Ghost Cat Anzu

A few months ago, I went to a viewing of the movie at The ICA in London as part of the Japan Foundation Touring Programme 2025.

I remember when I walked through the door, I was rather bewildered of the busyness of my surroundings and how, when I requested to collect my ticket (which I brought online), I was greeted by “We have sold out for the day”.

Thankfully, I persevered and managed to collect my memorabilia ticket, after which I was able to find my seat and watch the film, which I have simply been dying to see for months to no avail.

Until now that is.

Produced by Shin-Ei Animation (Doraemon), Ghost Cat Anzu is based on the Manga of the same name, in which it follows the story of a girl named Karin (voiced by Goto Noa) who goes to visit her grandpa at the temple, along with her dad, to attempt to stay there for a short while, whilst her father sorts out his financial situation by paying off debts to loan sharks.

Feeling super abandoned and isolated due to dealing with other circumstances like losing her mother, she ends up misbehaving and refusing to cooperate, while also struggling to settle into her new surroundings.

Unexpectedly she encounters a talking cat named Anzu (voiced by Mirai Moriyama), who is reluctant to befriend her due to her attitude. However, after learning about her mother passing a year ago and the effects it had on her, Anzu then makes it his duty to ensure that Karin gets to see her mother one last time.

While the story was rather light-hearted and colourful in terms of the animation, I felt the movie was rather lacklustre in terms of the plot and there were times where I became frustrated with the protagonist, especially with her attitude towards the people that were trying to help her settle into her surroundings, even though I felt for Karin's loss, due to personally understanding the grieving experience and the anger towards her father, due to his irresponsible behaviour and unexpectedly abandoning Karin without informing her of the situation first.

The voice acting for the film felt as though it were being completed as part of a chore rather than out of love, so this made watching it something of a struggle, especially during important arcs of the plot. I honestly felt like I wanted to be somewhere else instead of being here, which is certainly not a good sign, especially given how much I invested to take this opportunity.

The film stands as a story of complicated families and the messy, uncomfortable experiences of grieving and the processes of settling into a new environment, whilst not having everything figured out, along with learning the concept of chosen families. Unfortunately the drama is undermined with flat performances from the cast.