A Whisker Away

A Whisker Away, known in Japan as Nakitai Watashi wa Neko wo Kaburu (泣きたい私は猫をかぶる, lit. "Wanting to Cry, I Pretend to Be a Cat"), is a 2020 Japanese animated film produced by Studio Colorido, Toho Animation and Twin Engine. Directed by Junichi Sato and Tomotaka Shibayama, the film was released on June 18, 2020 on Netflix in Japanese.

A Whisker Away
Official Japanese release poster
Japanese泣きたい私は猫をかぶる
LiterallyWanting to Cry, I Pretend to Be a Cat
Directed by
Written byMari Okada
Starring
Music byMina Kubota
Production
company
Distributed byNetflix
Release date
  • June 18, 2020 (2020-06-18)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

The English dubbing version was made available on June 28, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing production delays.

Plot

Miyo Sasaki is an unhappy middle school girl living in the town of Tokoname who does not get along with her stepmother. Each day at school, she goes out of her way to flirt with her crush, Kento Hinode, in spite of his repeated rejections. One day, Miyo receives a magical Noh mask from a mysterious mask seller, which lets her become a cat. As "Tarō", she spends time with Hinode at his home, keeps him company while he studies Japanese pottery and listens to his problems. She longs to confess that the cat that he loves and the girl that he hates are the same person, but is afraid that he will reject her and refuse to visit with Tarō anymore.

One day, Miyo overhears a pair of boys at school speaking ill of Hinode, and loudly intervenes to defend his honor. She injures herself during the altercation, and for the first time, Hinode shows warmth to her as he takes her to the nurse's office and shares his lunch with her. Later that evening, as Tarō, Miyo learns that Hinode's family is closing their pottery shop, as his grandfather is retiring and the family can no longer afford it. Hinode's kindness towards her, combined with a need to cheer him up at the loss of his hobby inspires Miyo to confess her love in the form of a letter. The next day in class, a bully snatches the note before she can deliver it and reads it aloud, embarrassing both Miyo and Hinode. When confronted, Hinode saves face by publicly telling Miyo that he hates her. Miyo later visits Hinode as Tarō and spends the night with him. In the morning, she decides that life with Hinode as a cat is better than life without him as a human, and her human face falls off in the form of a porcelain mask. The mask seller appears to claim Miyo's face and tells her that he will give it to a cat who wants to become human. Miyo's friends and family begin searching for her, including Hinode, who confesses to Tarō that he doesn't really hate Miyo. Trapped in her cat body, Miyo begins losing her human faculties and regrets her choice. Kinako, the cat of Miyo's stepmom, obtains Miyo's human face from the mask seller and takes over her human life. Miyo implores her to return her face, but Kinako refuses, explaining that she is approaching the end of her natural lifespan but wishes to continue living and bringing happiness to her owner.

Miyo follows the shopkeeper to the secret Island of Cats where she hopes to convince him to turn her back into a human. Meanwhile, Kinako comes to understand just how much Miyo's stepmom loved her cat and has a change of heart. She reveals the secret of the masks to Hinode and takes him to the Island to save Miyo before her transformation becomes permanent. Kinako gives Hinode a cat mask, which turns him into a half-cat. Kinoko and Hinode are trapped by the masked seller but are rescued by Miyo and another cat who used to be a human. When Kinoko is about to give Miyo her face back, the mask stealer takes Miyo.

While Hinode eventually finds Miyo, the shopkeeper takes them to the "promised place" and attempts to finalize Miyo's and Hinode's transformation and extract their lifespan, but is foiled by all of the resentful humans that he had previously turned into cats. As they travel back to the human world, Miyo and Hinode confess their love to each other and Kinako returns Miyo's face, returning her to normal.

The credits show Miyo telling her friends about how Hinode loves her, Hinode telling his mother that he wants to do pottery, and Hinode doing Miyo's signature "Hinode sunrise attack".

Voice cast
Character Japanese voice English voice
Miyo "Muge" Sasaki / Tarō Mirai Shida[1] Cherami Leigh
Kento Hinode Natsuki Hanae[1] Johnny Yong Bosch
Kusugi-sensei Hiroaki Ogi Robert Buchholz
Hajime Fukushi Ochiai[2]
Cat Storekeeper Kōichi Yamadera Keith Silverstein
Kaoru Mizutani Ayako Kawasumi Laura Post
Masamichi Isami Kensho Ono Griffin Burns
Yoriko Fukase Minako Kotobuki Erika Harlacher
Miki Saitō Sayaka Ohara Reba Buhr[3]
Tamaki Rei Sakuma[2]
Yōji Sasaki Susumu Chiba Todd Haberkorn
Sugita Oolongta Yoshida[2]
Kenzo Hinode Motomu Kiyokawa Kirk Thornton
Shōta Bannai Wataru Komada Bryce Papenbrook
Kakinuma Shin-ichiro Miki[2]
Ayumu Niibori Yūsuke Nagano Griffin Puatu
Tomoya Sakaguchi Daisuke Namikawa
Kinako Eri Kitamura[2] Cristina Vee
Yumi Hinode Rina Kitagawa
Shiori Mizoguchi Rie Hikisaka Kira Buckland
Sachiko Hinode Emi Shinohara

Production
Alley in Tokoname with reinforced pottery walls as seen in the film

The film was animated by Studio Colorido.[4] The film takes place in Tokoname since director Shibayama Tomotaka grew up there. Many scenes in the film are directly taking from actual places in the town.[5][6][7]

The theme song, "Hana ni Bōrei" (A Ghost in a Flower), and its ending theme, "Usotsuki" (The Lying Moon), are both performed by Japanese rock duo Yorushika.[8]

Media

In May 2020, a manga adaptation was announced. Its first volume was released on June 10, 2020.[9]

Release

The film was originally scheduled for release in Japanese theaters on June 5, 2020, but it was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] The film was then sold to Netflix who released it digitally on June 18, 2020.[11]

Reception

On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 13 reviews, with an average rating of 7.78/10.[12]

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References
  1. "Studio Colorido's Original Anime Film Nakitai Watashi wa Neko o Kaburu Opens on June 5". Anime News Network. 2020-01-27. Retrieved 2020-01-27.
  2. "A Whisker Away Anime Film's Video Reveals New Cast Members". Anime News Network. 2020-05-28. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
  3. "Reba Buhr on Twitter". Reba Buhr. July 7, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  4. "Here's Everything We Know About Netflix's Upcoming Anime 'A Whisker Away'". TheThings. 12 June 2020. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
  5. https://summary.org/a-whisker-away-netflix-release-date-and-trailer/
  6. https://grapee.jp/en/145286
  7. https://9gag.com/gag/aYyrDNx
  8. "A Whisker Away Anime Film's Video Reveals Yorushika Ending Song". Anime News Network. June 12, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  9. "Studio Colorido's A Whisker Away Anime Film Gets Manga". Anime News Network. 2020-05-17. Retrieved 2020-05-17.
  10. "Nakitai Watashi wa Neko o Kaburu Film Delayed Due to COVID-19". Anime News Network. 2020-04-26. Retrieved 2020-04-26.
  11. "Colorido's A Whisker Away Anime Film Streams Globally on Netflix on June 18". Anime News Network. April 29, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  12. "A WHISKER AWAY (NAKITAI WATASHI WA NEKO WO KABURU)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
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