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Cat Soup

Original title: Nekojiru-sô
  • 2001
  • Not Rated
  • 34m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
6.4K
YOUR RATING
Cat Soup (2001)
aka "Nekojiru-sou"
Play trailer1:16
1 Video
7 Photos
Adult AnimationAnimeHand-Drawn AnimationSeinenAnimationComedyFantasyHorrorShort

A young anthropomorphic cat goes on a psychedelic journey with his sister in order to save her soul.A young anthropomorphic cat goes on a psychedelic journey with his sister in order to save her soul.A young anthropomorphic cat goes on a psychedelic journey with his sister in order to save her soul.

  • Director
    • Tatsuo Satô
  • Writers
    • Nekojiru
    • Tatsuo Satô
    • Masaaki Yuasa
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    7.6/10
    6.4K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Tatsuo Satô
    • Writers
      • Nekojiru
      • Tatsuo Satô
      • Masaaki Yuasa
    • 27User reviews
    • 12Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 1 win total

    Videos1

    Cat Soup
    Trailer 1:16
    Cat Soup

    Photos6

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    User reviews27

    7.66.3K
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    Featured reviews

    10Jaxzdice

    Incedible... just incredible...

    Best animated movie ever made. This film explores not only the vast world of modern animation with absolutely boggling effects, but the branches of the human mind, soul, and philosophy. The story features a family of cats, where in the big sister dies, the younger brother sees this and rescues her body, but when she awakens she is left without a soul. So, the two sibling cats embark on a journey to find it. I have related this journey to many things. The history of the world, the bible, the cycle of life, and every time I watch it I discover more and more hidden themes and metaphors. If you aren't so into the physiological aspect of it then, you will still adore it. The animation is superb, and the creative scenes will have you attached to the screen. For example, the ocean freezing in time, god eating soup out of the earth, a strange and slightly SNM retelling of Hansel and Gretel. To conclude, Cat Soup is an absolute treat for anyone.

    PS- Not for kids, gratuitous violence included.
    8emasterslake

    It'll leave you speak-less.

    I recently discovered this short, and knew it was a must see. Cat Soup is something that can't be described in words. It focuses on 2 cat siblings who end up in a bizarre journey in the surreal earth they live on. This includes freezing time, dried up oceans, and many other unexplainable events that occur.

    There's no dialog used in this film. Only Japanese text which is translated. The whole story wasn't meant to make any sense. It was made intended to make the viewer image the whole universe to this story.

    For a short this bizarre, it made me wish it was longer. Cause an idea like this can be unlimited to create. Cat Soup would most likely fit in the category of random animation.

    Cat Soup is more than a short random anime film. It's a work of art and imagination.
    10kandk1125

    An absolute masterpiece

    When I saw this movie a few days ago, my eyes were completely fixed to the screen. Its greatness held my attention to such an extent that I focused all of my attention on it for its entire duration. I would recommend seeing it not just to fans of anime, but to anyone who likes great movies period (or who likes really weird stuff). The style of art is beautiful, the sound is perfect, and the symbolism within it is breathtaking. I've heard complaints about the weird insertion of English text in the movie, but I think the way its done is complementary to the strange style of the movie. The self-attributed description of "Hello Kitty on acid" doesn't do justice to this film of absolutely epic proportions. I'd like to find more works by whoever made this, and see them.
    10ilovejeanrollin

    A Masterpiece!

    CAT SOUP is a short anime based on the legendary manga Nekojiru. It won the award "Best Short Film" at The 6th Fantasia Film Festival and also won the "Excellence Prize" at Japan's Media Arts Festival.

    When little kitten Nyaako's soul is stolen by Death, she and her brother Nyatta embark on a bizarre journey to get it back. In the surreal dreamscape of the Other Side, they encounter many fantastic characters and remarkable, often disturbing adventures.

    CAT SOUP is an anime like nothing you've ever seen. It's Hello Kitty on acid! It is very original, stunningly beautiful and possess a great sense of strangeness and lyricism. CAT SOUP is very surrealistic (there are no dialogue) and sometimes cruel and gory. So it is more an anime for adults than children (they may not understand at all!). A great journey for those who get the chance to see this absolute masterpiece. An must-see!
    7Jeremy_Urquhart

    Ugh!

    I wasn't expecting this half-hour-long Japanese animated film to be viscerally terrifying and likely to cause me nightmares, but here we are. I assumed Cat Soup would be cute, based on the title and the fact that the main characters had big eyes and looked kind of endearing. Turns out the cat soup, however, is literal, because the two main characters end up in some kind of variation of hell where everyone and everything wants to dismember and/or eat you (and the cats themselves do their fair share of dismembering and eating while in this world, on their quest to, I guess, get out?), and one of the beings they encounter tries to make a genuine cat soup.

    I feel bad for any children who've watched this; I hope they're doing okay. There's something so unsettling about it, and I kind of hated how it made me feel. It's genuine discomfort and it sneaks up on you; real stealthy horror, and maybe that's on me for going into it not knowing anything about it. I haven't read what anyone else has said about it, either, so maybe I'm alone in finding this hellish, or maybe that's the consensus and I should've read up on it a little beforehand.

    For as nightmarish as it was, I still kind of respect how it made me feel. It has a unique atmosphere and tone, and it'll probably stick with me and/or haunt my dreams, so that's got to be worth something.

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    Related interests

    Seth Green, Mila Kunis, Alex Borstein, and Seth MacFarlane in Family Guy (1999)
    Adult Animation
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    Daveigh Chase, Rumi Hiiragi, and Mari Natsuki in Spirited Away (2001)
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    Will Ferrell in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)
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    Short

    Storyline

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    • Connections
      Featured in AMV Hell 3: The Motion Picture (2005)

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • September 9, 2003 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • Japan
    • Official site
      • J.C. Staff Official site (Japan)
    • Language
      • Japanese
    • Also known as
      • 貓湯
    • Production companies
      • Imagica Digix
      • J.C. Staff
      • Sony PCL
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 34m
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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