A Whisker Away

is a 2020 Japanese animated film produced by Studio Colorido, Toho Animation and Twin Engine. Directed by Junichi Sato and Tomotaka Shibayama, the film was released on June 18, 2020, on Netflix in Japanese.

Originally slated to premiere with the Japanese release of the film, the English dub's release was delayed until June 28, 2020, when it was officially released on Netflix.

Plot

Miyo Sasaki is an unhappy middle school girl living in the town of Tokoname, Aichi Prefecture who does not get along with her stepmother Kaoru after her mother Miki Sasaki left. Each day at school, she goes out of her way to flirt with her crush, Kento Hinode, in spite of his repeated rejections. One day, Miyo receives a magical Noh mask from a mysterious mask seller, which lets her become a cat. As "Tarō", she spends time with Hinode at his home, keeps him company while he studies Japanese pottery, and listens to his problems. She longs to confess that the cat that he loves and the girl that he hates are the same person, but is afraid that he will reject her and refuse to visit with Tarō anymore.

One day, Miyo overhears a pair of boys at school talking trash about Hinode, and loudly intervenes by jumping off the school building to defend his honor. She hurts herself during the jump, and for the first time, Hinode shows warmth to her as he takes her to the nurse and shares his lunch with her. Later that evening, as Tarō, Miyo learns that Hinode's family is closing their pottery shop, as the family can no longer afford it. Hinode's kindness towards her, combined with a need to cheer him up at the loss of his hobby inspires Miyo to confess her love in the form of a letter. The next day in class, a boy snatches the note before she can deliver it and reads it aloud, embarrassing both Miyo and Hinode. Hinode saves face by publicly telling Miyo that he hates her.

Miyo later visits Hinode as Tarō and spends the night with him. In the morning, she decides that life with Hinode as a cat is better than life without him as a human, and her human face falls off in the form of a porcelain mask. The mask seller appears to claim Miyo's face and tells her that he will give it to a cat who wants to become human. Miyo's friends and family begin searching for her, including Hinode, who confesses to Tarō that he doesn't really hate Miyo. Trapped in her cat body, Miyo begins losing her ability to understand humans and regrets her choice. Kinako, Kaoru's cat, obtains Miyo's human face from the mask seller and takes over her human life. Miyo implores her to return her face, but Kinako refuses, explaining that she is approaching the end of her natural lifespan but wishes to continue living and bringing happiness to her owner.

Miyo follows the mask seller to the secret Island of Cats where she hopes to convince him to turn her back into a human. Meanwhile, Kinako comes to understand just how much Miyo's stepmom loved her cat and has a change of heart. She reveals the secret of the masks to Hinode and takes him to the island to save Miyo before her transformation becomes permanent. Kinako gives Hinode a cat mask, which turns him into a half-cat but only the hands. Kinako and Hinode are trapped by the mask seller but are rescued by Miyo and another cat who used to be a human. When Kinako is about to give Miyo her face back, the mask seller takes Miyo.

While Hinode eventually finds Miyo, the mask seller takes them to the "promised place". Miyo finally realizes her selfish mistake and starts to tackle the mask Seller demanding her human face back. The mask seller attempts to finalize Miyo's and Hinode's transformation by extracting their lifespan, but is foiled by all of the resentful humans that he had previously turned into cats. As they travel back to the human world, Miyo and Hinode confess their love to each other and Kinako returns Miyo's face, returning her to normal.

The credits show Miyo telling her friend about how Hinode loves her, Hinode telling his mother that he wants to do pottery, and Hinode doing Miyo's signature "Hinode sunrise attack" to her.

Voice cast

Production

The film was animated by Studio Colorido. The film takes place in Tokoname, Japan, since director Shibayama Tomotaka grew up there. Many scenes in the film are directly taken from actual places in the town.

The theme song, "Hana ni Bōrei" (A Ghost in a Flower), and its ending theme, "Usotsuki" (The Lying Moon), are both performed by Japanese rock duo Yorushika.

Manga

In May 2020, a manga adaptation was announced. Its first volume was released on June 10, 2020.

Release

The film was originally scheduled for release in Japanese theaters on June 5, 2020, but it was pulled from the schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was then sold to Netflix who released it digitally on June 18, 2020. On September 18, 2020, it was announced the film would have a limited theatrical run in Japan throughout October 2020. In Japan, the film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on June 23, 2021.

Reception

On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . Lawrence Bennie of UK Film Review awarded it four out of five stars, calling it "Sweet, cute and charming", and "a great piece of anime escapism". Jamie Morris of LeftLion also awarded it a positive review, saying it will "give plenty of people a reason to smile."

Awards

* Asian Academy Creative Awards "Best Animation Work Award" (in Japanese)
* The 24th Japanese Media Arts Festival Animation Division "Excellent Work Award" (in Japanese)

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Whisker Away, A
2020 films
2020 anime films
2020 fantasy films
2020s coming-of-age films
2020s Japanese-language films
Animated films about cats
Anime with original screenplays
Coming-of-age anime and manga
Films about shapeshifting
Films not released in theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic
Films set in Aichi Prefecture
Films set on fictional islands
Japanese animated fantasy films
Japanese coming-of-age films
Japanese-language Netflix original films
Netflix original anime
Studio Colorido
Toho animated films