A show I definitely did not want to miss is the television adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s “彼女と彼女の猫” OVA. Titled “Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko: Everything Flows”, this new anime short that just began to air is made by studio Liden Films and sees other staff helm the project compared to the original which was entirely produced by Makoto Shinkai.
Although the original is in black and white, the first episode showcases splendid animation with excellent use of lighting, a lovely color palette and an atmosphere filled with powerful emotions, making the show feel akin to Makoto Shinkai’s other works. Cat Daru is designed and animated with more detail compared to the black cat in the original, but he is still more stylized compared to the other characters and the backgrounds which creates a nice contrast.
There is quite a bit of inner monologue from Daru, luckily it is not used that much for plot exposition but rather to tell the story from his perspective, helping the subdued but meaningful visual clues to shape an image of the world how Daru experiences it.
Voice talents Hanazawa Kana and Asanuma Shintarou deliver excellent performances as the girl and cat respectively, they both are soft-spoken, delivering their lines with a gentleness that adds to the anime’s terrific atmosphere of presenting emotional, laden content without melodrama.
If you enjoyed Makoto Shinkai’s oeuvre, with sublime titles such as “Voices of a Distant Star”, “5 Centimeters Per Second”, “The Garden of Words” and more,… or you like anime that deal with powerful human emotions, then you should definitely watch “Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko: Everything Flows”.
You can watch “She and Her Cat: Everything Flows” on Crunchyroll.
Makoto Shinkai’s original “She and Her Cat” anime short is also available on Crunchyroll.
