Film Preview: Ghost Cat Anzu (2024)

Film Poster

Page Revisions:

(November 10, 2024) Original

Release Date:

November 15, 2024

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “Friendship shared between Karin, a strong-minded girl sent to live with her monk granddad in the Japanese countryside, and Anzu, the even-more unpredictable phantom feline who acts as her guardian.”

Poster Rating: C / C+ / C (2) / C

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Review: (#1, C) A cutesy design that tells the viewer what to expect but which won’t have broad-ranging appeal and perhaps not even to but the youngest of children. (#2, C+) The detail of the background artwork compared to the cheap-looking drawings of the character creates the kind of juxtaposition that’s interesting but also disaffecting. (#3-#4, C) Character posters that present joy but nothing in the way of appealing character designs. (#5, C) This does a little better than the prior design of blending details with a lack of them but it still doesn’t quite put the film into an appealing context.

Trailer Rating: C- / C

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Review: (#1, C-) The first trailer release had only subtitles, which makes it a positive step that they went slow with the accompanying images. Unfortunately, there’s very little magical in the trailer and anime fans desperately wanting something that contains both a surfeit of magical qualities and a compelling narrative. Unfortunately, without the magical realism, the plot looks pedestrian.

(#2, C) The dubbed trailer realizes what the first trailer did wrong and ramps up the magic moments to the point that it almost reminds of a Hayao Miyazaki film. Unfortunately, the cheap-looking animation is sure to put off as many as it entices.