Cat Soup

Wow. A truly fantastic 'trip' movie that has tons of super-surreal imagery, dark intent and a black, pretty strange sense of how cartoon animals must see the world. It's populated with a very cute off-world bunch of characters that bend and flow with warped backgrounds.As with all cool fantasy, the wandering plot is secondary to the eye-popping visuals and we follow a little cat and his zombie sister as they encounter death, deluge, water elephants, samurai swordsmen and pigs that fish. I'd never heard of it, but now I love it - probably because it reminded me of the surreal pencil-work of American cartoonist; Bill Plympton. It's a demented delight for fans of odd, pretty things and it had me glued to the screen for fear I'd miss something amazing. Simply put, it's 'Hello Kitty' without the 'o'.

"Nekojiru-so" ("Cat Soup") is based in the manga of the same name by Nekojiru. I can't compare both for I have not read the manga, and only found out it was based on a manga after popping the disc in the DVD and watching the short.

This is described as "Hello Kitty on Acid", but I would describe it more as "Psychotic Lynchian Hello Kitty". Yes, that's more fitting. Plotwise, the short doesn't explain much, and it doesn't need to! With no dialogue what-so-ever, random cat noises here and there, and some pop-up speech balloons like in a comic book, the short needs nothing but its imagery to be understood. And this is supported by the fact that, "Nekojiru-so" is supposed to be understood differently by everyone. There's so much interpretation to be had, so many symbolisms and abstract imagery. And this is where it succeeds the most, it's such a personal experience!

The animation is amazingly fitting, sometimes very weird and abstract. The art and backgrounds are also equally superb. Sound is top notch, the soundtrack is so fitting it enhances the feeling of doom, despair and just down right weirdness. And happiness too! Even though it's a very weird happiness...

Opposite to what you may have thought from the cute-sy art, this is absolutely NOT a film for kids. Don't even think about popping this on for a kid. There are some very disturbing images / actions in these amazingly brilliant 30 minutes of art.

Only downside? Too short... but it's like Tatsuo Sato says in the interview, if it were any longer, people might go crazy! But hey... I just wanted this crazy experience to last a wee-bit longer. That's it. The only downside.

This is an absolutely incredible, stunning and dark short surreal animation that hooked me up from the beginning to the very end without letting go. It spoke so much to me, I had to watch it a second time almost immediately.

So, if you're into surreal / abstract animation / film / art, you should be watching this right now, getting freaked out and developing your own interpretation.

An amazing experience!

9 out of 10.

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.

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!

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.