Korki “Korbo” Ryubi

Mari Okada's latest writing is interesting, but flawed. This movie was really great from the beginning up until the last act. The last act really pulled a lot of things out of thin air (both literally and figuratively) and parts of me died from the return to the stereotypical run-of-the-mill sappy love story dialogue and plot. I get it; this is supposed to be a fantasy, but by the time the credits rolled I was wishing it was over much sooner. In other words, the last act leaves much to be desired. Spoilers Ahead.: This movie begins with heaps of potential. A heroine with inner-conflict about her stepmother versus her old mother? Heck yes! A fantasy aspect where she meets an anime version of the Cheshire cat and becomes a cat herself to learn secrets from Hinode? I'm all for it. A fallout misunderstanding between an embarrassed middle-school boy with conflicted feelings of his own leading to her boiling point being met? Awesome. A setup for a moral where our heroine has to be more honest about how she truly feels about the people and situations she finds herself in, rather than putting up a front of false-happiness and joy? Hell yes! This is the beginning of a potentially great story, but right as Miyo 'reappears' after being missing, this all falls apart rather quickly. Catland comes up as an interesting idea at first, but by the time of its arrival there is no saving it; if Miyo had gone to Cat Land at the beginning and had interactions with the bar cats then, they wouldn't feel so rushed as characters at the last act. Furthermore, they could have built more character with the bar cats as reliable guides as to how Miyo could resolve her inner-conflicts between being a cat and staying human, and build a stronger case for why Mask Seller was evil. Furthermore, Hinode should NOT have been told about Miyo being Taro. Having him figure it out for himself would have made his and Miyo's relationship stronger. Though it'd be more of a "Disney" story, it would be much better than what we got. If I was told at the point of the story, it would make more sense for Hinode to respect his own boundaries than to push it for Miyo. But if the two had come to a natural understanding from Hinode figuring out for himself the toxicity in Miyo's family life (before Miyo could perhaps work it out on her own) then their resulting relationship would be stronger, more believable, and less-contrived. I could go on, but the points stand. A lot of things at the end throw off all the potential that the beginning setup and middle conflicts had. The bad gut feeling happened as the quick as a snap 'return' of Miyo happened out of the blue. In my opinion, she should have simply disappeared in Cat Land (and have the mom's cat help her) until she later reappeared to have Hinode figure out Taro=Miyo. With Miyo defeating Mask Seller on her own or with the help of the bar cats, and not having Hinode learn about cat land at all, would make Miyo's character arc much, much stronger. In all, the art is impressive, music is fine (but nothing noteworthy, really), but it feels like Okada's got a bad case of 'not knowing how to finish the story' syndrome, especially after watching "Maidens In Your Savage Season." A great hook and setup, but a failed punchline. 6/10.