*“Hinode...Sunrise...ATTACK!” - Miyo Sasaki*
I’ll be honest with you, you’re not going to take away anything deep from this film. The characters are simple, the storyline is easy to digest, and the tone never gets too serious or tense. In other words, it’s purrfect (see what I did there?) for the casual viewer. It’s clean and classic art style was very appealing to me, and it evoked a certain amount of nostalgia from older classic anime. Was it boring? It was bearable, but that’s from someone who lives and breathes SoL/romcom. A Whisker Away could easily drag on in the beginning because of how simple and slow paced the storyline is. At first, the mysterious tone hooked me in and kept me interested to see what was next. But within a few more minutes, all the questions I had about these mysterious elements were cleared up. I see this as a positive side to the film. It didn’t try to impress us with an elaborate storyline with supernatural phenomena we couldn’t comprehend, but it stuck with simple elements to get the point across. How did it do overall? Let’s see...Art and Animation: 8.8/10
I’d say that some parts were better than others. While the art style of the film was very appealing to me, the actual animation quality was another story entirely. Body movements were a bit choppy and didn’t really flow all too well. This was evident during some of the dynamic character scenes with Miyo. The funny thing I noticed though, was that the cat animating was better than the human animating. From jumping, to running, to posture. Anytime a cat was onscreen, it had very high quality animation. When it came to any humans, a lack of frames made for choppy or stiff movement. This type of inconsistency is what accounts for the reduced score. Otherwise, I would’ve been mesmerized by the “beauty in simplicity” that I witnessed with this film. When it came to the overall setting, it was decent. The backgrounds were given proper attention to, and they didn’t feel cheap or neglected. I will admit though, I wish the incorporation of colors were a bit more noticeable.Storyline and Character Progression: 7.3/10
Why the lower score? Well as I had mentioned earlier, the story is pretty barebones when you take an honest look at it. There’s no real depth in the characters despite their circumstances, not enough tension during critical moments (especially with the antagonist), and events were quite predictable after the initial mysterious tone was cleared up. Let’s break it down a bit more so you can understand where I’m coming from. For starters, the romance was an innocent and predictable development anyone could’ve seen coming from a mile away. Nothing too serious, and no real drama to be found. Just a light and cute romance of young love. The storyline? While being both ominous and mysterious in the beginning, the film quickly lost this element after being almost completely solved in the next few minutes. Easily predictable, but easily digested too. You could understand everything that was going on, and it was nearly impossible to not know what was going on in the moment. As for the villain? I’d think it’d be more accurate to call him a light antagonist instead. He was more humorous than anything, and never really made me feel a sense of urgency or stress. And the same goes for most of the character cast. They all had fit their roles and done their jobs, nothing more and nothing less. While this barebones and simple execution might be a breath of fresh air to those trying to get away from all the complex plots and characters, it can very easily be considered a boring and predictable anime with its lack of uniqueness.Soundtrack and Audio: 9.3/10
This was easily my favorite part of the film, and for good reason. With its appealing vocal cast and beautiful soundtrack, the experience of this anime is made much more enjoyable. The VA’s had really embraced their characters and their individual emotions, because this was easily seen in the quality of their vocal acting. The characters felt alive and believable as real people, no matter how simple they might have seemed. As for the actual musicality and soundtrack, I could only describe it as fitting for the film and relaxing. It would be the kind of soundtrack I’d listen to while studying on a rainy day. It had fit really well with the tone of the anime, and I wouldn’t say that it was overused at all either. Each time the soundtrack was incorporated, it was both natural and fitting for the mood. This was definitely the films strongest department in scoring.Concluding Thoughts:
As I had mentioned earlier, A Whisker Away is as simple and innocent as anime gets. A weak and humorous villain, innocent young love, and simple life lesson to treasure what you already have, all contribute to the final image of this film. Are you looking for something light to watch? Then this is all you. Looking for something deep and interesting with both supernatural elements and a bit of romance? Sorry, but this anime isn’t it. Both the characters and storyline are predictable and easy to understand. But I’d say that it went perfectly with its simple art style as well. The entire experience was a breathe of fresh air that I could just enjoy and relax with. I could just take in the experience without having to worry about some crazy villain or spicy drama. Just me and a simple romance/coming of age anime. As a result, I’d give A Whisker Away the respectable score of 8.4/10. For while I personally enjoyed how easy it was to follow along with the events of this film, I could see why some may find it boring and uninteresting because of its barebones execution and simplicity. Thanks so much for reading this far, and I’ll see you in the next one!Streaming Platform: Netflix
