic. The action in the movie is solid, but nothing particularly remarkable or memorable.

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A Whisker Away has terrific, polished animation. It’s a feast for the eyes with the character designs being inventive and the magical elements are also very well executed. The score is very good and the dialogue is fine, but the pacing could have been better and some parts of the film are repetitive. The movie is also obviously predictable in its outcome, but getting there was a joy. It’s an anime delight that will hopefully garner a bigger audience on Netflix as it’s a better romance than ‘Your Name’ in my book.

A Whisker Away has a predictable outcome, but the journey toward it was very enjoyable. The protagonist is endearing, the romance is very sweet and the premise behind it is quite unique. The animation is also lovely and the movie has many very emotional, wonderful moments interspersed throughout its runtime.