1999 Anime OVA created and directed by Makoto Shinkai
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Cover art for
She and Her Cat
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Genre
| Drama
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Directed by
| Makoto Shinkai
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Produced by
| Makoto Shinkai
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Written by
| Makoto Shinkai
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Music by
| Tenmon
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Studio
| CoMix Wave Films
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Licensed by
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Released
| 1999
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Runtime
| 5 minutes
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Written by
| Tsubasa Yamaguchi
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Published by
| Kodansha
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English publisher
| |
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Magazine
| Monthly Afternoon
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Demographic
| Seinen
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Original run
| February 25, 2016
?
May 25, 2016
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Volumes
| 1
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Directed by
| Kazuya Sakamoto
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Produced by
| - Tetsur? Satomi
- Nariaki Miyata
- Chiharu Ochiai
- Terunari Yoshie
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Written by
| Naruki Nagakawa
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Music by
| To-Mas Soundsight Fluorescent Forest
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Studio
| Liden Films Kyoto Studio
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Licensed by
| Crunchyroll
(streaming)
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Original network
| Tokyo MX
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Original run
| March 4, 2016
?
March 25, 2016
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Episodes
| 4
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She and Her Cat
(
Japanese
:
彼女と彼女の猫
,
Hepburn
:
Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko
)
, subtitled
Their standing points
, is a 1999 Japanese
original video animation
created and directed by
Makoto Shinkai
. Shinkai's first own directed work, it is a five-minute story about the relationship between a male cat and his female owner told from the cat's perspective. Shinkai made the film to help a romantic interest overcome a difficult situation, and his time living in a small apartment defined the scenario. The team of four animators used Shinkai's hand-drawn illustrations and
Adobe After Effects
for 3D
visual effects
.
After completing the work, Shinkai himself distributed the film via
CD-R
format and mail, selling 5,000 copies at anime conventions. The work was well received, winning the 2000 DoGA CG Animation Contest and attracting
CoMix Wave Films
' interest. The company re-released the film in
CD-ROM
format and hired Shinkai. In 2016, the story was adapted into an
anime
television series and a
manga
.
Plot
[
edit
]
The story occurs over the span of a year.
[1]
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 Her. On an autumn day, She has a long conversation over the phone. When it is 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, She and Chobi are happy with their life together and say in unison, "I think that the both of us probably like this world."
Production
[
edit
]
She and Her Cat
was written and directed by Makoto Shinkai; it is his first major animation work.
[2]
He had the idea in 1997,
[3]
but started it in 1998 while he was working as a graphic designer at
Falcom
, a video game company.
[4]
[5]
Because he experimented with computer graphic animation during his work,
[5]
he wanted to minimize complex procedures.
[4]
So he opted to do a black-and-white film since a colored-one would use three times as much space in the computer and it would also make the process three times slower.
[4]
He was working on a
role-playing game
, whose genre is known to have "very rich and detailed" surroundings, and this influenced the film's background details.
[6]
He also took pictures of cityscapes and the streets, and used them as a basis for his hand-drawn animations.
[7]
The
composition
of 3D scenes was done with
Adobe After Effects
and for other effects
Shade
,
Illustrator
and
LightWave
were used.
[3]
Shinkai described it as a "personal film" because it was made to encourage the girl he was in love with to go through some problems she had.
[8]
The cat was the main character because he had cats since he was a child and adopted some stray cats in Tokyo.
[2]
His own time living in a small apartment surrounded by electrical lines also inspired the main scenario. Although these are "ugly things", he "wanted to make it look detailed and beautiful to express that it was ok to live in such a situation".
[6]
He aimed to transmit the feelings of "the vague loneliness of living", "slight pain" and "modest warmth", and as he thought it would be difficult to do it through words he did it through images and sound.
[3]
Shinkai affirmed: "Without being too eager, I just let the animation speak for itself. I'm pleased with its simplicity."
[9]
Although most of the work had been done by Shinkai, who also provided the voice of the cat,
[1]
he had three collaborators for the film: Mika Shinohara, who provided the voice for She and also did some illustrations;
Tenmon
, who composed the music; and "Rabsaris", who was credited for his "cooperation".
[3]
Release and reception
[
edit
]
After it was completed in 1999,
[3]
Shinkai made his own copies of
She and Her Cat
on
CD-R
and sold around 5,000 copies at
Comiket
and by mail through his website.
[10]
It received critical acclaim,
and won the grand prize at the 2000 DoGA CG Animation Contest.
