Ghost Cat Anzu

Ghost Cat Anzu can be much too casual for its own good, but there’s a special power in the scope of its imagination, and in how that imagination is drawn in the service of a world that’s somehow both limiting and infinite at all once.

The film is both outrageously fun and, while largely family-friendly, feels like it genuinely shouldn’t exist: imagine Spirited Away via Viz comic.

Distinctive in its deceptively abrasive tone and in the wildly out-there swerves of its story. It does suffer slightly from pacing issues and an unwieldy tonal shift in the third act.

Keiichi Suzuki’s plucky musical score gives the film a sense of consistency that’s otherwise lacking in the storytelling.

It is undoubtedly full of imagination but limited by its own storytelling shortcomings.

[W]hen the plot veers into the odd, the narrative loses its grip on a sense of what matters here. It becomes weird, seemingly for the sake of it.

Viewers who consume all anime should find Ghost Cat Anzu a pleasant watch. Even if a movie is repetitive and somewhat dull, there’s enough fun in the second half of the movie to compensate for early frustrations.

Ghost Cat Anzu feels akin to beginner Ghibli fare: entertaining, adorable, and visually sumptuous, but also narratively hollow and lacks the proper framework to truly evolve its themes beyond their starting points.

Mildly diverting, sweet and amusing, but unfocused and ultimately forgettable.

... wears its heart on its sleeve, entreating those who explore this universe to treat it tenderly, and promising to make the time spent feel worth it.