Cat Soup
Alternate Titles: Nekojiru-so
Original Japanese Release Date: 2001
Episode Length/Run-time: 34 Minutes
Summary:
A cat is trying to save his elder sister from death. When he does her soul is ripped into two. He returns half her soul to her but it is not enough to bring her back all the way and she becomes a shell of her former self. He then embarks on a journey to return his sister to her former self.
Review:
I’m just going to say it on this one. Cat Soup is one of those anime that no one has any clue what’s going on. But, because it is presented in a surreal, whimsical, and many times lovely in that odd psychological way people suddenly seem to think it is deep and rich with story and purpose. Because it presents itself as an intellectual soiree into some deep and engaging subject matter or commentary the educated minds that watch it feel as though they are missing something (I’m sure) so to cover and not appear stupid they praise its value and its deep presentation.
Really, Cat Soup is 30 minutes of “huh?” Pretty in many ways, but still “huh?” Random scenes are thrown in there to evoke feeling such as the atomic bomb blowing up, a pig eating itself, prisoners of war being shot. But it’s thrown together in such a haphazard way that it leaves the viewer being more confused than evoked. I get that they’re going through a dreamscape, but nothing other than the fact that it’s a dreamscape really seems to have anything to do with the protagonist or his sister.
What I can, however, praise it for is that it did have a beginning, middle, and end. For 30 minutes, this is pretty good. Even if the presentation came off very animation student project trying out different things for their final requirements it did have the bones of something over being nothing other than those random scenes. The anime also lacks dialogue, which is also impressive to convey a story under such circumstances.
It was directed by Tatsuo Sato, who really hasn’t done much other than being the series director of Ninja Scroll, which could explain a lot now that I think about it…
Overall, this series isn’t a total waste of your life given that it’s only 30 minutes. But I likely wouldn’t buy it from a bargain bin.
[starrater]