[10]
Anime
's
authors Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc called it "simple, underplayed and just a little maudlin".
[1]
Chris Beveridge of Mania.com watched the three versions and said "each looks gorgeous and the story for it is simply hauntingly beautiful".
[12]
In a 2017 retrospective, Anne Lauenroth of
Anime News Network
ranked it Shinkai's ninth best work (out of 11), praising its use of lighting that gives "a modest beauty" to the scenery and its "carefully placed details" that transmits the wholeness of a world only partially presented.
[13]
She and Her Cat
was the work that made Shinkai popular and it led him to work on the production company
CoMix Wave Films
, for which he produced his other films.
[5]
At first he received "a very long e-mail" from the company in which there was a review telling why they appreciated the work and he was subsequently hired.
[10]
The movie caught the attention of Mangazoo (who would become Comix Wave) and the company released the movie in a
CD-ROM
format.
[14]
It contained its soundtrack and three different versions of the movie: the full five-minute version, a three-minute version, and a one-minute-and-half digest version.
[15]
After it was out of print, it was also included in the DVD release of
Voices of a Distant Star
as an extra.
[15]
The only version to reach the United States is the subtitled version that comes with
Voices of a Distant Star
released by
ADV Films
in June 2003.
[12]
[16]
The DVD includes the three different versions of the film.
[12]
British company
Anime Limited
released the work as a special feature on their release of
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
/Voices of a Distant Star
in 2016.
[17]
Legacy
[
edit
]
An
anime
television adaptation, subtitled
Everything Flows
, was first announced in January 2016 through the February issue of
Kadokawa Shoten
's
Newtype
magazine.
[18]
[19]
The anime was produced by
Liden Films Kyoto Studio
and directed by Kazuya Sakamoto. It aired between March 4 and 25, 2016 as part of
Tokyo MX
's
Ultra Super Anime Time
programming block.
[18]
[20]
Crunchyroll
made the anime available via stream worldwide except for Asia starting on March 4.
[21]
In Japan, the anime was released in Blu-ray and DVD on May 18, 2016, and it included a "complete edition" with additional footage, including a 90-second opening sequence.
[22]
This edition received a theatrical release from May 21 to 27, at the Tollywood theater in
Shimokitazawa
, Tokyo.
[23]
The DVD and the Blu-Ray release sold 230 and 1,521 copies respectively, appearing at 18th and 6th place on
Oricon
's best-selling list on their respective categories.
[24]
[25]
On May 26, 2020, the anime was released in Blu-ray in the United States by
Discotek Media
with English subtitles and a new dub.
[26]
[27]
A manga version by
Tsubasa Yamaguchi
adapting the anime was announced in the March 2016 issue of
Kodansha
's
Monthly Afternoon
, and it began serialization in the magazine's April 2016 issue, which was released in February 2016,
[28]
ending its serialization in May 2016.
[29]
Its single collected volume was released by Kodansha on August 23, 2016.
[30]
In January 2017,
Vertical
licensed the series,
[30]
and it released the manga in the North American market on August 1 of that year.
[31]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Odell & Le Blanc 2013
, p.
40
- ^
a
b
Manry, Gia (August 16, 2011).
"Interview: Makoto Shinkai"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
January 24,
2022
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
彼女と彼女の猫
(in Japanese). Makoto Shinkai official website.
Archived
from the original on October 23, 2017
. Retrieved
April 22,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
Fitch, Alex; Miyata, Hanako; Williams, Tim; Johnson, Justin (June 1, 2008).
"Interview with Makoto Shinkai"
.
Electric Sheep
.
Archived
from the original on October 11, 2017
. Retrieved
April 22,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
Bendazzi 2015
, p.
237
- ^
a
b
Spaziani, Scott (October 19, 2010).
"Interview: Makoto Shinkai"
.
Otaku in Review
.
Archived
from the original on May 16, 2017
. Retrieved
April 22,
2017
.
- ^
Alverson, Brigid (October 24, 2011).
"Anime Director Makoto Shinkai Finds the Beauty in Everyday Life"
. MTV Geek
. Retrieved
April 22,
2017
.
- ^
Dong, Bamboo (July 8, 2013).
"Makoto Shinkai Q&A - Anime Expo 2013"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
April 22,
2017
.
- ^
"Makoto Shinkai ? The Place Promised in Our Early Days Director"
.
