She and Her Cat

She and Her Cat

Cover art for She and Her Cat.
彼女と彼女の猫
(Kanojo to Kanojo no neko)
Genre Drama
Original video animation
Directed by Makoto Shinkai
Studio CoMix Wave Inc.
Released 1999
Runtime 7 minutes
Manga
Written by Tsubasa Yamaguchi
Published by Kodansha
Demographic Seinen
Magazine Monthly Afternoon
Original run February 25, 2016 – May 25, 2016
Anime television series
Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko: Everything Flows
Directed by Kazuya Sakamoto
Written by Naruki Nagakawa
Music by TO-MAS SOUNDSIGHT FLUORESCENT FOREST
Studio Liden Films
Network Tokyo MX, BS11
Original run March 4, 2016 – March 25, 2016
Episodes 4

She and Her Cat (Japanese: 彼女と彼女の猫 Hepburn: Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko), subtitled Their standing points, is an independent five-minute Japanese anime OVA created and directed by Makoto Shinkai in 1999. It is about the relationship between a male cat and his female owner told from the cat's perspective. A four episodes long television anime adaptation, subtitled Everything Flows, aired in March 2016 as part of Ultra Super Anime Time.[1][2] A manga adaptation by Tsubasa Yamaguchi adapting the anime was announced in the March 2016 issue of Monthly Afternoon, and it began serialization in the magazine's April 2016 issue, which was released in February 2016,[3] ending its serialization in May 2016.[4]

Plot

The story occurs over the span of a year. On a rainy Spring day, She finds Chobi outside and brings him home with her. Chobi falls in love with his owner because of her kindness and beauty. During the summer Chobi gets a girlfriend, Mimi. Mimi loves Chobi and wants to marry him, but he refuses because he is in love with She. On an autumn day She has a long conversation over the phone. When it's over She cries and becomes depressed. Chobi does not understand what the conversation was about or what happened but concludes that it was not her fault. He stands by her and comforts her. Time goes on and it becomes winter. She continues going to work and moves on with her life. In the end Chobi and She are happy with their life together and say in unison, "This world, I think we like it."[5]

Characters

Kanojo (彼女)
Voiced by: Miko Shinohara (OVA) Kana Hanazawa[6] (TV anime) (Japanese)
The title character lives alone in an apartment and leaves every morning and takes the train to work. The cat describes her to have the kindness of a mother and beauty of a lover. Her real name is Miyu.
Kuroneko (黒猫)
Voiced by: Makoto Shinkai (OVA) Shintarō Asanuma[6] (TV anime) (Japanese)
The other title character is a male cat and the narrator of the film. He is a stray cat before the woman finds him outside her door. He admires her and falls in love. Since he is a cat, he does not fully understand what happens in the human world. The OVA is depicted through the view point of a young white cat named Chobi, while miniseries focuses on the life of an older, black cat named Daru (with Chobi making an appearance in the post credits of the 4th and final episode).
Friend (友人 Yūjin)
Voiced by: Sayuri Yahagi[6] (TV anime)
Kanojo's friend. Her real name is Tomoka.
Mother (母親 Hahaoya)
Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu[6] (TV anime)
Kanojo's mother.
Mimi
Mimi is a young cat and Chobi's neighbor. She becomes his girlfriend during the summer and wants to marry him. Mimi's character is not voiced.

Style

The animation used is a series of still images with very little motion. The entire movie is done in black and white with monochrome shading. Makoto Shinkai creates the background images by taking real pictures and editing them with computer graphics. Unlike the rest of the images in the movie, the cats and She are drawn making them contrast with the detailed background.[7]

Development

She and Her Cat was developed completely by Makoto Shinkai, with the exception of the music. He spent five months working on the making of this movie. Chobi's monologue was recorded in his own living room. He used the knowledge he learned from working at Falcom, a video game company, to create the animation. This was one of his earlier movie projects and got him the attention he needed from companies to fund his later movies.

All of the music is composed by his former Falcom co-worker, Tenmon, who has composed the music for all his later films as well.[8]

Production

Makoto Shinkai originally made his own copies of She and Her Cat on CD-R and sold them at CG events, anime conventions, and by mail through his website starting in April 1999.[9] The movie caught the attention of Haniwara, a producer from Mangazoo and offered to sell it through his company. On March 2001, Mangazoo released the movie in a CD-ROM format which is now out of print. The latest version of the movie can be found in the DVD of Voices of a Distant Star as an extra.[10] The only version to reach the United States is the subtitled version that comes with Voices of a Distant Star released by ADV Films on June 2003. The DVD includes three different versions of the movie: the full five-minute version, a three-minute version, and an even shorter digest version.

Interpretation

It's not known the conversation about She'd had, but many viewers believed she had a boyfriend and their relationship ended over the phone. This caused her to become depressed. Since She joins Chobi in saying the last line of the movie, "This world, I think we like it," it is also assumed that after time she is no longer depressed and appreciates her relationship with Chobi. Like many of Shinkai's other movies, She and her Cat deals with sadness, loneliness, and human emotions.[9]

Awards

Human Grand Prix in SKIP Creative Human award – 2000

Grand Prix in 12th DoGA CG-animation contest [10]

References

  1. ↑ "Makoto Shinkai's She and Her Cat Short Gets TV Anime in March". Anime News Network. January 6, 2015. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Makoto Shinkai's She & Her Cat TV Anime Previewed in Promo Video". Anime News Network. February 28, 2016. Retrieved February 28, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Makoto Shinkai's She and Her Cat Anime Gets Manga Adaptation". Anime News Network. January 25, 2015. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  4. ↑ "She and Her Cat Manga Inspired by Makoto Shinkai's Short Ends Next Month". Anime News Network. April 25, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
  5. ↑ "She and Her Cat". Anime Vice. Archived from the original on January 26, 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 4 http://www.kanoneko.com/cast/
  7. ↑ Sondhi, Fason. "She and Her Cat". Short of the Week.
  8. ↑ "She and Her Cat". Makoto Shinkai Fan Web.
  9. 1 2 Alverson, Brigid. "Makoto Shinkai: Making Anime for One Person at a Time". MTV Geek.
  10. 1 2 "She and Her Cat".
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