English Title: She and Her Cat: Everything Flows
Japanese Title: 彼女と彼女の猫 – Everything Flows –
Director(s): Sakamoto Kazuya
Screenwriter(s): Nagakawa Naruki
Studio: Liden Films Kyoto Studio
Released: 2016
Runtime: 4 episodes, ~7m each.
Starring: Asanuma Shintaro, Hanazawa Kana
In 1999, Shinkai Makoto made a short anime film titled She and Her Cat: Their standing points. It is about 5 minutes long and in black and white.
The viewpoint character and narrator is a young male cat named Chobi who had been found and adopted by a young woman who remains unnamed. Chobi makes observations of her life and their surroundings, and he expresses his love for her. The narrative spans one year in five scenes in the style of slice-of-life.
She and Her Cat: Everything Flows is based on the abovementioned and is essentially the same premise. It is in color but the storytelling is otherwise of similar tone. At four episodes of about 7 minutes each, it is comparatively longer than the short film but still short.
The narrator is an adult male cat named Daru owned by a young woman named Miyu. The plot begins with Miyu’s friend and roommate moving out, thus leaving Miyu and Daru to live alone. Like the short film, the narrative spans about one year beginning in the summer. Daru makes the point of the changing seasons to mark the passing of time.
Daru is the main viewpoint character and although he does not entirely understand what is going on with Miyu, the audience is conveniently shown whatever happens around him. Therefore, Miyu is in effect also a viewpoint character.
Miyu is about to graduate and is looking for a job but is getting rejected. In the second episode, the narrative is mostly a flashback of how Daru became Miyu’s cat as well as some background on Miyu and her mother.
Daru expresses his appreciation and love for Miyu and tries to comfort her in her struggles with both her job searching and her relationship with her mother. The tone is brighter than in the short film, partly because it is in color, particularly with the use of soft colors in brighter settings, and partly because the audience sees Miyu and her interactions with others. The short film is darker as both the young woman herself and her interactions are deliberately limited. Even her face is barely shown.
Visually, the environment, such as the apartment, is nicely rendered. Shots of everyday objects are nicely done too but the series does not push it as much as Shinkai’s works. The human characters are well done although Daru lacks shading and highlights.
The music relies on simple and melancholic piano and acoustic guitar themes, just a few notes or chords. The voice acting is excellent. Asanuma Shintaro nails the apparent calmness and coolness of a cat (without sounding indifferent) as well as the love Daru has for Miyu.
Given the runtime, this series obviously has more substance and feels more complete than the short film. The pacing is deliberately slow so the work feels longer and fuller than it is. Whilst this technique is crude and there is nothing particularly special about the premise and plot, this is still a tastefully and solidly executed slice-of-life anime about a young woman’s struggles as she becomes an adult and her loyal cat.
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