Anzu, Gato Fantasma

I knew nothing about this film going into it. I merely saw the cover and thought it looked interesting. When they introduced the eponymous cat, I could tell I was going to like this film. I had wondered if the cat was going to be a spiritual guide, an imaginary friend, or some Totoro style whimsical creature. But no, he's treated just like a normal dude. He rides up on a motorcycle and says "sup". No government agency is trying to capture him. He's not from some alien planet, he's just...Anzu.

The girl, Karin, can be really annoying sometimes. I enjoy that she has a distinct personality, but she can be difficult to deal with at times.

But overall, I found the film to be relentlessly charming. Just a chill little adventure with an oddball pairing of characters.

I watched the movie in theater because it is distributed by GKIDS, which also distribute Ghibli Studio films in the United States. In the trailer, the graphics did not compare to ones from Ghibli, but I was intrigued by the theme of loss and grief.

Indeed, I appreciated that aspect the most in the film. The protagonist Karin, a 5th grader, struggles with her mother's death 3 years prior. The ghost cat Anzu and other creatures in the forest help Karin on a journey of finding her mother and exploring her complex emotions from grief.

People who are experiencing grief may steer away from contents about grief, but this film might be okay. I would even recommend it to children who are experiencing grief (It is rated PG+13 in the US while it is PG in many other countries. There is only mild violence and frightening scenes.) Because the story is filled with silly characters including awkward village boys and hideous looking forest creatures, the film felt sufficiently removed from the real world, where I am grieving. It didn't feel too close to home that I ended up wailing in the theater. The story also takes a lighthearted tone to Karin's experience of living without her mother. It was truly healing to see how Karin gradually open up to her new friends and find comfort in their care.

I must say, I am quite disappointed with this movie.

Ghost Cats, Monsters, Adventures, and Themes of Grief are a creative concept and for an anime, this is the perfect spice to an interesting story. Unfortunately, when you are provided with characters that aren't likely and a story that goes all over the place, it fails to do justice. What a shame really. The animation and character designs are wonderful and many of the voice performances and action thrilling sequences are done well. But the narrative really struggles to understand what it really wants to be and ends up being a mix match of many ideas, and trying to smash things together in the most uneven way.

Many of the characters are undeveloped and I found myself finding the main lead characters to be annoying and quite unlikable. I appreciate the concept and some of the interesting direction choices, but I expected more with a cute concept like this.