ActiveAnime
. September 27, 2005. Archived from
the original
on June 19, 2017
. Retrieved
April 23,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
Alverson, Brigid (October 31, 2011).
"Makoto Shinkai: Making Anime for One Person at a Time"
. MTV Geek
. Retrieved
February 16,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
c
Beveridge, Chris (May 31, 2003).
"Voices of a Distant Star"
.
Mania.com
. Archived from
the original
on May 25, 2011
. Retrieved
November 11,
2010
.
- ^
Lauenroth, Anne (December 13, 2017).
"The Best (and Worst) Works of Makoto Shinkai"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
December 23,
2017
.
- ^
Pinon, Matthieu (May 1, 2003).
"Shinkai Makoto: la naissance d'une etoile"
.
Animeland
(in French)
. Retrieved
April 23,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
"「彼女と彼女の猫」Movies and Soundtracks"
(in Japanese). Makoto Shinkai official website. Archived from
the original
on March 15, 2018
. Retrieved
April 23,
2017
.
- ^
Kamen, Matt (August 1, 2013).
"Movies of a Rising Star"
.
Neo
. Retrieved
April 22,
2017
.
- ^
"Place Promised in Our Early Days/Voices of a Distant Star - Blu-ray"
.
Anime Limited
. Retrieved
August 12,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Pineda, Rafael Antonio (January 6, 2015).
"Makoto Shinkai's She and Her Cat Short Gets TV Anime in March"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
January 6,
2016
.
- ^
Nelkin, Sarah (February 28, 2016).
"Makoto Shinkai's She & Her Cat TV Anime Previewed in Promo Video"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
February 28,
2016
.
- ^
彼女と彼女の猫 -Everything Flows-
.
Media Arts Database
(in Japanese).
Agency for Cultural Affairs
. Archived from
the original
on December 29, 2018
. Retrieved
April 22,
2017
.
- ^
Luster, Joseph (March 3, 2016).
"Crunchyroll to Simulcast "She and Her Cat -Everything Flows-" Anime"
.
Crunchyroll
. Archived from
the original
on November 9, 2020
. Retrieved
April 22,
2017
.
- ^
Ressler, Karen (April 30, 2016).
"She and Her Cat Complete Edition Adds New Footage"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
April 22,
2017
.
- ^
Chapman, Paul (April 30, 2016).
"
"She and Her Cat -Everything Flows-" Gets Limited Theatrical Release"
.
Crunchyroll
. Archived from
the original
on April 11, 2019
. Retrieved
April 22,
2017
.
- ^
Loo, Egan (May 24, 2016).
"Japan's Animation DVD Ranking, May 16?22"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
April 22,
2017
.
- ^
Loo, Egan (May 24, 2016).
"Japan's Animation Blu-ray Disc Ranking, May 16?22"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
April 22,
2017
.
- ^
Sherman, Jennifer (May 26, 2020).
"North American Anime, Manga Releases, May 24?30"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
June 12,
2020
.
- ^
Pineda, Rafael Antonio (March 13, 2020).
"Discotek Licenses Konosuba, Poco's Udon World, She and Her Cat: Everything Flows Anime"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
June 12,
2020
.
- ^
Hallmark. Kyle (January 25, 2015).
"Makoto Shinkai's She and Her Cat Anime Gets Manga Adaptation"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
January 25,
2016
.
- ^
Pineda, Rafael Antonio (April 25, 2016).
"She and Her Cat Manga Inspired by Makoto Shinkai's Short Ends Next Month"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
April 25,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
Hodgkins, Crystalyn (January 28, 2017).
"Vertical Comics Licenses She and Her Cat Manga"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
April 22,
2017
.
- ^
Ressler, Karen (August 1, 2017).
"North American Anime, Manga Releases, July 30-August 5"
.
Anime News Network
. Retrieved
December 22,
2017
.
Books
[
edit
]
- Bendazzi, Giannalberto (2015).
Animation: A World History: Volume III: Contemporary Times
. CRC Press.
ISBN
978-1317519881
.
- Berra, John (2012).
Directory of World Cinema: Japan 2
. Intellect Books.
ISBN
978-1841505510
.
- Odell, Colin; Le Blanc, Michelle (2013).
Anime
. Oldcastle Books.
ISBN
978-1842435885
.
External links
[
edit
]
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Liden Films
| Television series
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OVA/ONAs
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Films
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Kyoto Studio
| Television series
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ONAs
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Films
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Osaka Studio
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